Enjoy Life and Live to your Healthiest Potential Sharing the love for Yoga and Pilates with Michelle

Find the balance in your life with Yoga for the mind and body. Puttiong the time aside to pause, be present, check in and reset. Regular yoga, minfulness and meditation on a weekly basis decreases stress in the body peeling away the stressful layers and maintaining a happy balance of Yin and Yang through the body. Practice over perfection - making the switch and feeling the change in all areas of your life when you make the decision to commit to a regular balanced routine or practice. 

Michelle’s ’small group’ classes ensure your goals are always in focus. Whether you are new to yoga or simply wanting a regular class to focus on your strength, stability, balance or find inner stillness Michelle will ensure the class is safe and specific to your needs. Vinyasa flow develops mental and physical focus and endurance through rigorous movement and breath sequences. Lift the heart rate, burn fat, develop strength and balance through held asanas transitioning into stretch poses moving unwanted chi and opening the bodies meridians. Yin is like meditation and achieving an extremely deep stretch all at the same time. If you struggle with mobility, suffer from auto immune/pain, run a stressful job, anxiety, lack concentration or simply need recovery time to stop peacefully Yin may be an addition worth adding to your weekly regime. With the practice of breath focus, meditation and varied asana positions your body will learn to stretch, let go of old tension, learn to move correctly and increase energy through the whole body. Like anything consistency and commitment is the key to achieving all these things. 

Increase Energy.

A 2014 study published in the Journal of Nursing Research showed that after 8 weeks of yoga, female cancer patients experienced a significant reduction in their fatigue levels. While further research is needed, I think it’s safe to assume that if some of the most health compromised people were able to boost their energy with yoga, the rest of us can find similar energy-enhancing benefits from yoga as well.

Decrease Stress.

Anxiety, and Depression. A 2010 study published in Behaviour Modification showed that people with depression had an overall positive response when they began practicing yoga. Almost all of the participants exhibited a significant decrease in depressive symptoms after 8 weeks. A more recent study, published in 2014 The Journal of Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine consisted of systematic review of 17 studies from 2009 to 2014. All 17 of these studies evaluated whether of not yoga is effective at reducing stress and anxiety after 8 weeks. In the end, 16 of the 17 studies showed that yoga does, in fact, effectively reduce stress and anxiety when practiced regularly

Reduce Migraine Headaches.

Becoming body aware can help in many ways but learning how you hold yourself and where you store your tension can play a big part in the way you feel. A 2014 study published in the International Journal of Yoga showed that adding a yoga practice to conventional care for migraines helped patients significantly. Participants experienced a reduction in both the frequency and intensity of headaches after practicing yoga 5 days a week for 6 weeks

Cardiovascular Conditioning.

Once you learn the art of Yoga and your technique becomes fluent not only will you enjoy the smooth transitions from one pose to the next but you will also feel the ‘fat burn’ workout hit as the heartbeat rises. Another 2014 study published in the International Journal of Yoga showed that after 11 months of sun-salutations (a movement sequence that is the back-bone of any vinyasa yoga practice), participants had significant improvements in their cardiovascular health measures. This demonstrates that yoga provides long-term health benefits to those who practice

Quit bad habits.

Anyone who puts time aside for themselves to become connected with their inner well being will always find true peace in whichever sense. This then gives them the confidence in knowing they control their way of thinking. A study completed in 2012 in The Journal of Women’s Health found that women taking part on yoga practices were more likely to abstain from smoking than non yoga practice women. The women who participated in the yoga program also showed reduced anxiety and perceived improvements in their overall health and well-being.