Archive for September, 2010
Restore, Renew, Revive: Restorative Yoga
Focus is on breath, relaxation and meditation.
Restorative yoga poses target your nervous system, promoting a relaxation response. The practice helps quiet your mind, connecting your body with an innate peacefulness, and is beneficial for all levels. Props including blankets, bolsters, straps, blocks and others safely support the body in various postures. This support allows the body to let go, release and relax. Held for long periods of 3-10 minutes the poses are very gentle and relaxing.
This concept, using props, began with B.K.S. Iyengar, of Pune, India. Recognized worldwide as an authority, and one of the most creative and prolific teachers of yoga today. He has been teaching yoga for 60+ years and has authored, “Light on Yoga” and many other books.
Mr. Iyengar began experimenting with props when his students showed pain from specific poses; he modified poses and students were able to practice without strain. He continued experimenting and began helping people with illness or other injuries do modified poses to recover with great success. Restorative poses and modifications with props continue to be powerful tools to reduce stress and aid in restoring the body and health.
While in a deep levels of relaxation, the muscles are able to gently lengthen. Restorative posses allow the lymph fluids in the body to release and settle around the organs, glands, and tissues. The result is the organs, glands and tissues are surrounded and basked in fresh oxygen, promoting healing, rejuvenation, efficient function and better health.
Restorative yoga is beneficial for chronic stress, illness and injury during life changing events to foster a better quality of life. Restorative yoga can aid in the body’s self healing and recovery. Come and experience the deliciousness
s of a Restorative pose for yourself. Treat yourself to some deep relaxation and stress relief, while your body and mind mend. Enjoy the inner peacefulness that results with continued practice. Your body memory with cultivated attention (muscles, bones, mind and spirit), will gradually engage the inner peacefulness on and off the mat.
-Myra Harrell Fleming, Yoga Instructor ( M/W evenings)
New Class Offering What IS Nia
 We have a new offering at the Milwaukie Wellness Center. Nia is a fun way to keep your body healthy and increase your joy of movement.Through Nia practice, you learn to foster awareness of your life through physical sensation, allowing the Voice of The Body to direct your actions and choices, leading to a general state of what Nia calls Dynamic Ease. Practiced barefoot to music, each person is invited to move at his or her own level of intensity, adapting the 52 Moves (lead by the teacher) to their body potential at any given moment. While delivering cardiovascular, whole-body conditioning, Nia creates a loving relationship with one’s own body by tuning into The Body’s Way: the innate intelligence of the body.
Experience the BLISS!:
‘Tuesday’s at 9 AM in the yoga studio.
Your first class is free, consecutive classes follow our yoga class fees.
For more information about the Nia Technique check out the Nia web site at www.nianow.com.
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Nia blends dance, martial arts, and healing arts, to create a dynamic fitness and lifestyle practice that changes how people experience their body and exercise! Come dance, kick, stretch, and laugh with us!GrastonThe Graston Technique:
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is a soft tissue diagnostic and therapeutic method that has been used since 1993. Unique to the technique is the use of the “Graston Instruments”. These are stainless steel instruments of varying shapes and sizes. All the instruments have a beveled edge which is applied to the areas to be treated allowing detection and treatment of areas of scar tissue or adhesions in muscles, tendons and ligaments.
In the normal healing process our bodies repair injured soft tissues with the formation of scar tissue much the same as a scrape on the knee. Scar tissue is not as pliable or flexible as normal healthy tissues. Over time we can build up this fibrous scar tissue in areas that are over stretched or injured. This can lead to pain and improper function of those same areas. The Graston instruments glide along the surface of the skin and underlying soft tissues. When knots of soft tissue are encountered the instruments act like a stethoscope amplifying the texture of those areas. The same instruments can be used to loosen up these restrictions. Follow up care includes stretching exercises to promote proper realignment of the fibers of the treated area.
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Though not appropriate for every patient condition, I am finding the technique is very helpful for many of the common conditions we treat. Clinical trials have shown the effectiveness of the Graston Technique in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, Lateral epicondylitis ie. (tennis elbow), post-surgical low back pain, and plantar fascitis. If you have not experienced the Graston Technique and still have any lingering discomfort or stiffness, please ask us whether you may be helped by this effective treatment.
Spinal Decompression Therapy:
Non-Surgical Relief from Neck or Back Pain
When a disc is “decompressed” negative pressure is created within the disc which allows for the reintroduction of water, oxygen and nutrients into the disc. This heals the disc from the inside out. Decreased pressure within a damaged disc allows the disc to re-hydrate which restores the normal height to the disc and reduces nerve irritation associated with a damaged disc.
Spinal Decompression Therapy is a pain-free alternative to surgery that has shown a very high rate of success at reducing and even eliminating back and neck pain. If you suffer from chronic or acute low back or neck pain you owe it to yourself to call our office today to make an appointment to see if you’re a candidate for DTS Spinal Decompression Therapy.
Our office is dedicated to offering the latest in state of the art therapies for treating pain in the lower back and neck, sciatica, pinched nerves and bulging or degenerative disc diseases. We believe that the combination of yoga, chiropractic and massage care including DTS Spinal Decompression Therapy with other physiotherapies is the most advanced non surgical and pain-free alternative available today.
Restorative Yoga Classes!!
Beginning in early September, a new class will be offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings called Restorative yoga. For those of you who may not have heard of Restorative yoga before, it is a practice that uses soothing well supportive poses that allow the mind and body to linger for a while until you enter into a state of deep relaxation. It can promote healing, improve digestion and reduce stress. You may have done some Restorative yoga poses in yoga class already as an alternative to Shavasna (final relaxation), or for basic relaxation in the middle of the class.
Some common restorative postures include but are not limited to, legs up the wall, supported chest openers, child’s pose, supported twists and reclining bound ankle pose. Each pose offers different benefits to the body, mind and spirit.
Postures are usually well supported by a variety of props including blocks, sand bags, pillows, blankets and straps. All of these props are available in the Milwaukie Wellness Center yoga studio for student use. Although the use of props can be intimidating at first, each posture will be well thought out, you will be advised how to set up your props and guided into relaxation by your instructor, Megan G. Ideally one should hold a posture for about 10 minutes, so usually about seven restorative postures will be done each class.
Once you learn the postures in class you will be able to use them in your practice at home and find creative ways to support your body with props. The group atmosphere in restorative yoga can be relaxing and nurturing. Class allows one to schedule time in their day to relax and renew.
Restorative yoga postures are peaceful and sweet. They can be referred to as the “dessert of yoga”. For more information and ideas, see Judith Lasater’s Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times.
Images used by permission from Kim Shetter kshetter@hotmail.com
