Relax. Restore. Rejuvenate.

I attended a special workshop at my favourite yoga studio many years ago. I hadn’t met the teacher before but warmed to her immediately. She was welcoming, calm, and knowledgeable. There were yoga mats, props and accessories all beautifully set up. As we entered the practice room, we were invited to choose our little “nest” and settle in for some “sleepy time” yoga. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was there for much-needed rest and relaxation.

The workshop intended to evoke kindness and ease—to develop a deep sense of ok-ness within ourselves. During the two-hour session, that intention manifested as I became a bigger container for all that I was, as I resigned to whom I was within myself, letting go of stubborn resistance so I could just be myself.

As you may have guessed, this was Restorative Yoga, a type of yoga that aims to relax the body and the mind.

As my teacher Judith Hanson Lasater has taught thousands of students:

“Restorative Yoga involves the use of props to support the body in positions of ease and comfort to facilitate relaxation and health.”

It’s not “therapeutic yoga,” but it has therapeutic benefits.

Each pose invites you to relax into the shape of the pose without exerting any physical effort to stay there.

You receive the pose rather than do the pose.

It’s about being rather than doing.

It’s not yin yoga, a quiet practice that involves active deep stretching, where you’re invited to marinate in a pose while experiencing and transcending comfortable discomfort.

Instead, restorative yoga is a practice that is sensation neutral.

In today's ultra-connected and fast-paced world, restorative yoga offers a way to relax, restore, and rejuvenate. Here are some of the benefits of practicing restorative yoga:

1. Reduces stress and anxiety: One of the main benefits of restorative yoga is its ability to reduce stress and anxiety. The slow, supported, passive poses allow the body to switch from the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). This shift helps to calm the mind and reduce stress levels.

2. Improves sleep: Many people experience sleep disturbances due to stress and anxiety. Practicing restorative yoga at any time of the day, particularly just before bed, can promote relaxation and help you fall asleep faster. Restorative yoga can also improve sleep quality, allowing you to feel refreshed and energized in the morning.

3. Increases flexibility: Restorative yoga poses are gentle and passive, so they require little, if any, effort. This makes them an excellent way to increase flexibility without risking injury. The muscles can gradually release and stretch by staying in supported poses for long periods.

4. Boosts the immune system: Restorative yoga can boost the immune system by reducing stress hormones and promoting relaxation. When the body is relaxed, it can focus on healing and repairing itself. This can help to prevent illness and reduce the severity of existing conditions.

5. Helps manage chronic pain: Restorative yoga can help heal chronic pain by promoting mindfulness, decreasing the stress response and directing the body’s energy to growth, repair, immune function, digestion, and other self-nurturing processes.

In summary, restorative yoga is an excellent way to unwind, reduce stress, improve sleep, increase flexibility, boost the immune system, promote mindfulness, and manage chronic pain. Consider incorporating restorative yoga into your routine if you're stressed or overwhelmed. After just a few sessions, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel.

I’m offering an in-person restorative yoga workshop on March 26, which I think you might enjoy. After the anxiety and strains of a busy week, this is the perfect way to unwind in a welcoming, calm, and intimate setting. There’s only room for six participants. Click on the button below to register.

 With joy and gratitude,

Jeannine

 P.S. By the way, on March 26th, this is an IN-PERSON event. The first one in over three years. Can you believe it? Please join me if you can. And if you liked this post from Studio 71 Yoga, please share it. I’d be very grateful.

Yoga—A Way of Life

Yoga, a practice that dates back to ancient India thousands of years ago, is not just a physical activity. It’s a way of life that has proven beneficial in countless ways.

One of the many benefits of yoga is that it helps with sleep recovery—our natural ability to recover and restore our capacity for healthy sleep and to repair our broken sleep.

As you know, sleep is essential for our overall well-being. Lack of sleep can lead to mood swings, decreased productivity, and significant health problems.

Fortunately, yoga can help improve the quantity and quality of our sleep so we can feel happier and healthier.

Here are some ways that yoga can aid in sleep recovery:

1. Mindfulness: Practicing yoga helps you become more mindful of your body and breath. This mindfulness lets you stay present and let go of worries or stress that might keep you awake at night.

2. Relaxation: You can learn to relax your body and mind during yoga practice. This relaxation helps to decrease tension in the muscles and reduces stress levels in the body. The relaxation response can carry over into your sleep, allowing you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

3. Specific Poses: Certain yoga poses are particularly effective in promoting healthy, restful sleep. These include cat/cow pose, child’s pose, legs-up-the-wall pose, simple spinal twist, and bridge pose.

4. Breathing Techniques: Yoga breathing techniques—such as the basic yoga breath, alternate nostril breathing, and the four-part breath (square breathing)—can help calm the mind and relax the body when preparing to sleep. These techniques, and others, can also help to down-regulate an over-active nervous system throughout the day and at night if you’re feeling anxious, agitated, or worried.

As a long-time yoga student, practitioner and teacher, I believe in the power of yoga as an aid to sleep recovery—so much so that, a few times a year, I teach a mind and body course called Five Steps for Better Sleep. Here’s some of what the course covers:

• Determine your sleep type and understand sleep myths.

• Troubleshoot your lifestyle and daily routines to support better sleep.

• Practice a straightforward and adaptable evening yoga routine.

• Repair your natural ability to rest.

• Recover and restore your ability to sleep better.

• Replace chaos and anxiety with peace and resiliency in your personal and professional life.

Stay tuned if you’re wondering when I’ll offer the next course. More information will be available soon in an upcoming blog/newsletter.

In the meantime, on Thursday, March 16th, I’m giving an INTRODUCTORY Five Steps for Better Sleep WORKSHOP:

REPAIR YOUR BROKEN SLEEP

For only $37, you can learn about common sleep saboteurs, explore a few tips to sleep better, and learn more about Five Steps for Better Sleep. You’ll also practice a gentle 20-minute “sleep” yoga sequence to reduce physical tension, lower your heart rate, and decrease stress hormones.

Click the button below for more details.

Practicing yoga can aid in sleep recovery by incorporating mindfulness, relaxation, specific poses, and breathing techniques to help improve sleep quality and overall well-being.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, learn more about incorporating the many beneficial aspects of yoga into your daily and nightly routines to help you sleep better and feel better.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m more than happy to help.

And if you liked this post from Studio 71 Yoga, please share it. I’d be very grateful.

With joy and gratitude,

Jeannine

More Important than Diet and Exercise

Based on scientific evidence and research, sleep is a crucial component of a healthy lifestyle and arguably more important than diet and exercise.

Here’s why:

1. Sleep affects all other aspects of health: Lack of sleep significantly impacts our mental, physical, and emotional well-being. It impairs cognitive function, weakens the immune system, increases stress levels, affects mood, and disrupts hormonal balance. Getting enough sleep is essential for maintaining overall health and well-being.

2. Sleep affects weight: When we don't get enough sleep, we produce more ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, and less leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite. This can lead to overeating and weight gain. Adequate sleep every night can help regulate these hormones, helping us maintain a healthy weight.

3. Sleep aids muscle recovery: During sleep, our body repairs and regenerates muscle tissue, allowing us to recover from exercise and build strength. Without adequate sleep, our muscles may not have the time to recover fully, leading to injury or difficulty building muscle.

4. A lack of sleep affects exercise performance: Lack of sleep can lead to decreased energy levels and motivation, making it harder to perform at peak levels during exercise. Sleep also affects our ability to focus and make quick decisions—two critical skills when executing proper form during exercise.

5. Sleep contributes to longevity: Consistently getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep each night has been linked to numerous health benefits, including a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Unfortunately, when it comes to sleep, many people are not getting enough of it every night—this vital biological function is not given the priority it deserves.

Learning to SLEEP BETTER—so you can FEEL BETTER and ENJOY LIFE more—probably isn’t the first thing on your to-do list. And, of course, you’re overwhelmed, stressed out, exhausted, and fed up. Who has time for sleep anyway?

I get it. You’re like most people with busy lives and competing priorities. The fact remains, however, that your sleep may be broken. That comes with life’s ups and downs.

The good news, luckily, is that you can learn how to use your body, breath, and mind to repair your broken sleep.

In fact, on March 16—the day before World Sleep Day 2023—I’m offering an introductory workshop called “Repair Your Broken Sleep,” which includes an overview of Five Steps for Better Sleep so you can begin to:

• Fall asleep more easily.

• Wake less frequently during the night.

• Feel less tired and anxious.

• Foster a healthier relationship with sleep.

• Feel happier and healthier.

• Enjoy life more.

For more information, click on the button below.

In keeping with the theme of World Sleep Day 2023—Sleep is Essential for Health—now is the time to prioritize your sleep and ensure you get enough of it every night.

There’s no denying the importance of diet and exercise in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And good sleep habits are equally—if not more—essential for overall health and well-being.

I’ll leave you with a quote:

“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”

— Thomas Dekker

And if you liked this post from Studio 71 Yoga, please share it. I’d be very grateful.

With joy and gratitude,

Jeannine

Letting Go—A great idea, but I’m hooked.

“You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.”

— Pema Chödrön

The sky in this quote by Pema Chödrön (principal teacher at Gampo Abbey, a Tibetan-Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia) is a metaphor for the clear and vast nature of our soul, our true nature. The weather represents the clouds that sometimes hide our view of our soul, yet our true nature is always there, expansive, eternal, and unchanging.

A central theme of Pema Chödrön’s teaching is the principle of shenpa, a Tibetan word often translated as “attachment” or “hooked”. Shenpa has been described as that “sticky feeling” where we feel a tightening or a sense of closing down, withdrawing, and not wanting to be where we are, hence the “hooked” quality.

That tight feeling is the moment of being hooked into a cycle of negative thoughts and actions leading to self-denigration, blame, anger, jealousy and other negative emotions.

Shenpa is usually involuntary, and it gets right to the root of why we suffer.

Below are some examples that might sound familiar.

Hot-shot kid in a too-fast car cut you off this morning; it’s noon, and you’re still seething.

The clerk at the grocery store wouldn’t let you in his express line because the guy behind you ratted on your 14th item.

Your spouse had an affair ten years ago, and even though you’ve been divorced for seven, your stomach still knots up when you think about it.

You moved to a new city for a great career opportunity but long so much for your old home and friends that you can’t find anything to like about the new place.

Your son stays home to care for the kids while your daughter-in-law works at her law practice, which doesn’t seem right.

In our yoga practice, we’re often encouraged to let go of what no longer serves us.

You know you should let it all go, and you try, but there it is—you’re “hooked” into that cycle of negative thoughts and emotions. That same old stuff is still getting rent-free space in your head.

How does one let go so that the residue of the past is put away, forgotten, or transformed into memories that can be called upon at will rather than those that show up like telephone solicitors at dinnertime and demand attention?

Letting go has to do with living in the present moment rather than the past. It happens when the past isn’t projected into the future but is left behind where it belongs. It’s about making amends when called for, taking care of what needs attending to, and forgiving rather than re-living.

Below are a few suggestions for you to consider:

• Next time a thought about something that happened in the past floats into your mind, let it pass through without jumping aboard and going along for the ride. It will grow if you focus on it like a weed that gets watered. Try acknowledging the thought, then, with a deep breath, letting it go.

• If the thought that comes along is about something left undone, you may need to take action before you can let go. Would you like to make amends to someone, clear up a misunderstanding, write a letter or make a phone call? It can be helpful to list the actions needed to clear a situation and set some goals. You can begin with a small, manageable step. But whatever you need to do, get started. Taking action often precedes letting go.

• Stay in the now and appreciate the circumstances of your life. Make a gratitude list of what you like about wherever you are, not just your living arrangements but other parts of your life. Get rid of what’s no longer appropriate in your life, and create more space for new parts of yourself to show up.

• Write letters you may or may not send to people you need to release.  (Just so you know, always wait a few days and check with someone you trust if you have doubts about the appropriateness of sending a letter.) Write unsent letters to situations from your past or to people, even those who have passed away. Write what you feel, say what you need, and say goodbye.

• Let go by putting away pictures, memorabilia, clothes, gifts and anything else that keeps you actively connected with someone who’s no longer with you and whose presence you keep alive when it would be more beneficial to move on.

• Make a ceremony of letting go. Burn old letters or journals. Dig a hole in the earth and bury what needs to be buried. Write a letter or vow for the occasion and read it aloud. Light candles or sing songs. And weep, if need be. Include others in your ceremony to act as witnesses and support you.

• Let go of old ideas. People, lifestyles and cultures change. Talk to others, and get their perspectives. Focus on what’s good about change, and explore how moving on benefits you and others. Holding on to how it used to be, keeps you in its grip and prevents you from participating in and enjoying the present.

• Release thoughts and words that categorize people, that measure or evaluate, judge or condemn, or hold others with expectations. Eliminate words like should, ought, can’t, if only, however, and impossible.

Ultimately, letting go is a practice of forgiveness and an act of love that happens over time.

With this, I’ll leave you with another quote:

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Happy Valentine’s Day!

With joy and gratitude,

Jeannine

Adapted from content used under license, © Claire Communications

Last Chance to Put Yourself First

It’s Jeannine here with a gentle nudge.

The Intro to the Restorative Powers of Better Sleep workshop is happening this weekend, on Sunday, January 22nd, and this is your last chance to sign up.

Allow me to introduce you to the Five Steps for Better Sleep so you can:

• Fall asleep more easily

• Wake less frequently during the night

• Feel less tired and anxious

• Foster a healthier relationship with sleep

Come back to the REAL you.

Come back to the BEST you—happy, energized, focused, productive, caring, and calm.

The restorative and transformative powers of better sleep are within your reach, and this live, online introduction to a powerful 5-step integrative yoga solution makes change possible.

If you want to sleep better so you can feel better, click on the button below NOW to register for the workshop.

If you have questions about how an integrative yoga solution for better sleep can benefit you, feel free to book a complimentary chat to see how I can help.

Isn't it time you put yourself first so you can sleep better and feel better?

With joy and gratitude,

Jeannine