Tao Porchon-Lynch: still teaching yoga and dancing at 96!

Posted on June 22, 2015 by 4yoga

If you watch America’s Got Talent, you may already be familiar with 96-year-old ballroom dancer, Tao Porchon-Lynch, who took up dance at age 87.  If not, here is a video of one of her recent amazing performances with her 26-year-old dance partner!

But what you might not yet know is that Porchon-Lynch is also considered “the world’s oldest yoga teacher,” and she credits 50+ years of yoga teaching and her determined spirit with keeping her healthy and active as she has aged.  As one of her students says in this short video, “she is the epitome of strength and energy.”

Porchon-Lynch inspires us to continue our practice for decades to come!  Many thanks to Shirley Dammeyer for calling this amazing woman to our attention!

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International Day of Yoga: Sun., June 21

Posted on June 18, 2015 by 4yoga

As some of you may have heard recently on NPR’s Morning Edition, Sunday, June 21, is International Day of Yoga, with yoga activities planned around the world.  4yoga will be celebrating, as it does each Sunday, with a 4 p.m. Basics class, so feel free to join us!

Do you have other ideas for how to recognize International Day of Yoga?  Know of any special activities planned in south-central Kentucky?  Please share in the comments!

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Angie completes Yin immersion

Posted on June 15, 2015 by 4yoga

We are pleased to announce that Angie recently completed a 20-hour training specifically focused on Yin yoga. This immersion, held at Sanctuary for Yoga in Nashville, was led by Liz Stewart, who teaches Sanctuary’s Yin classes and who has studied with Bernie Clark, author of popular books on Yin and founder of YinYoga.com, an excellent online resource on this style of yoga.

From the training, Angie learned that we are fortunate to have so many teachers interested in learning about and teaching Yin yoga; most of the other participants are the only people in their area who are teaching Yin, which keeps them from being able to take other Yin classes. She also was introduced to new ideas about sequencing a Yin class and appreciated hearing teachers’ perspectives on how much talking (and about what topics) and how much silence best helps their students explore the practice.

Although this training was Sanctuary’s first one focused on Yin, the studio plans to make it an annual event. While Angie took it as an elective for her 300-hour training program, it is open both to teachers and to students. Therefore, those of you who would like an opportunity to study and practice Yin for 20 hours over a weekend can keep an eye on the Workshops/Events section of Sanctuary’s website to see when the next one will be held.

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Meditation reduces stress, changes brain (Harvard study)

Posted on June 11, 2015 by 4yoga

The Washington Post recently reported on a study by Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, that identified changes in people’s brains when they practice meditation.  After subjects spent eight weeks in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program, researchers found thickening in four regions of the brain associated with mind-wandering, learning, and empathy.  They also discovered reductions in the size of the amygdala, commonly thought of as the “fight-or-flight” region, which correlated to reductions in stress levels for the meditators.

Locally, Vanderbilt’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine offers training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), with new eight-week sessions beginning on June 16 and on Sept. 1.  Alice Simpson completed this course in 2014 and would be happy to answer anyone’s questions about it.  She notes, “I would highly recommend the program. I regularly use the skills I learned and the materials they gave us. Just more tools for our toolkit on this path of learning to become more peaceful and more enlightened.”

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Frances learns more about low back health in workshop

Posted on June 8, 2015 by 4yoga

In May, Frances attended a two-hour workshop led by Kevin Wheet from Memphis, Tn., dealing with ways to overcome back pain with yoga.  The workshop emphasized details of the psoas, the pesky muscle that causes many of us lower back pain and hip discomfort. Kevin demonstrated ways in which to manage and prevent issues at the root of the problem by using specific yoga poses specifically designed to target the psoas and by breaking down the poses to make them more beneficial, thus allowing people of all ages and abilities to get more benefit from their yoga practice.

We hope that Kevin will return to Bowling Green for another workshop soon!

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Danielle’s visit on her “50 States of Yoga” tour

Posted on June 5, 2015 by 4yoga

Several of you were able to meet Danielle, a visiting student who attended class on Sunday, May 17, while stopping in Kentucky on her 50 States of Yoga tour.  Danielle’s goal for the year is to take a yoga class in every state, and her class at 4yoga marked her 15th state.

Here are Danielle and Susan enjoying a variation of tree pose after class!Danielle_Susan_50_States_May2015If you would like to read more about Danielle’s time in Kentucky, which included stops at Mammoth Cave and the Corvette Museum in addition to 4yoga, check out her blog.

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June 2015 focus and class schedule

Posted on June 1, 2015 by 4yoga

Will summer ever arrive this year? We have recently been witness to extreme weather conditions all over the world. Weather experts attribute this to the warming of the Pacific Ocean which, in turn, moves the jet stream and creates shifts in weather patterns. How adaptable are you to the ever-changing conditions that surround you? Assuming that we all strive to be happy, it is probably not a good idea to seek that happiness by expecting predictable patterns in the external world.

Our internal worlds are constantly changing as well. Did you know that a prune-sized part of the brain, the insula, is constantly scanning the body to detect signals that drive our emotions and behavior, in order to bring us into balance? By tuning into the language of our bodies’ subtle sensations, we can show up as more present and “embodied” in our lives as well as more resilient to the changes in the world around us.

In his brilliant new book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., highlights a chapter on yoga with a research study of traumatized people who participated in a regular yoga practice for twenty weeks. Before and after scans of their brains showed increased activation in both the insula and medial prefrontal cortex. We all know that yoga is good for us, and now neuroscience is validating it from the science perspective. Healthy, happy insulas to you!

June updates:

  • Friday Gentle class: The Friday 9:30 a.m. Gentle class continues to complement the Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 a.m. Gentle classes. Angie, Susan, and Kathie continue to rotate as its teachers.
  • Talk/meditation session: Juanita will offer this special session on Friday, June 12, immediately following the Yin class. Whether you have been curious about meditation or already have a meditation practice and would like to discuss meditation with others, please join Juanita for this session.
  • Restorative class: Susan will offer a Restorative class on Friday, June 26, at 5:30 p.m.

For a full list of June classes, please see the calendar page of this site or pick up a hard copy at The Pots Place, located at 428 East Main Street (on Fountain Square) in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  We look forward to practicing with you in June!

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May 2015 focus and class schedule

Posted on April 30, 2015 by 4yoga

The last few days in Bowling Green have been “picture perfect.” The buds waking to blossoms and leaves and near perfect weather (gauged by our narrow comfort zone) bring us great joy. In the dead of winter, thoughts of these days may have inspired us.

In his commentary on the Katha Upanishad, Eknath Easwaran quotes Wallace Stevens’ poem, “Sunday Morning”: “Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her, / Alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams / And our desires.” Easwaran continues to comment on the essence of wisdom found in this Upanishad: “ …that in all human experience it is really only the Self, pure consciousness, that is the enjoyer, so that when one realizes the Self, there is nothing else to be known and all the knots that strangle the heart are loosened and that death occurs to that part of us which was born and launched into separate existence.”

Allow the beauty and joy of spring to loosen the knots in your heart and to make space to experience this Self. Loosening the knots in your body is a very good thing to do for yourself, as well! Then relax in savasana and feel that joy in every cell of your body.

May class addition and special events:

  • New Friday Gentle class: In response to student requests, we have added a third 9:30 a.m. Gentle class, on Fridays. For May, Angie, Susan, and Kathie will rotate as teachers of this new class.
  • Restorative class: Although the Sunday Restorative class is taking a hiatus, Susan will offer a special Friday Restorative class on Friday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m.
  • Talk/meditation session: To participate in the monthly discussion and meditation event, join Juanita on Friday, May 15, immediately following the Yin class. There is no charge for this session, and everyone is welcome to learn more about meditation and its benefits and to experience a short meditation.
  • Memorial Day class: On Memorial Day (Monday, May 25), join Kim for a 9 a.m. Mixed-level class, appropriate for all students.

For a full list of May classes, please see the calendar page or a hard copy available at The Pots Place (428 East Main Street, on Fountain Square in downtown Bowling Green, Kentucky).  We look forward to practicing with you in May!

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Spring Cleaning with Ayurveda: workshop on April 18, 2015

Posted on April 7, 2015 by 4yoga

Ayurveda_Workshop_04-18-2015

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Introducing new teacher: Sally Swiatek

Posted on April 3, 2015 by 4yoga

We are pleased to welcome a new teacher, Sally Swiatek!  We asked Sally to share some information about herself and her yoga experiences:

I was introduced to yoga in 2000 by my mom. She had gone to a power yoga class that was crazy hard and said that I would love it. I was teaching fitness classes at the time (spin, kickboxing, step, sculpt) and was competing in triathlons and adventure races. At the same time, I was raising my two kids alongside my husband.

We have moved around quite a bit for work, but I have always been able to continue teaching fitness and yoga in some capacity. I became a registered yoga teacher (RYT) after completing my 230+ hour teacher training with Stephanie Keatch at the Asheville Yoga Center in North Carolina. Her course covered many different disciplines of yoga, and the intentional variety of instructors gave me a very broad yet deep understanding of yoga.

There is still so much to learn, so I am looking into obtaining the next level of teacher training–300 additional hours, to earn my RYT 500. I love the way yoga helps the body with stretching and relaxation; I love the way it helps the mind to be still and focus; and I love the way it helps the spirit to accept, forgive, and embrace life.

In April, Sally is teaching four Flow classes (Mon., 4/6; Mon., 4/20; Wed., 4/22; and Mon., 4/27).   We hope you are able to join us to welcome Sally and to enjoy a challenging practice together!

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