iRest is a systematic methodology of active rest that helps you integrate your experience. iRest is based on the ancient teachings of Yoga Nidra but presented in a form made accessible for modern-day living. It is designed to bring the healing benefits of yogic and meditative practices to a wide variety of people. Although you might fall asleep during iRest, the goal is for the conscious mind to be available to inquire about your experience. You learn to make choices for what you need and to let go of what no longer serves you.
This Fourth of July, Practice with Dogwood Studios!
4th of July gives us time to celebrate the joys of freedom. However, real freedom is an internal practice. Group classes at Dogwood Studios will follow our regular schedule throughout July. As everyone celebrates Fourth of July, you will find a few subs throughout the month and Joint Freeing Yoga on July 4th will be offered as an On Demand Video rather than a live class.
Taking Yoga off the Mat to Sit Well
You don't always need to roll out your mat to do your yoga practice. The tools and techniques of yoga can be practiced in your everyday life and they can help you find good posture in your daily activities. Practicing sitting well in everyday life such as driving, working, eating or relaxing on the couch can help reduce stiffness and pain in the lower back and hips.
Yoga maintains flexibility in spirit, mind and body.
I have been volunteering to bring yoga to children while at school. In the middle school classes, there typically is a child who gets to a mat and immediately starts doing backbends. The other kids watch with a sense of disappointment because they fear that they won’t ever be good at yoga. However, yoga isn’t about folding the body into shapes. Yoga is an integration of the body, mind and spirit. Yoga allows you to have a flexible spirit, mind and body. This flexibility isn’t bending the body into various shapes, it is embracing the ability to adapt and change.
Santosha is a Practice
Lead with Love: Heart Centered Yoga and Meditation
Step out of your mind and connect with your heart in our upcoming four-part series: Heart Centered Yoga and Meditation on Mondays 8:00-9:15 a.m. March 6–March 27, 2023.
The heart center is the energy point for unconditional love, compassion, and joy. By inviting awareness to our heart space through the practice of yoga, we choose love as the guiding principle in life and open ourselves to a greater sense of fulfillment.
Happy Holidays!
Dogwood Studios is excited for the return of Yin Yoga.
We are bringing Yin back for Service Week benefiting Healing Pines Respite! Service Week will include 2 Yin classes: Friday Evening Yin with Sam and on Saturday Evening Leesann will be teaching Restorative Yin and Yoga Nidra. We will continue to offer Yin Yoga the first Friday of the month at 6:15 pm with an In Person and an Online option for attendance.
Balancing Emotional Energy
Emotion is the experience of energy moving through the body, according to social psychologist Barbara Frederickson, Ph.D. In its essence, energy is fluid and is meant to be felt and released; the same is true for emotions. Emotion is not inherently good or bad, rather it’s our physiological response to emotion that is perceived as positive or negative. Emotion is felt as a sensation that often manifests as contraction or expansion in both the physical and subtle bodies.
Coming soon: Slow Flow Yoga Thursday Evenings!
Join us as we honor the season and slow down in Slow Flow! Starting Thursday October 6th, Ainslee will be guiding a weekly Thursday evening Slow Flow yoga class at 5:45 pm. In this class we will move through each asana sequence slowly and mindfully. We will explore the transitions between poses with curiosity while deeply strengthening the body and investigating the felt sensations of the body and the breath.