Imagine practicing yoga surrounded by the delicate beauty of spring—wildflowers nodding gently in the breeze, the scent of fresh herbs and tea leaves in the air. This is the magic of the Tea House, where nature and mindfulness intertwine to create a space for deep connection. We invite you to embrace the season’s rising energy in our April yoga series.
Meditation is not a linear journey. It’s not about achieving a specific state or reaching a final destination. Instead, it’s a variable practice that shifts and evolves. This fluidity makes meditation an opportunity for exploration rather than a pursuit of perfection. It invites us to let go of binary perspectives such as good or bad, right or wrong, failure or success.
Do you feel like meditation just isn’t for you? You’re not alone. Meditation is often seen as a gateway to calm, clarity, and balance. But the truth is, sitting in silence can feel anything but peaceful. It’s important to understand that meditation isn’t about achieving peacefulness. It’s about learning to focus on a single thought, noticing distractions, and gently guiding your attention back.
As the calendar turns and the new year approaches, it’s easy to get swept up in the tide of resolutions and the pressure to “start fresh.” We draft lists of goals and set rigid expectations, believing that January 1st marks the start of a perfect, linear path toward self-improvement. But what if we approached the new year differently? What if, instead of rigid resolutions, we embraced curiosity, intention, and a willingness to ease into this next chapter with grace?
The sacrum, often overlooked, plays a vital role in both spinal health and overall movement. It's not just a single bone but a fusion of five vertebrae that occurs as we age, usually completing the process in our 20s. Despite this fusion, the sacrum is part of a dynamic system that requires awareness and movement to stay healthy.
Pain is a protective mechanism. It is a signal that there is something wrong in the body. Pain is an alert message. It tells you that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Pain is a sensation of the nervous system, but as scientists try to learn and understand pain, they are finding that fascia is important in pain generation and treatment.
Dogwood studio’s intern, Aviva Tulasi is currently enrolled in an 800 hour IAYT approved yoga therapy program at the Sivananda Yoga Farm. Aviva studies classical Yoga and Ayurveda so that she can make the ancient teaching relevant to modern life. The goal of her education is to empower people in their own Self-healing. Dogwood studio and Aviva have teamed up to support Aviva’s journey through her yoga therapy program and to benefit students. Aviva will be offering two options for students to explore the yoga of turning inward: 1. Meditation in Motion weekly group yoga classes and 2. Yoga Health Practicum private sessions.
I think I first heard about fascia about 5 years ago when my step-mom asked me to go to a Yin Yoga class with her. She said that the class was great because you stayed in each asana for extended times so that your fascia could get stretched. I had no idea what she was talking about. Was fascia another one of those yoga terms? I took many biology and anatomy classes in high school and college and yet fascia was never discussed. You don’t find fascia listed as components in biological systems. But you hear it all the time in yoga classes. Why? What exactly is fascia?
A yoga participant recently wrote a wonderful testimonial that got me thinking. We frequently think of yoga as a great way to reconnect the mind and body, to find movement in sticky fascia, or through mindfulness finding calm. This testimonial focuses on “lift” and draws a parallel between yoga and aviation. Read what they have to say:
January occurs during peak cold and flu season. Add in a pandemic, and we are all concerned about preventing viral illness. What do we do if catch a virus despite our best efforts? We know to rest, drink plenty of liquids, consult our medical practitioners, etc. During a recent viral illness, I noticed that I felt better after practicing yoga . This got me to thinking. Was I just more relaxed, or was there something else to it?
Yoga reduces frequency and intensity of headaches.
by Aviva Tulasi
Often people talk about headaches as though they are not a big deal. A headache is a common annoyance. Everyone gets them, so it’s normal. However, a headache is like any other pain your body experiences, which is a physiological response of the nervous system warning you that something is wrong.
For a growing number of people, headaches negatively impact their daily lives. According to the World Health Organization, headache disorders are one of the top 10 causes for disability. Forty-six percent of the global adult population has a headache disorder.
Dogwood studio wishes you and your family a happy holiday season and continued health in the new year.
In 2021, Dogwood Studio will continue to post blogs of interest. If you are not receiving these blogs in your email, sign up to get them delivered right to your inbox. We only send important information such as topics of interest or information about new classes or workshops, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Holidays are usually a happy occasion, although they can also bring a lot of negative stress. Add the negative stress of the continued pandemic along with loneliness due to ongoing quarantines, and it is a mixture that can cause the soundest sleeper among us to have problems drifting off. Negative stress causes a release of stress hormones that increase the heart rate and change the blood flow. Over a long time, this can cause physical changes including sleep deprivation. Statistics show that Americans are sleep deprived, which is defined as having fewer than seven hours of sleep a night. Sleep deprived adults have increased risk for health conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, and depression.
What Can We Do to Sleep Better and Improve Health?
