Amanda Dzengeleski
Re-Blooming with Spring

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.

Re-Blooming with Spring
Amanda Dzengeleski
NEW Mindfulness Meditation Class

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.

NEW Mindfulness Meditation Class
Guest User
Meditation for Those Who Can’t Meditate

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.

Meditation for Those Who Can’t Meditate
Amanda Dzengeleski
Easing into the New Year with Grace and ...

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?

SAM Sather
The Sacrum: A Key to Spinal Health and Mobility

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.

The Sacrum: A Key to Spinal Health and Mobility

Yoga May Benefit Respiratory Function

Yoga May Benefit Respiratory Function

I remember the first time I recognized how much yoga changed my breathing. I was teaching a biology unit on respiration and wanted to demonstrate how much carbon dioxide was in our exhale. I started to exhale into a beaker of water with a universal indicator and made bubbles for about a minute until the water turned green (I had exhaled enough water to make the water acidic). The students were amazed - not about the color change but that I was blowing bubbles for an entire minute! Many students asked to try it themselves. None of the students could exhale long enough to make the water change color. Although it appeared like I had magical lungs, in reality yoga helped me strengthen my diaphragm and intercostal muscles so I could access my full lung capacity.

Yoga Supports A Healthy Circulation System

Yoga Supports A Healthy Circulation System

Before yoga as exercise was mainstream, Dr. Dean Ornish began researching how lifestyle changes can impact one's health. In the 1983 Pilot study Dr. Dean Ornish showed that even severe heart disease could be reversed by the Ornish Program, as demonstrated by improved blood flow to the heart after only 30 days. With 37 years of scientific evidence, the Ornish program shows that changes in diet and lifestyle can make a powerful difference in your heart function and overall well-being. The Ornish program is not a yoga program, but it mirrors the themes of yoga and offers participants opportunities to practice yoga. The rigorous program has you look at four important areas of your life: how you manage stress, how much love and support you have, how much you move and what you eat.

Dogwood Studio’s first Service Class supports Healing Pines Respite

Dogwood Studio’s first Service Class supports Healing Pines Respite

Dogwood Studio is proud to start our pay what you can Karma Classes by supporting Healing Pines Respite. Healing Pines Respite is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides respites for women throughout North Carolina currently in cancer treatment and up to two years post-treatment. They grant space to tune into their healing journey with rest, connection and nature. They promote shifting the priority from merely surviving to living well so women with cancer can heal mind, body, and spirit. When women thrive, it has a ripple effect on their families and communities.

Dogwood Studios is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Dogwood Studios is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Dogwood Studios has been working on our level of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We recognize that we need to do more and be better. We are committed to having courageous conversations and taking active steps to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. In the last few months, our team has come together to put what we think is important about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into words. Creating a DE&I statement is the first step in transforming our ideas about diversity, equity and inclusion into action and results. We hope you can join us in this process of learning and growing.

Nourish yourself with Restorative Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra

Nourish yourself with Restorative Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra, translates to the yoga of sleep, is a guided and passive meditation that provides therapeutic relaxation. As you listen to the soothing meditation, you consciously harness the biological function and benefits of sleep. You enter into a mind state between being awake and asleep, allowing your body to completely rest and restore.

Ground yourself with Yoga and Meditation this Fall

Ground yourself with Yoga and Meditation this Fall

Fall is a good time to practice self care that nourishes and warms the body and mind. Grounding practices of yoga and meditation help you keep your balance as Nature around us starts to prepare for winter because our bodies and our minds are also preparing for winter. Just like we balance out our active Yang practice with a calming Yin practice, we need to balance the variability of fall with grounding and nourishing activities to keep us rooted. Fall is the time to let go of the heat and intensity of the summer and embrace the heaviness that is approaching. We can find our balance between summer and winter’s energy by making self care an intentional aspect of our daily routine.

Dogwood Studios Offers Many Options to Support You

Dogwood Studios Offers Many Options to Support You

As the season has started to shift from hot and humid to wet and windy, nature reminds us that times of transition are very important. Each season is critical to sustaining life, and we should embrace each with equanimity. We might find ourselves irritated with the endless summer heat, but in a blink of the eye the days get shorter and the next phase of capricious weather arrives. Welcome changes in nature and embrace what is in store for us right now.

New Workshop with Aviva: Yoga for Digestive Health Workshop (online)

New Workshop with Aviva: Yoga for Digestive Health Workshop (online)

According to Ayurveda (literally meaning life science), digestion is the seed of health. Food is life. It nourishes our mind, body and soul. But we need to be able to digest well in order to obtain the nutrients the body needs. When we are out of balance, we do not digest well and disease manifests. Therefore, as we look to maintain health, we need to explore how we digest. Ayurveda suggests that the biggest impact on our digestion is how we eat, not what we eat. Read more about the importance of healthy digestion from an Ayurvedic perspective.

Outdoor Yoga at the Botanic Gardens continues this fall

Outdoor Yoga at the Botanic Gardens continues this fall

Outdoor yoga continues at the Botanic Gardens this fall. Aviva will teach one more class on August 31st. Participants will meet at 9:30am, in the Perennial circle and then move to a shaded area nearby. Sam will return to teaching at the Botanic Gardens, Tuesdays at 9:30am starting September 7th at a new location: in the meadow along the Streamside Trail. The new field is in the forest behind the Children’s Wonder garden through the gates towards the Piedmont Nature Trails. Sam will teach in the spacious and shaded outdoor space in September and October.