Pranayama - The Art of Breathing

How well we breath is how well we live. With a healthy and flexible respiratory process we enjoy higher levels of energy, more efficient healing processes, stronger tissues, improved digestion, immune, circulatory, and endocrine functions, as well as better nervous system regulation and emotional resiliency. But how does one breathe better? What is the 'right' way to breathe? Let this class show you the way! Better breathing is a complex topic requiring coordination, strength, and flexibility in many different areas of the body. In this class we both prepare the body for better breathing by addressing each of these areas, and also explore more efficient processes of breathing through traditional yogic pranayama and bandha exercises. With 25,000 opportunities a day to practice, this class will change the way you connect with your daily breaths and will help you choose the best options to meet the moment to moment needs of your day!

The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle at the base of your ribcage which separates your lung cavity from your abdominal cavity and functions as your primary muscle of respiration, controlling over 75% of your capacity to breath. Since breathing is our most vital function, we can immediately appreciate how important the diaphragm is to living life! However, your diaphragm allows you to do more than just breath. It also acts as part of our body's core support system, helping to control our posture, it aids in digestive processes, mobilizes your abdominal organs, helps your kidneys filter toxins, controls internal pressure, prevents acid reflux, aids in lymphatic movement, and helps to control tone in our parasympathetic nervous system. This single muscle is the master of many important body functions, and yet it rarely receives the attention or care it deserves! In this class we will learn to strengthen, stretch, and mobilize this critical muscle, as well as exploring ways to remove fascial adhesions, increase efficiency, and repair any areas that have opportunities for better health and diaphragmatic happiness. This class will leave you feeling more relaxed, more alive, and more connected to your breath and the possibilities it brings to life!

Of all of the incredible functions our body performs everyday, none are more important and necessary than breathing. We perform this action roughly 25,000 time a day to provide the needed oxygen that sustains our life. How well we breath affects absolutely every element of our life from the physical health of all our bones, tissues, organs , and their capacities to repair and grow, to our energy and vitality, stress resiliency, and mental/emotional health. Our breath is the foundational function that connects and coordinates our body, mind, and spirit. In this class we will work to improve our respiratory process by addressing it on numerous fronts. First, we need to consider 'how' to breath - debunking some common misconceptions about what truly is 'the best way' to breath, and instead recognizing that our breath is as versatile as our body and how we choose to use it can either help or hinder our health. There is only one 'wrong way' to breath, but there are many 'right ways' depending on what you are doing in the present. A healthy breath for resting or watching TV is very different than what a healthy breath for running a marathon, lifting heavy items, or freediving would be. By learning healthy processes of breathing, we can learn to mindfully adapt our breathing to meet the needs of our body. However, knowing how to breathe effectively is only half the picture. We also need to consider the fact that the action of breathing is controlled muscularly and through pressure, and thus requires flexibility, strength, and mobility in the canister that surrounds our lungs - our ribs, back and chest, as well as our core and abdominal organs. Through stretching, strengthening and fascial care techniques we can learn to create more space and efficiency, reducing respiratory resistance and creating a fuller, easier breath!

In this class we discuss Polyvagal Theory as we learn to understand what is happening in our nervous system when we are experiencing sadness, depression, a lack of motivation, grief, hopelessness, numbness, or dissociation. All of these emotional experiences happen within the part of our nervous system which controls our 'fawn, freeze, or play dead' instincts and has evolved to help us survive trauma or difficult experiences. Learn to understand the wisdom contained within this oldest evolutionary construct of your nervous system, and learn what causes us to get 'stuck' in these emotional experiences when this system become over-engaged or out of balance. Most importantly, we will learn an array of techniques that will help to 'upregulate' your nervous system, helping you to get unstuck, able to create closure, regain motivation, increase your energy, and get moving back into a healthy mental state of peace and ease.

Our pelvic floor musculatures are some of the least talked about tissues in the body, but in reality, they control so much of what it means to be strong, mobile, and in support of healthy organ activity. When our pelvic floor muscles are healthy, strong, and well connected, we experience a sense of vitality and ease of movement that allows us to explore life to it's fullest. When our pelvic floor muscles are weak, chronically engaged, or disconnected from our conscious control, we can experience a very large number of associated health conditions from incontinence and prolapse, to reproductive organ issues, low libido and self-esteem, a decline in sexual stamina, as well as kidney stones, bladder infections and holding issues, infertility, lower back and hip pain, pelvic misalignment, and digestive issues, to name a few. In fact, our pelvic floor musculature is some of the most important muscle action in the body! But what is the pelvic floor? Where is the pelvic diaphragm and how does it work? How is it different from the perineum and other tissue that are often confused with the pelvic diaphragm? What is the best way to exercise this area? Come explore these answers, explore the unknown zones of your body, and learn the ancient yogic technique of Mula Bandha - yoga's great secret to keeping our pelvic floor active, adaptable, and ready to support our vitality at all ages and stages of life! **Please note that this class is not only safe for pregnancy, but highly recommended for it**

In this class we discuss Polyvagal Theory, the nature and process of stress and anxiety, and the role of the vagus nerve in helping to regulate and balance your nervous system, as well as your mental and physical health. Learn to understand the wisdom of your stress response, gain skills to increase your stress resiliency, and discover how to not only recognize when your sympathetic (fight or flight) system has become unnecessarily engaged, but also what techniques can help you to downregulate and get rid of these unpleasant, unwanted, and unneeded feelings.

In this video we discuss the diaphragm, our body's main respiratory muscle. We debunk certain myths about how to strengthen the diaphragm, and learn the most effective ways to stretch, strengthen, and make space for your diaphragm to move better. Better breathing starts with this class!

A therapeutic approach to improving pelvic floor health, learning to breathe better, and learning to safely develop your core. We'll also explore stretches and rolling exercises to help mobilize and heal the supporting tissues in these areas.