I've been practicing and teaching yoga lifestyle for eighteen years. She believes that yoga: the breathing, the consciousness, the flex and movement can be accomplished anytime, anywhere. Ellen believes that each person is in charge of their own body; and, that peace and comfort must be found every day, sometimes over and over depending on any physical challenges that person is experiencing. More than medicine, more than depending on any outside source for comfort, yoga allows for the reality of who we were meant to be, what we were meant to feel like to set in. Yoga is the science of life. Breath is our umbilical cord to the Divine. That reconnection can ensure our wellness.

My teaching favorites are: Hatha & Raja Yoga, Breathing Meditation, and level 1 Kundalini Yoga.

Yoga is a lifestyle and a resonance of the conscious mind to be at peace in the skin you inhabit.

Let's entertain two questions I am frequently asked:

Q. Yoga has often been called the Rainbow Bridge, an invisible bridge between earth and heaven. Why?

A. Yoga is a very conscious way to do life. In busy life, most are called to "step it up," hurry and rush through the day. Often, people don't allow themselves to "feel" until they "feel badly".

Grief, pain, as well as rambling thoughts that take us from the past to the future and back again, take us away from the PRESENT moment. And, because healing can only happen "in the present moment", isn't it a compelling thought that we bring any anxieties, pain or loss — consciously — and with a breath — into present time?

Our body is the vehicle we have to inhabit earth life; and moving the body into positions or poses consciously, and while focusing on the breath, allows the one practicing to move energy and bring aliveness to areas of the body that otherwise go through life unnoticed, not consciously energized.

Poses or Asanas are designed to open one side of the body while breathing. Constriction of blood flow on the opposite side of the body opens itself when the pose or asana is relaxed in center, standing relaxation pose called Tadasana. In Tadasana the body relaxes, all organs have ability to bathe themselves in the energy flow moving through the body. Then, the one practicing moves slowly to the other side of the body opening up energy there.

Each pose is designed to move and open energetic flows to all organs and systems. In many ways asanas can be thought of as energetic keys to heal and bring awareness to parts of the body we often give little or no thought to. Each pose should be done slowly and with consciousness. Especially in times of illness, the body deserves the love and attention it obviously has been denied.

You can give your medical practitioner permission to deal with illness while you deal with your own well-deserved wellness. Look at pictures of healthy organs and imagine energy flow over each as you practice your yoga poses, thus allowing the connection between infinite and finite to open up. Remember, you're looking for peace and serenity. Look for the Aha moment after each yoga session.

Energy is really neutral, not good or bad; however stored or blocked energy is typically announced as bad or painful because it is shrieking for attention. To the "feeler" it is usually labeled as pain.

The opposite is also true of energy that is consciously moved through the body with attention to position and breath — even the sore spots start to open up and feel good — feel better — more open.

It isn't a mystery. Energy flows where attention goes. So why not make it voluntary and make the choice to feel great in your body? Embrace how good you were designed to feel! Feel bliss!

Q. I go to church and consider myself a Christian. Does yoga conflict with my Christian beliefs?

A. Breathing deeply, feeling peaceful in the body, and moving in ways that assist blood flow and energy movement is not restricted to eastern cultures. Keeping the mind constantly busy, without quiet reflection is not healthy, and not typically Christian if the reader reflects upon Greek Scripture.

It was written that Christ meditated for many days and nights, was quiet and reflective. Could it be he was looking for the reply we all look for after a prayer?

Comfort in the body, privacy, moments of quietude, reflection, and certainly freedom to move the body any way one wants to is a personal decision. It is not to be intruded upon by any outside force. Yogic stretch is merely conscious movement and breath, the effort to bring comfort and ease to the vehicle we have been given to do life in.

In any case, if stretching and breathing seem offensive then it is not the practice for you; however, my suggestion would be to find a yoga DVD that looks innocuous, try it out in the privacy of your home and enjoy pushing those boundaries past the confines of your own mind.

There are many Christians I know who do yoga; and, possibly there a few groups in your own community you would feel comfortable in joining.

Good health, feelings of wellness, depend on comfort, ease in he body.  Nutrition alone cannot give a person a breathing dynamic relationship with the vehicle they inhabit. One must long for resolution and peace in the body before Wholeness and total Wellness can be embraced; and, an understanding must be felt - somehow - that one piece of Self is always connected the next part. Ellen

 Transition Coaching from Conflict to Wholeness.  916-698-8208