What do I need to take private yoga instruction with Karen?
The only thing you need, in order to take private yoga instruction with Karen, is a willingness to learn the foundations of yoga. Karen is great at helping people connect to lost or rarely used movement patterns to forge a safe and satisfying yoga practice. Yoga has many physical benefits that if done well can fortify our physical stability and open areas in the joints that may never have been fully opened before. Clients are always amazed how one small adjustment creates an enormous work out!
What would be my purpose in taking private yoga instruction?
There may be other purposes for taking yoga besides physical fitness. We can gain one-on-one attention. Private yoga instruction gives the client more in a shorter amount of time, and can focus on individual issues to address like chronic pain or stress. We are all unique! Yoga is a body/mind/spiritual path that can integrate these aspects within that reside in all of us. For example, we could learn more about mindfulness, or how to connect to our inner spirituality. Yoga is a medium Karen uses to add to any discussion, or conversation about holistic health, as well. Yogic ideas also compliment her holistic life coaching modality. Much can be derived from the art, science, and philosophy of yoga when we are seeking a holistic life journey. Yoga is practical, natural, wise, and can open us up to positive thoughts, behaviors, and healthful outcomes.
How is private yoga instruction integrated into massage?
Private yoga instruction can be integrated into massage therapy in three ways. Generally, it’s done prior to the massage if done in one appointment. It’s recommended to do an hour each, especially in the beginning of establishing a personal yoga practice to increase fitness and decrease pain points. Although for specific one-area focus agendas, one may do 30 minutes of yoga and an hour of massage. Or the reverse. Whatever seems appropriate to the end goals of the client.
Another way massage is integrated with yoga is during a yoga session. This can happen when a client is holding a pose as in Yin Yoga. Karen is great at hands-on adjustments, assisted stretching, and trigger point work etc. This is a great opportunity for the client to feel where the center may be and/or where their body can eventually open up towards. This process also nudges the client a little further than they may go solely on their own. Of course, this approach is purely optional to the client.
Also, while on the table receiving body work whether it be massage or craniosacral therapy, yoga type assisted stretches can be achieved. Plus, the mindfulness of yoga can be verbalized during the massage session helping the client come to center and become more aware of their body, and their body/mind processes, which may also include perceptions of the more subtle aspects of the energy body as in what is termed the spiritual.
What makes Karen effective in her private yoga instruction?
Karen has several skills that make her effective in private yoga instruction. Having a long career in massage, Karen has educated hands for one. Moreover, as a massage therapist, she has a good sense of how far to open the body, and, she’s qualified to use touch and exercise to enhance a therapeutic effect. Over and above, she has neuromuscular repatterning training in her background that further informs her yogic understanding of the way the body moves through space, fits, and connects together. Even people who have been physically trained in, for example, dance, can learn many things from Karen’s designed approach, and extensive method. Karen has changed her own body through these methods she now enjoys teaching. Plus, Karen’s studio is on the main floor. No stairs to climb to enter. All you need is a ride up her long driveway that leads to plenty of no-cost parking!!
What else can taking yoga with Karen help me with?
An added benefit to taking yoga with Karen is that clients learn how to distinguish between meditation, and mindfulness meditation. Additionally, Karen can help client’s remember how to breath fully. Moreover, although yoga is taught to students working on the floor, Karen can bring the floor to you by her many props, and she can even teach chair yoga for those who have further restrictions!