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YogaWithCathy

  

Class Descriptions

  
 PROGRAMS FOR
 NEW & GROWING FAMILIES:
  
  
 GENERAL CLASS &
 WORKSHOP OFFERINGS:
 PRENATAL YOGA
  
Gentle Yoga Poses:
  • Keep your body toned, strong, and flexible.
  • Deepen awareness of your physical body for better alignment, promoting comfort, ease, and grace as you move through your day.
  • Open your body. Create inner space for your baby and practice poses for birth, opening the hips, and toning the pelvic floor muscles.
Breathing Practices:
  • Optimize your breathing capacity and how you use your breath.
  • Complete, full breathing allows your body to transport nutrients and eliminate toxins efficiently.
  • Yoga breathing techniques are used to engage the mind-body connection, promoting relaxation and inner balance.
  • Breathing techniques are also practiced to prepare you for labor, helping you to focus on the natural,energetic movement of birth.
Deep Relaxation:
  • Relax body, breath, and mind.
  • Relaxation is the complement to any activity. It is during relaxation that you reap the benefits of your yoga practice,and it is during the resting periods of labor that you come center and re-energize.
  • Through the practice of Yoga Nidra, you will learn how to consciously relax your entire body at any time. Affirmations,visualizations, and guided imagery encourage mental and emotional well-being, taking relaxation even deeper.
These practices offer you a variety of ways to create a positive and safe space as you go through the many stages of pregnancy, labor, birth, and motherhood.

FOR CLASSES IN MALTA, PLEASE BRING A YOGA MAT AND PILLOW. YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO BRING A BLANKET. ALL PROPS ARE PROVIDED IN NISKAYUNA, HOWEVER, YOU MAY STILL WANT TO BRING YOUR OWN MAT.

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 YOGA-BASED CHILDBIRTH PREP WORKSHOP
   
The Yoga-based Childbirth Prep Workshop is an extension of the Prenatal Yoga classes. As a workshop, it is offered on an 'as requested' basis to current students of these classes. It is also offered as private instruction to any student who prefers private appointments and to women unable to attend the prenatal classes.
   
The workshop format runs 3½ - 4 hours with breaks. Private instruction can be scheduled in the workshop format or be a series of appointments.
   
The intention of this workshop is twofold:
  1. To teach your partner what we’re learning in class, refine your own practice of the techniques, and practice breathing, positioning options, and comfort measures with your partner;
  2. To put together the framework for your birthing experience.
The workshop is divided into 3 segments:
  1. Preparing for Labor & Birth
  2. Labor & Birthing Techniques and Comfort Measures
  3. Now that You Have a Baby…
The workshop is a combination of lecture, discussion, and practice. The focus is on how to prepare for a normal, healthy birth for mom and baby. We do not detail possible medical interventions; rather, we discuss what to take into consideration when hiring your medical/hospital support in the event that a medical intervention becomes necessary.

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 MOM & BABY YOGA
(for you and your baby, with babies 6 weeks to 9 months old & not yet crawling )
 
This loosely structured class combines yoga for you with bonding activities for baby in a calm and supportive atmosphere that caters to you and your baby's needs. Whether you are new to yoga or a longtime practitioner, you will enjoy having this special time to be with your baby and other moms.
  • Yoga Sequences: Tone, strengthen, maintain flexibility, and restore balance.
  • Breathing Practices: Refresh, renew, and harmonize energy levels.
  • Baby Yoga: Bonding through yogassage, developmental movement,nursery rhymes, songs, and play.
  • Relaxation: A “quiet time” practice to benefit both you and your baby.
  • Community: Spend time with other moms who share your interest in yogawhile the babies enjoy shared time discovering each other.
PLEASE BRING A YOGA MAT FOR YOU AND A BLANKET AND TOYS FOR BABY.

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 YOGA FOR TODDLERS & YOUNG CHILDREN
  
The entire room is our yoga mat as we blend poses, breathing, and relaxation practices from yoga with developmental activities, songs, nursery rhymes, and games that encourage your child’s blossoming during this period of non-stop growth and discovery. Parents/caregivers participate with the children, creating a safe, supportive, fun-filled environment for all.
  • TODDLERS: 9 months & younger crawlers to 2 years, with an adult: The relaxed structure of this class creates space for a combination of group and parallel play designed to support each child’s large and small motor skills development as well as early social interaction.
  • YOUNG CHILDREN: 2 and 3 year olds, with an adult: More structure is introduced in this class, with each session following seasonal themes. Yoga poses are practiced individually or with partners to promote coordination, balance,and concentration. Group yoga poses and activities are designed to foster a child’s imagination while encouraging their developing listening, cooperation, and social skills.
NOTE: SIBLINGS & TAG-ALONG BABIES -- There is no charge for infants coming to an older sibling’s class. There are a limited number of openings for tag-along babies per class, so please contact me directly for permission to bring your baby. Once a baby is 9 months old, they become a class participant in your older child’s class and registration is necessary. An older child may not attend a younger child’s class.

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 YOGA FLOW
  
Yoga Flow is an eclectic blend of yoga sequences, quiet yin yoga (poses held for several minutes), breathing techniques, and guided relaxation to promote overall balance, strength, and flexibility for your entire being. Prior yoga experience is necessary, including sun salutations.
   
PLEASE BRING A YOGA MAT. OTHER PROPS WILL BE PROVIDED.
  
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 YOGA INSTRUCTION: LEVEL I/II
 
Level I/II Yoga is for those who have attended Level I and are ready for a more moderate beginning class. There will be continued emphasis on the basic postures with more variation as well as introducing new poses. this class is part of Soluna Yoga Studio's class progression. 
  
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 DEEPENING YOUR PRACTICE
  
Deepening Your Practice is for those who have been practicing yoga at least one year and are committed to cultivating a personal practice. This program ranges from the basics of Developing a Home Practice workshop to class series and/or workshops that delve into specific aspects of the yoga tradition, integrating the concepts and teachings into our practice of 'yoga on the mat.'  
  
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 YIN YOGA & MUDRA MEDITATION
  
Yin Yoga is sometimes called ‘the quiet practice’ as poses are generally held in stillness for 3 to 5 minutes, and sometimes even longer. Most yin poses target the lower body, from the waist down to the knees, with the intention of stretching connective tissue and gently stressing the joints. The results of this type of stretching include: nourishing the tendons, ligaments, and bones; promoting healthy range of motion; improved flexibility; greater ease of movement; and increased production of the fluids that cushion these structures. In addition, yin poses stimulate energy flow (prana or chi) along the meridian lines that travel throughout the subtle body. Circulation at the subtle level benefits our overall sense of well-being. Over time, yin yoga enhances our regular hatha yoga practice as the improved flexibility in the deeper tissues of the body invites greater range of motion in the muscular tissue. For those with a meditation practice, yin yoga allows for greater ease and comfort in seated positions as well as the enhanced energy flow through the meridians.
   
NOTE: Yin Yoga is contraindicated for certain serious spinal conditions and for new moms until 5 months postpartum.
  
A mudra is a gesture most commonly seen in the placement of our fingers and hands. The word mudra is derived from two Sanskrit roots: mud, which means ‘pleasure’ or ‘delight’, and dru, which means ‘to bring forth’. The word mudra means ‘to bring forth pleasure or delight’. The healing potential of mudra practice cannot be underestimated. Mudras provide a means to access and influence the unconscious reflexes and primal, instinctive habit patterns that originate in the primitive areas of the brain around the brainstem. They establish a subtle, non-intellectual connection with these areas. Each mudra sets up a different link and has a correspondingly different effect on the body, mind, and prana. Mudra practice helps break instinctive habit patterns and establish a more refined consciousness.

PLEASE BRING A YOGA MAT AND A BLANKET. OTHER PROPS WILL BE PROVIDED.

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 YOGA NIDRA
  

Yoga Nidra, also known as ‘yogic sleep’ or ‘sleep with awareness’, is an ancient practice that is

becoming more and more popular in today’s stress-filled world. Unlike Savasana at the end of a

Hatha Yoga class, Yoga Nidra is a systematic 20- to 45- minute practice designed to induce a

profound state of relaxation in the body, breath, and mind. At the same time, awareness remains

alert, resulting in a deep meditative state of consciousness. The process of Yoga Nidra has the

unique ability to unwind the nervous system, which is the foundation of the body’s well-being, and

is known to benefit any number of stress-related illnesses, resolve insomnia, and enhance

meditation practice. A typical class or workshop begins with warm-ups and/or sun salutations,

followed by yoga nidra, and concludes with a closing/integration practice.

  
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 YOGA & MEDITATION
  
Yoga & Meditation offers several sequences of yoga poses, pranayama (breathing and energy techniques), and other exercises to support a meditation practice. As an introductory class or workshop, various styles of meditation are presented so that each student can discover what type of meditation best suits them. Topics covered include how to create a meditation space, how to prepare your body for practice, and comfort measures for extended sitting. This program is also offered using specific themes, such as the Chakras, the Five Elements, using Mudras, or with a seasonal focus.
  
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 AYURVEDIC YOGA
  
About Ayurveda: Ayurveda originated in India more than 5,000 years ago and is the oldest continuously practiced health-care system in the world. Drawn from an understanding of nature’s rhythms and laws, Ayurveda is built around the five elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth.
  
It is understood in Ayurveda that humans, as natural beings, are governed by the same rules and laws as all other natural beings. If we choose to ignore these laws, then imbalances will begin to appear. These imbalances are the precursor to disharmony and disease in the mind and body. This system of medicine understands our deepest connections with the whole universe and the influences of the energies that make up this universe. We are considered a microcosm of the macrocosm. The Ayurvedic worldview is based on the archetypal elements of ether (space), air, fire, water, and earth. Ether and earth are static in nature, whereas air, fire, and water are dynamic and ever changing. These elements have inherent energies that govern their functions. We are all made up of all of these energies, but each individual has slightly different proportions of the individual elements, making everyone unique in their own constitutional makeup.
   
An Ayurvedic approach treats each individual, taking into account unique psychological, emotional, and physical conditions. Imbalances in the body are evaluated through the system of the elements. Because our world and bodies are constantly adjusting to new environments, when these environments become imbalanced we feel it in some way.
   
Ayurvedic medicine concentrates on prevention and understanding one’s own makeup and focuses on how the outer world and environment affect one’s daily life. The goal of Ayurveda is to teach people how to attain optimal health through a deeper understanding of themselves and their own particular nature in relationship to the world around them. It is a system based on natural healing through strengthening the body, mind, and spirit, and allowing the body’s own natural healing mechanisms to work to their fullest potential.
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Content copyright . Cathy Prescott. All rights reserved.
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