The holiday parties begin

Assuming your schedule looks like mine, the weekends and even some weekdays are starting to fill up with holiday parties. Sometimes we even have to pick between which parties we can attend. It's a wonderful time of year to socialize, catch-up and embrace the holiday spirit. It also can become a very stressful time. Yoga is a lifestyle that can continue "off of our mats." Remembering our deep yoga breath is the best tool we have to cope with the holiday season. Take time to relax. Remember to keep up with your yoga practice. While we celebrate and bend over backwards for others (no yoga pun!), how about we also remember to listen to our own body? A season for giving, and also to our own health. Namaste, Emily

And the holiday season begins

So, let's take a look at our first upcoming holiday - Thanksgiving! A time to feast. A time we come together to share memories, exchange stories, see those that we may not see often enough, and again, EAT! This season let's eat mindfully. Let's think "Do I really need another serving?" Let's remember those that may not have enough to eat. Let's share and begin a season of giving, rather than receiving. I invite you to begin new traditions that inspire health and wellness among your family and friends. Consider a walk after Thanksgiving dinner, rather than a snooze. This is REALLY what your body wants. Our yoga twists are also amazing at aiding in digestion. This year let's listen to our body and honestly assess what we need and not what we want. Namaste, Emily

Recession-Proof Your Mood

Is the Dow getting you down? Elections have you campaigning for better news? Renee Nasajon, Psy.D. and creator of FLOW, has some inspiring (and economical) tips to get us through these rough and tumble times.

Time: Remember that things are not static. Hardship is always followed by prosperity. In times like these, try to "go with the flow" -- cut down expenses, prioritize, and appreciate what you still have until the storm is gone.

Let your warrior kill your worrier. Worrying about the future only drains us of the energy we need to build our future. Instead, fully focus on your present: do what you need to do today to ensure a better tomorrow.

Hope. Instead of doubting life, we need to give it some credit. We all have a lesson to learn behind every pain we suffer. If you believe in a "Higher Power," this is the time to put faith above fear. If things were always well, how else would we strengthen our faith? And if your faith is in your own power, this is an opportunity to put it to work.

Namaste, Emily

Running and Yoga

So, it seems like a lot of folks in class these days are runners and doing yoga. And they understand how the two mesh together; they "get it." But then I have others I have talked to here and there and they need an extra push to truly understand why they need to do yoga in addition to their running. I found a great article by a man in the Twin Cities that explains for us his experience:
"Twenty minutes into my first hour–long yoga class and I found myself looking at the clock, wondering when it would end. I was dying. My legs, butt and lower back were quaking. We weren't sitting around humming by candlelight; this was an active, fast–moving session. I could almost do those splits in high school and the first few years of college, but that was when I was running daily and stretching a lot. Now things are different. After a few injuries (the most serious from a frisky game of ultimate frisbee without any warm–up whatsoever), too many years of office jobs, and the inevitable aging process, I've tightened up. As I witness some of my elders doing the same, getting back injuries, and losing range of motion, I decided to do something about my eroding flexibility and try to reclaim some of that youthful suppleness. Although I knew that yoga was great for overall strength, improved posture, better breathing and stress reduction, I did not realize how taxing it was nor that it was great for balance." -Bill Baldus
FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE: http://www.silentsports.net/features/yoga_and_running__the_perfect_.html

Barefoot Fitness Yoga Studio offering classes three times a week!

What began as a vision and turned into reality this past February has now expanded to 3 times a week! Thank you to everyone who has supported our Barefoot yoga classes and to those who are joining us in September! Starting the first week of September is the new schedule:

Tuesday, Hatha Yoga, 6:30-7:30, Instructor: Emily
Wednesday, Hatha Yoga, 6:30-7:30, Instructor: Kat
Thursday, Vinyasa Yoga, 6:30-7:30, Instructor: Emily

Space is limited, but there is room to drop-in! Email if you want to try one of our classes. Namaste, Emily

Yoga for a beautiful YOU

If you've tried yoga, you've already experienced some of its beauty benefits: the rosy afterglow, the elongated limbs, the graceful poise. But there's more. Yoga fights wrinkles by combating the free radicals and stress that cause them. Plus it stretches and tones your muscles, giving you that lengthened leaner look -- and better posture, too. If you stand and walk tall, you can look years younger. Join us! I teach most days of the week. We look forward to seeing you soon for these, and so many more, good effects of YOGA! Namaste, Emiy
(tips from Health magazine)

Sleep and Energy

So, I got this in an email and thought, "Do you feel lethargic in the morning? (CHECK) Are you drowsy by mid afternoon and unable to stay alert as you go about your day? (CHECK)" So, if you feel this way, or maybe answer yes to the other questions... read on! Namaste, Emily

The Consequences of Sleep Deprivation
by Susan B. Sterling and Crystal Quintana

Do you have difficulty falling asleep at night? Once you get to sleep, do you wake up frequently? Do you feel lethargic in the morning? Are you drowsy by mid afternoon and unable to stay alert as you go about your day? If you answered yes to one of these questions, you may be one of the millions of people who are chronically sleep deprived and not even aware of it!

Most of these people are also unaware of the extent to which their lack of sleep contributes to feelings of irritability, impatience, anxiety and depression. Sleep deprivation can also affect memory, thinking, reaction time and productivity. It may adversely affect job performance and cause unwanted accidents. Over time, lack of sufficient sleep can have serious health consequences. In fact, more and more studies are showing that getting enough ZZZs is as vital as diet and exercise if you want to live a long and healthy life.

To function properly, the human body needs to sleep a certain number of hours within a 24-hour cycle. The body of research has shown that 8 to 10 hours of sleep per day is optimal for sustaining maximal mental and physical function. Unfortunately, the average American gets only about 7 hours’ sleep per day--90 minutes less than a century ago (Kantrowitz 2002). It has been estimated that as many as 70 million Americans experience some kind of sleep disorder (Kantrowitz 2002).

The Consequences
Studies have shown that too little sleep can affect human beings in all kinds of ways, most notably in terms of cognitive functioning, weight management and athletic performance.

Cognitive Functioning
The Army Physical Fitness Research Institute has conducted studies to determine how lack of sleep can affect the productivity of soldiers during waking hours (Wesensten et al. 2002). During total sleep deprivation, the soldiers’ cognitive performance on a task requiring decision making, short-term memory and mathematical processing declined by about 25 percent for every 24 hours of wakefulness.

Countless studies have found a direct correspondence between lack of sleep and a decline in cognitive ability; the less sleep subjects got, the worse they fared in terms of performance, productivity and functionality.

Weight Management
Researchers have also found a link between obesity and sleep deprivation (Brink et al. 2000). One hormone that appears important in this equation is human growth hormone (HGH), which controls the body's proportions of fat and muscle. The majority of HGH secretion occurs shortly after sleep begins, especially during the deepest stages. If sleep is impaired, so is HGH secretion.

As we age, we spend less time in deep sleep, so HGH secretion decreases. With lower than normal levels of HGH, the body cannot properly control the proportion of fat to muscle. When this happens, we tend to store more fat in the stomach area. Some researchers have theorized that lack of sleep at a younger age can prematurely drive down HGH levels and accelerate the fat-building process (Spiegel et al. 1999; Brink et al. 2000).

Lack of sleep can also affect appetite in a negative way. Because many of the symptoms of fatigue and hunger are so similar, people tend to eat when they actually need sleep. Fatigue can also affect energy levels and, consequently, the ability to adhere to regular exercise.

Athletic Performance
For the endurance athlete looking for every edge, it appears that proper sleep during heavy training or competition is critical for optimal performance. In a sleep-deprived athlete, glycogen (energy) storage may be slowed. During endurance events exceeding 90 minutes (e.g., a marathon), this can lead to hypoglycemia and contribute to what athletes call “hitting the wall,” where they essentially run out of fuel (Ketchum 2003).

Other studies have shown that sleep deprivation causes elevated nighttime levels of the hormone cortisol, which can interfere with tissue repair and growth (Ketchum 2003). Over time, this can prevent an athlete from properly adapting to heavy training and may lead to overtraining injuries.

Adequate sleep is essential for health and peak performance. Above all, remember that good sleep hygiene is as important a daily lifestyle habit as regular exercise or proper nutrition.