Build Yoga & Wellness Home
Can't touch your toes? Recovering from injury? Want to get stronger? No problem!
We welcome you with open arms and yoga wellness practices to help. I offer a deep understanding of the body, a good sense of humor and serious devotion to offering each person what is possible through yoga.
Yoga For Students in Athletics
"The team has LOVED the sessions and they all feel they have benefited tremendously!” - Christine Engle, Head Women’s UMass Cross Country/ Track and Field Coach
This yoga for students in athletics program is designed to address the overall needs of athletes while complementing their existing training regimen. By emphasizing physical literacy and body alignment, combined with mental focus and breathing techniques, we provide a holistic approach to athletic performance improvement and injury recovery. Click the button below to learn more!
OUR MISSION
We believe power, energy and happiness come from connecting the body, breath and mind. This is what we are about. This is what we teach.
ABOUT THE BODY
Seriously, the body is genius. You don’t need to make it genius, it just is. Think about what this really means. The body is more than a vehicle to get you from point A to point B. You have a high performance system that is meant for action, challenges, rest, fun and exploration. It facilitates everything you do. The body isn’t who you are. But it is a mirror. It teaches you about how you are taking care of yourself. That’s incredible. And it’s yours.
Your body needs your attention. How? The way you hold your body-- the way you sit, stand, walk and sleep-- affects everything you do and how you feel. When you feel pain, discomfort, weakness, instability, tight muscles, headaches, stress, this is the body telling you something is out of balance. You have the power to do something about it.
Yoga and mobility is way more than being bendy. Good posture and positioning can improve your body alignment. This helps you grow stronger, develop greater mobility, eliminate pain, recover faster from injury, improve performance and just plain feel better. Knowledge of the body is applicable to everything you do. That’s how to access power.
BREATHING
If you practice yoga, you will get a great physical workout for the body. It also helps you to access the vital power of breathing. We’ve all heard the benefits of “deep and full” breathing. But the value of breathing can lose its meaning. It’s so basic we even take it for granted. In yoga, we train ourselves to be aware of breathing.
How many times a day do you notice breathing? Have you ever felt stressed then reminded yourself to breath, and things got better? Or maybe when you were running, you noticed how regulating your breath helped you run with greater ease?
You don’t have to think about breathing, it happens automatically. But breathing is a tool that can help you with generating power, handling stress, calming the anxious mind, and approaching difficult tasks with more ease and awareness. That’s big.
MENTAL FOCUS THROUGH MEDITATIONS
The choice of being relaxed and enjoying your day-to-day experience is up to you. We all hear about “meditations” as though it’s something we “should do” or that only “certain people" do, or that it’s “other-worldly.” Some people even find it creepy.
But here’s the thing. Meditations are simply quieting the chatter in your mind. Why? Because your chronic thoughts can make you crazy. Quieting the mind feels good. A quiet mind makes you stronger and more relaxed.
People meditate without even knowing it. You probably know how it feels. You’re outside on a walk. You’re moving your body, you're seeing the color of the trees, you feel the wind, maybe it's a warm day, you notice the light in the sky. Your mind is relaxed. Your breathing feels good. That’s meditation, or mental focus.
This kind of mental focus is a skill that improves everything you do. You’re in charge of where you direct your mind. That’s a game changer.