Yoga Instructor, Coach, and Lifestyle guru Hope Knosher
Journal
Choose Your Own Adventure...
All Journal Entries
We are becoming more and more overstressed as a society as the pressures of our modern life keep mounting. How can yoga help balance your body’s stress response and help you find serenity?
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Sequencing a practice can stop many from practicing at home. Knowing how to sequence can help relieve stress associated with developing a home practice.
A home practice is an integral part of a continuing, committed yoga practice, but concern about how to sequence stops many.
After all that has transpired, all the gain, all the loss, things that slid and things that stayed in place, is there anything more clear now than it was?
For me it is just that everything is a bit unclear and that the best I can do is to stay on the path of awareness, of sharing the practice of yoga, walking along side others as we journey together in this experience. It is about making the most of each day by staying present and making mindful choices.
A good friend recently lost her mother to a sudden and massive heart attack. While working her way through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, she told me she felt like her body was “weighed down with stones.” Physical symptoms like this can occur at any time in the grief process. It’s scary, but natural. If you are going through the loss of a loved one, a job, a pet, or an emotional life change, here are some symptoms to look for, and some tools to help you heal.
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My daughter was five years old when she, along with a neighborhood friend, secretly fed a stray cat in our backyard. The cat had no identification as to whom she belonged to, and she had been hanging out in our yard for a while. My daughter felt sorry for her and didn’t want her to go hungry. We weren’t looking to adopt a cat, but the universe had other plans. This was around the summer of 2003.
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Life happens. An opportunity may fall through, or grief and tragedy strikes when you least expect it.
When your direction shifts, it’s easy to feel lost. What can you do when you feel like you’re foundering? Here are three steps to help you work through your feelings and find your way back to yourself.
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When our body is out of sync, the autonomic nervous system, hormonal system, and the immune system are not working in a synchronized manner.
We can re-synchronize our body systems by creating a state of coherence and thus improving our mental focus, emotional stability, physical resilience, and improved cognitive function. This allows us to operate in a more efficient manner in all areas of life.
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Being continuously stressed caused me to develop a pattern of shallow breathing, which exacerbated my stress levels even further.
Through my yoga practice, I was able to become aware of my altered breathing patterns and relearn how to breathe deeply and easefully.
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Many emotions erupted as I sat in my office, confused and wondering. What just happened? Who was the person that wrote such an on-point, heartfelt account of her journey of healing? And more importantly, where was she now?
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Did you know that if you’re a woman over 40, you might disappear? I recently read this article from Beauty Redefined, a non-profit dedicated to promoting positive body images to women. Among the many eye-opening statistics was this one: “A whopping 62 percent of the female population of the U.S. is over 40. But get this: Older men appear as much as 10 times more frequently than older women in media.”
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We can all use a 5 minute reboot to reset the day and our positivity index! This 5 minute breathing practice will help you get connected to yourself and to your heart creating more spaciousness and allowing a release of stress and tension in your body and mind. Take a 5 minute break in the morning upon awakening, during the day when you feel disconnected, stressed, or in the need of a “reboot”, or at night before bed.
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In my last post, How to Know When Your Stress Switch is “On”, I gave you some symptoms that may indicate that your stress switch has been flipped to “on.” Recognizing that you are stressed out is the first step to recovery! Here, I’ll give you some ideas on how to turn off your stress switch.
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Something magical happens at a yoga retreat when a group of high intentioned individuals makes the decision to gather together in a breathtaking natural environment for the purpose of elevating their lives.
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This Sun Salutation series builds strength and flexibility. A single round consists of two complete sequences – one for each side (right and left).
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Once upon a time, humans needed the energy generated by stress to survive. We were hunting, farming, or fighting the elements. The body’s stress response would switch to “on” and provide a spike of “fight or flight” cortisol and adrenaline to complete the task at hand.
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Take a moment to draw your awareness to your breath. Is it deep or shallow? Fast or slow? Our life is entirely dependent on breathing, but we rarely give it much thought.
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You hear it all the time. Maybe it’s from a friend, a family member, or a coworker; or maybe it’s from your spouse. They proclaim that their lives have been changed for the better due to their yoga practice.
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Mind-body practices are becoming mainstream, and the practice of mindfulness is having its moment. By now you have probably heard about mindfulness. But what exactly does it mean to be mindful and how will this practice help you to live a better life? Simply put, mindfulness is a way of relating to yourself and the …
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Yoga can be overwhelming for beginners. There is so much to remember and put together that confusion can set in. It’s easy to get discouraged and quit. Over the years I have seen it happen more than a few times.
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After returning home from a jam-packed trip with my two teenage girls, I found myself weary and tired. I have to admit that I have never been a world-class traveler. Being sensitive has its downside, and post travel fatigue is one of them.
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