calm – The Branches

Explore Resilience in Your Body & Mind with an Interactive Yoga Sequence

This post is by one of our wellness practitioners, Natasha Allain.

As complex beings we process information through multiple lenses: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. So, what happens when we use multiple lenses to process at the same time, for example when we practice yoga and meditation? Here we can apply what we learn through action, such as yoga, and kinesthetically condition our muscles and our mental thought roads to spaces of resilience.

Below I have paired resilient building lessons with 5 familiar Hatha Yoga postures. Now, this isn’t just any yoga practice. With each pose you can contemplate and explore an aspect of resilience. Through intentional postures, breath, and contemplation, resilience researchers state that it is possible to rewire our brains and guide our bodies towards more resilient responses and behaviours.

Your Yoga for Resilience Sequence

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No one wanted to leave

Last night at the end of class, no one wanted to leave.

Everyone rolled over and sat up. We sang Om, acknowledged the land and said Namaste to end.

But nobody moved.

It was 9pm, and the light was starting to fade from the sky. We could hear the class in the next room start to stir, floorboards creaking as people walked back and forth, putting away their props. But in the front studio, it was utterly still.

Some people had their eyes closed. Some kept their hands in a prayer position in front of their hearts. Some people had their heads cocked, like they were trying to hear as clearly as they could the depth and detail of the silence.

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Yoga Tips from QSY: Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose Variations

Have you been missing QSY teacher Emma while she’s away on sabbatical? Catch her in this helpful video with several different versions of one of her favorite restorative yoga poses.

“Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose” (Viparita Karani) is a great way to cool down your body, gently stretch your hamstrings, relax your legs, reduce swelling in the feet, and calm your nervous system. In this video, Emma shows a number of variations, with and without props, to help you find a way to make this pose super comfortable for yourself at home or at the studio.

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Thunder and Enlightening [Practicing Yoga Outside in the Rain]

Monica recently graduated from our Teacher Training program, and currently volunteers behind the desk on Friday mornings. In this post she shares about her experience of practicing yoga outside in the elements, and in particular, during a summer storm! As the weather warms up we might think about taking our mat outside for a few poses in the sunlight (or the rain). We hope you enjoy Monica’s poetic writing.

There wouldn’t be a concept of Space if the Earth element were nonexistent.

I’ve always had the desire to ground myself. The enormity of bringing myself down from lapses of panic requires more mental concentration than I sometime deem possible. Anxiety has a home nested within my chest. A taut, clenching sensation blooms words of worry and fear – in replacement of mindfulness – up my throat; sometimes only to have something spoken to fill the space.Continue reading “Thunder and Enlightening [Practicing Yoga Outside in the Rain]”