Denver Yoga

Philosophy

Many people think that yoga is not for them or they simply don’t have the right body or flexibility for yoga.  At CoreStrength, we believe it can be an integral part of overall wellness for everyone, as it has benefits that are universal.  We would like start by saying that Yoga means something different to everyone.  For us, yoga is about an approach to your overall lifestyle.  This lifestyle is based in awareness, which is about understanding your own body and its needs as well as understanding how you interact with the world around you.  We start this process by focusing on the breath and using that as a tool we can always come back to.  From there we teach how yoga can be used not only for physical benefits but also for emotional, mental, and energetic benefits.  It can empower you to be fitter, energized, more focused, and better able to manage the stress we are all dealing with day to day. 

Yoga is for everyone and can be a daily part of anyone’s life if they open themselves up to the possibility.  Yoga is not about being the most flexible or athletic person.  These are only two aspects of a much larger purpose. Yoga benefits us on so many levels and we have to get out of this tendency to compare ourselves to those that we consider “ideal” yoga practitioners. This is a common fallacy in thinking. Yoga is about your own personal journey and what you need from it each day. The physical image of the asanas (poses) is only part of that. They combine with meditation, pranayama (breath work), nutrition, and principles to create a lifestyle and the way we choose to walk through this world.

METHOD

Our yoga style is based in a method of helping you connect with yourself, your needs, and your individual abilities. On the physical level, yoga postures, called asanas, are used to strengthen and align the body, increase spinal flexibility, and promote blood flow to all of the organs, glands and tissues. This keeps all of the body’s systems healthy and balanced. On the mental level, breathing techniques will be used throughout the practice in combination with seated meditation, to quiet, clear and discipline the mind.

We begin with the breath. If we control the breath, we learn to move in a way that will profoundly influence the way the body functions and the way the mind works. To begin a practice however, it is important to remember that the premise of yoga is kindness, compassion and respect for the self. Through this practice, your spirit is nurtured by respecting your body and becoming closer to it and its inner workings. By establishing an environment that fosters celebration of the self, you actually cultivate the ability to release your preconceived notions of what your body “should be capable” of, or what it “should” look like, or at the very least, to temper those notions. Once we get out of our own way, only then can we begin to move forward.

To understand the asana style that we utilize, let’s start by touching on 2 distinct aspects to the yoga styles: yin and yang.  The most common yoga practice is Hatha based. It is a "yang practice" or heating, flowing practice that targets the muscles of the body, increasing strength, stamina and flexibility. It promotes a considerable degree of physical exertion for the purpose of creating internal heat that “burns away" physical and emotional blockages in the body. This style of yoga practice can be quite demanding, so we balance you with Yin Yoga (a cooling practice), which stretches and opens the body while the breath and heart rate are kept slow and steady.

Yin Yoga is a practice of long-held, deeply relaxing “stretching” poses that open and energize the “meridians,” or energy pathways of the body. It can still be extremely challenging. Whereas the yoga most people are familiar with appropriates the muscles or Yang tissues of the body, yin yoga targets the more interior supportive structures, and is every bit as vital as a heating (yang) practice. The Yin practice of long-held stretching poses combined with deep, focused breathing encourages you to tune in and listen to your body. You hold poses between ten breaths and ten minutes, to liberate the body’s chronic holding patterns, relieve pain, and restore joint mobility. Yin Yoga is a way of learning to cultivate the body’s subtle energy that enables you to heal yourself, prevent injury and find a deep sense of peace and calm in your body, mind and spirit.  So many people are living in a yang style of intensity and need this infusion of the yin aspect.  Then we can truly understand what it means to find balance.

Why Denver Yoga

We meet people all the time who are so busy moving forward and towards something that they have lost a sense of how to be in the present. People begin to feel like they can’t control the momentum of their lives. We have all felt this at some point and it is very draining. What Yoga helps you do is eliminate this strain and reduce the toll on your body and mind. Yoga is simply a way to stay aware and to keep your energy consistent and calm. It begins to change your whole perspective and teaches you to better visualize yourself and your surroundings. It will be energizing and physically challenging, but even more importantly, the end result will be balance.

Stress Management & Balance

How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress

If you’re living with high levels of stress, you’re putting your entire well-being at risk. Stress wreaks havoc on your emotional equilibrium, as well as your physical health. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life.

CoreStrength Yoga’s goal of stress management is to bring your mind and body back into balance. By adopting a positive attitude, learning healthier ways to cope, and changing the way you deal with stress, we can help you reduce its hold on your life.

Taking Charge of Stress

In our frenetic, fast-paced world, many of our client’s deal with frequent or even constant stress. The overextended working mother, the hard-charging “Type A” personality, the self-critical perfectionist, the chronic worrier: they’re always wound up, always stretched to the breaking point, always rushing through life’s obstacles or juggling too many demands.

Operating on daily red alert comes at the high price of your health, vitality, and peace of mind. While it may seem that there’s nothing you can do about your stress level, the bills aren’t going to stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day for all your errands, your career will always be demanding. What we help you realize is that you have a lot more control than you might think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.

Managing stress is all about taking charge; Taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems, the stressors. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, family, relaxation, fun, and the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head on.

Most people are at a point in their life where they are just reacting to whatever is happening in their life. They are not responding to what is happening and moving forward proactively. One of the most important things that CoreStrength Yoga imparts to our clients is this: “How you respond to any event, thought, or perception in your life is based on your mindset, and your mindset is a choice. Therefore, stress is a choice”. Not only will we help you make better choices, we will help you conquer stress forever.