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Click here for class pricing.
For all yoga classes:
Sunday 11am
Yoga Class Descriptions
SOFT & GENTLE
This class is for all levels for the yoga student who needs more gentle postures due to restricted range of motion, injury or chronic condition requiring a slower pace.
Centering, breathing,
restorative postures and moving all major muscle groups are included with standing poses,
forward bends, backbends, twists, balance poses and inversions. Throughout the class,
modifications are suggested to either keep things mellow, or to take the posture to the next level.
Even the advanced student can find value in choosing to practice yoga in a more concentrated manner,
refining alignment and creating peace.
NOVICE TO INTERMEDIATE
This class is for the beginner to intermediate yoga student who feels capable and eager to move all
major muscle groups with standing postures, forward bends, backbends, twists, balance postures and
inversions. This class will include more vinyasa (flow) with the opportunity to increase the heart rate.
The pace will be a bit more upbeat and the postures will move toward more advanced ones,
again with a steady offering of modifications to keep it simple or to keep finding your
edge and a fuller expression of the pose. As always, there will be centering, breathing
and restorative postures to pay respect to mind, body and spirit.
CORE CONDITIONING
This class will include centering, breathing, alignment and restorative postures, as all classes do. The pace of this class will be more intense, with the postures linked through a flow, or vinyasa, to get and maintain an elevated heart rate. Throughout class attention will be given to engaging our core muscles. Special floor time will be given to locate, strengthen and tone our abdominal region. As always, all major muscle groups will be used as we will move into forward bends, backbends, twists, inversions and balance poses. Plenty of instruction will be given to get beginners up to speed, with modifications offered to accommodate all levels. Let’s find the power within!
At all times we will practice ahimsa, a Sanskrit word meaning non-violence or non-injury.
We will respect and honor our bodies, moving into all postures consciously and without greed.
Top 10 Reasons to Try Yoga
- STRESS RELIEF: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowing blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
- PAIN RELIEF: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing you asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.
- BETTER BREATHING: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breathes. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.
- FLEXIBILITY: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. Gradually they begin to use the correct muscles. Over time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity, making more poses possible. Yoga also helps to improve body alignment resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems
- INCREASED STRENGTH: Yoga asanas use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. And, while these postures strengthen the body, they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular tension.
- WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.
- IMPROVED CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
- CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITONING: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
- FOCUS ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. IT opens the way to improved concentration, coordination, reaction time and memory.
- INNER PEACE: The meditative aspects of yoga help many to reach a deeper, more spiritual and more satisfying place in their lives. Many who begin to practice for other reasons have reported this to be a key reason that yoga has become an essential part of their daily lives.
About our Yoga Instructors
~Stephania Helfand, BA, RYT ~
Stephania has been practicing yoga for over 5 years and is a recent graduate from the Yoga Center of Medford and a Registered Yoga Teacher. She also has a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Social Relations from Earlham College. Her background in social work has prompted her to look for ways that people can improve their lives on their own and she believes that the physical, meditative and spiritual practice of yoga is an excellent avenue. Stephania has personally experienced the transformative power and amazing benefits of yoga and wants to empower others by exposing them to the light of yoga. She has a great love and enthusiasm for yoga that can be felt in her classes. She holds a certification in prenatal yoga and is available to teach private and semi-private classes for more individual instruction. Her instruction accommodates all levels – from those who have physical limitations or are more comfortable starting with Chair Yoga to more advanced practitioners.
Please bring a yoga mat or thin blanket, a pillow to sit on and any other props you love, such as blocks, straps and blankets. All you really need are comfortable clothing and an open mind and heart.
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