Maureen Oar talks yoga misconceptions, cancer recovery and The Yoga Loft!

See The Yoga Loft Co-Founder Maureen Oar interviewed on “Around Thurston County" with Patrick Babineau

Check out Maureen's interview!

See The Yoga Loft at the Capital City Marathon

Running and yoga go hand-in-hand.  That’s why The Yoga Loft will be a part of this coming weekend’s Capitol City Marathon.  Before the annual event, Yoga Loft teacher Kristi Lyons will help runners with a warm-up routine. Also, make sure to stop by our booth at Sylvester Park.   Learn what some runners already know, that yoga provides many benefits.

Why do runners grove on yoga?

-It helps provide balance to muscles.  Some athletes overwork some while neglecting others.       

- Yoga postures help lengthen hip mucsles, hamstrings and other overly contracted muscles.

                                                                                                                 

- Runners who do yoga can better listen to their body.

-Yoga helps build a sound body alignment to help prevent misstep

- Yoga helps your mind by building better concentration and growing confidence.

By Doug Adamson

Mother’s Day Yoga and Tea

5 good reasons to take mom to The Yoga Loft for Mother’s Day Yoga and Tea

 

5. Mom is cool, so is yoga.  Need we say more?

4. Did we mention tea?  

3. It's led by The Yoga Loft’s co-founder Maureen Oar, who’s also cool.  

2. Sure beats 3000 calories from a Mother’s Day buffet

And the number one reason to attend The Yoga Loft’s Mother’s Day Yoga and Tea:

1. Mom saw you do happy baby’s pose, while you were a baby.

$20 per person.  Bring mom or someone who is a mother for $10 more.

Sunday May 12 from 2-4 p.m. at The Yoga Loft.   Pre-registration is required.

You can do that on The Yoga Loft website.  

Mamaste!

By Doug Adamson

More about Sound Healing at The Yoga Loft

Kristen's talents for teaching yoga are wide ranging.  Kristen does so much with expecting mothers through prenatal classes and her work with kids.  She also is known for her Sound Healing offered at The Yoga Loft.  This month, there's a little added extra: chanting with Amitabhan.  If you've never been to one of her Sound Healing events, here's some more information.

 YL:  Can you tell us a little about Sound Healing?  What is it?

KR: Throughout time and within many cultures, music and sound have been at the heart of healing. Sound healing is vibrational medicine that can help reduce stress, alleviate pain, improve sleep and concentration and create a deeper sense of well being.

YL:   What's the reaction from people afterwards?

KR:  Here's a few quotes from people who've attended:

“If everyone attended Kristen Rubis’ Group Sound Healing, our world would be a better place. My experience was profound and remained with me for days afterward. Every cell in my body hummed with the vibrations of the singing bowls and a sense of peace and calm overwhelmed me as I exchanged with the universe my suffering for its healing. Love yourself enough to experience this healing ceremony because it will ultimately benefit those that you love the most..”  ~Annette , Olympia WA

"During Kristen's concert, I felt like I was being bathed with sound all the way down to my cells. So nourishing, thank you!" ~Kelly, Sedona, AZ

"Amazing unworldly magic!" ~Sherri, Sebastopol, CA

 

YL:  How will this experience be a bit different with Amitabhan?

KR:  I will start the evening with an hour of Sound Healing – using Tibetan and crystal quartz “singing” bowls, bells, planetary chimes, a healing gong, and other soothing percussion instruments.  I’ll then lead some simple breathing exercises and a guided meditation. For the remaining hour Amitabhan will lead kirtan, and share a few of his heart-opening original songs.

YL:   What inspires you to do this offering?

KR: I am humbled by the healing potential of this sacred music. I receive emails and messages from folks sharing their pain is decreased, their anxiety is diminished, their insomnia is gone, their creativity has opened in a new way. It's heart opening and humbling to witness folks shifting in such positive ways. It's a beautiful non-invasive way to invite the nervous system to relax and alleviate stagnation in our body, mind and spirits!

YL:  Anything else?

KR:  Sacred music is becoming a bigger part of my path and a deeper part of my service. I listen with my hands and heart while I trust in the divinity of this sacred music. The mystery, magic, and medicine of the healing sound moves through me with deep grace. I am humbled and honored to share this ‘Sacred Sound Healing’ with the world.

The concert starts at 7pm Friday, May 10.
Tickets are available at the door - $15 - $25 (sliding scale).  

Sound Healing event with Yoga Loft's Kristen Rubis and Amitabhan

Kristen Rubis and Amitabhan will be performing at The Yoga Loft in Olympia on Friday, May 10th.  This will be the first show of their “Sound Healing” tour through the Pacific Northwest.  The pair recently completed a tour of Yoga Studios and Healing Centers in Northern California.   Kristen is based locally, where she has been sharing yoga and the healing arts for many years.  Her “Healing Sound” concerts and workshops have been offered at a venues ranging from Retreat Centers to Correctional Institutions in Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona.   Amitabhan is an award-winning songwriter based in Northern California.  He travels extensively through the US and into Canada, and shared his music at over 150 events in the last year.  He has appeared at events with many well-known spiritual teachers, in addition to offering his own concerts at Yoga Studios and Healing Centers around the country. Each “Sound Healing” event has two components – a chance to deeply rest in the healing vibration of various instruments, and a chance to creating healing sound from within ones own body. Kristen will share an hour of Sound Healing – using Tibetan and crystal quartz “singing” bowls, bells, planetary chimes, a healing gong, and other soothing percussion instruments.  Many people find these instruments to be powerfully transformational.  As one attendee recently stated, “Every cell in my body hummed with the vibrations of the singing bowls and a sense of peace and calm overwhelmed me…” Kristen will also lead some simple breathing exercises and a guided meditation. Amitabhan will lead Kirtan – call-and-response chants from India.  Kirtan is an invigorating practice that not only energizes the body, but also brings people to a state of deep relaxation.  You can learn more about these artists and hear their music at: www.sacredawakenings.org/site/sound-acutonics, and www.amitabhan.com.  The concert starts at 7pm.  Tickets are available at the door - $15 - $25 (sliding scale).  

Yoga Myth #2

#2 Yoga is just about stretching

Stretching has fantastic benefits for your body. Tight muscles can have a cascade effect.  Bones can be knocked out of alignment. Tight muscles also can increase your chance of injury, and create pain.   The beauty of postural yoga also includes bringing balance to your body.  That’s why classes at The Yoga Loft also help you build new strength.  Many of the poses have you using multiple muscle groups at the same time.  Frequent and sustained practice that tones your muscles helps build functional strength.  Then there’s balance.  Many people will blame being wobbly by saying they’re just that way.   There’s a pretty common reason for it.  People have weakened muscles from a lack of exercise.  Those degenerated muscles are there to support you.  Yoga Loft teachers work to help build up that balance which helps in so many ways…not to mention helping you keep from tumbling over.  Make sure to click on The Yoga Loft schedule and find a class and time that’s convenient for you. That’s where you’ll quickly learn it’s a lot more than stretching.

By Doug Adamson

Come to The Yoga Loft for Arts Walk!

Yoga is an art. It's graceful.  There are elegant lines.  It's sweeping and dynamic. That's why the Yoga Loft happily once more is a participant of this year’s Spring Arts Walk.  We invite you into our warm studio to help celebrate the arts.  Take in images of feathers from the world.  Artist Chris Maynard’s latest shadowbox pieces will be on display.  Also, see many prints of this uplifting art.  Drop by The Yoga Loft at 7 p.m. where you can hear more about the art inside the studio.  Cover artist China Star will be in our studio Friday April, 25 from 5 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. with her work Sculpted Nests.  It's also your chance to pop inside and see our inviting studio.

By Doug Adamson

An afternoon of yoga and support

by Providence Regional Cancer System | Monday, April 22, 2013 | Email Article

Editor's Note: This article is written by Maureen Oar, RYT at YOGA Loft. She has met all the educational requirements needed to be registered with the national Yogo Alliance and has pursued additional studies in the therapeutic applications to yoga. 

As I turned up the heat, turned on the lights, put on the music and swept the floor at the Yoga Loft, I wondered, “How many will come this afternoon?”
People began to arrive. I greeted familiar faces and welcomed new ones. Before I knew it, we had 21 people join us.
Within the group we had, men and women, old and young, people that had never done yoga before and those that were returning for more.
I thought to myself, “This is what yoga is all about.”
Yoga is for every body and can be adapted and adopted to fit all needs. As we introduced ourselves, some people shared what they felt comfortable with and others just spoke their name. What they shared wasn’t important; we knew we were all there to support one another.
Yoga is a way for survivors to manage the symptoms and the stress of cancer, beyond diagnosis and treatment. Just as important for the caregivers, yoga helps us manage the stress of a loved one dealing with the challenges that arise. Next Month, Sunday May 5th, the doors are wide open as we welcome you onto the path of Yoga...

Yoga for the Cancer Journey

Come and learn how yoga can help you to create, stimulate and maintain an optimum state of physican and emotional health.
Cancer survivor and certified yoga instructor Maureen Oar, RYT has met all the educational requirements needed to be registered with the National Yoga Alliance and has pursued additional studies in the therapeutic applications of yoga. This class is created to meet the needs of any level of health and fitness and to support you in modifying your practice appropriately.
Anyone living with cancer, survivors and caregivers are welcome. All classes are located at The Yoga Loft, 219 Legion Way SW, Suite 202, Olympia, 98501. View Flyer >>

• Sunday, May 5, 1-2:20 p.m.
• Sunday, June 2, 1-2:20 p.m.
• Sunday, July 7, 1-2:20 p.m.

Fight stress, be at ease

What happens when you get angry?   You might clinch your jaws and teeth.  Did you know your breath also shallows when you’re stressed out?  That’s not the only thing that’s happening to your body when you’re in the midst of jammed traffic, screaming kids, or being confronted by an upset boss or customer.  Your body’s fight-flight-or-freeze response kicks in.  It’s a defense mechanism. That’s great as long as you’re not regularly in that mode. Stress can arrive anywhere and at anytime.  That’s where yoga plays a role in de-stressing.  Check out what the Mayo Clinic reports:

“Yoga is considered a mind-body type of complementary and alternative medicine practice. Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines to achieve peacefulness of body and mind, helping you relax and manage stress and anxiety. Yoga has many styles, forms and intensities. Hatha yoga, in particular, may be a good choice for stress management.”

April is Stress Awareness Month.  Ironically, you may not really know how stressed you are until you’re kicking in that mind-boy connection.  Stressed right now?  Try this:

Stop

Close your eyes

Pay attention to your breathing

Without changing your breath, count every time you exhale

Do this for ten counts  

You should begin to feel a difference rather quickly.  See if you're still clinching your jaw…and make it a priority to visit a class at The Yoga Loft.

By Doug Adamson
Mayo Clinic article

Namaste for The Yoga Loft honors!

Words we use after learning The Yoga Loft again has been voted as the ‘Best Yoga Studio’ in Olympia.  

“Gratitude, thankful, appreciative, honored, pleased and Namaste!”

It’s a back-to-back honor from the readers of the Weekly Volcano.

Come see what makes The Yoga Loft so special.  First time students can get a special introductory pass.  Also, make sure to revisit us if it’s been a while since your last class.

The Yoga Loft has:

-         An open and warm studio

-         Multiple class offerings  

-         Talented teachers who have your best interest at heart

-         Frequent workshops

-         A “pay what you can”  class

-         Local ownership

Again, a gracious thank you and much appreciation!

By Doug Adamson