Zen Zone Buzz

Now the official yoga and Pilates trainers for the Missouri Mavericks!

Yoga Gives Missouri Mavericks a Competitive Edge

More athletes are using yoga to reduce potential injuries

 

Yoga, a centuries old practice, combining physical postures with deep breathing work, has been used by millions of people to strengthen and stretch the body, plus provide relief of stress and other physical ailments. 

 

In recent years, athletes have begun to recognize the potential yoga can offer in order to give them a competitive edge.  Not only can a regular yoga practice promote balance and flexibility, but it can also reduce the risk of injury for athletes. In a sports setting, many athletes are willing to think ‘outside the box’ in order to find that edge over the competition.

 

Missouri’s new hockey team, The Missouri Mavericks, have also recognized this potential edge and have incorporated a yoga practice not only into their intensive training camp schedule, but also plan to incorporate it throughout the entire season.  Maverick’s Head Coach Scott Hillman says, “We do want a competitive advantage over the other teams.  This will help players in the recovery process, and my focus is to continue to have the advantage of the players being injury-free.”  He goes on to say that he feels that the cumulative effect during the entire season will ultimately give the players a physical advantage.

 

The Zen Zone has taken on the challenge of working with the athletes to help them achieve these goals.  Co-owner Leah Morgan says, “By assisting the players into deep stretching postures they normally wouldn’t do will help them keep muscles and tendons open and pliable.  Muscles tightness and restrictions can lead to tears and injury.  In addition, we end each class with some deep breathing work and relaxation to help the players de-stress and re-focus their energies.” 

So far the players, most brand-new to yoga, have been enjoying the practice.  Coach Hillman notes, “After just a few sessions, I’ve had some of the guys asking if we would be continuing yoga.  They are really enjoying it.”

 

     

Eco-Adventure Yoga Retreat 2011- Belize!

 

 

February 12-19th 2011.  $150 deposit holds your space! See below to sign up!

Your eco-adventure yoga retreat begins in the rainforest, high in the Mayan Mountains. Black Rock Eco-Lodge provides stunning views from its location overlooking the Macal River. You will enjoy morning and evening yoga and meditation sessions, and day excursions including a Mayan ruin visit, hiking in the jungle, and your choice of horseback riding or canoeing. You will sleep in cabanas nestled against the mountainside, listening to over 200 types of birds from your porch.

After four nights, you will then travel down the scenic Hummingbird Highway to the coast of Belize, where a 20-minute boatride takes you to Thatch Caye, a handmade private-island resort, where you will spend three nights. The island is one mile long, and as you wander the length of it you will see an abundance of wildlife, including cotumundi, iguanas and birds. Twice-daily yoga classes with Leah, Ruthann, Debra and our host instuctor, Jessie, will be held in one of several beautiful over-water palapas, allowing both sunrise and sunset views. When not lounging with others in the common areas, you can relax atop your private palapa-covered rooftop patio. Daily snorkeling trips to Belize's pristine barrier reef are sure to be a highlight of your trip.  All meals are included in our eco-adventure.  Meals are served family-style and vegetarian and vegans can be catered to.  All produce is locally grown, some organically grown.  Enjoy delicious, traditional Belizean food with a healthy, natural twist, including homemade granola, yogurts and breads.

A Belize Yoga eco-adventure retreat is a perfect place to cultivate a quiet mind and a healthy body. Combining introspection with activity, relaxation with adventure...we think you will be inspired. $2600 per person.  Includes airfare, 7-night accomodations, food, excursions, and yoga.  Additional excursions (scuba, etc.) and alcohol are additional.

www.belizeyoga.com

**Update!  To reserve your spot, go to www.belizeyoga.com/zenzone.  Fill out the form, pay your deposit and get ready for an adventure of a lifetime!  Please email to let us know you are coming after you've signed up! info@zenzoneyoga.com

 

 

Chakra Workshop THIS Saturday!

Join Airam Mason from 1:00-3:30 on Saturday September 26th for a journey into your chakras.  Chakras are energy centers within the body, each corresponding to physical and emotional health.  Airam will be introducing and explaining chakras, as well as moving through yoga to stimulate and open your chakras.  If you want to deepen your yoga journey, this workshop is a must!  Cost: $15.00 for all.  Please reserve your spot, as space will be limited....go to our schedule online and click "Workshops" on the upper right.

See you Saturday!

 

*UPDATE* Living your yoga start date changed!

Living your yoga discussion group will now begin on Sunday, September 13th and will be the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.

NEW Discussion group! Explore the depths of yoga.

Living Your Yoga – A Discussion on the Yoga Sutras with Clara Vaughn

Love your Yoga practice, but wonder if there is a way to take it beyond the mat and into your daily life? Behind the Yoga you know, there is a philosophy thousands of years old. Patanjali consolidated the entirety of Yoga philosophy in 196 statements known as the Yoga Sutras. They provide deep, universal insight into those questions we often ask ourselves as our journey on the Yoga path evolves.

A wonderful way to study the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is with other, like-minded friends. Join us as we explore the Sutras together.   

Some of the topics we will discuss are:

• True meaning of yoga
• The nature of the mind and it's limitations
• Yoga of action
• 8 limbs that comprise the yoga method.
• The causes of our suffering and ways to overcome it.

We will meet the first and third Sundays of each month from 2 to 3:30 p.m. to discuss the Sutras.  Several commentaries will be discussed. Don’t worry, there’s no homework and no exams, just an opportunity to learn how we can bring the concepts of Yoga into our everyday lives. Living Your Yoga will begin Sept. 6.

Off the mat: tips for better health!

So, you've embarked on your yoga journey.  Congratulations!  It certainly is a journey, not a destination.  Next time you're on your mat, take a moment to reflect on your body and state of health  as a whole.  Yoga stretches, strengthens and tones our muscles, but are we supporting those efforts when we're off the mat. Along the path of your journey, let's pick up a few extra gems on the way.  Maybe today will be the day you add an extra two bottles of water and skip the sugared soda.

Rather than choosing a carbohydrate-only or fat laden breakfast, you incorporate some protein and nuts.  Greek yogurt is an excellent choice!

Think twice about consuming a product that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) it is in so many common products including most wheat bread and ketchup.  Read labels to find a brand without it.  (Heinz Organic tastes the same without the HFCS, Mrs. Bairds Sugar Free Wheat bread is terrific!).  HFCS switches off your body's ability to register fullness, causing you to overeat.

Skip the drive through this week and pop into a sub shop if you're in a hurry or pack a lunch or snack.

The point is not weight loss or vanity.  The idea is to slowly adopt some healthier habits over time that will support you as a whole: mind, body and spirit.  Bring that mindfulness that you practice on your mat to what you use to fuel your body with.

For more useful, practical tips to reduce your 'real age' and to promote better health, pick up a copy of Dr. Oz's 'You: The Owner's Manual".  It is loaded with useful, realistic tips for better, more robust health.

Namaste'

Leah

Edie Dozier finds health with diet & yoga!

Edie Dozier’s story is not unusual for many women.  Since she was ten years old she has battled her weight, watching it go up and down like a yo-yo.  She says,  “If there was a fad diet, I tried it.  Cabbage soup, Weight Watchers, you name it.”

Sitting with her family at Applebee’s one night, weighing 240 pounds, Edie had her ‘Ah-ha’ moment.  She remembers,  “I was watching another family eating dinner.  The mother was a bit older than me and she was overweight.  The rest of the family was regular-sized.  I realized that she was the only one at the table eating dessert and I thought ‘Oh, my God, that is me.’  It was that moment that I realized if I didn’t do something soon I was going to die fat and I was going to die young.”

After doing research about her options, she first stumbled upon downtown Lee’s Summit business, The Daily Shake.  There, she joined a weight loss challenge and began her journey.  The Daily Shake offers a nutrition class, which is a 12-week series for only $30.00.  There, she learned how to eat in the real world, including restaurants.  By counting calories, reading labels and knowing how much protein her body needed, she would begin her journey into better health.  Daily Shake owner Laurie Klaus says,  “Edie’s been really focused.  That’s the only way it’s going to work.”

Once she began to learn a healthy path to weight loss she realized that if she were going to be successful, she would have to begin moving her body.  She started small, by walking at an easy pace a few minutes a day.  Gradually, she was able to increase the time she spent walking, and then added in spurts of running.  The next step was to find a way to strengthen her body.  Edie was not a fan of gyms.  She says, “At 240 pounds, the gym is not a comfortable place.  You can’t help but feel like you’re being watched or judged, and that many of the fitness instructors are more worried about getting their own workout in rather than helping me.”

With the help of her sister, Brenda Riggs, Edie began exploring yoga.  She found a home at The Zen Zone, a local studio offering beginner and chair classes for those new to yoga or fitness.  There, she says,  “I really felt like I was at home.  Instead of telling me I can’t do it, they encouraged me to do what I could and to be patient.  Yoga has given me strength, and the best part is that it’s never the same thing twice!”

Since beginning her healthy journey over seven months ago, Edie has lost an astonishing 65 pounds.  Even more amazing is that she has stopped needing to take the blood pressure medication she has been on for over 17 years.  Edie’s advice to someone who is ready to take this step for himself or herself? “Take baby steps and find a fitness activity that you actually enjoy.  Start logging what you eat and figure out how many calories a day your body needs.”

For more information about the Daily Shake’s program, visit them at 318 SW Main in Lee’s Summit or go to dailyshake.net for more details.  Want to try yoga?  Visit The Zen Zone at 413 NW Murray Road or view the class schedule at zenzoneyoga.com.  Mention Edie’s name for a free class.  Don’t wait until tomorrow to change your health and live the life you were meant to live!

July 4th Schedule!

The Zen Zone has a limited schedule this weekend due to Independence Day. 

Beginning Friday July 3rd: Join Debra for Power Core Vinyasa at 9:00am-10:15am.  Stay from 10:15 to 10:45 for a guided chanting meditation. There will be no Hatha at 10:45am.  No 5:45 class on Friday.

Saturday July 4th: No classes EXCEPT Red, White and Vinyasa Flow with Ruthann at 8:00am. 

 

No classes on Sunday, July 5th.

As always, you can check the online schedule for changes.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Are you getting enough?

Many of us have been led to believe we get enough Vitamin D through fortified dairy products and sunlight, but are we?  According to this thorough article, the RDA requirements are painfully lacking.  Being Vitamin D deficient can lead to myriad health problems including, but not limited to, depression, weight gain, increased cancer risk and chronic pain.  Some sources site roughly 85% of the general population being deficient in this important nutrient.

The D variety most health experts are recommending is the most bio-available form, D3.  If you think you may be deficient, consult your health care provider for how much you should be taking.  Nature's Pantry on 40 highway in Independence sells D3 capsules for around $7.00.  Experts do not recommend taking extremely high doses unless you are under the care of a physician, as D is a fat soluble vitamin which is stored rather than flushed out in excess amounts like water soluble vitamins.

Take charge of your health!

Namaste'

Yoga offers unexpected benefits!

Yoga, a centuries old practice combining physical postures and awareness of breath, can provide many easily identifiable benefits.  Many people add yoga to their lives to improve their flexibility, increase strength and reduce stress.  Studies have shown that a regular practice of yoga can lower blood pressure, decrease anxiety and boost the immune system.  For Lee’s Summit resident Sue Nichols, yoga has added so much more to her life than she ever expected. 

Sue tragically lost her mother and two sisters to breast cancer.  Because this family history put her in an extremely high-risk category, Sue was invited by the KU Breast Cancer Prevention Center to take part in a study testing potentially cancerous cells in conjunction with a study drug for Non-Hormone Receptive Cancer patients.  As a part of study protocol, Sue had her bone density and body fat measured.  Sue details some of the negative potential side effects of the study: “One of the major side effects of this drug is bone density loss, weight gain and achy bones/joints. I started to notice pain in my hips, stiffness in my body right away.  I asked the doctor about the pain in my hips and she confirmed it was the study drug. She increased my vitamin D and said yoga was the best thing I could be doing to help.”

When Sue began the study, her body fat percentage was measured at 30%.  Shortly after Sue enrolled in the study, she began her yoga program at local studio, The Zen Zone.  After six months of yoga, Sue’s body fat was tested again.  This time, the numbers were telling a very different story.  Her body fat had dropped almost 15 percentage points to 16%, the only lifestyle changes she made was adding yoga.  Doctors were expecting all study participants to gain weight and lose bone density.   Although Sue experienced a dramatic change, the study-related challenges were far from over.  Sue says, “The next 6 months were very difficult, as the pain in my hips got worse. I became much more stiff when I got up in the mornings. I had a difficult time sitting for more than an hour at a time. I work as a parish manager for a Catholic church and I am on the computer a lot during the day. All day at work I would watch the clock to see when I could leave to go to yoga. That seemed to be the only thing that took the pain and stiffness away. I did have a lot of trouble with some of the hip openers.  It hurt like hell, but I would feel so much better when the class was done. My instructor Debra and all the people in my classes laughed at my moaning and groaning during class.

“I did start to notice right away how much better I was sleeping on the nights I went to yoga. I was more relaxed. Most nights I slept through the night with out waking. I started drinking more water during the day and especially at yoga. I have never been good at drinking water. About 7 or 8 months into the study I started to notice I was putting a few pounds on as I was craving sweets. I increased my classes for yoga. I went from 3 times a week to 5 times a week. I didn't change my eating habits much. I have always avoided fast foods or junk food. I feel because of yoga I was able to keep my weight in line. I think I only gained 3 pounds and that was in the last 2 months. In February ‘09 my body fat content went up just a little, but the bone density in my hips improved by 1 point. The doctor was very pleased and surprised. When I told her I was doing yoga 5 times a week she was blown away. She felt as I do that is the reason for the improvement.”

Another of The Zen Zone’s customers, Linda Deese, has been suffering for years with fibromyalgia.   Although she was only diagnosed a year ago, she has been suffering with chronic pain and tension for quite some time.  Linda said she recently turned to yoga in a desperate search to find more natural ways to reduce stress and tension.  She says, “Practicing yoga has helped reduce pain associated with my fibromyalgia and has given me hope for a better quality of life. I like that The Zen Zone offers a variety of class levels. On days when I am tired and experiencing muscle pain, I stick with chair or gentle yoga and it helps restore my body and mind to a relaxing state. Practicing yoga has helped me achieve a greater inner calm and in turn my blood pressure dropped twenty points!”  Linda also noted that although she’s only been practicing yoga for a couple months, she had already been able to reduce her blood pressure medication drastically.

For the average, healthy person, yoga can offer many health benefits, both physical and mental.  For those struggling with chronic pain, stress or other ailments, yoga may be one very valuable tool in their arsenal to fight pain and tension, and add greatly to their quality of life.  Always let your instructors know of any health concerns you may have, and always listen to your body.