Tag: anxiety

Seven Stress Related Health Problems

Here are seven stress-related health problems you can do something about with gentle yoga and meditation.  Remember, stress isn’t a “feeling”–it is a physiologic response to perceived (or real) danger.  It isn’t in “your head” and yoga and meditation provide release of deeply held tensions, fears and anxieties through physical, mental and spiritual exercises.

Heart Disease and Diabetes
Stress raises your glucose levels making it harder to manage Type 2 diabetes.  Mindfulness-based meditation programs have been proven to reverse heart disease.

Asthma
Chronic stress makes asthma worse and children with stressed-out parents are more likely to have asthma.

Obesity
Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol which makes you collect fat around your middle.

Headaches
Migraines and tension headaches.  Enough said.

Depression and Anxiety
Adults who report having stressful jobs (like having a lot of work and very few rewards) have an 80% higher chance of developing depression than adults who do not report a stressful work environment.  It’s unlikely that you can change your work situation overnight, but you can change your response to stress with regular yoga and meditation practices.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome
You have a very smart gut and stress changes your gut’s ability to process food and can be a factor in GERD, IBS and making ulcers worse.

Accelerated Aging & Premature Death
Caregivers have a 63% higher chance of dying prematurely than adults of the same age who are not caregivers.  Life is stressful, but we can use very simple methods of movement and meditation to ease this tension and decrease this risk.

Sign up for my newsletter and you will receive a downloadable/printable PDF with three exercises you can do right now to ease tension and stress (no matter where you are, your physical abilities or what you are wearing—-everyone can do these!).  This is posted by Sharon Rudyk, an independent yoga and meditation instructor based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who has designed a unique movement-based meditation program, Matrika Yoga in the hopes of making yoga and meditation available to everyone and improving the quality of life for as many people as possible.  Namaste.

 

 

Private Yoga with Sharon Rudyk

In January 2013, I will be expanding my private yoga business in Pittsburgh.  Here is some information on why you might choose to take private sessions and how to get started.

What is a Private Session?  What are the Benefits?

Studying with Sharon is a holistic experience and you will be honored and kept safe as you explore movement, breath and mind.  Sharon does not offer large group classes and prefers to work with small groups or in private sessions.  Therefore, your experience with Sharon will be quite different than it might be at a large studio or gym where you get “lost in the crowd.”  This is a space for healing, personal transformation and the development of yoga-based skills that can be used throughout life to improve well-being and quality of life.

Private yoga sessions are scheduled at your convenience and Sharon will design your sessions based on your personal goals and what you would like to accomplish during each individual session.  For some students, they just find that due to their lifestyle or personality, they prefer private sessions.  For other students, they truly require private sessions due to an illness, mental or emotional condition, injury, disability or other physical, emotional or spiritual issues that demand individualized attention.  Whatever your reason for seeking private instruction, Sharon is delighted to work with you.

Studio Sessions

  • Studio sessions are all 50-minutes in length each and may be shared by up to two adults.
  • Please contact Sharon for payment plan options and to arrange for off-site or larger group sessions (412) 855-5692.
  • Obtain your FREE consultation and schedule your first private session by calling Sharon at (412) 855-5692.

Cost for Studio Sessions

Initial phone consultation: FREE

Single Session: $75

Four Session Package: $280 (save $20 over single session payments)

Eight Session Package: $550 (save $50 over single session payments)

Twelve Session Package: $825 (save $75 over single session payments-a whole FREE session!)

Cost for Phone/SKYPE Sessions

Single Session: $50 per 45-minutes

How many sessions do I need?

This is difficult to answer in a broad way as each student is different, but here are some general guidelines in terms of length of private study based on student goals.

New To Yoga Many students who are completely new to yoga find it helpful to take private sessions before practicing in a group environment.  Sharon finds that eight sessions, approximately one a week for two-months, is enough that most adults who are in relatively good shape find that they are confident enough to move forward practicing with a group.

Want to Design a Home Practice Many students want help designing a home practice that they can do on their own—-either at home, when traveling or to compliment classes and workshops that they like to take.  The length of time it takes to design an individualized home study program varries based on student experience level, personal goals and more.  But, in general, a student who has been taking yoga classes regularly for at least a year can learn a home practice sequence in about four-sessions.

My Lifestyle Requires Personal Sessions You may be a professional with so many meetings, responsibilities or be “on call” at all times or an artist or parent or care giver or someone who works “odd” shifts or maybe you are a grandparent who travels regularly to see your grandkids all over the world—-whatever your reason, it may be that you just can’t make it to group classes regularly.  That’s OK!  Schedule sessions at your convenience whenever you are able.

Experienced Student/Teacher Perhaps you are a yoga teacher who would like some one on one support for issues in teaching, alignment or for your own practice of more advanced poses, pranayama or meditation.  If you are working on a specific pose, a type of practice or just feel burned-out and need some new ideas to inject your practice with passion again, a private session might be just what you need!

Living with Chronic Pain, Illness, Stress or Anxiety If you are living with chronic pain (headaches, back/neck or shoulder pain, muscle or bone pain, pain from surgery or major injuries) or have a serious illness (cancer, chronic fatigue) or have severe stress and anxiety and are seeking to use yoga as part of your healing and wellness plan, then you will need to consult with Sharon about the best plan of action.  Many clients find that, with six to twelve months of regular sessions, they are not only in less pain and discomfort, but that they are able to practice on their own or in a group and experience the same benefit.  Working with a significant health issue is not a quick fix, but yoga has been documented to help alleviate many of these problems and does support other treatments that you may be receiving.  Sharon is NOT a doctor and it is important that you maintain your relationships with your doctors, take your medicine as prescribed and use yoga as a complementary practice.  If you are under the care of a doctor, it is important that you get their permission to start yoga.

Cancer Diagnosis, Compromised Immune System, Too Sick to Travel to the Studio? Sharon provides healing sessions and deep relaxation practices through SKYPE, over the phone or can sell you an interactive e-book or audio recording of practices that you can use at ANY time and in ANY place.  These sessions are not physically active and only require that you lie down in a comfortable place and have the means to actively listen to Sharon’s voice live over the phone (put me on speaker phone) or to a recording.

The McRib is Back

Nestled in between some of the most idiotic political advertisements I have ever seen was a clean and simple advertising campaign from the Mc family of restaurants announcing the “great news” that the McRib was back.  Seriously?  Did anyone miss the McRib?  Obviously, someone did.

For me, the idiotic campaigns of both politicians and this questionably edible treat are both a clear sign that it is time for everyone to do more yoga.  Doing yoga provides us with a clear connection to our deepest intelligence and relieves us of fear and anxiety about the future.  Over time, grounding ourselves in the present moment, with a deep connection to what is most true for ourselves and to our universal nature through breath and mindful movement prevents us from attachment to the forms of suffering that are implicated in these advertisements.

These advertisements indicate to me that these politicians and corporations are appealing to an un-centered population, one that is filled with desires, angers and fears that they can not even name.  Or, perhaps, even more dangerous, they have placed a false name on these deep emotions.  If you can point the finger at a “baby-killer” it releases you from being forced to see the “baby-killer” in yourself.  Of course, I do not mean this literally, but figuratively, placing blame of any kind on someone else or something else is a form of denial of the ways that each and every one of us suffer at the hands of our own desires, judgments and violence. 

Yoga does not have to mean putting on a pair of stretch pants and sitting on a plastic mat in some peaceful room.  It’s a great place to start, but maybe your starting point needs to be somewhere different.   Patanjali’s yoga sutras define yoga as the calming of the mental movements of the mind (1.2 yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhah).  No special clothing or props are mentioned.  What do you do that calms the mental movements of your mind?  Is it your work, spending time with your children, your volunteer work, through creativity, playing music, swimming/running/hiking, your prayer, your community work?  Whatever it is that brings you to a place that is in this moment is your yoga.  You probably already do a lot of yoga and just don’t know it!

Yoga brings you in touch with the present moment.  This moment is real.  Fear, blame, anxiety, desire and everything else implied by these advertising campaigns are all about some different moment—-either a moment from the past that you can’t get back or a moment in the future that is just conjecture.  The more you can be present in the reality of this very moment, the less you are at the mercy of campaigns that appeal to the worst, most suffering and fearful place in yourself.

If yoga isn’t for you, I still have some advice that may be of great import now that the McRib is back: Stay away from processed meat in the shape of bones.  In the words of Hans and Frans, listen to me now and hear me later, there just has to be something better to eat.  Really.

This entry was written by Sharon Rudyk, Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  www.yogamatrika.com

What is iRest?

This Sunday, Mickie Diamond is going to be facilitating a Yoga Nidra: iRest workshop, this Sunday, June 6th from 4:00 to 5:15 pm.  The cost of the workshop is $15.  REGISTER HERE

This workshop is for everyone and no experience with yoga or meditation is required.  Just wear comfortable clothing and keep an open mind—-it will be lots of fun and you will leave deeply relaxed with some skills that you can use in your real life off the mat.

Here is some information about iRest that I have taken from the Integrative Restoration Institute website:

Would you like to live with greater ease of being, feel more relaxed, and sleep more soundly? Would you like to develop “tools for life” that enable you to rise above stress, anxiety, fear, pain, and emotional and mental turmoil? iRest is a deeply relaxing transformative practice that leads to physical, psychological, and spiritual health, healing, and well-being.

A non-movement-based meditation, iRest invites you to discover an intrinsic sense of peace that is always present, regardless of your life circumstances. You will learn to release negative body sensations, emotions, beliefs, and stress that otherwise give rise to self-destructive behaviors.

People who practice iRest report: • Decreased insomnia, • Reduced depression, anxiety and fear, • Decreased chronic and acute pain, • Improved interpersonal relations, • Increased inner peace and well-being. Extensively researched, iRest is used with PTSD-diagnosed soldiers and veterans, students, children, and the homeless, and people experiencing chemical dependency issues, chronic pain, and insomnia.