Eating for Optimal Health – Fall
October 19, 2012The traditional health science of ayurveda teaches us that we should adjust our diets according to our personal constitutions, the seasons, and our stage of life. Essentially, making small changes to the foods you are eating can help you transition gracefully from summer to winter. During the fall season, nature is experiencing dramatic transformations: the bounty of harvest, the turning of the leaves, the plants and trees starting to prepare for their yearly cycle of dormancy. These changes …
Starting a Home Yoga Practice
June 17, 2012Yoga is meant to be practiced individually and the benefits of tailoring a practice to your personal needs are immense - so why is it so hard to start practicing on your own? I remember setting up my mat, getting my props, and then looking at it all without a clue where to start. Sound familiar? If so, hopefully this blog will help - I sure wish I had this when I was starting out! The first step is setting up a location and time where you can practice. This doesn't have to be a large …
Ayurvedic Detox
May 20, 2012Is a Detox Program Right for You? Detox is a hot buzzword lately, but what does it really involve and is it safe? The answers to those questions aren't simple, so let's start by describing what it involves. Detox, short for detoxification, is a program to help your body process and eliminate toxins which have been stored in your body. Detox programs typically involve a short-term change to your eating habits and may involve supplements or lifestyle changes. Some programs also include …
Sustaining Positive Change
December 31, 2011A few years ago I made a radical New Year’s resolution – I would QUIT making resolutions at the New Year. Let me clarify - I didn’t give up on creating positive changes in my life, nor did I quit making goals for myself, but after much study of human nature, including ayurveda, I realized that trying to make sweeping lifestyle changes in January is nuts (oh, and by the way, it often fails miserably). I’m fairly certain that NONE of my New Year’s Resolutions were ever actually very …
Surviving Summer – Naturally!
August 21, 2011The heat of summer can wreck havoc with our systems – but the natural healing science of Ayurveda can help you keep your cool this summer season. Ayurveda teaches that Pitta dosha, with its fire element, is dominant during the hot summer months. Typical pitta aliments (like rashes, acid stomach, ulcers, inflammation, diarrhea, headaches and fiery tempers) are caused when too much pitta dosha builds up in the body. So the key to keeping your cool this summer – is keeping cool! Cooling …
Yoga Community
June 5, 2011Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been? If you have ever had the pleasure of taking a class from Michelle Allgaier, Yoga Community’s founder & original owner, you may have heard the creation story. YC was one of two studios in the Tri-Cities when yoga was mostly taught in health clubs. First located next to Aqua Tropics, when you walked in to the studio you could never be sure what you would find; a corn snake in the bathroom, a kangaroo rat dropping in though the ceiling, various …
The Meaning of OM
April 8, 2011Did you ever wonder why we chant Om during yoga classes?? If you ask, you often get an obscure answer like “It’s the sound of the universe” or “It represents the past, present and future.” These confusing answers never really satisfied me – but once I studied the subject, I understood why it’s so hard to answer. There’s so much depth and richness to the answer, it’s hard to cut it down to a “sound bite” appropriate for a short answer. The sound bites don’t do it …
Yoga for Every Body
February 26, 2011Walking into the Adaptive Class for the first time your initial impression might be: this is a rowdy crowd. You are likely to hear some good-natured heckling, bits of encouragement, terms of endearment, or even some friendly name-calling being floated around the room. By the time you leave you’ll know that the students of this class are a tight but welcoming group, most who have been practicing together for years, and…they really like their teacher. Margaret Callahan has been teaching …
Prenatal Yoga
February 8, 2011“Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise, one thing is certain -- your life will never be the same.” ~ Catherine Jones, Eating for Pregnancy. As pregnant women, we notice changes in our body every day. Sometimes those changes can be dramatic; but for the most part, they are gradual…developing day-to-day or week-to-week. And of course, no pregnancy is exactly the same. Each woman will have her own mixture of emotions and discomforts, and …
Yoga Philosophy…Talk on a Cereal Box?
November 24, 2010When I first started exploring yoga philosophy, my husband routinely misquoted singer Edie Brickell, stating that philosophy was the smile on a dog. Actually, in her hit song, What I Am, Edie croons that religion is the smile on a dog…philosophy is talk on a cereal box. But let’s not split hairs – the real point is…what’s the point?? Right? Why study a bunch of ideas written before they had twitter or even the internet? Well, good question. My interest in philosophy predates …