By Ella MacDonald
In my own experience
StressAce Yoga has changed my relationship with my body in a powerful way – I have befriended my own body.I used to push myself and wonder what I was doing wrong, and why I did not feel like I wanted to really feel or experience my body. I have been a yoga teacher since 2000 and practiced yoga since I was at the university. In all that time I never felt that I really experienced a complete connection with my body.
StressAce Yoga has created more tolerance, gentle connecting and less pressure to perform for my body. I use StressAce Yoga to teach people to feel sensations and not to move into pain, but respect where the body is at the time. There is a window of tolerance that is individual and a fluid range of movement that is possible when learning patience with your own experience.We are interested in helping people discover a different kind of relationship to their body, one that is gentler and more forgiving. A priority is placed on safety and health and yet challenging the body with temperance. We are aware of just how challenging this tack is; it requires us to practice patience and kindness over the long term towards our own body.
StressAce Yoga practice also provides a way for us to investigate our habitual body patterns and explore new ways of being physical that we have not previously considered. Prolonged stress in the nervous system can lock us into a few specific body patterns that may feel protective, but ultimately become stifling and limiting over time.For some stressed individuals,
StressAce Yoga offers a safe way to experiment with these patterns and discover healthier and more expansive ways to being embodied that in turn advance self-understanding, engender maturity and awakens possibility.
Experience StressAce Yoga now!
You can use these StressAce Yoga exercises to find the center of your body:
As you are ready, begin to notice how you are sitting on your chair. Start to get a feeling for your form., in particular, let’s experiment with finding our center. One way to do this is to begin with some movements. You may choose to gently rock forward and back or side to side. You can also make these movements more circular. If you like, make these movements as big as they are going to be at first, and then gradually make them smaller, you may also wish to experiment with making them slower and more deliberate. As you make your movements smaller and slower you may notice muscles of your lower abdomen beginning to engage. Lower belly muscles may naturally start to tighten and activate. Take a moment to notice the quality of that muscular energy with at your center below your belly button. Finally, if you like you can interact with those core muscles by gently hugging or drawing in your lower belly to cultivate strength and stability right at your center. Pause for a moment if you like in order to investigate your center as a source of support and stability.
The main idea here is for you to be gentle and become aware that your body has an intelligence of its own and can be a source of vitality and a feeling of wholeness. Once the body feels safe the natural unwinding of stress begins to free the body from its’ grip.