Q and A with Sadie Nardini

MHA: Are there yoga postures you feel are particularly recommended to reduce stress?
Sadie: All yoga poses help to balance the body and breath, and therefore, the central nervous system. In my opinion, it's not the poses that matter most, it's the level of intensity. If a class is too hard, even yoga can trigger stress. Too passive and it can promote lethargy. Yoga as internal medicine is a personal thing. Some people find that more movement, or more of an exercise form of yoga is what best brings them to center. Some require a more gentle or restorative form. Many students find that incorporating both stronger and softer poses helps them feel fit, grounded and clear. People should try them both and see which style brings them the most benefits.

MHA: What about breathing techniques?
Sadie: One of the best breaths I've found for calming the mind and body is simple, and fast-acting. I call it the Double-Down Breath.  Sit somewhere quiet, and begin to breathe through the nose. Inhale for 3 seconds, and exhale for 6. Do this for one minute, then do one more minute of 4 second inhales and 8 second exhales. Then breathe normally through the nose for one more minute. In just 3 minutes total, people usually experience a soothing, yet aware sensation that means the nervous system is now in equilibrium.

MHA: What is the best way for a beginner to start a yoga practice?
Sadie: The best way is to just start. So many people wait because they don't know what it will be like, and when they finally get there, they find it's an amazingly helpful tool they can always have access to. I would suggest that someone who wants to try yoga head to a local studio, and take a Basic or Beginner-level class. These are usually strengthening classes that get the body moving in a supportive environment with lots of variations and adaptations. Gentle and Restorative will be less movement but are great for those who want a more soothing practice and not as much of a workout.

MHA:Is posture connected to mood? What do you recommend to help improve posture?
Sadie: Posture is absolutely connected to mood. People with poor posture are usually cut off from their full breathing capacity. Breath is intimately connected to healing, brain function and central nervous system balancing. Along with poor posture usually comes a lack of belly tone or movement. Without the inner massage that belly and pelvic breathing and toning provides, serotonin production (the majority of which is produced in the gut, not the brain), less self-soothing and stress-busting is available.  Simply standing up straighter--something that regular yoga practice causes naturally--and inhaling to expand the belly, exhaling to hug the low belly in and up can cause a major shift in mood...and health in general.

MHA: How do you recommend beginning?
Sadie: It's hard to start something new if one is feeling depressed, fatigued or isolated. But yoga is a magic practice, one that not only transforms the body, mind and way of living in the world, but it also provides an instant community of like-minded people ready to encourage and support your journey into unimaginable health and wellness. You just have to take the first step--onto the yoga mat.

Join us for Get On Your Mat For Mental Health with Sadie Nardini!

Wednesday, June 19 at 6pm on Court Street in White Plains

Register at www.mhawestchester.org

Announcing CENTERING SUNDAY: Practice with a good karma twist!

 

On MHA’s Centering Sunday, May 19th, you can practice yoga, take pilates or book a massage, all with a good karma twist.

In honor of May's Mental Health Awareness Month, yoga studios and wellness centers across the Hudson Valley are offering classes in support of the Mental Health Association of Westchester’s mental health programs and services. 

Through these events, MHA hopes to increase understanding and reduce stigma, which causes needless shame and is the biggest obstacle to seeking help.  With good treatment, people can and do recover and lead healthy, productive lives in the community.

 

Join us!

May 10th at The Yoga Sanctuary in Mamaroneck - 6pm


May 16th at Premier Pilates & Yoga in New Rochelle - 6:15 PM

Sunday, May 19:

Athleta (Scarsdale) – 10:00 AM

Bikram Yoga (Yorktown Heights) - 3:00 PM

Bronxville Wellness Sanctuary (Bronxville) - Massage 2:00 - 5:00 PM

Devoted Yoga (Yorktown Heights) - 10:00 AM

Energy Movement Center (Peekskill) - 11:00 AM

Hudson Yoga (Croton-on-Hudson) - 11:00 AM

Pilates on Hudson (Peekskill) - 9 AM Yoga for Anxiety & Depression

Quest Yoga Arts  (Mt. Kisco) -11:45 AM

Riverstone Yoga (Tarrytown) - 9 AM

Sage Yoga (Armonk) - 4:00 PM

Santhigram Wellness & Ayurveda Center (White Plains) - 11:00 AM

Scarsdale Yoga Studio (Scarsdale) - 11:45 AM

Skinny Buddha (Mount Kisco) - 10:00 AM

Soulauras Wisdom & Wellness Center (Briarcliff Manor) - 2 PM

SPACE/Pilates Yoga & Beyond (Bedford Hills)  - 11:00 AM

The Ajna Center for Wellness & Community (Croton-on-Hudson) - 1:00 PM

The Yoga Room (Pelham) - 12:30 PM

Yoga Haven (Scarsdale) --3PM

Yoga on Lake Rippowam (South Salem) - 5:00 PM

Yoga Spark (Mamaroneck) - 12 noon

Thank you to these generous studios and studio owners for partnering with MHA. Together, we can do so much. Together, we will!

For a map and directions to all locations, visit http://www.mhawestchester.org/onyourmat/Centering_Sunday/Find_a_Studio/find_a_studio.html

www.mhawestchester.org

Feeling alone? Disconnected? Try This Breathing Practice

By Amy Weintraub

MHA Westchester is so happy to welcome Amy back as we begin the countdown to this year's mega yoga event, Get On Your Mat For Mental Health,  Wednesday, June 19th on Court Street in White Plains. To register, visit www.mhawestchester.org
I know of no better way to sense our interconnectedness than to begin a breathing practice.  Aside from the well-documented health benefits, we can stop a ruminative chain of thoughts or a negative mood state in its tracks with one of many simple yogic breathing exercises called pranayama.  Trauma, loss and the everyday hassles of daily life can create constriction in the physical and emotional body.  As we constrict, we begin to close off from others.  Some of us carry this sense of separation throughout our lives in the form of depression.  Yogic breathing can begin to break through that wall of separation, perhaps just a chink at first, through which we begin to feel less separate and alone.  A simple breath can give us a felt sense of our connection to the energy of the cosmos.  Einstein once said that we are operating under the optical delusion of our separateness and that our separateness is lethal.* When we breathe mindfully, that delusion dissolves and we begin to see clearly again that we are intimately and eternally connected to the energy of the universe and to each other.  What is authentic within us is given voice. 
 
Practice:
When we breathe consciously, we may quiet the clatter of thoughts so that mindfulness naturally arises. Try this simple breath when the busy mind needs a respite.  Let it be the portal into your seated meditation practice.
Ocean-Sounding Victory Breath (Ujjayi)
This breath, jokingly referred to as Darth Vader Breath, is soothing to the central nervous system, even as it calms the mind and supports greater focus for meditation.
1. To begin, inhale through the nostrils to the count of four with a slight constriction at the back of the throat, so that the breath is audible, like a light snoring sound.
2. Exhale through the nostrils for four counts, maintaining the snoring sound.
3. The breath is slow, and deep.  Feel the breath expanding the belly, the ribcage, and then the upper chest.
4. On the exhalation, pull the abdomen in and up to empty the lungs completely.
5. Sense the breath at the back of the throat.
6. Listen to your breath.  Does it sound like a wave gently rolling across pebbles?  Imagine your favorite pebbly beach.  Does it sound like an infant’s snore?  Let it be like a lullaby to yourself—perhaps a younger you.

*Calaprice, A. (2005). The new quotable Einstein. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, p. 109

Amy Weintraub, director of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute, author of the bestselling Yoga for Depression and the ground-breaking Yoga Skills for Therapists, has been a pioneer in the field of yoga and mental health for over 20 years. She trains health and yoga professionals and offers workshops for every day practitioners.  The LifeForce Yoga protocol is being used in residential treatment centers, hospitals and by health care providers around the world. She is involved in ongoing research on the effects of yoga on mood, and has produced an award-winning library of evidence-based yoga and meditation CDs and DVDs for mood management.  Find Amy at www.yogafordepression.com.,

Sadie Nardini and Tao Porchon-Lynch to Headline Mega-Yoga Event

MHA is thrilled to announce the 2013 Get On Your Mat For Mental Health lineup. The one-hour class will be taught by Yoga superstar, Sadi Nardini  and yoga legend and Athleta's Athlete of the Year, Tao Porchon-Lynch will be leading the opening meditation.

We could not be more pleased to have these two extraordinary souls take us to our mats on June 19, 2013 on Court Street in White Plains.

NEW 2013 DATE ANNOUNCED!

2013 GET ON YOUR MAT FOR MENTAL HEALTH

 

Wednesday, June 19

Mark your calendars!

Come celebrate the summer solstice under the open sky.

Court Street in White Plains

MHA's First Mega Yoga Event: A Mega Success!

June 21, 2012--It was the summer solstice. It was hot, it was light and it was a celebration. More than 500 people streamed onto Court Street in White Plains on Wednesday night, June 20^th for Get On Your Mat For Mental Health, The Mental Health Association of Westchester’s very first mega yoga event ever to take place in the county.  As participants rolled their mats out, the music of the band, House of Waters drifted through the air.  Soon, MHA CEO, Dr. Amy Kohn welcomed the crowd and introduced White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach who expressed his amazement at the transformation of the busy city street into an island of calm.

Yoga Haven founder, Betsy Kase, led the opening meditation, inviting everyone to connect to their breath and then leading all gathered in a giant “OM”, ushering in summer together.  Then celebrity yoga teacher, Gwen Lawrence, enthusiastically took the stage, promising she’d “go easy” on everyone, given the record-breaking heat.  Moments later, the only thing visible was a forest of arms moving through the air to Gwen’s instructions. Later Gwen would say, “I wish you could see the view from up here! Just amazing.”

MHA’s Dr. Kohn, who had a front row mat and participated in the class, said: “I am deeply delighted by the outpouring of support for this event. There seems to be a smile on every face.”  Lauri Nemetz Yoga Teachers Association co-President commented: “It was amazing to see the diverse crowd, packed in tightly mat to mat, happy to practice and be together.   Even in the middle of White Plains, all of us gathered in both sweat and stillness, in a blissful evening for mental health!" After the class, there was one last treat in store. 14-year-old Mike Sabath, of Katonah, NY, asked everyone to stand and clap as he sang the song he wrote especially for MHA, entitled, Talk About It.  Sabath wrote the song to raise awareness of the stigma associated with mental illness. Available on iTunes,  Mike is donating all the funds raised to MHA.

MHA event manager, Constance Moustakas, was elated, “When we began to plan this event, we had no idea what the response would be, only that there is definite synergy between yoga and other holistic approaches to health and mental wellness.” With more than 40 Westchester yoga studios participating and the success of the event, this summer solstice celebration is no doubt the first of many to come.

MHA is a community-based mental health agency that has been helping Westchester County residents for 66 years through direct services, professional and community education and advocacy. MHA supports 20,000 individuals annually through a comprehensive array of mental health services for all ages at licensed mental health clinics, and to best meet each individual’s need, at home or at a community location. MHA strives to help each individual to achieve their personal goals and to lead an independent, healthy and successful life in the community. For information on critical mental health issues and MHA services, visit www.mhawestchester.org or MHA on Facebook and Twitter.

Learning To Be Present: Yoga's Great Gift

by Laurice D. Nemetz     

Lauri worked with MHA post 9/11 on the Project Liberty grant  as a creative arts therapist during her FEMA days.  As current co-President of the YTA (Yoga Teachers Association), Lauri helped with the initial planning of this special event.

The practice of yoga is a great gift as it teaches us how to be present.  I tell my private clients that showing up and arriving on the mat is probably the most important part of the asana practice.  What comes out after that, whether messy or glorious, really is not as important as being able to arrive.

The yoga asanas or poses can be fun to work at, but ultimately, exploring where one is in the present moment is the most fascinating part of a yoga practice.  Having worked for over twenty years in the mental health field, I find the same is true for those clients as well.  While, as a therapist,  I am looking to increase the range of possibilities for the client, where a person is in the present moment is interesting and relevant.  Just as trees bend and grow differently according to environment and myriad other reasons, where we are at the moment is shaped in part, by the way we have reacted to the world.  In yoga we talk about samskaras, our patterned reactions.  The wonderful thing is that although samsakras can be strong, they still have the possibility of being changed, particularly when we focus ourselves to the present.

Working in the anatomy world, I’ve been fortunate to be with a number of great minded thinkers who choose to see what ultimately has been going right in a body/mind/spirit rather than pointing first to what has not.  Even in dissection lab, we note that on the day a person dies, despite the reality of death, there were still so many wondrous things going well.   That is not to say we sugarcoat the experience of pain or illness, both mental and physical, but we look towards the strengths first.  We look to see where the individual is in this moment.

Yoga is a place where we can learn to fall while also learning to get back up again, no matter what our associations may be in the past with perceived imperfections.  While as a society we want to protect our children and loved ones against disappointments, I’ve learned as both a therapist and parent, that learning how to cope with challenges and breaking our patterns of reactivity is ultimately more useful than trying to disappear all difficult experiences.  This helps us to ride those waves of ups and downs with more ease and grace. 

Finally, yoga, especially on this upcoming event day, is about community.  Having a sense of universality and connection to more than our isolated selves can help us all function in a healthy way.  As Amy Weintraub noted in her recent post, “Research has shown that we are lowering the stress hormone cortisol when we practice yoga, and we are raising GABA levels, a neurotransmitter that protects us from anxiety and depression.  We are also raising oxytocin levels, the ”bonding” hormone that allows us to feel more connected to others.”  Beyond the reality in the science of it, this just makes great basic sense.  When we lower stress, we can connect.  That really is what yoga is all about.  The Sankrit word yuj that yoga comes from literally means to yoke or join together.  When we are together, we become more supportive of each other, and collectively stronger.

So show up on your mat for mental health.  It is amazing what just being present can do.  There is a well-known Sanskrit poem, attributed to the Classical poet Kalidasa, called “Salutation to the Dawn.”  In essence, it says that we should look well to this day, because this is essentially life.  Yesterday is a dream and tomorrow is only a vision.  This moment is the perfect moment.  As one of my own dear yoga teachers likes to say, “this is the magic moment”.  Be present to the magic moment on your mat and in your world.

Laurice D. Nemetz, MA, BC-DMT, ERYT, LCAT is a certified and registered experienced-level yoga teacher, a member of the Academy of Dance/Movement Therapists and a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. She is co-president of the YTA (Yoga Teachers’ Association),  an adjunct professor at Pace University and guest at the College of New Rochelle. Lauri teaches yoga at Club Fit in Briarcliff.  She has been influenced by many teachers and traditions and is particularly grateful to Karin Stephan, David Hollander, David Lipschutz (Enoch Dasa) and Kim Schwartz. In addition to teaching yoga and anatomy and working as a dance/movement therapist, Lauri leads yoga and kayaking trips on the Hudson River, in Canada and Costa Rica.  She is the author of "A Place of Balance: Yoga Practice for the Kayaker" (Sea Kayaker Magazine, Oct. 2010) and has also published writings on movement therapy and yoga in several books and journals.

Lauri has degrees from Wellesley College and a Master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy from Goucher College. She is currently an associate teacher Tom Myers’ Anatomy Trains® , anatomy director of two yoga teacher training programs in NY:  Ananda Ashram and Sage Yoga.  She lives with her husband and her two boys in Ossining New York and enjoys art, music, and sea-kayaking and of course, movement!

Website information at:  www.wellnessbridge.com and www.ytayoga.com .