6. Learn Self-Massage & Sensory Body Awareness.

YogAlign asks us to make deposits in the self-love bank account. Effective self-massage is the tool for bringing blood flow, oxygen, relaxation, and sensory awareness to our soft tissue & organs.

In YogAlign we use self-massage to open the fascia that can be palpated from the outside, and we combine this with core breathing to open the fascia from the inside.  The importance of practicing daily self-massage cannot be overemphasized.

YogAlign teaches lomi-lomi, a form of Hawaiian self-massage that is performed all over the body in each YogAlign session. Self-massage brings awareness into the voluntary cortex of the brain & out of the sub cortex, or involuntary, system. Each lomi-lomi session is an opportunity to become present in our body in the here & now. Self-massage not only invites self-love & healing, but also provides an important opportunity to understand our anatomy on an experiential level.

Happy Mothers Day & Congratulations Deb Hebden!  

You are the Winner of our fabulous retreat weekend at the Beachpod with your own YogAlign instruction and an indulgent afternoon of Decléor treatments at Mount Skin & Body.

Contact Leonie to book your accommodation & YogAlign instruction at the Beachpod on 0274 96 96 33 & ring the lovely girls at Mount Skin & Body next week on 575 0777 to arrange your treatments.

Thank you to all the beautiful women that entered & we wish you all a lovely day soaking up some love & sunshine with family & friends xxx

[caption id="attachment_570" align="alignleft" width="200"] Spread the Love this sunny Sunday xx[/caption]

An inspiring & all inclusive article - enjoy!

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13504/8-traits-of-people-who-reach-their-full-potential.html

5.  Free Your Fascia & Know Your Anatomy.

We need to understand the anatomy of our structure & how the entire body is connected in a web.  The smallest movement reverberates through our entire body. YogAlign shows us in an experiential way how our body is wired.  Since the body is a continuum, the anatomy exercises in YogAlign are based on whole-body awareness. What you can sense, you can start to consciously change.

Our fascia is a web-like tissue that surrounds & guides our muscle pathways, determines the quality of our movements, & even affects our immune & hormonal systems. The unique breathing exercises in YogAlign help us to feel & engage different muscle pathways that are guided by the fascia.  Fascia growth is determined by our repetitive movements & can become rigid or thickened when the body is misaligned & muscles are overworked.

Understanding anatomy of movement & learning how to optimize spinal curve mobility through breathing & muscle training are other essentials for a pain-free body. It is helpful to look at the anatomical drawings of the muscle connections & fascia pathways in our body. Once we have an outer map we can begin to practice body & sensory awareness from an inner perspective, sensing our fascia & the muscle pathways as we move about in daily life.

The Ultimate Escape to the Beachpod Beauty Retreat will be announced this Mothers Day - Sunday 11th May!

For every Decléor product or treatment you purchase at Mount Skin & Body this week, ensure you put your entry in to Win before Sunday!

Your package includes 2 nights at the boutique Beachpod accommodation here in Mount Maunganui, a personalised yoga session with your very own YogAlign instructor, followed by an indulgent afternoon at Mount Skin & Body for a Decléor Aromaplasty Facial & a Decléor Aroma Relax Body Treatment!

Check to see if you are the lucky winner of the Self-Love Package published this Sunday on the following websites:

www.beachpod.co.nz or www.mountskinbody.co.nz

4.  Learn Concentric/Eccentric PNF Neuromuscular Exercises.

Beneficial spine alignment becomes intrinsic in the body as we recode neuromuscular patterning. Concentric-to-eccentric muscle engagement techniques are designed to help us quickly become strong & flexible, with no pain or strain to our joints.

The way to flexibility is in the understanding that muscle tension is controlled with our brain.

Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF, is a powerful tool for overriding the stretch reflex, changing muscle tension, & gaining flexibility.

PNF facilitations can be self-applied, or can be practiced with a partner or teacher. Learning to employ these neuromuscular techniques will give us flexibility & strength throughout our body quickly, with no pain in the process.

MauaoPAC is the only place to be on Good Friday this Easter!

From 10am the House of Jazz & Blues swings open @ MauaoPAC

Friday 18 April 2014

11 Totara Street, Mount Maunganui

$5 entry @ the door.

From 8pm the doors re-open for the Hurricane Party!

$29 General Admission

Tickets @ www.ticketdirect.co.nz or on the door.

3.  Establish Natural Spine Alignment.

Establishing natural spine alignment is essential to becoming balanced & pain-free in your body. YogAlign has specific exercises that engage muscular action, which encourages natural spine alignment.

When practiced in combination with core breathing, these exercises bring us into beneficial alignment patterns from the inside out.  Creating natural alignment & beneficial breathing habits are the keynotes to health, happiness, & longevity.

The majority of all pain in the body comes from poor posture; therefore, alignment is the primary focus of YogAlign postures.  Emphasis is upon achieving natural alignment via functional yoga poses & breathing exercises that recode how we use the body at the nervous system level.

2.  Learn to Activate the Psoas - "The Core of Your Core".

The psoas group connects your upper body to your lower body, & your inner emotional body to your physical body.

The psoas is involved with moving, breathing, organ support, emotions, & spine alignment. Activating your psoas in synergy with the rest of your core abdominal muscles is the key to a pain-free body & a strong, stable core.

Many common abdominal exercises strengthen through flexion, or shortening, of the trunk muscles. This eventually leads to pain, misalignment, & injuries.

The focus in YogAlign is to train your core muscles predominately as stabilizers of the truck & extenders of the spine.

Does an opportunity to spend two nights away in a little oasis, the Beachpod in Mount Maunganui with your very own YogAlign Instructor & then an afternoon of pampering Decléor treatments sound appealing to you?  Check out www.mountskinbody.co.nz for details or ring 07 575 0777 to speak to one of the lovely staff at mount skin & body.