The ancient art of yoga has become very popular in Western society over the past few decades. It's one of the things that helped create the foundation I had when my son left this life in 2019. In this week's episode, I have a lovely conversation with Deb Althoff, a yoga instructor in Tempe, Arizona. Deb teaches classes in person and online, including a class I've taken, Yoga For Grief. In this episode, we talk about:
- How divorce led Deb to yoga
- The intense reaction she had after her first yoga class - and the knowing she had
- All the “firsts” she experienced in her first yoga class
- The event that prompted her to move into yoga teacher training - and the fear that had kept her from pursuing it earlier
- The release we can experience through yoga
- How yoga can help us move our emotions and process our grief
- How tension presents itself in the physical body and the energetic body - and how yoga can help ease that tension
- Creating space in the body versus reclaiming space
- How Yoga For Grief was created
- Deb’s belief that we let yoga meet us where we are
- How yoga helps us set boundaries
- Why curiosity is beneficial in yoga
- How yoga can let us release the need to compare ourselves to others
- The power of presence we receive from yoga
- The one thing that brings us to the present moment more than anything else
- What happens when we’re fully present with the breath
- How our posture and the way we breathe helps to regulate our nervous system and our hormones
- How staying in the fight or flight response affects us
- What holding emotions in our body does to us
- Where we hold grief and sadness in our bodies
- Where we hold anger and resentment in our bodies
- How Deb found forgiveness from the anger and resentment she’d been carrying
- The emotions we hold in our kidney meridians
- The importance of intention in your yoga practice
- The transformation Deb sees in her students after a yoga session
- Why it’s important to try different yoga teachers from time to time
- An alternative to hot yoga
- How to find the yoga class that’s right for you
- The benefits of online yoga classes
- How yoga allows us to be vulnerable
- How Deb honors her Mom through yoga
Be sure to sign up for Deb's newsletter here so you'll be notified when she opens registration for her next Yoga For Grief class this Spring.
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