Begin the year with the experience of and practicing ways of meeting the difficulties of life with a quality of gratitude.

We are of course thankful for so many good things that come our way.  You may have some inkling that a quality of gratitude is helpful even if bad things come your way.  We’re less reactive, more hopeful, less stressed and so much more.  In fact good research is telling us that a quality of gratitude has many benefits:  Research – Proven Benefits of Gratitude.

The very good news is that we can practice gratitude.  Let’s share the practice and learning here.  New Years Day.  9am – Noon. $20.  Learning materials included.

Please RSVP/Preregister by emailing me so we have enough space for all!

Thanks!  —  Brant

As many of you know, I have been training groups of police officers, firefighters, 911 dispatchers and paramedics over the past 5 years.    I was delighted to be invited to the Bend Fire Department in mid-July to offer a full week of 2-hour mindfulness-based trainings to everyone in the agency; chiefs to new recruits, administrative staff to maintenance, family.

I had never trained an entire agency before!   Rather than the more intensive 8-week, 20-some hour MBRT/MBSR training this was more like ‘planting seeds’ so everyone in the agency had a better idea about the practicality and the direct experience if mindfulness practice.

They wanted to have long-term followup using the app  Headspace  which I introduced during the sessions.

Feedback so far has been very good!   I sent a post-training survey with lots of questions about the value folks found.   I’ll get those results in early September and will let you know what they said.   —   Brant

We  feel that yoga brought a new awareness to both Chuck & I learning to honor

and respect our body and really listen to what our body is telling us.   It

has been most beneficial to our health and happiness.   Remembering the

importance of deep breathing, good posture, and balance are skills we try to

practice in daily living.   We are so grateful to have the experience and we

felt so honored and valued by you and Marie as instructors.  —  Charline & Chuck

This radio segment describing yet one more study showing appropriately modified yoga practice to be very effective for back pain doesn’t surprise me in the least!

Yoga was shown to be as effective as physical therapy over a period of three months.  This is a common report by  students here as they learn to practice appropriately.  Listen to some of the lovely comments by folks and doctors who learned the benefits of practice are included in the radio interviews:

Study Finds Yoga Can Help Back Pain, But Keep It Gentle, With These Poses

I’m going to suggest a radical but very common sense way of viewing chronic pain.  It’s the body’s signal that there is a hunger for attention.  Sometimes that will be medical diagnosis and treatment but so very often it’s just the hunger to move generously and appropriately.  Movement is nourishment as long as we aren’t hurting ourselves.  As we nourish ourselves with appropriate movement we become a bit more at home in this body and we suffer less.

Practice Well!  —  Brant

 

 

 

” We love  YOGA!   We each get something unique from it and love the Meditation aspect of it as well!  It keeps us flexible! Brant is the best…”

“One of the most valuable things I learned from Brant, is to “lean gently into your limitations” .   Brant was probably talking about stretching gently against the limitations of inflexible muscles, but this advice could apply across one’s life work”

Thanks Brant!  —  Linda – 

“I began yoga to get my body back in sync after an unresolved injury a few years ago.  I knew there was a mind/body/spirit component as well but experienced this more fully following my mother’s death.  I have begun to feel less pain, more mobility, and more strength.  In addition, I love the opportunity to de-stress and, wonderfully (strangely?), move through grief in a meaningful way. “

“I took the MBSR course from Brant in 2016.  The mindfulness and meditation techniques I learned has made a real difference in my life in staying more in the present.  I meditate regularly using the what I leaned and find that it has a calming affect and has brought added joy to my life.  His yoga classes are great way to stay flexible and are a welcome break at the end of a hectic workday.”   Brad 

“I always had plans to start yoga, but didn’t get around to it until I became pregnant.  Signing up for class was on of the first things I did for my son.  I started last September.  I was worried I wouldn’t always go to class because I was tired, or because I had too much work to do, but the opposite was true.  Instead of collapsing into sleep on the couch after work, I could actually make dinner, plan lessons and talk to my husband if I went to yoga .

I resisted changing.  I was pregnant, not ill or weak.  I wanted to work and live and do yoga without modifications. But there was a being growing inside of me, altering my shape, shifting my organs, changing my chemistry.  Yoga helped me to explore and embrace, what my son and I were becoming.  There are many ways to be strong.

Breathing into different parts of my body became especially important to me as we grew.  I talked to my son and myself with my breath.  This became our labor.”  Archive Newsletter 2006.