Olympic Inspiration

Watching or listening to the Olympics, you'll hear plenty of inspiring stories of girls and women over-coming fears and obstacles in life, whether they make it to the podium or simply enjoy competing in the games.  So, how do they do it?  What makes it possible to sprint past the fear and hurdle the obstacles?

Obviously, it takes practice.  Regular and maybe even daily practice.  Practice teaches the body and the mind what you are trying to learn.  The more you do it, the stronger you'll get.  Your muscles adapt to the task.  Your brain makes connections that make the task easier every time you do it.  And, the brain and the body connect so strongly, the task becomes almost unconscious.   Bottom line, keep practicing, persevere, even when it's hard!

That being said, it' also important to accept yourself for who and what you are.  The more you accept and understand your body and  mind as it is, the more your practice will help you move forward toward the goals you've set.  Set goals, but make them work with your unique-ness.  Work with your body, not against it.  Respect and understand your limits and challenge yourself only as far as keeps you strong. You are amazing just the way you are and working with that, allows your strengths to shine.  Focusing on weakness, makes more weakness, focusing on strength makes you stronger!

Weaknesses often cause us to lose focus as well.  We can become so busy trying to be what we SHOULD that we lose track of the original goal.   We also lose track of goals due to emotions like hurt or sadness.  Feeling these emotions, allowing them their time for expression can be done without completely losing focus.  Life will have stressors, always.  Find ways to cope that work for you and keep your focus.  It's easy to give up on yourself, but don't lose track of the bigger picture.

In the end, it's about fun.  It's fun to challenge your body.  It's fun to feel the excitement of the game or the task. It's fun to be with others doing the same tasks.  It's fun to grow, get strong, be balanced, find your limits!

How can yoga help?  Yoga teaches acceptance.  It teaches awareness of the body and understanding.  Yoga teaches about finding the edge.  This is how far you can challenge your body and mind, but no further today.  Keep working, keep practicing and every day you'll get further.  Yoga also teaches mental focus and dealing with stress through breath work and meditation.  There's no limit to what you can accomplish and yoga will help get you there!

Tell us how you overcome obstacles....
Tammy & Carmen

Why This is Important!

Here are some statistics:  Girls are 50% more likely to skip phys.ed. class one day of each week of school than boys.  Around 15% more boys than girls participate in vigorous physical activities and sports for all ages and racial/ethnic groups.  72% of girls and 56% of boys can not do any kind of physical activity that makes them breathe hard (aerobics) for 60 minutes.  Girls who are physically active report that they feel good about their bodies- no matter how much they weigh. This translates to fewer eating disorders and less depression.  Despite being 50% of the school population, only 40% of those participating in high school sports are female. A similar statistic continues into college. The more active girls get, the greater their self-esteem!  Many girls do not participate in physical activities, because they do not feel good enough at the activity or because their bodies don't look good enough.  Girls who do participate in physical activities have higher grades, more volunteer activities and community involvement, and civic engagement. Also girl athletes are 6 times more likely to suffer debilitating knee injuries than their boy counterparts.  Girls are increasing their participation in sports as opportunities increase - an 800% increase in the past 30 years!

Need we go on?!  It is obvious that girls need physical activity and that the benefits are huge!  This is why we have begun this project - Yoga4Girls.  Girls benefit from the physical activity in all the ways listed above, but we want to go further!  The physical benefits of yoga are important for all ages and genders - increased body awareness, flexibility, strength, and simply a love for the body.  There is also the physical benefit of understanding how the breath affects the body - the nervous system and the brain can be be dialed up or down and manipulated in many ways with simple yogic training.  The breath also affects the mind or the emotional aspects of life.  Breathing can make feelings of joy - really!  Breathing can create peace and calm.  It can create relief.  Breathing can motivate, excite, or create ease and release.  Yoga also invokes thoughts, visions, feelings as the body moves, the mind quiets, and the spirit rises.  This allows practitioners to let go of thinking patterns that are harmful or repetitive and creates a new canvas of activity from which to live.

The goals of Yoga4girls are simple- get girls involved in a physical activity they enjoy and one that makes them feel good no matter their fitness level or capabilities.  Get girls to understand their bodies better, to prevent injury, to treat them with respect, not as weaker versions of the male body, but to understand the amazing strengths of the female body!  This is not about improving weaknesses, this is about improving strengths!  Getting girls to love moving their bodies, expressing themselves, and loving themselves as a whole unit (not that "well, I have nice eyes, but my butt's too big" kind of stuff) - loving one's whole self!  Getting girls to understand their inner voices, to ignore messages from media, peers and other external sources.  Getting girls to feel confident in being who they are!

Yoga4Girls = know yourself, love yourself, be yourself!

Contact us if interested in more information or in getting involved!
Tammy and Carmen

Beginnings!

Today we introduce you to yoga for girls.  A fun way for girls to learn about themselves, their bodies, and yoga!  Learn about the fundamentals of yoga - asana (poses), breathing, meditation and more.  Learn about focus and how to use it to balance, to get better grades, and improve your hobbies and sports performance.  Learn to listen to your inner voice and tune out distractions and criticism.  Learn to accept your body and live a happy, worry-free life!  Learn to listen to and create dreams - some day they will come true!  Tell us what you think and what you want from our blog and from our classes!

Tammy and Carmen