Sally Weber   (Tucson)

Yoga for the Brain

Sally Weber,  RYT-500,  has been practicing yoga for over 30 years.  She came to Tucson after evacuating from Hurricane Katrina with her family, leaving behind a yoga studio in Bay St Louis, Mississippi.  She received her yoga teaching certification through Integrative Yoga Therapy (www.iytyogatherapy.com)  in 2001 and Profession Yoga Therapist (PYT) certification in 2003.  Sally is currently a mentor for these programs.  She published articles in WWN Connections (Wholistic Wellness Network) on "Yoga and Diabetes" and in the Arizona Yoga Association newsletter on "Evacuating from Katrina, An Extreme Practice in Yoga from the Lens of the Five Koshas."  She has co-developed partner yoga workshops in Tucson with Tom Beall.  Sally is currently a yoga instructor at Canyon Ranch.

sallymweber@msn.com         www.sunmoonyoga-tucson.com

Yoga for the Brain

Saturday, February 13th

9:45 am - 11:15 am

Club Kilimanjahro Studio

Like a mountain, the mind becomes calm, still, and settled in the moment.

Yoga is good for the brain. Yoga brings balance to the mind and emotions allowing the nervous system and brain to come to a state of rest and balance. When this happens, every system of the body and all levels (mind, body, and spirit) of who we are benefit. In this session you will learn and experience the specific tools of yoga that are beneficial to reducing stress, calm the nervous system down, balance the right and left hemisphere of the brain and notice for yourself the benefits.

This class includes a full yoga practice with all of the elements mentioned below, a handout and references.

Chanting helps you get out of the left brain thinking.
Centering helps you experience the now. The state of yoga and the state of meditation are the same when you are present in the now. When this happens, there is less left brain (time oriented) activity leading to a calmer mind and body.
Specific mudras help to minimize the circular thinking patterns.
Eye exercises help soothe the brain.
Postures that help balance the right and left side of the body and right and left hemispheres of the brain.
Forward bends are cooling to the nervous system and activate the parasympathetic branch (relaxation) of the nervous system, releasing relaxation hormones. When the nervous system is relaxed, the brain is relaxed.
Inversions increase blood flow to the scalp and brain. Inversions have been clinically observed to promote vitality and increase memory and IQ.
Yoga Nidra By remaining aware and alert in the alpha predominant state, a profound experience of total relaxation is reached. Far more beneficial than conventional sleep, Yoga Nidra practice opens a doorway to higher states of consciousness.
Alternate nostril breathing helps to balance the right and left side of the body and the right and left brain at a very subtle level.
Meditation in general helps reduce our automatic response and reaction to thinking, thereby calming to the nervous system and all systems of the body. Mantra Meditation exercises the critical prefrontal cortex of the brain to make the brain healthier, more integrated, and better able to function together as a whole.

In addition this class will include a specific exercise that is termed "Superbrain Yoga". It has been noted to help students, Attention Deficit Disorder, autism, inability to focus, self-esteem, and many others.

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