meditation healing food living in balance healthy relationships and harnessing the truth power where you are powerful you are welcome to the show i'm your host skeeter chopra today on the show we have christine get bally as our guest christine is a yoga instructor at the princeton center for health and yoga she brings over three years of experience to the show today have you ever had joint pain inflammation back pain poor circulation plethora g all of these things can be addressed just by doing yoga so how much do you actually know about yoga let's find out more today from christine she is the expert she specializes in prada yoga and prime of life yoga she's been doing yoga personally for over ten years so please join me in welcoming her to the show you told me to thank you so much for being here today you appreciate it so what inspired you to join this line of work well in my thirty's i start to get interested in mindful based practices as a way of releasing stress that twenty years in the corporate world and for all familiar with the stress  one of my old cult roommates called me to let me know that one of our mutual best friends from college had died of a heroin overdose ok later that day i found out that of getting laid off the rains it pours and so i think both of those things really started to really make me question what was my my path in life and while i was meeting my professional goals the higher i one of the corporate ladder the less i felt like me you know financial success and and being successful professionally it wasn't it wasn't making you happy and it goes back to that saying that everything is within when you look to happiness externally you're not really working on firm ground so i kind of took a sabbatical and then my yoga practice became more serious and look at you now and glowing now my finding me you know i feel like me that i always like the people are doing what they love to do and getting paid for it well that's great hopefully you can shed some great insight on on the show today for viewers and for myself we all want to learn more about yoga and everybody can do yoga and everybody can do it ok so you don't have to be can anybody just join or do you have to have a background how flexible you have to be absolutely flexibility is such a small i mean there's actually it may help in certain postures but the true goal of yoga is really about finding that connection with the innermost aspect of your being well i'm going to put you to the test soon so how about i had minutes we're going to have christine do a bunch of yoga poses for us so we're going to see exactly what she's talking about during the iraq of session here so tell me what is pr breathing through yoga is when i see the pressure be flowing in and out while you're doing the poses that definitely the breathing is key and yoga if without the breath then it just becomes a form of exercise ok so that really is where it's that link rapid or shallow and we may hold our breath and that really the power of breeding practices that's yoga knotted that's the foundation of yoga and i think when people don't exhale that's even worse than not inhaling because you're keeping all the carbon is a carbon dioxide inside the the what we typically stress because there's there's different types of breathing practices some choose to increase your energy and and being more alert awake but what we typically need more of is exhaling really relaxes my body sometimes just even if you can take a two minute three minute breathing break and that you're doing wonders for your body amazing well make sure to do that next time in a stressful meeting i'll just step out take a bathroom through my breathing and come back and at university good for you well you sound very knowledgeable that's great now if we can actually talk about some of the poses for the audience of the viewers you know lot of people suffer from back pain and i think indigestion is a huge went out there there's so many people tak antacids you know desperate just to get out of their stomach vicious cycle of pain you know bloating gas all these things now whereas medicine or you know food is one one form of healing i talk about all kinds of healing on my show from a yoga perspective let's not overlook that i understand that can be very very powerful i can speak for myself and say that yoga doing yoga has really transformed my entire physical being and i did suffer from a lot of physical pain in the past and i still do it i still do my yoga just for you know insurance and it makes you feel good so can you tell the audience for example of somebody out there has indigestion what's a good pose for them to do at home right now for for the digestive system or one such holes would be as a seed  twist so that's good for the stimulation of her style says digestion elimination there's lots of options i'm going to demonstrate one post at the end of the show we're going to do demos later so this you're saying in this case it's a seeded spinal for increased strength so all those things that increases the heart rate increases the breathing rate useful for running away from a bear and the glands where are they located their look at it and top of the the kidney is ok so you would do specific pose for t but the that was the key thing with the adrenal glands is that because of that fight or flight response that is that is induced from stress whether it's corporate stress or commute someone cuts us off on our way to work and anything in life that when we that's the way to basically bring your adrenal glands back in balance why not laugh yes and good ok and then what about circulation is there a pose because i know a lot of women particularly have like maybe cold feet colder hands especially in winter so i like i don't have community building am i right to have a sense of communion amongst people when you practice together in a way that's really really the essence of yoga is about using it and connection finding that connection with that inner aspect of your being that place of peace and ease and well being connection with others that we know that we're not isolated they were all connect with each other and his we all want that connection consciously so that snow very kind of very beneficial for our physical health our mental and emotional he the mind and body amazing ok well before we take a break we're going to just have you do the physical exercise demonstration so you've been doing yoga sleep for ten plus years so for viewers how flexible do they have to be to especially to get the benefits there's a focus on the breath and there's all types of modifications part of like yoga is a wonderful option for for that type of practice it's what's the body such a small part of it so you build into it i yeah ok so they they can basically start wherever they are and whoever wants to follow you can certainly follow her she does the poses your own pace and your own level and you'll do the full post so they can see exactly what it looks like and like we said it takes time to build up to that night and some people may already be there but wherever you are we welcome all right good all right so we will stop here and get ready for your physical demonstration all right now we're going to get into the interactive session so christine is going to demonstrate six poses sell very body want to get the yoga mats and join in the first pose is crescent moon pose benefits of this pose are stretching strengthening and toning the sides of the body the intercoastal lateral and dorsal muscles this firms in terms of the waistline hips occludes and thighs it increases the flexibility of the spine and also regulates kidney function and this improves overall circulation and respiration so if you have any asthma problems with port reports circulation this is  really really a beneficial pose ok now we can move into warrior two this is also known as  the benefits of this pose right things the feet and ankles if you can see our feet are firmly grounded into the earth knees thighs and hips glutes also get strengthened during this and then the back and shoulders because there  muscles are being used so this will firm your hips abdomen glutes and thighs and arms this improves circulation flow of length so this is really good for your l and if you look at her her facial expressions you can see that this develops concentration and even courage and so the name warrior brings a lot of focus and pose a lot of concentration there the next pose which is kind of the aftermath of this one is tripos i'm sure a lot of people have seen this it looks just like a tree she will stand and pose with one leg on the floor in the must stay formats this again strengthens the ankles knees and then the upper portion for the hips and the backs and shoulders this really brings balance if one of your one part of your side of your body is weaker you should do this on each side to strengthen and bring balance this is a perfect position for balance this too also relaxes the nervous system and as you can see she's pretty relaxed and also develops concentration coronation and balance so gives you deep concentration because when you do the suppose you should actually look at one object for the entire time so you don't fall the next position we're going to move into is cobra so we're going to get down on the floor and this position is very very very beneficial for the whole g i tract and your back so if you have any type of g i issues small intestine large intestine on abdomen appendix gall bladder liver this is also good for your kidneys anything that's in your front part of your torso and if you look and see the back part of your torso as well if you have spinal problems us will reshape your entire spinal cord bring that beautiful curve see that curve there so i can how it's supposed to look so brings basically it aligns your spinal cord and this will really improve your circulation by freeing up all that stagnated blood in that area this is also good for if you have sciatica or any type of back pain or stiffness of the joints in that area this is also really good post to do if you're doing a liver cleanse or trying to cleanse your g i tract of any infection ok and now from here she's going to move into pigeons pose pigeon's pose is looks like a pigeon and it's going to basically strengthen the flexibility of the back an increase flexibility in the hips and the groin area and there it is pigeon also improves blood circulation in the legs in the lower part of the body and it brings balance to both sides of the body because normally what we do is one side and then the other right now she's got her left leg tucked under all the way under the notice the deep breathing that takes place with all of these poses if you're doing a position where you can't breathe and you should not be pushing that far you always have to let the breath go through to enhance the circulation and the last one she just did was sleeping pigeon we're faces into the ground for all time and relaxation now we're going to do the seated twist this is the one we spoke of earlier on the show again for any type of g i issues this is your best position this can be done sitting in a chair while you're at the office this can be actually done in any chair any time which makes it very ideal now this will benefit your entire g tract improves circulation to that that area so basically brings fresh blood into all the organs the liver the kidneys it improves digestion and elimination this will rejuvenate your kidneys adrenal liver gallbladder and spleen and then your pancreas as well these organs are all grouped together in that particular area and this twist will give them that nice stretch in that poll bring them up right straights bring fresh blood to the area nutrients and vitamins exactly where they needs to go and this is the area that we usually hold in especially during winter one where crouched over coat walking around this opens up the area beautifully to bring all the fresh healing where it needs to go notice the deep breathing into this pose air an oxygen getting right into the organs our organs need the air too not just our  lungs this concludes all the poses we are going to do today kristie that was wonderful so can i ask you what were those sounds you were making when you were doing the first pose if the first sounds i was using our this the beach sounds or the sound essence of yoga is around connection and finding that inner aspect of your being so there are lots of options to make those poses either easier or more challenging ok so there's different levels in each pose that  inversions or things like head stand shoulder stands like that the wall ok so the opposite of where you'd be normally kind of backwards or upside down so you don't have to do the events postures to get the benefits of an inversion of practice so happy baby  are starting to for the first time in their sixty's and seventy's eighty's i think when i was in the ninety's in my chair classes oh yeah and i think it really helps information i think everything you describe here today like all the poses i can see how really attacks inflammation like any type of disease you have is based on information right so i think you can really get to the core of the crux of your problem well one thing quickly about inflammation if you are experiencing inflammation you really should go to your doctor yes  way to one foot you can actually still strengthen the ankles ok and what about women who are pregnant can they can they do this and there's modification so they actually have prenatal classes i'll go specific specifically designed for so you have prenatal you have restored it that's where everything integrates that's where the magic happens oh yeah see i like that one i think they do that at the end mostly are yes that's everything that you did prior to that that's when everything integrates on every aspect of her being her physical being  energetic body our mental emotional yes somebody or body right because it's all connected and even the environments i think your yoga studios in a very beautiful location and such a lovely center and it sits on five acres of there's a pond stone go to well that studios common areas you can enjoy a cuppa tea after class and wonderful teachers nationally recognized master teachers from over country come to teach there and do workshops you think that has an impact on how people are successful in terms of their yoga practice just be having the nature surrounding them so absolutely dr metzger who started the center wanted to create a haven for people to find their own unique path to health well being and i know for myself personally yoga has been transformative that's amazing and while the other nature definitely helps for sure yes there's definitely i feel like i go on a little mini retreat every time i go to the office i want to come take a class absolutely  circles we have lots of off journey dance lots of fun things now absolutely i love to be part of that well thank you so much for coming on the show today was definitely blessed and grateful for all the information i learned today and hopefully the viewers learned something valuable as well and thank you again we're very glad to have had you on this day and i will see you next time for next episode