What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Oliver Wendell Holmes

For Children, Adults, Families, and even Parties!!

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Specializing In Special Needs Children and Their Families

For Infants and Children with all levels of:

ADD/ADHD
Anxiety Disorder
Autism
Cancer
Cerebral Palsy
Down Syndrome
Dyspraxia
Motor Planning
Developmental Delays
Learning Disabilities
Obesity
Sensory Processing Disorder
Auditory Processing Disorder
And Much More!

Children today are under a lot of stress (homework, after school activities, pressure/competition, medications, therapies, etc.) and need time to relax! Yoga for Me is unique to every child, gentle, therapeutic, and FUN. Each session is a comprehensive program of yoga techniques modified to the child's abilities, attention level and needs.

Why is it working: Muscles and joints provide a vast network that stimulates and nourishes the brain. Yoga stimulates all the systems and provides the proprioceptive input needed to get these intersensory systems fired up! Many children today have systems that are under or over stimulated. As and OT I understand the neurology of the brain and the integration of these systems. I am using Yoga to help make a connection and bring Balance.

Movement is the principal function and primary concern of the brain.
Movement is the most significant and therapeutic influence on brain

Our senses give us the information we need to function in the world. The senses receive information from stimuli both outside and inside our bodies. The vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile senses are the three body-centered sensory systems that provide the sense of oneself in the world. To do their job well so that we respond appropriately, the senses must work together. When working together they provide a well balanced diet for the brain. A brain that is nourished with many sensations operates well. When the brain operates smoothly, so do we!

Practicing yoga can lessen anxiety, heighten concentration and improve motiviation!

Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it! Goethe

Yoga for KidsBy Ann Pizer February 12, 2008As yoga's popularity grows, more and more avenues of this ancient practice are being explored. Yoga for kids, quite a modern concept, grew out of parents thinking their children could enjoy some of the same benefits of yoga that adult do, such as improved body awareness, coordination, and stress relief. Traditional yoga practice is definitely a grown-up activity, but yoga is flexible enough to accommodate young students as well when the teaching is approached in the right way. Although children are naturally flexible, they probably will not do the poses “correctly” in the adult sense of the word, so it’s important to keep things simple. More than learning the poses, the yoga experience will encourage kids to explore the unfamiliar with open minds and be comfortable in their bodies. For kids who are not good at (or don’t enjoy) conventional sports, yoga may provide a much-needed physical outlet in a noncompetitive environment. As they reach the teenage years, yoga can help young adults deal with their changing bodies and give them ways to combat stress in academic and social situations. Yoga Classes for KidsYour child's first exposure can come as early as infancy, if you bring them to a mom and baby yoga class. While this may not make much of an impression on a young child, by the age of three they will probably be ready to do simple poses. Many yoga studios now offer age-appropriate classes for toddlers and school-aged kids, which may include singing, movement, and lots of talking. Kids have a lot of questions, after all, so the mood will be much lighter than an adult class. Make sure that your child’s teacher is certified to teach yoga to kids (when in doubt, ask the studio or the teacher herself). If you are considering a drop-off class (one in which parents do not participate), ask to sit in and observe before your child begins or during his first class.

Read and Watch: Yoga instructor Bette Calman still going strong at 83

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25339945-2862,00.html

Yoga can be used as a form of therapy to aid in the healing of many conditions, including but not limited too:

Arthritis
Stroke
High Blood Pressure
Diabetes
Cancer
General Aches and Annoying Pains

Yoga for Me uses the ancient principles of Hatha Yoga, and works holistically at all levels of the mind and body. Each session is modified to the needs of the individual despite any limitations.

The best part of Yoga for Me is you feel the benefits, even if you have never done yoga before!! Yoga is not about becoming a pretzel but connecting the mind and body!

Now offering Therapeutic Yoga combined with Craniosacral Therapy!

The secret of health for both the body and mind is to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. Buddha

Study links training conditions to balance gains after stroke

By: Jordana Bieze Foster
BioMechanics
January 2005

Performing balance exercises under different sensory conditions can help improve postural stability in post-stroke patients, according to research from Concordia University in Montreal.

Eight weeks of balance training under altered sensory conditions led to statistically significant improvements in center of pressure amplitude were measured in eight patients who performed the same exercises under normal sensory conditions.

"Humans rely on three senses to maintain stabding balance: limb sensations, vision, and vestibular information," said Alain Leroux, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise science at Concordia and the lead author of the study. "Stroke subjects rely heavily on their vision to maintain standing balance. We believe that after this type of (altered sensory) training, patients will be more stable when using all senses to balance themselves in daily life situations."

The findings were presented in September at the joint conference of the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Society of Neurorehabilitation.

All patients exercised for two one-hour sessions per week. Altered sensory conditions included exercising with the eyes closed or on a soft surface.

"The soft surface condition is not used to mimic real-life situations but to challenge standing balance. By doing so we try to decrease the somatosensory information from the ankles and train the two other senses for balance," Leroux said. "We apply the same logic when performing balance exercises without vision."

Before and after the eight weeks of exercise, the researchers measured COP amplitude in all patients using the Matscan system from Tekscan. COP amplitude was measured in two directions (anteroposterior and mediolateral) and under four sensory conditions (eyes open/closed and normal/soft surface).

COP amplitude did not change significantly in the control group patients. However, in the experimental group significant changes were noted in the mediolateral direction with eyes open on a normal surface, and in the anteroposterior direction with eyes open on a soft surface.

Six patients in the experimental group also demonstrated less COP amplitude for the eyes closed, normal surface condition, but that improvement was not statistically significant, Leroux said.

Additional research of a study originally published in the September 2003 issue of Stroke, researchers from the University of Florida found that patients who exercised were more likely to have achieved a higher ambulatory classification (based on a 10-meter walk) by the end of the 12 weeks than those who did not exercise.

Ambulatory categories included "household walkers" (gait speeds less than 0.4 m/sec), "limited community ambulators" (0.4 m/sec to 0.8 m/sec), and "community ambulators" (more than 0.8 m/sec). The percentage of those whose improvements necessitated reclassification was higher in the intervention group than the control group overall, but most notably for those patients who were categorized as "household walkers" at baseline (see table).

Yoga RX: Reduce Hypertension By Nora Simmons

Article from Natural Solutions Magazine

At the pace we live, it’s no wonder hypertension has reached epidemic proportions—almost a third of adults have high blood pressure. But a review conducted by the Prevention Research Center at Yale University’s School of Medicine found that yoga may be as effective in reducing total blood pressure as conventional drug treatments.

Yoga; Stretch for Your Health
Yoga, one of today's hottest fitness trends, is a centuries-old Indian practice that tones muscles, builds bone strength and enhances flexibility and coordination. It also fosters a mind/body unity that few exercise programs can offer.
The very word "yoga" comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "to yoke"—in other words, to join mind, body and breath. There are 40 types of yoga, but Americans are most familiar with hatha yoga, which focuses on poses, stretches, breathing exercises and meditation. Other types are more physically demanding and require a greater degree of flexibility to negotiate the pretzel-like poses.

At its most basic, yoga instills a sense of calm and relaxation. Eastern philosophy holds that yoga heals by releasing prana, the body's vital energy. When prana is blocked, illness can result. Western practitioners believe yoga's deeply relaxing breath work allows the body's healing abilities to take over. Research also indicates that yoga helps alleviate the discomfort associated with backache, PMS, headaches and arthritis. And an 11-week-long study conducted at the Pondicherry University in India found that yoga's stress-reducing capabilities worked as well as a hypertension drug in controlling blood pressure.

"Yoga's deep relaxation soothes the nervous system," says Rachel Schaeffer, author of Yoga for Your Spiritual Muscles (Quest Books, 1998). So when things get tough, a deep breath and a stretch may be the best medicine.

Paragraph from: New Hope for Parkinson’s By Jennie Lay

Natural Solutions Magazine

People with Parkinson’s, like all of us, should keep their bodies moving. Exercise helps the muscles run smoothly and staves off the “rusting” and rigidity Parkinson’s induces. A 2006 study published in the journal Obesity found that exercise actually helps protect the nervous system by promoting neuron growth, increasing your ability to process information, and fine-tuning your motor skills. T’ai chi, qigong, YOGA and pilates have all delivered positive effects.

Yoga’s Fringe Benefit

People usually think of yoga as a way to relax and relieve stress. But a recent study suggests that for some people suffering from extreme fatigue, the practice can actually be quite energizing. At the Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland, researchers looked at the effects of exercise on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a neurological disease that often results in fatigue so debilitating as to require medication. After six months of going to either a weekly yoga class or a cycling session on stationary bikes, 46 MS patients reported a boost in energy levels of somewhere between 10 and 20 percent compared to 23 other patients who did no exercise at all. “We’re not really sure why yoga works,” says Barry Oken, a professor of neurology and lead researcher on the study, “other than the fact that we know exercise in general gives people more vigor.” Yoga instructors would probably be less puzzled. They’ve long maintained that strengthening and stretching muscles, and calming the mind, can invigorate as well as relax.

Having a Yoga party is a healthy, unusual way to get people together. A party can be at your home or venue.

Great for Birthday's:

Children, Teens, Adults and even Seniors!

Yoga Birthday Parties Take Stress off Parents as Well as Kids
By Mira Binzen

Keep it simple. Less is more. Stay present. These are the mantras that go along with the practice of yoga. These mantras go well with children’s birthday parties, too. Financial strain, excess waste and unnecessary stress seem to have found their way in among the cake and presents at children’s birthday parties. A party with a yoga focus can be a simpler, saner way to celebrate.

Yoga games and poses can be enjoyed in your own living room or backyard. Little is required in the way of props or accessories. You can facilitate the games and activities yourself. Use your imagination to pair poses with animals, characters and nature features in stories. Incorporate movement and animal sounds to make it kid-friendly. Introduce a few games and then let the children play on their own while you set up the treats. Free time is very valuable these days, even to young children. Every minute of the party doesn’t need to be structured for it to be successful.

Reducing waste created at the party, offering a more wholesome version of cake and reconsidering gift-giving are some other ways to bring the principles of yoga to your child’s party.

Kristine Scott Schultz, RYT, in LaGrange Park, created yoga-based birthday parties for children in response to her surprise at the guests of parties receiving presents. This trend is waning, however, as eco-savvy parents recognize the pitfalls of the birthday landfill issue. Instead of “goodie bags” with items your young guests may or may not need or want, a simple art project or craft created at the party to take home provides a more personal and less wasteful option.

Consider all the plastic utensils, props, decorations and “gifts” that could easily be done without. Being eco-conscious is one of the best gifts you can give to a child. This is the world he or she will inherit.