Greetings from my mat

Yoga, MFR and Integrated Body Alignment services at Hopewood are an eclectic blend steeped deeply in the roots of exceptional teachers and training. All sessions are designed to meet your needs and goals. While integrating many techniques;  the ‘Science of Slow’, mindfulness, the science of neuroplasticity, connection to breath and positive change are core to all group and private classes.  My goal is to integrate and build  proprioceptive (where your body is in space)  and interoceptive (how your body feels) into your sensory awareness and  success in finding balance and health.

Slow Yoga is a natural extension of my Yin, Pranassage and Inquiry training. It also stems from my personal mat time as I reflect on aging and my need to manage strength, flexibility, core and the challenges of past injuries, and well,  just the challenges of getting older (and wiser).

“The years in your life are less important than the life in your years.”

I’m grateful and fortunate to have met  Kristine Weber, MA, C-IAYT, eRYT-500 and her Subtle Yoga experience. a few years ago in my search for more local and  accessible yoga trainings.  I was enticed  by her Change Your Story, Change Your Brain Neuroplasticity training and the focus on resiliency, slow. and subtle.

What is Subtle Yoga?  Kristine’s explains her theory of Subtle Yoga below. Her workshops can enhance anyone’s yoga skillset and I encourage you to view e her work and mine on You Tube.  Better yet, schedule a guided experience with me in person or remotely.  Click  Calendy to schedule your session.  Isn’t it Time to Take time?

Namaste, Rebecca 

“Subtle® Yoga is a broadly applicable, person-centered approach to yoga practice which can be tailored to differing body types/physical abilities and various contexts – from mental illness to public health. Subtle® Yoga incorporates six key processes: mindful movement, breathing practices, meditation, awareness of values/ethical engagement, spiritual development and service. Together these practices promote attention, mindfulness, body awareness, self-regulation, resiliency, self-actualization and pro-social behavior. Subtle® Yoga calms the nervous system, improves breathing, increases the body-mind connection, and is trauma-informed. It is a holistic intervention which can complement and enhance traditional healthcare approaches through health promotion, prevention, treatment or aftercare/recovery and from the individual to population health levels.“

Training in Subtle and Trauma Centered Yoga: I have returned to Asheville twice now and have completed  many on line classes with  Subtle Yoga, The Science of Slow, The Yoga and Neuroscience Connection, Cultivating Calm in a Time of Crisis, Trauma Informed Yoga and was so inspired, I also finished her 40 hour Yoga Revolution Teacher Training.  I am ever grateful.

These experiences lead me to invest time  in a Mindfulness Based Stress Resiliency program (MBSR) and the world of ‘trauma centered’ awareness, where I completed the 20 hour Intro  program in Trauma Sensitive Yoga  off in November of 2019 by TCTSY’s Emily Lapolice of The Center of Trauma and Embodiment.  It opened my eyes to yet another  complimentary approach to the person centered, Subtle/Slow techniques taught by Kristine and has deepened my Integrated Slow techniques in individual and class settings.  

Below I am sharing (with permission) the link for Kristine’s  5 Secrets  Slow Yoga handout.   Go on Go SLOW and reap the benefits.

Keeping up with CEU’s is a challenge, expensive and fun, recently I have completed various on-lines courses from Yoga U in Yoga for Osteoporosis, and via Daily OM; The 2 week Fascia Miracle, Strengthening You Pelvic Floor, Transverse Ab Workout for Instant Relief Facia, Accessing the Core and Strengthening the Perineal Floor. I am currently in the midst of completing Empowered Aging with Ayurveda Wisdom & Science with through The Shift Network on-line program

Join in the community of learning; in Ohio, on the road or Internationally, It Really is ‘Time to Take Time’.

Body Work Techniques-Integrated Structural Alignment© (ISA) Pranassage, Myofascial Release (MFR)

Rebecca has certifications in Pranassage from Nosara Yoga and is an advanced practitioner trained in the  John Barnes Myofascial Release Technique.  She has integrated these techniques along with Subtle Yoga (the Science of Slow and Neuroplasticity), Mindfulness Based Stress Resiliency, Trauma Informed Yoga, Structural, Yin, and Letha Yoga, Yoga Dance for Special Populations and MFR Yoga Activation. She has integrated these trainings into her own system of body alignment called Integrated Structural Alignment© (ISA).   Combined with her training in Balance with Jean Couch,  Anatomy Trains with Tom Myers and her unique skill in Reiki, energy movement and Loving Kindness, her clients can explore ‘the art of letting go‘, experiencing deep relaxation, releasing bound up energy and trauma thus allowing the body to find its own healing path.  Through this facilitated journey, fascial and muscular systems are released and aligned, the body’s circulation, lymph, muscular and joint tissues find their natural balance and resiliency

Yoga-Functional Fitness, Slow/Subtle Yoga, Partner Assist and Selfcare

Rebecca structures all yoga practices (group, individual, in country or just about anywhere) through the  lens of inquiry. She believes that health and alignment can be discovered by looking inward and focusing our attention on the body. and breath.  She combines the practices of Yin and slow flow yoga with Myofascial Release (MFR) and Slow/Subtle techniques.  Rebecca years of experience and personalized style allows her to include  partner work, the use of a wall, chair or other props to ensure self discovering through enhanced proprioception (where your body is in space) and interoception  (how your body feels) allowing  your body to experience the health benefits of balance, strength, flexibility, relaxation. and release!

Group yoga classes are taught throughout the year in country and wherever Rebecca travels and now, remotely.  Her classes are for all ages; young, young at heart and all Body Types constitutions and conditions… Yoga is for Every Body. Contact Rebecca for her schedule and remember, drop-ins are always welcome.

Individual or private yoga and  Integrated Structural Alignment (MFR/Yoga) can help you find Yourself in Your body. Private and group  sessions can be organized by emailing Rebecca, becaherbtravel@gmail.com, or booking your appointment  by following the link below.

Breath and Vagal Nerve toning is also a strategy employed by Rebecca in all sessions (massage, yoga and energy balancing) She can work with you to discover techniques that help facilitate stress resiliency, release trauma and help you garner all the associated health benefits of  slow, mindful actions.

Reiki & Energy Balancing for Stress Resiliency

Rebecca was ordained as an Usui Reiki Master by Linda Green in 1995. This style of Reiki is a Japanese Energy Attunement technique brought to us by Dr. Mikao Usui. Usui Reiki was thus forwarded in Japan, Hawaii and the U.S. by Dr. Chujiro Hayashi and Mrs. Hawayo and on through a linage of teachers who wish to share this ‘touch therapy’ to the people and themselves. Reiki healing uses universal energy and can be done by distance or in a personal session with a client. There is no limit to Reiki; the energy is not given nor received, just shared. It stimulates natural awareness and healing through encouraging calming and energizing responses in the body.

Clinical observations of Reiki as a natural stress reliever indicate that one hour of Reiki equals the benefit of 3-4 hours of sleep, enhancing  the meditative state of the body and increasing oxygen flow in the blood. Energy movement from Reiki is non-polarized, has no negative side effects and flows according to demand as it finds and treats the root cause of any issue.

“Something we were withholding made us weak until we realized it was ourselves” Robert Frost

JUST For YOU (Hint, it only works if you do it, I’m working on it, join me!)

Mindful Practices, You Can Do

There are so many resources on Mindfulness, here  is an article I wrote for one of my journey in Slow Integrated Mindful Yoga.  Benefits of MindfulYoga  There are so many resources for mindfulness, I encourage you to research them slowly and pick one to try.  Here are 7 helpful strategies and exercises that I like, perhaps one or two will resonate with you.

7 mindfulness strategies that can be effective in managing negative thoughts and emotions:  (http://www.fulfillmentdaily.com/7-mindfulness-strategies/) 

1. Turn towards, and not away from your negative thoughts or emotions with acceptance. Once you are aware of the negative thought or emotion, notice where you felt it in your body, and what emotion arises with the physical feeling. Just sit with the emotion (eg: anxiety, fear, anger, guilt) and don’t ignore it or try to block it or push it away. Become the observer of your experience.

2. Identify and label the thought or emotion you are feeling. This involves two parts. The first is correctly labeling it, and the second is how you express it. Using language of that of an observer, is more powerful than personalizing it. For example, saying, “Oh, this is fear arising in me right now,” is preferable to “ I am afraid.”

3. See your thought or emotion as being temporary or transitory. They will pass unless you want to hold onto them and get some kind of reward for doing so. Seeing the thought or emotion as a cloud floating by or asking yourself repeatedly, “What is this thought/emotion now?” helps.

4. Let go of the need to control your thoughts or emotions. Emotional regulation is not the same as stifling, blocking or avoiding thoughts and emotions in an effort to maintain control. Again, having a healthy detachment is being mindful.

5. Learn how to recognize cognitive distortions; in other words, recognizing the thought processes that distort reality. Examples of cognitive distortions are confirmation bias, catastrophizing, personalization, control fallacy, blaming, and the dreaded “tyranny of shoulds.” Being knowledgeable about these distortions and if you are in the moment being a victim of them, is practicing mindfulness. Of course, taking appropriate action thereafter, is critical.

6. Have a daily or weekly regime for negative thought or emotion time. This is giving yourself permission to temporarily think or feel the negative thought or emotion, but stick to a reasonable short time limit. And writing them down also helps.

7. Remember to breathe, pause and deliberately respond rather than react. When negative thoughts or emotions occur, we can either excessively ruminate over them, or react impulsively. Mindfulness teaches us to focus on our breathing, pause and wait until we’ve practiced the strategies, and then intentionally respond with appropriate action.

Perhaps you need movement or a focused activity like breath or slow actions to help you let go and just be.  Let these following ideas from Yoga International help you on your way to being mindful.  There are many, many free worksheets and activities for you, your groups and kids in how to be mindful and increase stress resiliency. (https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/mindfulness-exercises).

1-Minute Mindfulness Exercises

• Yawn and stretch for 10 seconds every hour. Do a fake yawn if you have to. …
• Three hugs, three big breaths exercise. …
• Stroke your hands. …
• Mindfully eat a raisin. …
• Clench your fist and breathe into your fingers. …
• STOP. …
• Mindful breathing for one minute. …
• Loving-kindness meditation.

If you have a few extra minutes check out this YouTube from one of my Yoga Teachers Kristine Weber at Subtle Yoga in Ashville

You can access group, one on one and distant work with Hopewood Holistic Health; the following fees for services include: (you must fill out a release before any class regardless of the structure, thank you).

• Life Style Assessments (LSA) 2-3.5 hours session including Assessment Review, Medical History Review and recommendations for nutrition, functional fitness and alignment $150.00.
• MFR/ISA 1 hr. $75.00, 1.5 hrs. $110.00.
• Flower Essences Assessment and Personalized formula 1-2 hrs. $75.00
• Reiki, Chakra Balancing 1 hr. $75.00
  • 3 day Wellness Retreat includes 1 Healing with Nature Session, 1 MFR/ISA session, Flower Essence formulation, Life Style Assessment and 1 Yoga class. $250.00 plus BnB fees.
• Drop In Community classes 1hr. $10.00
• Private and small Group $30.00 per person up to 6 people