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New Wellness for the New Year

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Happy New Year, friends! Many of you have probably noticed that we’ve incorporated a lot of changes to the studio in the last few months. Most notably was the addition of The Entrance Boutique, which opened in June.

But we have more changes we’ve made, too–and these ones are all geared towards creating spaces in our studio that are conducive to increased health and wellness. We want our studio to be a place to practice yoga, but also be somewhere you can visit to receive an amazing massage, sports counselling, kinesiology advice, and more.

Here’s what our studio can offer you, besides yoga:

BMR Counselling and Consulting

Because we work with so many athletes at Parallel Yoga, we’ve found a match made in heaven with Trevin from BMR Counselling and Consulting, who now provides therapeutic counselling, sports psychology, and mental performance coaching within the walls of Parallel Yoga.

Registered Massage Therapy and Relaxation Massage

Massage is a powerful tool in the tool kit of wellness. Stef is our resident registered massage therapist, and currently works on Tuesdays. Beth (aside from teaching yoga and managing our studio) is a registered massage practitioner, who offers relaxation massage.

Whether you’re looking for deep tissue or gentle aromatherapy massage, we can help you out at PY. Call the studio or stop by to book an appointment, today.

Kinesiology

Meet Garth from Pacific North Wellness. Garth has worked in fitness and rehabilitation for almost 10 years and has practiced yoga for nearly as long. As a kinesiologist, Garth has helped his clients recover from injury and has helped high performance athletes achieve their goals. It is the combination of these skills that guides his path as a yoga instructor.

Click HERE for more information.

Sports Performance Training

Your body was made for movement; condition it accordingly. Parallel Sports Performance is a sport-specific, yoga-based conditioning program for athletes. We also specialize in mobility and recovery, to help prevent and/or heal from injury.

For more information on sports performance training, what we offer, and who we’re currently working with, visit our website.

We also encourage all of you to check out our new yoga schedule, posted HERE. January is the perfect month for new beginnings, cultivating healthy habits, and creating space for self-care and happiness.

We want to see you in the studio, practicing with us! Together, as a community, we can rock 2018. Happy New Year!

Namaste.

 

 

5 Ways to Create a Zen Space at Home

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We all need a space in our homes to dedicate solely to mental and physical health. Why? Because whether you lead a busy and stressful life or a simple and relatively drama-free one, having a space where you can find Zen, meditate, breathe, stretch, and commit to your yoga practice if only for 5 minutes a day is important, and should be prioritized.

You don’t need a large space for this. If you’re thinking that we’re suggesting you dedicate an entire room to this concept (although that would be awesome), we’re not. But we all need a quiet corner to seek peace and tranquility on a daily basis.

Here are 5 ways to carve out a calm space in your home, so that you can get your Zen on as often as you’d like:

Carve out a Corner

Simple spaces

Find a space in your house where you can be by yourself. If you’re a parent, this usually means the bedroom or another room that your kids don’t frequent often. (Because let’s face it—we love them, but they are the opposite of Zen-promoting.)

The space you choose should be one you love, and one that makes you feel good. Once you nail down a space, make it your own. Here’s how:

Let in the Natural Light

Open those blinds, crack the windows, and let the fresh air and light shine in. Light is proven to immediately affect mood. Think about it: are you generally happier on a dark, blustery day, or a sunny, light one?

Natural light plays a major role in regulating mood and even our hormones. Without the benefit of consistent natural light, we can suffer health consequences, such as depression, insomnia, and weight gain.

Go Green

go green

Keeping some greenery thoughtfully placed around your space may help you feel more Zen. We are naturally connected to the earth, and her creations can help us feel calm and in sync with nature.

Countless studies have found that benefits to keeping plants in indoors spaces include lower blood pressure, increased attentiveness, lessened anxiety, and increased environmental mindfulness. If you think your space is too small, check THIS out and get creative.

Keep it Simple

This is imperative. Think of any yoga studio you’ve ever been in: a resounding theme is one of wide, open spaces, simplistic décor, and flat, clean walls. Even the colours are similar: generally, light colours and simple/no textures.

When you live in a simple space, it gives your brain less external stimuli to work through, and more time to process other things. (It’s like your digestive system: give it a ton to work with, and all your energy is diverted to processing food. If you eat simply with the idea that less is more, your energy can be reserved for other bodily processes, and not just focused on digesting that huge meal.)

Tailor your Tunes

Any yogi would agree that music plays a massive part in the Zen-making experience. So making sure your tunes are in line with your intentions—to be calm, focused, and introspective—is an important part of cultivating a space where you can collect yourself and increase the Zen.

Because we all need to feel Zen every day, for at least a few minutes. Right? If you’ve read through this blog post and are unsure of what exactly ‘Zen’ is, then click HERE.

Namaste.