Improve Your Performance with Conscious Yoga
Conscious Yoga, lead by Christina Vandergrift features a professional who obtained multiple attributes including 600HR RYT, Reiki Master, Certified Personal Development & Relationship Life Coach, Yoga Bodywork Practitioner, Meditation Teacher & Epigenetic Health Coach. The business strives to help others improve performance & capabilities in various areas of life through Yoga Practice & Life Coaching. Learn more at https://https://www.christenavandegrift.com/
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:01 This studio is so beautiful.
00:04 - Oh, thank you.
00:05 - Tell me about the work that you do here.
00:07 - Okay, so I have my life coach practice here.
00:10 I'm a certified personal development
00:12 and relationship life coach, so I work with my clients
00:14 and support them in various areas of their life
00:17 just to strengthen capabilities and relationships
00:20 and to get through any fear-based mentalities.
00:22 And a lot of that is also woven into yoga practice.
00:25 So most of the yoga I do is private,
00:28 one-on-ones or private groups.
00:30 For example, I work a lot with the recovery community here.
00:34 So recovery addiction, the guys come here
00:37 and I teach them how to better connect to their bodies,
00:39 to their heart, and just really have an appreciation
00:42 for this vessel that is our physical body.
00:45 So they wanna do good things instead of toxic things.
00:48 And I find a lot of fulfillment and enjoyment in that.
00:52 - That is fascinating 'cause I knew
00:53 that there was a large recovery community here in Prescott
00:57 and I can see how doing yoga would be so helpful.
01:01 But I imagine a lot of those folks are brand new to yoga
01:05 and probably kinda nervous about it.
01:07 - I think most people are nervous in general,
01:09 whether they're in recovery or not.
01:12 But yeah, I think a lot of people typically
01:14 have this mindset of I'm not good enough
01:16 or I'm not flexible and everybody's gonna look better
01:19 than me, and part of yoga practice is really
01:23 stepping outside of the confinements of your mind,
01:25 which can much of the time be fear-based,
01:28 and just step into the unknown and see it
01:31 as something exciting because if we aren't challenged,
01:34 then we don't grow.
01:35 So we are required to be challenged to engage
01:39 in that growth process of being human beings
01:42 and spirit beings.
01:43 And so a lot of the times my students don't have
01:47 any experience in yoga, but the more they come
01:49 and the more they practice and commit to that discipline,
01:53 the more they see the compounding benefits over time.
01:56 Better balance, better flexibility,
01:58 reduced stress in the body.
02:00 Sometimes they feel a few inches taller after practice,
02:03 and they just leave feeling good.
02:05 They leave feeling good right here, right here,
02:08 and that's something that they can take with them
02:10 into the rest of their day and hopefully share it
02:13 with others too.
02:14 - I love all that, no presh, but I intend to be
02:17 at least 5'10" when I leave here.
02:19 - Okay.
02:20 - 'Cause you said I'm gonna be taller.
02:21 - Yeah.
02:21 - I'm gonna feel taller.
02:22 - Yeah, we'll do some poses.
02:24 Yeah, we'll do some lengthening poses.
02:25 - Okay, and good.
02:27 There's so much conversation right now in the zeitgeist
02:30 about mental health, and I'm hoping you can show me
02:33 a few poses that anyone can do in the middle of their day.
02:36 - Yeah, so for stress, to relieve stress.
02:38 So the first thing I would recommend is pranayama,
02:42 which is the fourth limb of yoga,
02:43 and that's breath regulation.
02:45 So because we breathe automatically,
02:48 it's not something that we think of throughout the day.
02:50 We tend to breathe very shallow.
02:52 The more oxygen you deliver into the body,
02:54 the more you're going to revitalize the cells,
02:57 create energy, and then all of that energy
03:01 and extra oxygen is delivered to other systems in your body.
03:05 And so just breathing deeply,
03:07 in and out through the nose or the mouth,
03:10 or a combination of, just really helps to relax the body,
03:15 the nervous system, and also release things
03:17 like serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins,
03:20 which are the feel-good chemicals of the brain.
03:23 - I just have to breathe and I get a free--
03:24 - Yeah, just breathe deeply.
03:25 - A free hit of some feel-good chemicals.
03:28 Now, if we wanna get on our feet and move,
03:31 what are a couple poses that can de-stress us?
03:34 - So for de-stressing, sometimes grounding is good,
03:38 just kind of working on balance
03:40 and knowing that everything that happens in life
03:43 is meant to happen.
03:44 It's designed to be a teacher, to make you stronger,
03:46 and that's that balance of,
03:48 that polarity of pain and pleasure.
03:52 Would you like to try one?
03:53 - Yeah.
03:54 - Okay, so-- - Is it gonna be pain,
03:55 pleasure, or both?
03:56 - I think it's gonna be more pleasure,
03:58 but a little bit of challenge.
03:59 So tree pose should be accessible to most people.
04:03 Just stand on whatever foot you would like,
04:06 and you can place the opposite sole of the foot,
04:09 either to the inside of your calf,
04:11 to the inside of your thigh,
04:13 or if you have the flexibility in your ankle, half lotus,
04:16 and then just extend your branches.
04:19 So this is vriksasana, tree pose.
04:22 - You're making it look a lot easier
04:24 than I'm making it look, but it does feel good.
04:26 - I know, you're making it look easy, girl.
04:28 Yeah, well, I've been practicing yoga for 23 years,
04:31 and I've been teaching it for nine,
04:33 so I'm pretty well-balanced in my practice.
04:36 - Okay, they say don't try this at home,
04:39 but Christina is saying do try this at home.
04:42 - Oh yeah, try it. - A tree that you learn
04:45 right here in the Pines.
04:46 - Yeah. - Thank you.
04:47 - Yeah, you're welcome.
04:48 - No, I should say namaste.
04:50 - Oh yeah, namaste.
04:51 - Okay.
04:51 (silence)
04:54 (silence)
04:56 (silence)
04:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]