You have reports and assignments that were due yesterday, the bills are piling high and sudden changes are taking over your schedule.
With stress and anxiety mounting, there is a good alternative you might want to explore to relax—maybe it is time for you to explore yoga and learn the meditations and postures to help you through this changing world.
Yoga, according to Yoga Wave Saipan certified instructor Susan Baetge, is a personal journey that brings you into greater harmony with your body.
Today, yoga classes are teaching participants the art of breathing, meditation and posing everywhere—from classy health clubs to community gymnasiums.
Fortunately, you don’t have to go off island to enroll in yoga classes. These classes have been available on Saipan for years.
Baetge said two new yoga classes are now available in addition to the existing yoga classes—Yin yoga, and yoga for kids.
Baetge said that Yin yoga will be offered starting on Friday evening (December 9) and every Friday evening after.
“We are excited to have this type of yoga offered – this is a great way to help with the stressful holiday season,” Baetge said.
She said that kid’s yoga classes or the Radiant Child Yoga will be offered from 3 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays under teacher Jaya. The Radiant Child Yoga is for kids ages 3 and up.
Yin yoga
Yin yoga is suitable for all levels that will complement your dynamic and muscular styles, emphasizing internal heat, lengthening and contracting of your muscles. Yin Yoga targets the connective tissues like the ligaments, bones, and joints of your body that are not normally exercised very much.
In Yin yoga, you will be holding long floor poses to enhance the Chi or energy distribution in your body.
These mainly static postures coax Chi into the respective Meridians and encourage a kind of needle-less acupuncture treatment.
Yin yoga is done slowly and safely. It nourishes the natural range of motion of the joints, flushes the meridians housed in these connective tissues, which directly enhances particular organs in the process. (Source: http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/580)
In the past years, yoga participants are usually within the 25-67 age range but with the introduction of the Radiant Child Yoga, the age range of participants will now include children from 3 years old and up.
December schedules
Baetge said that for the month of December, they are offering Gentle Yoga for beginners every 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. every Monday, Prenatal Yoga from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. every Wednesday, and Moksha Yoga from 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. every Thursday.
Prenatal yoga is open for women in all trimesters and no experience is necessary but Baetge is encouraging women to consult their physicians first before beginning yoga.
Other schedules for this month are the Silent Bikramfrom 10 a.m. to 11:30 pm. every Sunday, Ashtanga half series from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays, and Kundalini yoga from 11:45 to 12:45 p.m. on Saturdays.
On December 18, Baetge said that they will be holding a special survival yoga workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Fees for the workshop are $20 at the door, or $15 if you pre-register.
Baetge said that half the proceeds from the workshop fees are going to help Tibetan monks care of the Zen center in Kansas City.
Baetge added that Michelle Rogow, one of the yoga instructors who is off island completing more yoga training, will be adding a special Monday night class on December 12, as well as filling in on December 15.
Baetge said that Rogow may organize another workshop to share what she learned from her training. Interested participants can email Rogow at [email protected].
“We are continually thankful for your presence in our classes, your commitment to yourself in mind and body, and to those that make it possible for us to be your guides in yoga – partners, babysitters, and Brilliant Star School,” Baetge said.
All classes are held at the Brilliant Star School at the Uper Navy Hill Road. For more information about the schedules and classes, fees and instructors, please visit Yoga Wave at www.yogawavesaipan.com or call 483-7834.
