YogaGorey.com

From January 2010 all yoga courses paid for in advance will be eligible for discounts on holistic therapies from the Gorey Acupuncture Clinic at no. 68 Main St., Gorey, Co. Wexford.

Sign up for a course of yoga for at least one month and receive Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Deep Tissue Massage therapy or Reiki Energy Healing therapy at 25% the advertised fee for as long as the course of Yoga runs. One month yoga courses start from just Eur 50 per calender month!

Prices:

Acupuncuture Eur 40 – with discount Eur 30 per hour

Tuina Massage Eur 40 – with discount Eur 30 per hour

Reiki Energy Healing Eur 40 – with discount Eur 30 per hour

Yoga is a form of holistic therapy and blends perfectly with traditional mind-body and energy therapies such as acupuncture, massage and Reiki.

Ask your teacher for the discount card when you pay for your yoga course and then call 086 408 2428 to book your therapy or treatment.

For more information on therapies go to www.yogagorey.com/acupuncture or to www.therapyandyoga.com.

For information on Yoga Personal Training, Yoga Classes prices and times go to www.yogagorey.com/classes

Liam Byrne is a qualifed and experienced Yoga Teacher and Acupuncturist. He is the Director of the Gorey Yoga Studio at ROSC House, John St. Gorey, Co. Wexford and practices Traditional Chinese Medicine, Massage and Japanese Energy Healing at no. 68 Main St. Gorey and in Woodlands, Arklow, Co., Wicklow. He is a member in good standing of the Acupuncture Foundation Professional Association (AFPA) and is bound by their code of professional ethics and good conduct. You can reach him via email at info@yogagorey.com or to discuss how yoga or a holistic therapy may help you, you can call him on 086 408 2428.

Acupuncture treatments are reimbursable under these and other health insurance schemes. Please check with your provider:

Sever weather conditions have caused disruption to post-Chrismas/New Year plans to get fit and trim in households throughout the country! Forecasters have warned that the conditions will last up to another 10 days leaving us here in Wexford and the country as a whole, with one of the harshest winters in 30 years. Some politicians are even calling on our government to treat the situation as a national emergency.

While this is serious news, all is not lost. Yes you may not be able to leave your home to get to the gym and yes you probably can’t even go for a run because the footpaths are too slippery and lets face it, it is freezing out there, however, the clever yogis came up with a solution to this problem thousands of years ago, long before the first gymnasiums opened their doors in sunny California.

Although yoga may still be associated in many peoples minds with gentle stretching, in fact it can also be a demanding cardio workout when the need arises. Provided you warm up in the usual way there is no reason why you cannot give extra time to your sun salutations in order to ad some heat and cardio to your routine while you are prevented from running, cycling or whatever else it may be that keeps you fit. Unlike other keep fit activities yoga does not require any equipment (a towel on the floor will do), any outdoors (the space at the end of your bed will do) or even a single penny of investment while you are trapped at home.

In a standard hatha yoga class we do around 5 rounds of sun salutations while most Ashtanga classes will open with about 10 (sun salutations A and B together). To ad more cardio to your routine you can easily speed up the pace once you have warmed up and increase the rounds from 5 to 10 or 10 to 20 or 30. If your house is chilly make sure to pay attention to your warming Ujjayi breath to stoke the internal fires and keep you warm and limber while you practice.

So if you are snowed in, just enjoy the snow and enjoy your time at home on the yoga mat as well, burning calories and breathing your way to a deep, focused and mindful state of awareness!

If you have any questions about yoga or want to discuss your practice, send us an email here at info@yogagorey.com and we’ll be happy to advise in whatever way we can.

Namaste,

Liam B.

Yoga Teacher and Director at the Gorey Yoga Studio, John St. Gorey, Co. Wexford
T: 086 408 2428
E: info@yogagorey.com
www.yogagorey.com

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Wtih the cold snap set to continue and night time temperatures set to reach minus 7 to 9 degrees centigrade, we all need to think about how to stay warm over the next weeks and months.

While buying winer woolies is essential for everyone, we all know people who naturally feel the cold more and those who feel the cold less. Circulation is key! Those who exercise regularly will tend to feel the cold less as warm, oxegen rich blood will travel more easily to the extremities, keeping fingers and toes pink and warm inside your gloves and winter socks.

Does yoga have any special role to play in keeping us warm in the winter? Why would it? After all it comes from India where temperatures regular get into the 40s and beyond with humidity to match. What would the ancient yogis have known about the kind of winters we get here in Ireland?

Well, quite alot as it happens! India is a big country with extremes of weather conditions. In low lying and southern areas of course it is tropical most of the time. In the north, towards the foothills of the Himalayas and in the hills themselves you will find some of the coldest temperatures on the planet.

Indian fakirs (ascetics) are known to live in the most frugal manner possible also in these areas. Some wear nothing but loin clothes (even today) and are to be seen sitting on the freezing cold earth in perfect serene meditation. Personally I haven’t travelled this far north in India but close Indian friends have recounted first hand stories of ascetics they have encountered on trips to the Himalayas who are impervious to the cold using only yogic breathing techniques. Likewise, in Tibet, stories of monks sitting meditation in the snow for hours were commonplace.

Ashtanga yoga in particular, with its emphasis on purifying toxins through warmth can help to warm the body through breath. In an Ashtanga yoga class you are guided to focus and maintain ujjayi breath through a narrowing of the glottis and a light contraction in the abdomen. This kind of breath quickly warms the body and allows for greater and safer flexibilty during the yoga session. Needless to say, regular practice of yoga, hatha or ashtanga will improve overall circulation and help you to avoid the chills this winter.

To learn more about yoga, yoga breath, to book a class or a yoga personal training session, just send a quick email with your question to info@yogagorey.com or call 086 408 2428 and we will be happy to discuss with you.

Stay warm and see you soon on the yoga mat!

Namaste,

Liam Byrne
Yoga Teacher and Director at the Gorey Yoga Studio, John St. Gorey, Co. Wexford
T: 086 408 2428
E: info@yogagorey.com
www.yogagorey.com

I had a very interesting chat with a healer friend and colleague today, not surprisingly, about healing. We were chatting about what we’ve each learned and added to (or taken away from) our healing in the month or two since we last met.

I was telling him about my trip to China to gain an advanced qualification in acupuncture and how various types of ‘bloodletting’ are used in the clinics. While it sounds quite severe, the techniques that we saw used are actually very mild, just two or three tiny drops of blood sometimes, from the tip of the ear or from a finger tip, and the results can be very dramatic for things as varied as headaches to back pain. These are quite modern techniques today in China (although based on tradition) and are no longer used in the west.

While I was aware that medical doctors in the west used techniques of bloodletting in the past and had since abandoned them, I had never heard of the traditional ability to stop bleeding. Yes, this is the opposite of bloodletting, but this is how the conversation went…

I had of course heard of the ability of French and English Kings to cure scrofula via the laying on of hands, I have heard many striking stories of bone setters and faith healers here in Ireland and abroad. However, for some reason I had never, until today, heard of the inherited ability to stop blood flow. When my friend mentioned it to me I thought he was referring to the ability of some yogis (and non-yogis) to control blood flow in their own bodies. Not this either. The ability or gift is apparently passed from generation to generation and at its best can be used to stop blood flow immediately!

How this can work is another question. It is well known that the power of thought can be used to slow and stop blood flow within ones own body and that the power of suggestion could be used to invoke this ability in someone, is it possible however, that a healer can influence the energy in another person’s body? According to my friend, not only are there many people in Ireland who can do this, but there are many right here in Wexford and in Gorey!

In the practice of acupuncture various points on the body can be used to stem epistaxis (nosebleed). One of these is located on the little toe, as far from the site of the bleed as is anatomically possible. While the physiological cause and effect  is not known, experience has shown this to be effective. Is it possible that a gifted healer is somehow influencing the same energy network that the acupuncturist routinely uses in their work, except that they are able to achieve this effect without needles?

If anyone has experience of this remarkable gift, has a story to share on the topic or would like to be put in contact with someone who practices this healing art, please feel free to email us at info@yogagorey.com or to call us on 086 408 2428.

For information on yoga, yoga classes or for an acupuncture consultation call us on 086 408 2428.

See you on the yoga mat!

Liam Byrne

Director & Teacher at the Gorey Yoga Studio

Without passing any judgement and bearing in mind that the expenses of heads of state are probably beyond what we, as ordinary citizens can imagine, I think we can legitimately still be somewhat shocked by the sheer size of the price tags revealed by the publication of our recent Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern’s expense account.

I make absolutely no comment whatever on the spending of our political leaders, however, it does raise the issue of what we consider to be honesty in our own lives. What does this have to do with Yoga, one might ask. When most of us think of yoga we think of our once or twice weekly exercise class that makes us feel chilled out, relaxed and centred for a day or two until life begins to wind us up again. However, the term yoga refers to a way of life beyond just exercise and feeling good.

This way of life includeds the broad outline of an ethical system which includes ‘asteya’ (non-stealing), ’satya’ (speaking the truth), ‘aparigraha’ (non-grasping) and ’santosha’ (contentment) as four of its basic principles. There are more, but these are the most relevant to this topic.

Although yoga in the west today (and increasingly in India) refers only to the exercise, the traditions of yoga encourage all practitioners to include these principles as part of their practice. The goal of practicing yoga can be taken beyond just lengthened hamstrings and a strong immune system. Philosophically, yoga refers to a life lived with the aim of attaining unity within the whole individual and with the world beyond the individual.

In order to move towards this kind of unity it is necessary to do more than just practice breathing and stretching for 90 minutes a day. To bring the harmony and well-being that one feels during one’s practice into one’s whole life, it is necessary to live an ethical life in accordance with one’s conscience. As is often said, you sleep easier with a clear consience (honesty and morality have their health benefits too!).

A yoga teacher who is not, at least trying, to live in a humble, contented, honest manner, is no longer a yoga teacher but a teacher of exercise, a gymnast – a pleasure to observe in practice perhaps, but no longer representing the totality of a yogic way of life.

At the practice level, honesty, contentment, non-grasping and non-stealing can be applied by not forcing oneself dishonestly into the practice, instead accepting ones limitations for that particular day and being content with ones progress. We should not be envious and grasp after others accomplishments or exagerate our own. From this mindfulness can come a truly relaxed and meditative practice and it is this that helps to distinguishes yoga from so many other forms of exercise.

If we could make all of our leaders (worldwide – not just here on our little island) understand a little of this, would the world be a better place? Who knows? So far we can only speculate!

To learn more about yoga or to sign up for a class, contact the Gorey Yoga Studio on 086 408 2428 or email to info@yogagorey.com.

Namaste,

Liam Byrne

It seems there was a time when colds and the occasional flu were all we had to worry about. Nowadays, it looks as though every six to twelve months we are confronted with a new epidemic with the potential to evolve into a species threatening pandemic. The most recentl of course, being swine flu.

Now while in reality there has been no real increase in the number of epidemics (thinking of the deadly flu epidemic of the 1920s, tuberculosis here in Ireland in the 30s and 40s, and so on) the differance in the threat today is the speed with which epidemics can spread via the accesibility of international travel.

The swine flu, which allegedly began in Mexico, was soon to be found here in Ireland, in Wicklow and in Wexford within a number of weeks. Correspondingly, our ability to react to these health threats has also improved greatly overtime so that medications and quarantine procedures are very quickly in place.

Nevertheless it is easy to feel helpless when faced with the news of yet another health warning, with the accompanying travel advisories, HSE announcments and so on. Other than following the instructions of the health authorities what can we as ordinary citizens do to protect ourselves?

In some cases, there may be nothing to be done other than to avoid infection. However, in the case of swine flu and other flu related epidemics the consensus seems to be that there are ‘risk categories’, usually related to age (the very young and advanced in age) and to those with underlying conditions. Risk is therefore related to the state of general health and to the condition of the immune system. Following from this we know that maintaining a general level of good health can be a protection not only against infection but also against complications in the event of infection, and here is where yoga comes into the picture…

Yoga has been proven to strengthen the immue system, the cardiovascular system and to reverse many, if not all of the the indicators for true biological age. A regular practice of yoga will tend to reduce the number of colds and flus per year that an individual is prone to and this may include new strains of the flu virus. Of course we don’t know for certain if regular exercise, yoga or otherwise, will protect agains every new epidemic that arises, however, it will certainly increase your well-being and your general outlook on life in the meantime.

While not neglecting to take all the precautionary measures recommended by the WHO and/or HSE, why not also think about a lifestyle change as a future health insurance for yourself and your family. Sign up for a course of yoga, either in a group class or for a one-on-one personal training course and experience the benefits for yourself. Yoga courses at the Gorey Yoga Studio come with the offer of discounted acupuncture treatments from Acupuncturist, Holistic Therapist and Yoga Teacher Liam Byrne.

For more details call 086 408 2428 or visit us on the web at:

www.yogagorey.com

www.therapyandyoga.com

Namaste and best wishes for your continued good health!

Liam Byrne

Yet another celebrity is extolling the virtues of Yoga, opening once again the value of celebrity endorsement for, well anything really. This time it is Jennifer Aniston who is reportedly so close to her new Yoga coach that she takes her teacher on holidays with her! (I have already been on holidays this year, but thank you anyway if you were considering inviting me). Rumour has it that they will be travelling to Gorey this year for a short break in the sunny South East, although this has yet to be confirmed… watch this space…

On a more philosophical note, I think many yoga teachers and practitioners will confess to being in two minds about celebrity yoga. On the one hand, purists will sometimes feel that yoga is somehow being debased or devalued by such exposure to mainstream culture. On the other, most will agree that bringing yoga to a wider audience is always a good thing. There can be no doubt that Madonna filled many Ashtanga Yoga classes in Dublin during its heyday in the 90s and continues to be an influence on people choosing to yoga.

Other celebrities with less draw nevertheless, have also had an influence, including Sting, David Duchovny (remember agent Mulder from the X-files), Woody Harrelson, Christian Bale (Batman) and Christy Turlington, to name just a few. Many have contributed to books, DVDs or
even produced their own.

Personally, I feel that there is nothing wrong with a famous person talking about either their personal exercise routine or about their spiritual path. After all, they are people just like the rest of us and are entitled to talk about whatever they wish to in public. As a yoga teacher my hope would be that celebrity yoga will encourage more people to come to classes and to build a personal practice at home. While there is a danger that some very few will come in the vain hope that emulating the exercise routine of Jennifer Anniston will somehow lead to a charmed Hollywood lifestyle, there is always the likelihood that they will stay for the deep sense of relaxation, contentment and well-being that they will gain from their practice of yoga.

Jennifer is welcome in the Gorey Yoga Studio anytime, however, as mentioned, we have already had our holidays this year!

To find out more about how practicing yoga at the Gorey Yoga Studio can give you a Hollywood lifestyle (just kidding), call Liam on 086 408 2428.

See you soon on the yoga mat!

Namaste,

Liam.

After a difficult 2009 we are all now bracing ourselves for budget 2010. How can yoga help you when your finances are in dissaray and the entire country seems to be struggling? What good is yoga in these circumstances? Standing on your head is hardly going to put food the table!

While these are good points, it is worth noting that the early practitioners and masters of yoga had a good deal less than most of us today. Many lived in caves in the Himalayas or in the jungles of South India and yet were renowned for their contentment and happiness.

Now I am not saying that we should stop complaining because there are worse off than ourselves, what I do feel strongly is that yoga can be of real benefit in these times. Yoga, like walking or running, can be done at a minimum of cost. If you have a small space at the end of your bed or a corner in the living room then you can do your practice. While yoga will not put money in the bank (usually not even if you are teaching it!), it is absolutely proven not only to reduce stress but also to prevent and protect against all the illness related to stress.

If you are experiencing financial difficulty or just the general stress of the Christmas period, the last thing you need is to get sick on top of this! Yoga has been shown, scientifically (don’t just take my word for it), to boost the immune system and to give you an enhanced sense of well-being. All of this ads up to helping you manage the stress, the duties and responsibilities in your life with greater ease and a clearer mind.

Yoga is also not expensive. For only Eur 50 you can come to one class a week and forget your troubles for a whole month. Euro for Euro, at only around Eur 10 per hour on average, yoga at the Gorey Yoga Studio is really a low cost investment in yourself, your health and your well-being.

To find out more, call Liam on 086 408 2428 to discuss how yoga can be of benefit you.

Namaste,

Liam

People come to yoga for many reasons. Most commonly, people tell me that they are stressed out and they believe that yoga will help to relax them (it will!) or that they have back ache and have heard that yoga can help them (it can).

These are both common and valid reasons for people to do yoga. However, increasingly research is showing that Yoga can be effective in alleviating a multitude of conditions and the field of yoga therapy is growing and developing all the time.

Conditions such as asthma, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, headaches, backaches and a host of stress related illness are all under investigation, with increasingly favourable results. Often people contact us with questions relating to specific conditions or have been recommended to us by their GP. While group classes are suitable for many people, the truth is that individual clases are by far a better choice for anyone who is suffering from a specific condition. Without making any claims to cures through yoga, without doubt you can improve your overall feeling of well-being and if you have the focussed attention of a teacher the effects of a yoga class are magnified and targetted to your particular physical and psychic makeup.

If you would like to discuss how an individual class of yoga could be of benefit to you, call Liam on 086 408 2428 for a free consultation.