Ancient Body in a Modern World: How to Heal Chronic Stress with Active Relaxation

Do you continually wake between the hours of 2-4 am? Crave sweets in the evening? Put weight on around the abdomen even with a good diet and active lifestyle? Feel like you should have more energy?

These can be the result of being chronically in a state of stress.

We who live in the modern era have the same physiology as our hunter gatherer ancestors. The difference is the pace of live we live in comparison- our days are lengthened with artificial light, communication is fast paced and we have lost the support of living in a “village”, leaving us little time and energy to recover from the effects of our modern lifestyle. While our ancestors led a simpler life and could resolve the stress response quickly, many people in the modern world live in a state where the stress response is always ‘turned on” which is out of sync with our ancient physiology (think Fred Flintstone in George Jetsons’ world). In this state, quality of life and health are put at risk, compromising the body’s capacity to heal itself from illness or causing a new, chronic disease.

Active relaxation, which differs from sleep, is the ability to rest deeply and can move us from the “fight or flight” stress response to its opposite- “rest and digest”. Restorative yoga is one way to promote active relaxation.

In this workshop you will:

1) Learn about the 5 “S’s” that impact health in our modern world- stress, sitting, sugar, salt and sleep (or lack thereof)

2) Understand the effects of chronic stress on metabolism, the immune system and the circadian rhythm and how they are connected.

3) Learn how restorative yoga can relieve the effects of chronic stress- use of props to provide a supportive environment, promoting a healthy spine, stimulating and soothing the inner organs and balancing the masculine and feminine energy through breath.

Bring your yoga mat, and a paper and pen.

Registration

Friday November 6th, 2015
7pm – 9pm
$35 + tax

About Cathryn Smith, RN BSN, COHN (C)

Cathryn is a Registered Nurse, and Occupational Health Nurse and Health Coach. She has completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and a 50-hour Yin Training. Cathryn’s passion is a holistic and natural approach to preventative wellness.

Visit Cathryn’s website: http://ohmyogawellness.ca/about