About Us
The meaning of yoga month

By Deborah Ann Kako/ Sitting in

Fri Sep 12, 2008
Posted on the Salem Evening Gazette

Salem - September is yoga month, which means that between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30, special workshops and events are being held throughout the country. Boston (including greater Boston) is one of the selected cities involved — see .

Health is about ongoing transformation and there is certainly a metamorphosis that occurs when you stay with your yoga practice. Select a teacher and class that feel right for you (see www.yogaatc.com). Self-care and prevention are luxuries few of us can afford but on the other hand we can’t afford not to engage in prevention. There are many factors affecting our health care today — the aging baby boomers, insurance health care costs on the rise, less medical professionals in the workforce and funding cuts just to name a few.

The time is here for alternative methods of self-improvement to be mainstreamed into your life. The integration of yoga is leading the way into the American lifestyle a new mindset is here. The change takes time and effort.

Research from the National Institute of Health is supporting yoga, music and art therapy as transformative ways to prevent disease and sustain wellness. Practicing these alternative methods puts you in the driver’s seat; you are more than just a passenger in a western, medical-model vehicle of control with your health.

This is a new mindset; it is the beginning of the realization that you are empowered and have the ability and opportunity to make choices. The quality of your life depends in part on your willingness to participate. According to many schools of yoga science, yoga has been around for more than 5,000 years. There is a reason for that — it works!

Recently a grant funded by Kripalu (the largest yoga center in the US; see www.kripalu.org) supported Bay Ridge hospital to work with a challenging population. The end result was that 90 percent of the participants reported and documented that the yoga class helped them feel less stressed and more relaxed. The stretching and simple posture work increased their awareness of the mind/body connection.

The movements decreased anxiety and help somewhat to lift the depression.

We all have emotions, feelings and thoughts that need an outlet. We cannot use the full benefits of the mind without incorporating the wisdom of the body and who are we and where is there meaning in life? Viewing the whole individual will include an awareness of one’s unique spirituality. This is the true practice of yoga. We live in one of the most exciting and challenging times in the history of mankind. A time when we have integrated to a global community and private space exploration is on the horizon. Let us live each moment to the fullest and know that we all have a choice to be all we can; beginning with one thought, an hour at a time and one day at a time.

Yoga the oldest form of body psychotherapy paired with the enchanting vibrations of sound and our own internal connections can take us to place we never dreamed possible. Allow yourself to begin the journey of endless possibility. When we change ourselves we change our whole life.

To begin start reading more about the subject of yoga, there are many different styles and locations. But you need to practice the style that is best suited to meet your needs on all levels. For more information about yoga styles, check out the web site www.yogaatc.com or www.yogafamily.com, or contact Deborah Kako at 978-744-4808 for information on upcoming classes

Deborah Ann Kako is a licensed psychotherapist and certified Kripalu yoga teacher who is affiliated with Body & Soul Massage and Wellness Center, located at 60 Washington St. in Salem.