Food is meant to nourish our bodies and souls. A juicy peach or a perfectly ripe heirloom tomato can provide us with nutrients and sweet memories. Unfortunately, for so many people today, their relationship with food is fraught with stress and confusion. In The Yoga of Food, Josie Kramer, M.A., offers a whole person approach to eating and managing stress without turning to fatty, sugary, and salty foods.  Josie’s credentials provide the basis for her authority:  1,000-hour Yoga Teacher certification from Naropa University, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University, a 550 hour Massage Certification from The Institute of Psycho Structural Balancing, and a holistic health counselor certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

The DVD offers three segments: ‘Knowledge of the Body’, ‘Awareness of Mind’, and ‘Connection to Spirit’.  Josie includes breathing techniques and beautifully sequenced beginner’s yoga practices to help viewers become more present in their bodies. Throughout, the practices, Josie offers information on choosing whole foods that provide us powerful energy.

In ‘Knowledge of the Body’ Josie guides viewers through breath work and asana designed to both reduce stress and increase energy. This practice offers a nourishing tool other than turning to food for coping in difficult times. True to its title, ‘Awareness of Mind’ encourages a focus on the present moment, cultivating the art of eating and enjoying food with less distraction, in order to increase satiation. During ‘Connection to Spirit’, Josie utilizes the chakra system to examine disordered eating patterns and how we can break free from such behaviors.

The Yoga of Food is a powerful practice. Josie helps viewers tune into their own bodies needs. Through mind, body, and spirit, we can begin to heal our relationship with food.

Reviewed by Amy Gartenberg

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post DVD Review: The Yoga of Food appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

This sense of wonder and joy has opened doors for him worldwide. Yoga began as a hobby, became a career, and a way to share his curiosity and marvel of life.

Greville has lived life as an adventure from the beginning. In 1985, he was an 18-year-old actor finishing up a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, England. As the production was coming to a close, Greville felt a new adventure was waiting.

When a friend invited him to live in Paris, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for adventure, growth, and fun. Greville moved in with a group of mime students at L’Ecole Mimodrame de Marcel Marceau. Each morning, they would rise and complete two hours of asana practice. Greville, who had explored meditation as a 15-year-old, was curious. Eventually, he was given Raquel Welch’s coffee table book of Bikram’s 26 asanas and he began to practice.

“I hated it at first,” confessed Greville, “But there was something in the book that talked about prana. It wasn’t just about breathing, but about truly connecting. If you tune in, your breath can help you connect; I knew this would help me understand the world.”

Greville continued practicing, becoming increasingly curious about yoga and its benefits. After living in Denmark for a year and a half, Greville moved to Los Angeles in 1987 and completed his first teacher training at YogaWorks. As Greville taught group classes and private sessions, his friends and clients noticed how good he was with kids. “You should teach kids yoga!” was a comment he heard on a regular basis.

Then one evening in 2004, while in Shanghai leading a workshop, Greville had a dream he was teaching kids yoga “That’s interesting,” he thought. The following night, he had a similar dream. “Ok, ok! I get it!”

Greville felt that this was something he was called to do. “I made it my mission, and almost immediately when I got back to Los Angeles, there was an opportunity at YogaWorks to teach kids’ yoga.”

YogaWorks sent Greville to a kids’ teacher training program and he was hooked.

“After that first training, I took three more, mentored other kids’ yoga teachers, and took courses in human development.”

Greville felt that something was still missing.

“Where do you show kids that this practice will accept you as you are?” he questioned. “Where do you show them that yoga is noncompetitive and that they will use it for the rest of their lives?”

Just then, fate seemed to step in yet again. Greville’s friend Naomi was looking for someone to lead a kids’ yoga teacher training in Japan since a last-minute cancellation forced her to find a replacement teacher. She called Greville, “Can you do it and do you have a manual?” To Greville, this was a sign:  The perfect opportunity to write his own program.

“The doors of opportunity opened and I had to walk through.” said Greville.

Twenty-four hours later, Greville was on a plane to Japan. His training program, GroovyKids Yoga, was born.

Today, GroovyKids yoga classes are 45 minutes long. Greville practices alongside the kids, creating a sense of community.

“I am always tinkering. After each class, I ask myself three questions: Did they have fun? Will they do more yoga? Will they come back?”

When leading trainings, Greville asks his students to connect with their childlike sense of wonder. He says, “Yoga gives you the chance to stop everything that is going on outside of you and have a consciousness of what is going on inside of you.”

Greville inspires future kids’ yoga teachers to think outside of their societal box. He says, we practice yoga to explore and to find out who we are inside. “During the trainings, I ask students if they can narrow down the moment when they stopped being a kid,” says Greville. “As humans, we give up something that is essential to feeling joy.”

Greville reiterates the importance of how teachers view the kids. His advice: “For 45 minutes of the day, see a bright shiny mirror. See them as the most important person in the world. Give the kids permission to be themselves.”

What Greville loves most about teaching kids is how naturally in the moment they are. “The kids constantly remind me what a privilege it is to be alive.”

Greville’s goal is to inspire in kids a passion and curiosity for yoga. He’s not concerned with whether or not they will return to his class. In fact, he never wants yoga to become a “have to” for kids. The truth is that when children feel forced into an activity, they very rarely want to do it. “If you plant a seed in fertile ground, it will grow, whether or not you are there,” says Greville.

Greville speaks with obvious humor and ease; his passion for life spills out over the edge and touches those around him. He channels this love of life to empower kids to be uniquely who they are and permission to be their extraordinary selves.

Learn more about Greville at: groovykidsyoga.com.

Amy Gartenberg is a yoga teacher, school teacher, and writer. You can follow her adventures online at CestCaliforniaVie.com

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post Teacher Profile – Greville Henwood teaches Kids Yoga appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Golden Sol provides many opportunities for seva, or selfless service, in and out of the studio. They have currently partnered with the Downtown Women’s Center to bring yoga, meditation, and self–care to women who have struggled with homelessness. “We have a phenomenal group of teachers and students ready to work with these courageous women who face the dangers and sorrows of living on the street,” says co-owner Amy Golden. In order to offer additional support, Golden Sol is collecting goods to donate to the Center and will provide monthly workshops.

The studio shaped by Marisol Rascon and Amy Golden has created a space welcoming to everyone, where students are known by name and the environment inspires loving-kindness.

Golden Sol, 4446 Ambrose Ave, Los Angeles, 646-320-1318

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post Golden Sol Creates Om in Los Feliz appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

In June, 2013, YogaFit opened its first US-based standalone studio since the original South Bay studio (launched in 1998) went mobile in 2005. Created by Beth Shaw in 1994, YogaFit is the largest Yoga school in North America. They have trained over 100,000 Yoga and fitness instructors across six continents and they offer 200 and 500 hour teacher training programs as well as a yoga therapy program; YogaFit partners with health clubs around the world including GoodLife Fitness, The TSI Group (NYSC, WSC, PSC , BSC ) as well as Ys, gyms, and medical fitness settings. And every year the community brings groups on retreat to Rishikesh, India.

The look and feel of the new studio (also home to the corporate office and retail showroom) matches the YogaFit philosophy: open and modern. The space offers YogaFit trainings, YogaFit classes, Boot Camp, women-only classes, and YogaFit Express (a 45-minute yoga practice to fit into a busy workday). Classes are priced at an affordable $10 each. In addition, the space contains an art gallery with frequent openings, receptions, and other events.

“YogaFit is a studio and training center —  we are thrilled to be back in the studio business with a global expansion plan,” says Shaw.

The training programs share the intention that students will become more aware of their bodies, find space, and achieve optimal mind/ body health.

Yogafitstudio.com

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post International YogaFit Training Program Goes Local With New Studio appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

On May 23, 1996, Garth lay in a hospital bed at UCLA Medical Center, basically unable to walk. What felt like a pinched nerve had quickly progressed into the loss of feeling from head to toe. His mind, however, remained as sharp as a tack. Garth remembers everything about that day. More specifically, the time — 3 p.m. — when he received the diagnosis from his doctor that included the words: Multiple Sclerosis. He felt his life change in an instant. “What do I do now, you know, for my physical discipline?” Garth asked again, first feeling relieved and hopeful, given the diagnosis wasn’t worse, then progressively fearful, anxious, and very much alone.

Up until this point, Garth had been the guy constantly on the move. He lived an active life: he’d relocated from the Canadian prairies to New York City to study acting with the legendary Sandy Meisner, then moved to Hollywood in the 90s to pursue a career in film and television. He was a self-proclaimed workout fiend with a love of spinning; he was also a keen student of the martial arts, having trained in Aikido style under the guidance of Haruo Matsuoka Sensei, which consequently led to a work opportunity with action movie star Steven Seagal.

But that was before. Now, things were off-kilter; he couldn’t even balance on a bike. Garth’s doctor suggested yoga and swimming — swimming would keep his body cool (MS doesn’t necessarily fare well with heat), and yoga would help manage his stress. Garth longed for high-intensity exercise, but given his diagnosis, he decided to give yoga a try.

“I was blessed because that evening, some friends who were visiting me in the hospital recommended Iyengar Yoga,” recalls Garth.  “The Iyengar tradition uses props to access proper alignment so the body is given the opportunity to realize its potential,” he explains. The following week, he headed to the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles (IYILA).

Within two weeks of practicing under the guidance of the late Iyengar teacher Karin O’Bannon, Garth remembers the numbness in his body slowly giving way to a buzzing feeling. “It felt like my pager was going off in my calf and in my back,” he says. “It was a pinching and then a buzzing sensation… like something was reawakening there.” Excited, he courageously decided to test how his body would stand up to his old routine of spinning. A sweaty class at the gym left him feeling good, but by the end of the day, he couldn’t feel his body again and ended up back in the hospital.  It was a lesson waiting in the wings – he understood he needed to cultivate patience and respect for his body in order to heal. He returned to IYILA, began a daily practice, and progressively welcomed the feeling back into his body. Since that day, he’s kept at it.

A couple of years into his practice, relieved for the transformative effects yoga was having on his body, Garth began to feel inspired by his journey with MS. He wanted to give back to the yoga community and share his experience with others. Though he never gave up acting, he desired to become a yoga teacher. “I wanted to help others deal with the nightmare of MS,” says Garth. He enrolled in a three-year teacher training program through the Iyengar Yoga Association of Southern California (IYASC) and became certified in 2001.

Garth’s biggest joy of teaching lies in his students. “What I love seeing is when it lands,” he says. “They get it. They get how yoga can actually transform their lives in a positive way. I love seeing when that happens…” By way of analogy, he explains, “I sometimes use the image of the metal silver. It is already a perfect, wonderful element. But if we don’t polish the silver, it tarnishes. If we continue to polish our practice, whether we are faced with a challenge or not, we continue to uncover that light within. We sparkle and shine.”

One of the highlights of his yoga journey was the first trip he took to India where he met with BKS Iyengar. “I was excited, hopeful, and a bit apprehensive to meet this legendary icon of yoga,” Garth recalls. “I told him what I’d been dealing with, and how the yoga practice had been having such a profoundly positive effect on my course of MS under the guidance of the teachers I’d studied with in LA.”  Iyengar looked him straight in the eye and said, “Every day you must walk that fine line between courage and caution.”

“I let those words guide me to this day,” says Garth.

Allowing his wound to be his message, Garth shares the gift of Iyengar Yoga around the world. He offers regular workshops and therapeutic workshops for people living with MS and their teachers; he works with individuals facing such conditions as Parkinson’s, Epilepsy, and Muscular Dystrophy.  The work can also be embraced by those who may be recovering from an accident or who have difficulty moving. As well as working with people with diagnoses, he teaches workshops including intermediate level practices. Additionally, he teaches regular classes at YogaWorks Westwood and Tarzana, and at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles. In 2011, Garth and some fellow Iyengar teachers established Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people manage diseases and conditions through the practice of Iyengar yoga. Additionally, they take part in research dedicated to the therapeutic benefits of yoga.

Thanks to his practice and a relentless drive, Garth has managed his MS and has been in remission since 2001 (he still has residual loss of feeling in his right leg and foot from an episode in 2001). He has even been medication-free since 2003 on the proviso given by his doctor that the lesions on his brain are monitored annually through an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan. His most recent scan showed that the lesions on the left side of his brain have reduced in both number and size.  Now a Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, Garth commented on his own practice, “Out of necessity, I initially learned asana and got back on my feet through yoga by using props. To this day, I am constantly inspired to practice in the environment around me and encourage others to do the same, whether it’s on the mat, on the street, or in the heart of LA!”

These days, Garth can not only balance on his bike, but he’s back to cycling. He travels the world, maintains a strong yoga practice, and is currently working on his one-man play about his journey with MS titled, Looking for Lightning. His life and teaching demonstrates what it really means to live the balance between courage and caution.

For information on upcoming workshop dates, check Garth McLean’s website, yogarth.com, or follow him on Twitter @yogarth.

Amy Gartenberg is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica. She is also the founder of the blog, CestCaliforniaVie.com where you can find healthy recipes, workouts, and daily musings.

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post Garth McLean: Walking the fine line between courage and caution appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“We faced intense lobbying from the plastics industry, but citizens’ voices were heard today in the effort to keep neighborhoods and waterways free of plastic blight.” wrote Heal the Bay Acting Executive Director, Alix Hobbs. “Switching to reusable bags will benefit our local economy, create green jobs and save taxpayer money spent on pollution cleanup.”

The plastic bag ban will go into effect on January 1, 2014 for large stores and then six months later for smaller stores.

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post Los Angeles Bans Plastic Shopping Bags appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.