The sleek, open studio boasts a Pilates room with six reformers as well as a TRX strength training room—where they are also planning on adding yoga classes. “We wanted to keep the classes small so people can get the benefit of our instruction,” explains Jane. Both owners have done a lot of training in the safe spine technique, so they incorporate those methods into the classes they teach.

In addition to physical health, nutrition is an important factor at HALE. The studio has two registered dietitians who work with clients to change their eating habits, help them shop for groceries, and keep them motivated. “We want to provide everything for people who want it from workouts to nutrition to a small community. It’s great, because classes have gotten to be like a social hour around here,” says Kristen. “The communal aspect is really important to us.”

HALE Pilates Method

 326 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 100

Redondo Beach, CA

Halepilatesmethod.com

By Jordan Younger, a yoga teacher and vegan blogger. You can find her at theblondevegan.com or on Instagram at @theblondevegan.

Jordan Younger

Jordan Younger is a student at Loyola Marymount University and a Yoga teacher in training who loves the ocean, being outdoors, and tasting delicious vegetarian food around L.A. She hopes write novels in the future, and if she is not on the yoga mat you will probably find her at the beach, hiking with her friends, or playing with her adorable nieces.

The post HALE Pilates Method appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The room itself is inviting and personal, fitting eight comfortably, and it boasts the option of using Reiki-blessed scented oils with names like ‘Love,’ ‘Bliss,’ and ‘Cheerfulness’ to heighten relaxation. Snider says that it was important to keep the studio small in order to provide close attention to her students and incorporate Thai Yoga Therapy into her yoga classes to create a hands-on healing environment.

Something that sets the studio apart is Snider’s use of the BioMat—a handmade mat with seven pounds of amethyst that uses infrared light to open the channels of the body— which allows nutrition to feed the cells and for toxins to release. Since it emits negative ions, it is said to alleviate allergies, migraines, and sinus problems. It’s heated, too, so it is a comfortable addition to the Thai Yoga Therapy and restorative classes.

Snider currently is the sole teacher and plans to bring in more teachers as the studio grows; she also hosts workshops that are mainly focused on strengthening spiritual awareness. Going with the theme of de-stressing, Heart and Sol yoga classes are therapeutic and restorative. Snider is hoping to make a positive change through the studio by offering classes to help people go within so they can “walk out feeling better and contribute that feeling to the world.”

Heart and Sol Yoga and Healing Arts

2955 N Moorpark Rd

Thousand Oaks

(805) 241-4194

Heart-and-sol.com

Jordan Younger is a student at Loyola Marymount University and a yoga teacher. She loves writing and balancing in dancer pose – but not at the same time!

Jordan Younger

Jordan Younger is a student at Loyola Marymount University and a Yoga teacher in training who loves the ocean, being outdoors, and tasting delicious vegetarian food around L.A. She hopes write novels in the future, and if she is not on the yoga mat you will probably find her at the beach, hiking with her friends, or playing with her adorable nieces.

The post Heart and Sol Yoga and Healing Arts appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Community Partnerships Power Practice

There’s nothing better than practicing Yoga outdoors with friends, family, and live music—unless you’re doing all of this and serving the community by supporting the efforts of a hard-working nonprofit organization. This combination has been the great effort of Yoga Vista’s Power in the Park series of classes. Yoga Vista has been putting on outdoor Yoga classes in Playa Vista’s Concert Park to benefit both local and worldwide charities since October, 2011. For that first event, they teamed up with the National Breast Cancer Foundation; it was so successful that it became their annual October flagship affair.

Throughout Power in the Park’s first year, they have held monthly fundraising classes. In these, the community gravitated toward certain themes: pets, schools, and anything having to do with children. Still supporting these charities, for 2013, they shifted the schedule from monthly to quarterly. Yoga Vista owner and teacher Keary Bixby, “We want to continue with three or four a year so we can keep on meeting new charities but also stick with ones our community relates to.”

The next Power in the Park event is on May 11 with a class to support Girls on the Run in Los Angeles, an organization that meets with girls between the ages of 8 and 13 to help them build self-esteem, teamwork, and foster the ideal of inner beauty. “They gather like a community running group,” explains Bixby. “I enjoyed talking to them because I played sports throughout high school, so I know that being in a group setting with a bunch of girls can help build self-esteem.”

Yoga Vista cross-promotes with each organization through various avenues, including newsletters, Facebook pages, and local businesses. For each event, Bixby sources raffle prizes from people she knows in the Playa Vista community. For the May installment, prizes include dog training through Innovative Dog Training, a yoga mat and classes from Yoga Vista, and tea from Tea of Kind. Eat Well LA, a local health food delivery company, will be providing breakfast for everyone who participates on the 11^th.

“Our goal is to make the event fun so people hang out and get to know each other,” Bixby said. “My favorite part is the communal aspect. People breathing for each other, breathing for the kids we’re raising money for.” Everyone involved learns about the charities and ways they can become involved.

Power in the Park takes requests for partnerships, including a student’s suggestion to work with the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. It was only when her student spoke before a Yoga class when Bixby realized how close to home her story was. “She explained onstage that her grandfather and father both had Huntington’s disease, and she has a 50/50 chance of getting it. She has chosen at this time not to know whether she is going to get it; she just lives her life and lives it fully. It was extremely inspiring.”

Putting on the event has expanded Bixby’s Yoga practice as well as her community awareness. “Let me tell you, sitting there and listening to some of the stories, and then doing Yoga and setting an intention as a group for these charities is extremely special,” said Bixby. “There have been lots of tears. It’s amazing.”

For more information on Power in the Park’s initiatives, visit: yogavistastudio.com/powerinthepark

For more information on Yoga Vista Studio: yogavistastudio.com

{author credit} Jordan Younger is…

Jordan Younger

Jordan Younger is a student at Loyola Marymount University and a Yoga teacher in training who loves the ocean, being outdoors, and tasting delicious vegetarian food around L.A. She hopes write novels in the future, and if she is not on the yoga mat you will probably find her at the beach, hiking with her friends, or playing with her adorable nieces.

The post People Power in the Park appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

When we think of Woodstock, we think of ’60s counterculture festivals and a free-spirited vibe. According to the upcoming feature film Peace, Love and Misunderstanding, not much has changed with the Woodstock of today. The town itself ends up playing a role as a character in the film, inspiring transformation among members of one family—some who live within the town’s boundaries, others who are visiting.

Carefree matchmaker Grace (played by Jane Fonda) is floored when her daughter Diane (Catherine Keener), an uptight lawyer from New York, shows up on her doorstep along with two adolescent grandchildren whom Grace has never met. She is delighted to have them, but there is more to her happy-go-lucky spirit than meets the eye. Fonda plays Grace beautifully, peeling the layers of the eccentric, long-haired protestor to reveal a mother who deeply yearns to identify with her daughter. Keener’s acting is also brilliant, fairly exhibiting the grief of a newly divorced woman also in pain from having a mother with whom she has difficulty connecting. While the mother-daughter relationship is unbearably strained, Diane’s children, Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen) and Jake (Nat Wolff), add a humorous element to the relationship-driven film. They are thrilled by their grandmother’s aversion to normalcy and her pot-wielding, non-traditional lifestyle.

What begins as a whimsical escape to grandmother’s house quickly becomes more personal. To all the visitors’ surprise, Woodstock offers more than they anticipated. Diane’s softer side is revealed as she interacts with new love interest Jude (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his refusal to put up with her straitlaced attitude –he even convinces her to sing onstage! Meanwhile, Zoe and Jake develop relationships of their own while subsequently dealing with their mom’s newfound freedom. Jake’s cringingly awkward teen romance with Tara (Marissa O’Donnell) serves as a mirror to the adult relationships as it represents the profound difficulty of opening up to another.

Everything seems to fall into place a little too easily – until a surprising twist shatters the hopeful progress and forces everyone to deal with a different kind of obstacle. Astute acting and charming humor shine throughout the film, illuminating the truth of human interaction and relationship. Exiting the theater, you’ll feel more peace
and love and a little less misunderstanding.

Jordan Younger

Jordan Younger is a student at Loyola Marymount University and a Yoga teacher in training who loves the ocean, being outdoors, and tasting delicious vegetarian food around L.A. She hopes write novels in the future, and if she is not on the yoga mat you will probably find her at the beach, hiking with her friends, or playing with her adorable nieces.

The post Peace Love and Misunderstanding appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.