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Making Mental Health A Priority

Social media has always felt very foreign to me. That should come as no surprise to those of you who know me well or have heard me talk about it here 100 times 😂

Right now it feels even more foreign. I come on, I post & immediately feel like there are more pressing matters in the world. Because there are! There are lots of important hard to digest things happening every day.

When I come here to post about yoga, mindfulness, or meditation, all I can think about is how I want to be out there getting my hands dirty & making a difference in the world.

What I realized is that all I need are breaks from social media. The things I post about are incredibly valuable tools to help support physical & mental health & those things are important too, especially now. 

I’ve learned that balance is key for me. I create content when it feels safe. I create content when I feel inspired. Then I post for a while & when it starts feeling detrimental to my mental health I walk away. Then I go out into the real world & get my hands dirty trying to be the best human I can be for a world that feels like it’s crumbling & falling apart. 

The lesson I learned is that it’s not black & white. Posting or not posting. Helping or not helping. Being informed or not being informed. Being of value or not being of value. Just because I shift my focus between these things & more doesn’t mean I don’t care about my business, what I’m doing, or pressing matters in the world. It means I’m making my mental health a priority. I make time to recharge, to step away from the news, away from my phone, from social media, and then I go back out into the world a healthier, happier person for myself & those around me.

Mental health is HARD right now, especially if you’re an empath & you feel every emotion & feeling that the world around you is feeling. If you allow it to weigh you down it will destroy you & you’re better than that, you’re stronger than that & you’re better for those around you when you make your mental health a priority. 

Mental health over everything else, always. Walk away from whatever you need to walk away from, recharge & come back stronger than ever ❤️

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Movement Is Healing

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.⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #itsmorethanyoga⁠ ✨Movement is HEALING✨⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ Inhale…⁠ Exhale…⁠ Inhale…⁠ Exhale…⁠ ⁠ I move my body on my inhales & exhales.⁠ Over and over.⁠ A beautiful dance between movement & life-giving breath.⁠ I breathe, I move, I breathe, I move.⁠ ⁠ As I do this I feel stress, tension & pain release from my muscles. ⁠ ⁠ When I breathe like this my body produces dopamine. I feel calmer, lighter & happier. ⁠ ⁠ When I move like this my body produces endorphins. Any physical pain I’m storing in my body begins to subside. My mood is boosted. I feel strong. I feel a release. I feel relaxed. I feel well.⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I feel stress, & tension melt away. ⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I'm gentle with whatever feelings, thoughts, and emotions are gripping me.⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I allow feelings to come and go as they please, with no judgment. I am accepting of who I am in this moment. The good and the “bad.” ⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I cry if I need to.⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I close my eyes if it feels safe, or leave them open and allow my gaze to be gentle.⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I watch my thoughts pass by, like scenes in a movie. I notice them, but don’t obsess over them, I simply let them pass. It’s just information about who I am today. What I need, what I need to process, or what I need to let go of.⁠ ⁠ I breathe, I move; I heal in bite-sized pieces, but I heal nonetheless. ⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #itsmorethanyoga⁠ Movement is HEALING

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Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Movement Is Empowering

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. . . #itsmorethanyoga⁠ ⚡️Movement is EMPOWERING⚡️⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ I’ve been through a lot in my short life here on this beautiful blue marble. We all have. Trauma, loss, heartbreak, pain. It can make it hard to trust, to be vulnerable, to try new things, to live & let go. ⁠ ⁠ Moving my body in a safe, quiet place, is the beginning of my healing journey. It may be yours too…⁠ ⁠ I get to move my body in a way that feels safe for me. I call the shots. I’m in control. I can close my eyes or leave them open. It can be as vigorous or restorative as I like, and that makes me feel empowered.⁠ ⁠ I’m taking care of my body. Finding a balance between strength & flexibility. When I learn a new pose & get really good at it I’m proud of myself. Not because someone told me to do it, or because it will look good on Instagram, but because I set a goal for myself. I stuck with it, I practiced, and I achieved my goal at my pace, the way I wanted to. This makes me feel empowered.⁠ ⁠ It’s personal, it’s intimate & it’s mine. It keeps me healthy & it makes me feel strong. It gives me back control that once was taken from me…more than once, but now I make all the decisions for my body. ⁠ ⁠ I am empowered!⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #itsmorethanyoga⁠ Movement is EMPOWERING

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Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Movement Is Therapeutic

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#itsmorethanyoga Movement is THERAPEUTIC . . Your body is your home. In this home you hold memories, experiences, emotions, trauma, pain, happiness, tension, stress, anxiety, joy…it carries all of you; all that you were, are & will be. It is your physical body, your emotional body, and your soul. Your body stores feelings; not just the physical ones, the emotional ones too. A little stress in the shoulders, neck, and jaw. A little anxiety in the palms of the hands. Heartbreak in the collarbones, upper back, and chest. Trauma in the hips, thighs, & lower back. Encourage thoughts & feelings to move through & out of the body by moving it gently in a way that feels safe for you. This is an intimate, personal moment to express yourself through movement. Movement is a language of its own. A way for you to express what you want, what you need, and what is no longer serving you in the most natural way. We were born to move, we are meant to move. Like dancing to your favorite song, but this one is uniquely yours. A song that takes you on a journey through your emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Movement is the dance that releases them. That sets you free. #itsmorethanyoga Movement is THERAPEUTIC . . . . . . #theyoginestmethod #traumainformed #movementbasedtherapy #movementcoach #movement #yoga #yogapractice #yogainspiration #yourbodyisatemple #expressyourself #ancientwisdom #freedom

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Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Break Old Habits With Mindful Awareness

Did you know you have the power to change the physical structure of your brain, just by being more aware of how you talk to yourself, the quality of your thoughts & paying more attention to your breath?

Enter mindful awareness…

Would you talk to someone the way you talk to yourself? If you saw someone smash their knee into a coffee table would you say, you’re a clumsy idiot? My guess is no. If someone you loved didn’t get the promotion they were hoping for would you say, of course you didn’t, you’re not smart enough, you’re not good enough, you don’t deserve it? I’m gonna go with a hell no on this one unless you’re a monster!

Why do we talk to ourselves this way? Does it have something to do with the way we were raised? Or the way others have treated or talked to us? Is it so ingrained in us that we can’t help ourselves & it just comes out? No matter where this self-critical dialogue came from there’s hope. 

You have the power to change your experience with life’s stressors, anxieties, trauma & painful or depressing events & it’s easier than you think. Bonus, you can change the structure of your brain just by changing the conversation you have with yourself about your daily experiences. 

It’s this simple 👇🏽

Depressed Experience = Something caused me to feel depressed. This is an opportunity to learn more about myself; what makes me tick, what makes me happy, what makes me sad, what I need more of & what I need to let go of? This is an opportunity to learn…  

Stressful Experience = Being late is stressful. If I left earlier it would give me more time to combat the unknown & heavy traffic. If I leave earlier & plan better I will be less stressed. This is an opportunity to learn…

If you can implement this simple change in your daily conversations with yourself you have the opportunity to:

👉🏽 Break old/bad habits & build new ones

👉🏽 Develop healthier awareness & understanding of stressful/painful experiences

👉🏽 Learn & grow from stressful/painful experiences

👉🏽 Build a more loving relationship with yourself, which will help you…

👉🏽 Build better relationships with others

👉🏽 Open your mind to new coping mechanisms/perspectives

👉🏽 Rewire the brain’s neural pathways  

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Heal the root…not the symptoms!

On a scale of 1-10 (1 = little to no stress & 10 = max stress) how stressed are you right now? 

Did you know that roughly 7 in 10 people suffer from stress-related physical & emotional issues! 

COVID, politics, finances, work, relationships, the environment, global unrest, health & wellness, cost of food, access to food & water…these are just a few things that could be affecting your level of stress. It can be incredibly overwhelming, I see you & I feel you.

So here’s what I want to address today – treating the SYMPTOMS of stress/emotional pain vs. the ROOT CAUSE. It has become “normal” to cover up pain & trauma, or shove it down, instead of nurturing & healing the root cause of stress & emotional pain. That might look something like taking medication, numbing it w/ destructive lifestyle choices, or trying to ignore that it exists even though it’s still affecting us in a big way.

Imagine this scenario – There’s a water leak in your house & it’s begun to damage your walls & destroy the paint. Instead of getting to the ROOT of the problem, you decide to buy some pretty wallpaper & cover it up. This is an example of treating the SYMPTOM! The water leak still exists, it was never fixed. So every time it leaks it causes damage to the paint & the wallpaper & whatever you chose to do to cover up what the leak does to the brand new wallpaper. It’s never going to stop causing damage because the leak still exists!

Apply this to whatever root causes are creating stress & emotional pain/trauma for you.

It’s incredibly important that we dedicate time to understand what is causing our emotional/physical stress, pain & trauma. It’s not always a fun process, but it won’t just go away by covering it up with pretty wallpaper or paint. The world is noisy right now, it’s so loud! Take some time to be quiet with yourself, to explore your environment…is it safe, is it nurturing you, is it making you happy? Do you need to make some adjustments? Do you need to fix a leak?

This is the work of true healing. Focus on the root, not just the symptom.

Some ways to get started:
▫️ Therapy
▫️ Support groups
▫️ Mindset coaching – That’s me – I can help you ❤️
▫️ Meditating
▫️ Journaling

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com