Remember the last time you were up close, personal and intimate with the Earth? It may have been when you were a child. Daydreaming, starring up at the world and sky above you or lying on the belly taking a bugs-eye view of the world. Remember the sensations you felt? How the Earth seemed to cradle and nurture and in some ways heal and comfort whatever ailed you.

In Savasana, corpse pose, one lies mindfully on the Earth, tuning into quiet simplicity, inviting the feet to fall outward, the arms to rest by the side of the body, palms facing upward, and fully releasing one’s body into the pull of Earth’s gravity.

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REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

INNERview – An Exploration into the INNERyou Weekend Yoga Retreat – September 17-19, 2010 – Joyful Journey Hot Springs & Spa, Moffat, Colorado 

Treat your mind, body and soul to a mindfulness weekend as you reconnect with your inner needs and desires and explore yourself from within. This weekend promises to guide you on an inner journey of self, while in the presence of community. What better way to allow your inner senses to come alive than a retreat combining nature, yoga, meditation and more. This program is targeted to woman of all ages that desire to refresh and rejuvenate their spirit from within. Joyful Journey Hot Springs & Spa promises to be a unique venue for this retreat.  Choose from a Hotel room or Yurt.  For full program details and registration see Events Tab on this site.

This week USA Today ran a cover story about the rave in toning shoes, A Revolutionary sneaker, or overhyped gimmick?  Seduced by their claims to improve posture, circulation and reduce joint pain, these shoes have been a source of lively discussion in my senior yoga therapy classes.

The feet impact every part of your posture and are one of your main sensors for communicating pain. While the body is quite adaptive and will make modifications to maintain its muscular-skeletal alignment, any change to your natural movement, results in a shift to the entire body. Just experiment with walking on the insides of your feet, or the outside edges and notice what happens to your posture, your hips, your spine and the muscles that are being used to support you. It’s not that you are using increasing the intensity of your muscle use, it’s that your body is adapting by using different muscles not normally used. This is the reason most of us find our legs fatigued after walking for a period of time on a sandy shore.

Our feet are innately designed to provide traction for mobility and aid us in balance and posture. The entire posture originates from the feet and aligns upward. When the feet no longer sense the ground, or when they are forced into an unnatural position, they no longer support the posture in an optimal way.

The long-term impact of these toning shoes on individuals with knocked or bowed knees, hip displacements, ankle rotations and a host of other postural misalignments has yet to be unveiled.

(c) Namasteworks Yoga + Wellness, LLC.   Nancy Levenson, Highlands Ranch, CO http://www.namasteworksyoga.com