self-care – Move Well with Amy Rizzotto

April 27, 2017

BIG Announcement: Coming Fall of 2017 to Takoma….Yoga Heights #2!

As Co-Owner of Yoga Heights, I just had to share!! We are so excited for this next big step and can’t wait to bring our community-oriented yoga and fitness classes to a new neighborhood in the District. Stay tuned for photos of the build-out and details on our grand opening slated for this fall.

April 27, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yoga Heights, a yoga studio at 3506 Georgia Ave. NW., announced today that they are opening their second location this fall in the Takoma Central Apartment building at 235 Carroll Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. Yoga Heights is a community oriented studio that offers classes for every body, at every level and every budget.

“The love and support of the Yoga Heights community has been overwhelming for the past three years,” said Jess Pierno, owner. “Our students’ enthusiasm for the studio, our teachers, events and community, has made Yoga Heights an incredibly special yoga studio. It was never in the plans to open additional locations, but due to repeated requests to offer more classes, community events and YHDC good vibes, we were inspired to expand our studio!”

Yoga Heights will continue to offer all levels vinyasa and power yoga, beginners classes, Rocket yoga, restorative and Yin yoga, prenatal yoga, bootcamps, Pilates, yoga teacher training and community events at both locations.

Yoga Heights Takoma is just steps from the Takoma metro station on the red line and is on bus lines 52, 53, 54, 62, 63, F1, F2 and K2.

To ensure that their classes work with all budgets, Yoga Heights offers half price “happy hour” classes five days per week, work-study in trade for classes, as well as “Karma Passes” which allows students to pay just $8 per class up to four times per month.Through these programs, Yoga Heights has helped more than 4,000 people afford yoga classes in the three years they have been open.

“We look forward to continuing to be an affordable and community oriented yoga studio for people who are brand new to yoga, as well as regularly practicing yogis,” Pierno continued.

More information on class offerings, pricing and events is available at www.YogaHeightsDC.com.

Studio owners Jess Pierno and Amy Rizzotto, and their talented team of instructors remain steadfastly committed to working with Yoga Heights’ students to ensure that health and wellness are accessible to all.

Yoga Heights is currently offering pre-opening sales on unlimited memberships through its website at www.YogaHeightsDC.com. Visit www.YogaHeightsDC.com to sign up and save today!

For questions or comments please contact:

Amy Rizzotto, Yoga Heights

write: [email protected]

October 17, 2016October 13, 2016

The Practice and Benefits of Belly Breath (Diaphragmatic Breathing)

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your stress level? Chances are it’s higher than you’d like. The body’s response to stressful situations – “fight, flight or freeze” – is an important part of our ability to cope with dangerous and sometimes life-threatening situations. Unfortunately, the way we live our lives these days – constantly on the go, striving to do and accomplish so much, not wanting to disappoint people and thus saying yes when maybe we ought to say no – is peaking our stress levels way more than is healthy.

Chronic stress is no joke. It can lead to high blood pressure (a major risk factor for heart disease), anxiety and depression, immune system suppression (aka more colds and flus), skin conditions, GERD (acid reflux), and countless other health issues.

I am no stranger to stress. Why do you think I became a yoga teacher? Prior to my yoga practice – both taking and teaching – my anxiety was consuming at times. I still have to work to stay on top of it and, for me, the most tried and true way to combat the physical manifestations of my anxiety is through pranayama, or breathing techniques. My favorite form of pranayama – deep belly breathing – is straightforward and discreet. You can do it anywhere, at any time, and all you need is one minute.

We all have one minute to take care of ourselves. No excuses.

According to a recent publication from Harvard Medical School, “deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange — that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide.” As a result, deep belly breathing has been proven to slow one’s heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure. Plus, it just makes you feel most at ease.

The Practice

Directions:

Come to a comfortable position either lying down or sitting upright on a pillow block of blanket. If you choose to sit, make sure you are comfortable and that it feels somewhat effortless.
Bring your right hand on top of your heart and your left hand on top of your belly.
Close the enjoys and start to pay attention to your natural breath, without trying to change anything at all at first.
Begin to deepen your breath, inhaling through the nose to fill your belly. You will feel your in-breath pass beneath your right hand first, then the diaphragm will press down and your abdominal wall will swell outward beneath your left hand. Pause.
Exhale just as slowly as you inhaled, first emptying the belly and feeling your left hand draw back toward your spine; then, feeling the out-breath rise up beneath your right hand, clearing the chest cavity and exiting through the nasal passages. Pause.
Repeat for nine more cycles, or a total of 10 belly breaths.

This simple practice will take anywhere from 45-90 seconds to complete. Pepper this practice through your day five to 10 times by setting reminders on your phone or work calendar to keep you honest. You will be amazed how quickly your stress levels drop and a sense of ease washes over you.

Pro-Tip

Make this practice a ritual before any predictably stressful situation – a presentation at work, tough conversation with a partner, or big competition, to name a few. Not only will you feel better going in, but you’ll be less likely to react negatively throughout.

June 29, 2015

Be Still to Be Strong: Awakening the Body from Within

As I lay there on my back, sweat drying on the back of my neck, gently cradled by the give of my mat, five simple words washed over me, triggering a moment of ineffable release…

“Awaken yourself from within first.”

I’m no stranger to a few tears in savasana. Moving muscles, honing mental focus, and getting lost in the rise and fall of breath have an uncanny ability to remove blockages, both physical and emotional. From time to time this release opens the flood gates, others it simply lets drips seep out one by one. Today was more of the latter for me, but my goodness did it feel good to crack.

No one ever told me I had to be strong while healing from my accident, but I resolved to stay positive, look at the glass half full, and find the proverbial silver lining. I’m not saying it was wrong to push myself in this way, but it was at times exhausting. I knew at some visceral level that if I let myself crumble emotionally while my body was broken against its will, I might slip down a darker path than if I steeled myself in certain ways. Fear of falling kept me from facing the true trauma of my experience. Part of me knew I would have to face the more emotional impact of the accident once my body started to mend, but it still surprised me when it began to surface.

For the past few weeks I’ve been tiptoeing back into my yoga practice: I’ve used more props than ever before (see below); I’ve gotten creative with hand placement and foot positions to allow for better balance; I’ve come to child’s pose when others have come into handstand; and I’ve even worked up the courage to leave my splint at home despite the fear that others won’t know I’m still healing and think I’m just being lazy (hello, ego!).

Every week that goes by I am physically stronger, but at times more mentally and emotionally frustrated. An agitation shakes and stirs inside me fueled by impatience and expectation. Why am I not yet back to where I was before? When will this pose or that pose be within reach? Where did my stamina go? While all the answers to these questions are clear to my most rational self, in the moment these questions gnaw and nag at my inner fabric.

Here’s the thing—that inner struggle is the exact reason why I love yoga so much, so much that I became a teacher. Yoga illuminates the limits, boundaries, and blockages we all wrestle with. It sheds light on them and allows you the time and space to truly see, acknowledge, and slowly and steadily ease through them. It’s not an fast process, and you cannot rush it. The more you force yourself towards resolution or change, the harder it becomes to achieve.

When that single tear found its way through the crack in the walls I’d thrown up, rolled its way down into the well of my ear, and drew a smile across my face I knew my struggle with this trauma had begun in earnest. My gratitude for this beginning is unbounded. I know that as I start to reconnect with my inner self, awakening from within first, I will have the unique and rare opportunity to reignite my spark with yoga. I get to rediscover the magic of connecting breath to movement. I get to realize anew that stillness creates inner and outer strength. And I get to watch as my body invites me back in, little by little as it becomes ready.

As I lay there on my back, in tranquility and stillness, only then could I notice that when you are still there are no boundaries and no limits to what is possible, only potential.