Welcome | Come To Yoga with Barbara Lyon

Come To Yoga with Barbara Lyon
at Cambridge Health Associates
335 Broadway
(between Prospect & Inman streets
free parking lot in back!)

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Welcome!

Class Times, Cost, and Private Yoga Sessions

Watertown Yoga:
Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 pm:
May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11 (see class topics at left). Please bring mat.
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Two classes Monday evenings at Camb Health Assoc:

6:00-7:30pm for experienced yoga students

7:45-9:00pm (75 min) for beginners and anyone wishing for a slower-paced, gentler yoga

All props provided free of charge.

No Wednesday classes this Spring or Summer; Wed classes resume in Sept 2013.

Pricing:
90 min: $16 drop in or $14 ea for any 4 or more classes within the semester.
75 min beginner/ gentler: $15 drop in or $13 each for any 4 or more classes within the semester (thru June 24).

IF YOU HAVE LOST YOUR JOB AND ARE LOOKING FOR WORK, classes for you are $10 - you likely need yoga now more than ever!

Private Yoga Classes:
You can choose general yoga, classes to help you deal with a particular physical limitation, instruction to help prepare you to join a mainstream yoga class, or a 'concept' class like yoga for relaxation, knees, strengthening, better posture, yoga for runners, etc.

60-minute class is $80. 90-minute class is $110.

If the drive is longer than 15 min each way from Watertown, there is a small additional charge. We can arrange a time/day that suits your schedule. We can also rent a private yoga room at CHA for an additional $15 if you'd rather not have class at your home. Please send me an email for more info.

Map and directions to Come To Yoga classes at Cambridge Health Associates at 335 Broadway.

Free parking lot in back, short walk from Central Sq Red Line T, and all props provided at no charge.

Looking for additional information about the yoga classes? Try the FAQ or contact me!

"Barbara is the most wonderful yoga teacher ever--she will support and guide you, affirm and smile you. Every time I do yoga and even when I am just walking around, I hear her in my head and I am grateful.

As we (all of us) get older, this is the most valuable thing we can do to enhance our quality of life and health. She's the person who can take us there, with wisdom and joy and reality." -CC

"What a healing journey began for me when I joined your class, Barbara. I just wanted to thank you once again. It has changed my life. Honestly. ¡¡¡Muchas gracias!!!" -GS

* SPRING YOGA SEMESTER at CHA *

2 Mondays evening classes now through June 24

(no classes Mon May 27, Memorial Day)

No Wednesday classes this Spring or Summer; they will resume Sept 2013

SPECIAL CLASSES in Cambridge:

Monday, May 20: YOGA TO COMBAT SEASONAL ALLERGIES
We'll do breathing exercises and yoga to open, strengthen, and tone the lungs and expel allergens; inversions to clear the upper respiratory tract; twists and forward and backward bends to massage the spine and turn on the immune system, and more. And even if you don't suffer from seasonal allergies, this will be a wonderful class to help you never get them!

All on our beautiful new bamboo floor. Come to class and feel great!

See below for CHA hours.

*** NEW! A series of 4 special classes in Watertown ***
Tues evenings 5:30-6:30
May 21 - June 11
at Harvard Vanguard Medical Assoc, 485 Arsenal St
(there are 2 HVMA bldgs; yoga is in the back building; free parking lot.)
Come to 1, 2 or all 4 classes. No yoga experience necessary, public invited!
Please bring a mat (and any other props you have).

May 21: Stress-Busting Yoga can release physical, mental, and emotional tension. We'll do a deep breathing exercise, spinal flexes and twists, forward and back bends, and lots of moves to turn off the fight-flight response and turn on the relaxation response. Leave class feeling like a 'new you' . . . and plan on getting a great sleep that night!
May 28: Posture Workshop We'll strengthen weak upper back muscles (the 'hunch') as we stretch and open the chest and front shoulders. Stronger core muscles will help us sit up and stand tall, we'll get our neck in better alignment over our spine, lengthen legs, open hips, and much more.

June 4: Neck & Shoulder Tension A delicious combination of yoga, breathwork, movement, and massage to ease up a tense neck, shoulders, and upper back.

June 11: Lower Back & Tight Hips Experience the relief of a loosened-up and limber lower back and hips, it can help in all kinds of ways! We'll also lengthen hamstrings and strengthen all parts of the back.

Cost: $12 each or all four for $40. All levels welcome.
Please pre-register by calling 877-439-5465 or go to www.harvardvanguard.org and click on Health and Wellness, then 'view classes'', 'mind/body', Watertown, 'yoga'. In either case you can pay by check or credit card. Don't forget to bring a mat! (Inexpensive mats sold next door at Marshalls.)

PHOTOS 2012: MILTON BEVINGTON

WEEKLY SCHEDULE at CHA

Experienced Students (90 min)
-Mondays 6:00 - 7:30 pm

Beginners/Slower-paced yoga (75 min)
-Mondays 7:45 - 9:00 pm

PRICING

Monday 6:00 pm: $14/class (90 minute) when you sign up for any 4+ classes within the semester. $16 drop in to a 90-min class.

Monday 7:45 pm: $13/class (75 minute beginner/gentler class) when you sign up for 4+ classes within the semester.
$15 drop in to a 75-min beginner/gentler class.

$NEW STUDENT SPECIAL

$20 for any two Mon 7:45 beginner classes within the semester

$40 for any four 75-min beginner classes within the semester

$25 for any two Mon 6:00 experienced 90-min classes or
$50 for any four 90-min classes

All props provided; free parking lot in back.

Each class has a theme; classes this semester will include: "Cultivating Joy"; Stress-Busting Yoga; yoga for healthier knees (maybe we'll combine that with yoga for golfers); yoga for Better Breast Health; then other classes will focus on specific body therapies, like loosening tight shoulders, hips, releasing the neck, hamstrings, lower back, etc.

Or choose PRIVATE YOGA LESSONS at your home or in a private room at Cambridge Health Associates; see column to right for details.

WEEKEND WORKSHOPS

January 2013: Posture Workshop: Reclaiming that "Lost Inch"
December 2012: Holiday Pampering

Check this website for future 2013 workshops, or email me to be added to the mailing list (no-spam) for workshop announcements.

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NEWS! I am launching a new branch of yoga called "Gentle Joint Yoga" for seniors and those wishing for a very gentle yoga experience. There are two levels: one is Chair Yoga, done sitting the whole time, for people who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor, or whose sense of balance isn't stable enough for standing yoga; the other is a more advanced version which includes yoga on the floor, sitting and standing. In that version we still use chairs quite a bit - to sit and do stretches and twists, and also as a prop for standing poses like forward bends, downward facing dogs, warriors, standing balances, and many more. In 2011 I enrolled in the Silver Age Yoga program, which has given me a much deeper knowledge of how to modify poses for different conditions. In 2012 I took the exams and earned the Silver Age Yoga Teacher Certificate.

Currently I am teaching the Chair Yoga version at the Brigham House in Watertown and Youville House in Cambridge, and am looking for studios or community rooms where I can teach both kinds of Gentle Joint Yoga. Do you know of a place? (Camb Health Assoc is not ideal for seniors because of the stairs.) Also, if you would like me to teach Gentle Joint Yoga at your facility, or as private lessons, please send me an email

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NEW! A Yoga Tips page. Click here (or on"Yoga Tips & FAQ" above) to find out how to hand or machine wash and dry your yoga mat, how long to wait after eating to do yoga, and a neat trick to keep your mat more germ-free. I'll add more to this over time. Any questions you'd like me to address?

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To find out the theme of any particular class, click on the Facebook icon on the right column of this page or visit www.Facebook.com/Come To Yoga. While you're there, click 'like', and you'll receive a brief email describing the class theme each week.

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A favorite quote from "Senses" by Franz Kafka:

You do not need to leave the house. Just sit at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, become wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking. It can do no other; in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.

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ADVANCED TRAINING: In 2011, after teaching yoga for 16 years, I decided to deepen my knowledge by embarking on a 200-hour certificate program, and earned an Advanced Teacher Training Certificate in The Art of Teaching, at The Yoga Studio Barbara Benagh). Illuminating!

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YOGA AT A YOGA STUDIO VS. YOGA AT A HEALTH CLUB or GYM

I’ve been thinking about why anyone should go to a yoga studio if they already have a health club membership that includes yoga. I belong to a gym and often take a pick-up yoga class on the weekend. I find myself feeling sorry for the students. The classes are repetitive with no build, and usually offer no adjustments. I look around at people doing Downward-Facing Dog with rounded spines and domed knuckles and Warrior II with heads thrust forward and front knee dropping inward, uncorrected. How will they ever learn the right form? And how much damage will they do to their bodies in the meantime?

They never get to experience the release and joy of a well-crafted shoulder stand or some of the more esoteric poses and they certainly get no experimental or partner poses at all. In my classes I not only walk around and make adjustments so that everyone learns the proper shape of each pose, but offer a build over the semester – classes start with a focus on stretching and slowly build in strength and balance. I offer simpler alternative poses for students who need them, or encourage them to stop and take a rest when that's appropriate, and more advanced versions for the students who are ready for them. Every week the theme or focus changes so that each body part gets special attention across the months. And the variety is endless!

If you haven't been to a yoga studio in awhile, I hope you'll try mine. It's quite a different and possibly more rewarding experience than the same old same old at the gym. Treat yourself! Experience the relief - and exhilaration - of proper alignment, and learn something new every week.

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A favorite stanza, from Last Night as I Was Sleeping by Antonio Machado

Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt that I had a beehive here inside my heart.
And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.

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What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. -Richard Bach

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Our September 2011 Yoga-Alexander Technique Retreat in Bristol, NH was a resounding success!! (she said, modestly :) Linda Carmichael and I had a wonderful group who not only participated enthusiastically in the Yoga classes while Linda did Alexander Technique on them, but who enjoyed getting to know one other, hang out and have fun! During free time, some swam and kayaked and hiked, others sat on the porch overlooking the stony rushing river and talked or read. In class, we delved into 4 long classes over the 2 days: 1) Liberating the Ribcage, 2) strategies to help Relieve Chronic Pain using yoga stretches and yoga for better digestion (with suggestions for better eating strategies); 3) "Favorite Yoga" - many interesting and challenging poses, and 4) "Self Compassion", which included a guided visualization, heart-opening yoga, a facial and lymph massage, and ended with our taste-testing Godiva and Lindt dark chocolate. Linda also gave each one their own private AT session. Plus we had wonderful meals at Linda's restaurant and attended an astonishing Sat night concert starring "Ameranouche" there. The participants are already talking about the next retreat!

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We do a "Chakra Crawl" during SUMMER semesters - each class we use yoga and breath work to open and balance a different chakra. We learn what each chakra represents and how a balanced or unbalanced chakra shows up in our personality and body, the way that we perceive ourselves and relate to others. Fascinating!

- A sampling of class topics in 2012 -

Some by my design, some by request, we had classes in:

-Spring Cleaning
-stress-busting yoga
-reducing pain in the sacrum and tail bone
-building a shoulderstand
-chair yoga (backbend, twists, shoulderstand using chair)
-yoga to reduce allergy reaction
-yoga for sciatica
-cultivating joy!
-yoga for golfers
-yoga to ease pain in tailbone area
-neck, shoulder, upper back, chest release
-and more!

Do you have a request? Let me know!

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Every semester Linda Carmichael, a highly experienced Alexander Technique teacher, comes to classes one night and does her hands-on Alexander on us as we do the yoga. This technique helps get stuck energy flowing again, is aligning and extremely relaxing. There is no extra charge for this special treatment. Student feedback is always very enthusiastic! I hope you can try it.
Dates TBD - for the specific dates, watch www.Facebook.com/ComeToYoga or send me an email to get on the mailing list.

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Would you be interested in a one-hour lunchtime class on Tuesdays at noon at Cambridge Health Associates? If so, please send me an email. If there is enough interest, I'd be happy to do so.