YOGA MAMA

Back in the ‘Hood

katmansfield — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:11:07 +0000

Kat’s back in Ipswich!

Tuesdays and Thursdays @ 9:30-10:45 AM starting next week.

Starting next week, I will be teaching Vinyasa at Precision Pilates on Market Street. Located right below Coastal Green Grocer at 55 Market Street, you will fall instantly in love, as I did, with this sweet, spacious, immaculate and beautifully designed space. The sunken main studio boasts sprung maple floors (no jammed joints in your jump backs to chaturanga), soft natural light, and a closet full of blankets, straps, blocks and props to help you achieve your fullest expression in every posture.

This is an emotional homecoming for me. I started my yoga teaching career in Ipswich back in 2000 and so many of my students from those early days practice with me still. I am looking forward to returning to town and practicing with all the sakti warrior yogis who live beside the river and the sea.

New Prenatal Class Forming

katmansfield — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:17:31 +0000

May 7th, the lovely and capable Kara Mears starts another session of prenatal yoga at InnerSource’s tranquil studio in North Beverly. Kara’s classes are eyes above the rest: a certified birth doula and yoga instructor on her way to midwifery college, Kara is the most knowledgeable prenatal instructor on the North Shore. Join her and the beautiful mamas who practice with her on Monday nights @ 6:30-7:30 PM, 2R Enon Street, North Beverly

UPDATED! Early Summer Yoga Schedule

katmansfield — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:37:59 +0000

The weather switched up REALLY early this year, and so, ever sensitive to change as we are in yoga, the summer schedule is here, ready or not.

New! Tuesdays @ 9:30 AM @ Precision Pilates, Ipswich

Tuesdays @ 7:30 PM @ Yoga Sakti, Salem

New! Wednesdays @ 7 PM @ GymCore CrossFit, Topsfield

New! Thursdays @ 9:30 AM @ Precision Pilates, Ipswich

Fridays @ 9 AM @ Treetop Yoga, Gloucester

Looking forward to seeing you on the mat!

Sunday Yoga on Hiatus for Summer

katmansfield — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:28:04 +0000

With the good weather, 10 AM yoga on Sundays is a no go — everyone is outside, where they ought to be! Stay tuned as we look for a time slot at GymCore CrossFit to put another guerrilla yoga class in place.

Spring Term Yoga

katmansfield — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:57:11 +0000

COME OUT OF HIBERNATION.

Hard to recognize spring when winter never really came. But it’s coming: longer days, stronger sun, a couple of days when the promise of something fresh and vigorous can be sniffed in the breeze. You may have been hunkered down for the winter; now it is time to rejoin your sangha, which has been growing in your absence. Come see what we are up to on the mat. We are waiting to welcome you back.

Tuesdays @ Yoga Sakti, Salem

7:30-9 PM Vinyasa, Kat-style

Wednesdays @ Yoga Sakti, Salem

6-7:15 PM Pretty Warm but Not Crazy Hot Power Yoga

Fridays @ Treetop Yoga, Gloucester

9-10:30 AM Vinyasa, Kat-style

Sundays @ GymCore CrossFit, Topsfield

10-11AM Guerilla Yoga: Cheap, Accessible, Really Fun

See you on the mat.

New Prenatal Classes Starting @ Sweet Mama

katmansfield — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:30:35 +0000

If you are pregnant, want to get pregnant or are postpartum and looking for just the right yoga class, level, community and warmth, I cannot recommend Kara Mear’s class highly enough. Kara Mears of Sweet Mama: Centered Support for the Natal Year is, hands down, the most highly qualified prenatal instructor on the North Shore. As a birth doula, her experience in the delivery room is priceless; as a certified prenatal yoga instructor, she has the whole package: knowledge, expertise, a great sense of fun and a committed personal yoga practice.

Kara and Sweet Mama have three prenatal yoga class offerings on the North Shore starting this month:

Mondays, 6:30-7:30 PM in North Beverly @ Inner Source (behind Zinnia)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6-7 PM in Hamilton @ The Community House

All registration and more class details can be found on the Sweet Mama website at: http://sweetmamadoula.com/prenatal-yoga-2/

Sh-t Yogis Say

katmansfield — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:44:34 +0000

Thanks, Lulu. Supah fun. And so satya.

Ahoy, Marblehead!

katmansfield — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:53:39 +0000

Guest Teaching @ Yoga Loft : Setting sail on the good ship Yoga Loft in Marblehead THIS Thursday, January 12. We leave the dock at 9:15 so come aboard as I take over the tiller from Ivana for a morning of alignment and dharma. See you on the mat, sailors!

Neti Pot Update

katmansfield — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:21 +0000

We are big fans of the neti pot and the practice of jalaneti up here in the Squirrel’s Nest. If you come to class and I spot you sniffling and hacking, I will be all over you (in a very compassionate way) about using the neti pot to speed your healing (read: no thanks, we don’t want your cold) and prevent further illness (read: nose blowing in savasana is just plain nasty, even if we feel bad for you). Neti is the nasal equivalent of hand washing; wash your nasal passages daily as you wash your hands and you will have a much lower incidence of upper respiratory illness. Practiced for a couple of thousand years in the east, neti is so cheap and practical that is has enjoyed a resurgence in the last few years. Folks like Oprah and her pal Mehmet Oz, MD tout its benefits on TV. So it’s all good, right?

Right. EXCEPT. A few weeks ago, there was fairly widespread coverage in the media about two people in Louisiana dying “from using a neti pot.” I use quotes here because they did not die from the neti practice but from using contaminated water. The water used in the neti pot was obtained directly from the tap and contained the pernicious bacteria Naegleria fowleri. This bacteria penetrates into the brain from the sinus cavity, causing a fatal condition called amoebic meningoencephalitis. Each year, sixty cases of this disease are contracted by swimmers in fresh water ponds in the southern USA where Naegleria fowleri lurk.

These neti pot deaths are the first recorded. Erring on the side of caution, we must be sure to use water that has been brought to a rolling boil then cooled, adding the neti salt and the using the pot as directed. Distilled water purchased in a jug from the drug store is also a good alternative.

As always, the neti pot should be washed thoroughly in hot, soapy water or washed in the dishwasher, after use.

Even here in Wenham, where we are famous for our beautiful, fresh water from the Ipswich River and the Great Wenham Swamp — water so pure that Queen Victoria used to order her full year’s supply of ice to be cut from Wenham Lake and shipped to her across the sea — the water supply is degrading. We recently had an E. coli outbreak that had the town issuing a boil water order for two weeks. We now have so much chlorine in the water that even a whole-house filter and a Britta filter combined cannot remove the taste or smell.

Don’t stop your jalaneti practice. Just make sure that your water is pure or purified before you run it through your head! Sauca (purity) is one of the niyamas in our yoga toolbox. Let’s take it out of the box and use it for good.

Sayer Teaching at Yoga Sakti Today @ 4:30

katmansfield — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:40:00 +0000

My daughter Sayer is subbing for Danielle at Yoga Sakti in Salem this afternoon, January 1st, 2012 at 4:30. Sayer grew up in the ashram, so to speak, and teaches from that place of knowing that develops when one has a truly life-long practice. I am looking forward to practicing Vinyasa with her this New Years Day. See you on the mat and Happy New Year!