The 4 Cornerstones of Health
Yoga teaches us to nourish ourselves from within. Focusing on just one area of our lives, such as food and diet, prevents us from becoming the highest expression of ourselves, nor will we feel the wholeness that is the source of our power, peace, and joy. Therefore, we must nourish all aspects of our whole self, including our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional selves.
CORNERSTONE 1: FOOD
Food is an important starting place for many of us on the journey to health and healing. We need to eat everyday, and food inevitably affects our health, mood, the quality of our skin, everything!
Working with food shifts our energy, so we can be lighter in our bodies and our being. diet is an essential component of being able to fight off disease, age gracefully, and live a happy life with regards to inner peace, true self- love, and self realization.
CORNERSTONE 2: BODY
Your body is your temple for life's journey. Across your nervous system, your body stores emotional energy, processes stress, and when you're in pain or feeling unwell, it's nearly impossible to feel truly beautiful and energized.
Working to create a healthy, balanced body is a critical part of wellness because if your body is off balance, your life will be too.
Creating rhythm and balance in your mind, body and spirit is important for feeling your best and connecting to your highest self.
CORNERSTONE 3: EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
The fact that we cannot see emotions does not mean that they do not influence our health and happiness.
More and more research is emerging about how our thought patterns have a direct impact on our nervous system.
Unprocessed emotions become repressed and suppressed into the very cellular structure of your being and can manifest in chronic pain or inflammation, illness, fatigue, weight gain, and accelerated aging.
As a community and teacher, we focus on emotional well-being through work such as meditation, breath-work, and movement. We use these daily practices to balance our nervous system and to bring our bodies into homeostasis.
CORNERSTONE 4: SPIRITUAL GROWTH
The real, deepest source of our health is our connection to ourselves. Nobody else gets the opportunity to live within your internal landscape. The more you connect to that, the more the energy of that connection pours out of you, and becomes a tangible beauty that others can feel and experience.
This cornerstone includes an emphasis on stillness practices, meditation, mindfulness and connecting with our inner world. There are abundant amounts of research centered around meditation and mindfulness practices and how these tools of self-regulation can greatly improve our health, well-being, and can deeply impact our potential.
Tapping into our energy through meditation and spiritual practices can positively impact our hormone levels, adrenal function, nervous and endocrine systems, and white blood cell count.
The key to feeling good is increasing your overall level of health and wellness, connecting with your body, experiencing personal growth, being in tune with your true needs, and making lifestyle choices that allow you to feel energized and healthy.