Adaptogens are non-toxic plants and herbs that have the medicinal action of being adrenal and nervous system tonics, meaning they help your body systems adapt to stress of all kinds (physical, chemical, or biological). This medicinal action on your adrenal glands is similar to what exercise does for your muscles – it enables more effective coping with stress.
Adaptogenic herbs have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine for centuries, and are wildly popular in today’s world of wellness. These plants, roots, and herbs can be taken in supplementary form, as powders, and in raw plant form in some cases! You can add adaptogens to just about anything: soups, salad dressings, smoothies, even your everyday coffee.
Among the adaptogen family are the medicinal mushrooms- my absolute favorite of the functional foods. As far as I am concerned, medicinal mushrooms have superpowers. Mushrooms contain potent antioxidant and neuroprotective properties, help the body to fight off viruses, and balance the immune system. Some mushrooms can calm the nervous system while other mushrooms can be used to give a boost in mental energy and increase cognitive function while simultaneously lessening the effects of stress on the body.
Medicinal mushrooms are among the easiest functional foods to work into your everyday routine, because it is as simple as adding them to your morning coffee! Mushrooms can be bought in various blends with other herbal adaptogens, as straight mushroom blends, or as single mushroom powders that would be added into the coffee just like (or instead of?) sugar. Mushrooms are also alkali-rich foods, meaning they make your coffee less acidic, and therefore easier on your digestive system. Do you normally get an upset stomach after a cup of coffee? Try mushroom coffee, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Not a coffee drinker? Try adding the mushrooms into hot chocolate, or a smoothie! The mushrooms will change the flavor of your beverage slightly, but who ever said change was a bad thing? Some mushrooms, especially Chaga and Tremella, are well known for having pleasant flavors that are sought after for daily health tonics!
I know from personal experience, as well as from feedback from friends and clients that a daily dose of adaptogens in the form of a morning mushroom coffee is a game changer, and is an indispensable part of my daily routine. The effects of mushroom can be felt, and missed if you forget to add your mushies one day (hello caffeine jitters and afternoon crash!)
For extra brain power in your daily cup of joe, try adding Chaga, Lions Mane, Cordycepts, or all three! Looking for an evening elixir to help you sleep? Try a hot cacao with Reishi. Pre-mixed packets of instant mushroom coffee can be purchased from various grocery stores (such as Four Sigmatic). If choosing to buy a supplement form and create your own mushroom elixirs, remember that not all supplements are created equal and it is best to be referred to a professional grade product by a Practitioner.
Written by: Quinn Ponton, CNP
Whether you’re a training athlete, coming back from a joint replacement, love to workout, or just love to work in the garden – Pilates done on the Reformer will be amazing for your body. The Reformer is a beautiful machine that works for everybody, and is a great addition to your everyday exercise routine. The Reformer’s unique design gives you the perfect balance between different and easy – the exercise may look simple, but when you are given the cues on where to place your body that’s when the body talks back!
One of the beauties of the Reformer is that it can identify weak or imbalanced movement patterns across the whole body, in all different directions. The exercises and movements then performed on the Reformer helps to teach your body better ways to move.
Reformer classes max out at only five participants, giving plenty of opportunity for hands on assists from your instructor to give you the best experience and to help you learn where your body is in space. Your instructor will also be teaching you how to use the various props used in class, such as the strap and springs. Props, along with hands on assists from your instructor will give the feedback necessary to keep your alignment healthy and safe.
Your brain may hurt after your initial class from all of the thinking you’ll have to do, but that helps with the cognitive/sensory system! Another beautiful benefit on the Reformer, because we all know that we need to keep the brain as strong as our bodies. All of the exercises done on the Reformer work with mobility, stability, strength, and improving spinal alignment. All of these done together keep the body happy and healthy.
So, if you are someone who is finding that your body is having any pain, lack of strength and/or lack of mobility, give Reformer Pilates a try! You’ll notice after the first class how much your body will love it, and you!
Written by: Haley Bucknall
Strengthening the immune system is not just something that should be focused on during cold and flu season. A healthy immune system relies just as much on physical health as it does on mental health, and can be strengthened in a variety of different ways!
For a healthy immune system, it is important to be focusing not only the foods you are consuming, but also regular movement in whatever form best suits you. Quality sleep is also imperative to a strong and healthy immune system, as is good mental health practices.
Below are my top tips for the foundation of a healthy immune system:
Probiotic bacteria are AMAZING! 70% of our immune system lives in our gut. The little microbes that reside here affects everything from digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, and mood regulation! Supplementing a probiotic is an excellent way to ensure we are encouraging a healthy balance of bacteria, as is eating fermented foods (naturally high in probiotic bacteria) such as kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, miso, and kefir.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a compromised immune system. Make sure that you’re getting sufficient sunlight and fresh air (when accessible) and supplementing with a good quality vitamin D through the winter months, and into summertime if you’re not outside daily! When choosing a vitamin D supplement, ensure that it is oil based (vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so it must be attached to be absorbed), and avoid the little white tablet type as these are hard for the human body to absorb.
Eat the rainbow! Nature has given us so many nutrient rich, colorful whole foods. Focus on consuming antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables, dark leafy greens, other colorful vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. These whole foods are rich in live, bioavailable nutrients that will be readily absorbed and go to work in creating your strong, healthy immune system!
I cannot overstate the importance of getting adequate rest and high-quality sleep! Sleep not only restocks our immune system, but also improves our ability to learn, make logical decisions, and keeps our memory sharp! Sleep is also crucial to healthy mood balance, and helps our bodies and our minds cope with stress.
Written by: Quinn Ponton, CNP
Hey everyone, it’s April from Yoga by Sarah. I wanted to pop on here today because I have some more exciting news to share with you. I know there’s been a lot of exciting news coming out of the studio over the past few weeks, but we wanted to share these with you one at a time so that folks wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed and you’d have a bit of a chance to process all the information that we’re sharing with you.
So, just to recap, as of September 1st we will begin renovations on the space that is next door to our current Yoga by Sarah location. We will be expanding our studio into this space which will give us another yoga studio of approximately 30 mats as well as office space for our ALIGN team and for my husband Bill who has recently sold his business, Future Access, and is coming on board at Yoga by Sarah full-time for marketing and admin. This will also give us a larger front desk as well as a larger coat closet and reception area to accommodate the extra flow of people in the studio.
Earlier this week we gave you our latest update which was that we have now become the owners of On the Mat in Fort Erie. We are very excited to add this studio to our yoga community. All passes and memberships will be valid at both St. Catharines and Fort Erie locations.
So, with all of the exciting things happening around here, including our new ALIGN program, Yoga for Mental Health, including the expansion of our St. Catharines studio and our expansion into Fort Erie, it became pretty clear that now is the time to rebrand and change our name.
One of the most common questions that I’ve received over the last couple of months, especially in relation to our ALIGN program, is “Who is Sarah?”, and “Why is the studio called Yoga by Sarah?” Of course, for those of you who have been practicing here a long time, you know that Sarah is the founder of this studio. You also know that Sarah is the one who brought yoga to St. Catharines over 20 years ago. We are very grateful to Sarah for the heritage that she created here by Yoga by Sarah. For those of you who are new to the studio, you’ve been kind of confused wondering “Who is Sarah? Why is the studio called Yoga by Sarah?” In fact, I get so many emails that are addressed to Sarah or people think my husband is married to Sarah. So, we thought with all the expansion it was time to change the name and rebrand.
I’ll be honest, I never thought I would change the name. I thought I would keep it. I mean, everyone knows Yoga by Sarah and it’s a nice way to honour Sarah’s heritage. I really didn’t think I would change it, but over the last few months with all of the expansion something has shifted and now is the time.
Now before I tell you what the name is, I want to preface it by saying that I know that change is hard and for some of you you’re gonna be really uncomfortable with calling the studio anything other than Yoga by Sarah and some of you were going to need time to sit with it for a while and some of you may not ever think of this studio is anything but Yoga by Sarah. And that’s okay, I get it. Some of you are gonna love that we’ve changed our name and say “Yeah it finally makes sense, way to go.” Others aren’t really gonna care and be totally indifferent and that’s okay too.
Okay, here goes. Our new studio name is Lost ‘n Found Yoga, and our tagline is “Find yourself on your mat.” We love this name because it is so reflective of what happens when someone is on their yoga mat. So often people tell us that they find themselves on their yoga mat. In this busy crazy chaotic Western culture that we live in your yoga mat is often the only place where you get peace and quiet and an opportunity to self reflect and find yourself, really. It also links in with our ALIGN program because a lot of what we do with ALIGN is help people who are feeling a real disconnect from their bodies reconnect with their bodies and create a sense of embodiment. So we love the name. We think it’s just perfect and a total reflection of what we do here at the studio.
Okay, so here’s our new branding and logo. You’ll notice that we’ve kept the logo pretty similar to our current Yoga by Sarah logo. We wanted to keep things recognizable and familiar and comfortable for our current members.
Please know that it will take a bit of time to transition everything over to the new brand, to Lost ‘n Found Yoga. Some things will happen quickly, like business cards for example or social media handles, but some things like signage could take a longer period of time to transition over. So you might see things in the community that say Yoga by Sarah and you might see things in the community that say Lost ‘n Found Yoga. Know it’s talking about the same place, the same studio and also know that our community here hasn’t changed.
A name change does not change what happens here in the studio. It doesn’t change our class schedule. It doesn’t change who our instructors are. it’s just a new name that is more reflective of this new chapter in this studio. We will also be changing the name of On the Mat in Fort Erie to Lost ‘n Found Yoga. This will create a more consistent brand between the two locations.
We will keep you posted on all of the changes as we roll them out and I hope that you will join me in all the excitement of all of the adventures that lie ahead in this new chapter of Lost ‘n Found Yoga. And even better than that, I hope you will join me in finding yourself on your mat.
April Janzen, MSW, RSW
Owner, Creative Director
Lost ‘n Found Yoga (formerly Yoga by Sarah)
I’ll admit it. When I first saw I had to read an entire book on self-care for the Trauma Sensitive Yoga program I am taking, I kinda groaned inside. In fact, for the first three chapters, I thought “Yeah, yeah, I know all this,” because, really, over my career I’ve read lots about self-care, gone to seminars, etc. I felt like I knew it all intellectually, even though I knew I hadn’t done a great job of embodying the principles in my life.
Then I got to Chapter 4: The Sixteen Warning Signs of Trauma Exposure Response. Uh oh. I knew I was in trouble. It had been 5 years since I had worked in an extremely high stress job as a front line social worker where I had completely burned out. After recovering from burn out, I did some clinical social work for a couple of years and I thought I was good. I thought I had healed and was over it all. But then, I read the 16 warnings signs and realized I still bore the battle scars.
Okay, I know that last one – chocolate, coffesque beverages – sounds funny, but it’s actually an addiction to sugar and caffeine. It’s a way to self-medicate from stress. It’s an addiction. Some people drink copious amounts of coffee or tea to survive the day. Some people need to have a glass of wine or a beer at the end of the day to “unwind” but let’s call a spade a spade – it’s a form of evading the present moment…. an escape. My escape comes in the form of dark chocolate and coffesque beverages.
Even when I was reading the book, I felt myself feeling an emotional flashback. I felt the feelings of overwhelm, discouragement and darkness crowd in on me as I remember feeling helpless to help my clients. Feeling like no matter what I did, I couldn’t break the cycle for them or bring them freedom from the chains that bound them to darkness. Apparently it’s still there lurking in the corners of my mind and heart.
Then I got to the next five chapters: The Five Directions – a method of stewarding trauma to keep yourself healthy and whole. I was curious to see if these five directions would resonate with me or if they would seem kinda “airy fairy.”
North – Water – Creating Space for Inquiry – “Why am I doing what I’m doing?”
East – Fire – Choosing our Focus – “Where am I putting my focus? What is my plan B?”
South – Earth – “Creating a community and practicing compassion for self and others.”
West – Air – Finding Balance – “Engaging with our lives outside of work. Moving energy through. Gratitude.”
Space – A Daily Practice of Centering Myself.
These directions all resonated with me to varying degrees. I definitely felt more pulled to West – Air – Engaging with our lives outside of work, moving energy through and gratitude and Space – A Daily Practice of Centering Myself.
It’s been small things, itty bitty things but they are making a difference.
I made space in my life. I said no to some requests from others – both in my personal life and my professional life. No to coffee with a good friend was self care last week. No to networking events is self care for me. Everytime I engage in an activity I’m giving away a piece of my energy. Kinda like coins in a bank and as an introvert I need to make sure I have enough alone time, enough down time, for coins to go back into bank. Otherwise, I’ll be empty.
I started breathing. I know that sounds weird for a yoga teacher but I realized I wasn’t really breathing. Owning a busy yoga studio and raising three children is a busy gig, especially when one of them has a severe disability. I was breathing shallow. A lot. This was putting my nervous system into constant hyper alert. So I started to take time throughout my day here and there to remember to take deep breaths. Here and there. At my computer. Driving in the car. Eating dinner. Reading to my kids. Inhale Exhale.
I felt guilt saying no to time with a friend. I felt guilty not showing up to networking events. Heck, I even bailed on Thanksgiving dinner with my in laws because I had bad cold. But the guilt – those are just lies in my head. Those are lies that come from a world that is in constant overdrive telling me I must not be good enough, I must have failed if I can’t do it all. I’m starting to call the bluff on that. Our culture is full of so much anxiety and stress because everyone is constantly moving at a frenetic pace and I don’t want to partake in that.
I continue to reflect on how I can make more space in my life because that’s my biggest form of self care right now. Space. I need lots of space. Akash as we say in Sanskrit. Akash.