The Active Yogi

CAROLINE LAYZELL YOGA

Welcome to my new podcast - The Active Yogi. The podcast that shares with you all things health and wellness related from a yoga, fitness and well being perspective. We will learn as a community how to find our strong foundations both mentally and physically, along this journey of exploration together!  This podcast will involve an eclectic range of talks from me, some of my incredible peers within the Yoga and Health world, specialists in their fields, as well as audio classes including Vinyasa Flow, Slow Flow, Yin Yoga, Meditation, Yin Yoga & Pranayama

Episodes

  1. 08/24/2021

    Enjoy Stress Relief with this Pranayama!

    This episode is designed to invite you to take 8 minutes of your day to "Find Your Calmness" through this simple breathing technique!  Most of us know that when we’re rushed and feeling pressured, our breathing becomes shallow. But have you noticed that when your nervous system is jacked up, your inhalations are longer than your exhalations? If you can summon the presence of mind to check your breath next time you find yourself harried and feeling anxious, chances are you’ll find you are emphasizing inhalation at the expense of exhalation.  This quickly increases your level of stress—short exhalations make us vulnerable to anxiety and depression, and create an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system. The antidote is simple: lengthen the exhalation—in fact make it twice as long as the inhalation. Sustain this breathing pattern for a minute or two and your heart rate slows, your blood pressure drops, and your muscles begin to relax. When you’ve gained some experience at the technique, you can easily switch to this breathing pattern and soothe your nervous system any time you’re feeling stressed. Benefits: Relaxes the nervous system Increases relaxation and sleep Reduces anxiety Increases lung capacity and breath control Releases tension Cools the body ------------  If you enjoyed this, then head to my website at www.carolinelayzellyoga.com/events/ and click on Pranayama Challenge and enjoy access to my 5 Days of Pranayama Challenge. It includes 5 different breathing techniques to enjoy daily!  Look out soon for a 5 Days of Meditation challenge arriving in September!

  2. 08/10/2021

    5 Benefits of Pranayama

    In this episode I share with you 5 of my favourite benefits of having a regular Pranayama practice. The simplest way for us to notice how we are doing mentally is to tune in and notice the breath. Is it short and shallow, or is it luxuriously deep and full? Am I able to consciously slow it down with my awareness? Then how does that look and feel when I add a pranayama technique?  We live in a modern day world where stress is high! So many of us spend hours, days, weeks, months predominantly in our fight or flight mode (sympathetic nervous system), which long term is super unhealthy for us. We live in a busy world with numerous distractions, stressors, triggers, endless challenges in the last 18 months as well.  This episode is designed as a reminder to you about the value of having a pranayama practice, and how you can use it to become more mindful, sleep better, manage stress, move away from anxiety and more! I hope that it will be helpful to some of you :)  Tune in for the next episode which explores a simple Equal Breathing Pranayama audio to get you started. Last weeks episode also offers a breath awareness practice to enjoy too! Check them out!  -------- If you enjoy this session please take time to sign up for my 5 Days of Pranayama offering below, where you can enjoy exactly that - 5 Days of Video techniques, a daily journaling exercise and and introduction to each specific benefit we try for that day.  https://carolinelayzellyoga.teachable.com/p/pranayama-challenge

  3. 08/06/2021

    Coming to Your Breath

    In this episode I share with you a simple 8 minutes of breath awareness! Nothing fancy, just my favourite way to start a class or meditation practice and invite stillness and presence. The simplest way for us to become aware of the here and now is by noticing our breath, so this is exactly what this episode invites us to do. 8 minutes of just noticing our breath :) So find a comfortable seat, relax and enjoy.  We live in a busy world, with a lot of internal and external clutter and distractions and often we lose sight of how it feels to pause and be still, and notice how we are really doing! We spend more and more time in fight and flight mode, when so many of us need more rest and digest time! So, consider this a mindful moment to slow down, notice how you are doing, become aware of your breath and consciously choose to arrive into the here and now and find peace and an inner sense of calmness.  By bringing our awareness to the breath we move ourselves slowly into a state of Dharana – single concentrated focus. Which then stimulates the Parasympathetic Nervous System which so many of us need after spending huge amounts of time predominantly in Sympathetic NS which is fight or flight mode.  Nourishment, health and calmness soon follow as we slow down and explore stillness and presence. ------------------  If you enjoy this session take time to sign up for my 5 Days of Pranayama offering below, where you can enjoy a daily practice of pranayama, a journaling exercise for each day, and an introduction to the benefits of each of the techniques that we explore together!  https://carolinelayzellyoga.teachable.com/p/pranayama-challenge

  4. 08/03/2021

    5 Benefits of Yin Yoga

    In this episode I share with you some of my (mostly mental) favourite reasons why I love the practice of Yin Yoga so much.  There are so many more benefits of the practice, but today I chose to focus on the mental side of the practice. Which some may consider where the practice begins for the more advanced practitioner. For the longest time during pregnancy and postpartum Yin was not something my body appreciated, and as a hyper mobile yogi there are still moments when that is true. However the mental aspects of the practice, the learnings around TCM to be had, the opportunity to pause in stillness are super high on my personal love of the practice list. Restorative offers the same mindful benefits, but my love of TCM is what tips my favour to Yin.  In this episode I talk about the following 5 areas as MY current "Top 5 Benefits" of the practice :  1) Compliments our yang (moving) practices 2) Helps us to foster compassion for our Nervous System 3) Learn to find comfort in stillness 4) Promotes mindfulness 5) Can serve as an introduction to meditation for beginners Want to learn & experience more?  ** Check episode 2 for a 60 minute Yin Yoga audio class called Unwind & Recharge Your Energy!  ** Or go to my YouTube account - Caroline Layzell Yoga - and check out my Yin Yoga Love playlist with 7 yin videos to enjoy!  ** I have a 50hr Yin & TCM YTT starting live and online August 20-29th ;)  ** Join me live every Sunday at 4pm Bali time for a 70 minute Yin class and 7 day replay also :) www.carolinelayzellyoga.com  ** Added bonus - so much more wealth of knowledge to learn about ourselves when Chinese Medicine is introduced as a theme as well! I have 5 days of Yin Yoga & TCM 25 minute videos from my recent challenge sitting within my Yin Yoga with Caroline Facebook Group if you want to join and enjoy them during Yin! Or send me an email caroline@carolinelayzellyoga.com and I will happily share links!

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to my new podcast - The Active Yogi. The podcast that shares with you all things health and wellness related from a yoga, fitness and well being perspective. We will learn as a community how to find our strong foundations both mentally and physically, along this journey of exploration together!  This podcast will involve an eclectic range of talks from me, some of my incredible peers within the Yoga and Health world, specialists in their fields, as well as audio classes including Vinyasa Flow, Slow Flow, Yin Yoga, Meditation, Yin Yoga & Pranayama