A global IT company gifted Yogarama's corporate wellness day package to eight male staff who had performed extremely well as a team this year, just in time for Spring. The majority of the group of participants had never experienced yoga or meditation and none had ever been to Wylie's Baths in Coogee.

In the last decade, the number of businesses running corporate wellness programs has grown
exponentially. Companies have recognised that unhealthy and unengaged employees means decreased productivity, innovation, and an overall decline in profits. Forbes reports that 61% of
employees are burned out on the job.
 
A US study by CareerBuilder on stress in the workplace found that 31% of respondents experience
an extremely high level of stress at work. These high stress levels resulted in both poor physical health (fatigue, aches and pains, weight gain) and poor mental health (depression, anxiety, anger),
highlighting the link between wellness and work engagement.
 
The important news for businesses, is there is a proven return on investment for wellness programs.
A report by Yes Psychology & Consulting shows that every $1 spent on an effective wellness program, returned $2.30 to the business. It makes good business sense to invest in corporate wellness. In addition to this, 61% of employees agree that they have made healthier lifestyle choices because of their company’s wellness program, showing there are lasting benefits for employees too.
 
Yogarama is hosting private wellness day retreats for corporate groups, at an ideal time on Friday arvo. This gives businesses a half day of work for employees, and employees get an early mark, to get away from the office, and enjoy a very relaxing start to their weekend. Companies don't lose days of productivity, or have to pay for overnight accommodation.

Pictured below is the corporate team that joined Yogarama's wellness day package in September 2019 .

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"I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written."

Do you ever wake up with aching bones - your entire body feels heavy like lead or does your stomach feels like it is tied in knots from stress. For me, it used to be a regular morning feeling and I dreaded it.

If only someone had revealed to me the benefits of a daily morning yoga stretch - it could have been so different. I spent most of my 20's, 30's and 40's - waking up and pounding the pavement - jogging or going to gym. I'm an early riser and this was my routine before work and then later in life, before the kids woke up.  
About 10 years ago, after serious health set back - I left my job and was forced to explore other options. I discovered the health benefits of a morning sunrise yoga practice. Yoga had been an evening practice, after work for me, to unwind. There are definitely health benefits for an evening yoga - which I learnt when studying yoga therapy.

I now appreciate the importance of a morning practice. Yoga and meditation at sunrise is a morning ritual for me - aligning and stretching the body and mind, setting up for a balanced day head with a clear mind and open-heart.

Highly recommend you join our sunrise or early morning yoga classes during the week or on the weekend. 

See you on the mat..

"Time and time again, I hear people say “I am not flexible enough to do yoga; there is absolutely NO WAY I could do this pose”. If that's you, read on !!!

Our Core Yoga Course is just right for you.

Yoga is not designed to create flexible rubber bands like the yogis on social media. The physical yoga practice - asana- is to prepare our body for meditation, and the side effects of this are improved mobility, strength, flexibility, and most important, body and mind awareness. That's right?!

So if you are a brand new yogi wanting to try it out, or a seasoned yogi who would like to brush up on alignment and benefit from a slower practice, our Core Yoga Course is for you: step by step, we guide you through to our core and the best alignment for your body, in gentle, effective and playful ways. 

Classes our mini-workshops - always focus on an element of core stability which is an indispensable ingredient for the longevity of your practice. Over time you will build flexibility and strength in body and mind, and cultivate a positive outlook in your life! 

Wear your most comfortable gear, a curious attitude and an open heart, and join us!"

Join Yogarama's Caroline Bakerman for Core Yoga Classes every 930am Tuesday at Wylies Baths in Coogee, nestled in nature by the ocean.
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Happy International Women’s day from the Yogarama Community! IWD2019 is all about #balanceforbetter

As a mother of two, I trained to be a yoga & mindfulness teacher after a potentially life-threatening illness that was mostly caused by too much stress. After nurturing myself back to health and finding balance in my life through meditation and yoga, I started a journey to empower more people to bring back balance and health in their life.

At Yogarama we are celebrating with special classes focused on the theme for this special day #balanceforbetter. We believe life is all about balance, both in creating a world that is gender-balanced as well as living a personal life of balance. 

Take a deeper dive into finding inner peace and balance this year and join us for a trip to India - info night in April 2019.

Join the Yogarama team for a special $10 class on International Women’s Day - 9 am Friday to delve into the world of  balance.

The journey to health and wellness is an ongoing one - a lifetime of new learnings. 

A recent survey of our Yogarama community revealed that many of you are keen to learn about meditation. A regular yoga practice is one big step forward in managing your physical, mental and emotional health and regular meditation is the next big step for many of us. 
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In my own journey, I began with a regular yoga practice and it was my shift toward a regular meditation practice that truly calmed my mind, grounded me in every aspect of my life leading to spiritual growth.  Importantly meditation has truly helped me when I’ve been experiencing anxiety, sleep issues, and illness.  

Meditation is increasing in popularity much more as people discover its benefits. There are many forms of meditation from mindful meditation focused on the breath to transcendental meditation using repetitive mantras. 

Essentially meditation is a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.

You can use it to increase awareness of yourself and your surroundings as well as to reduce stress and improve focus.

A regular meditation practice can develop other beneficial habits and feelings, such as a positive mood and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns and even increased pain tolerance. 

Learn more about the 12 benefits of meditation from this article: 
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation

Yogarama will be holding a 4-Week Mindful Meditation Course in our beautiful shala space by the ocean in nature. Register your interest here. 

Our lives are always so busy. When we don't take time out for ourselves, we do get stressed. A toxic dose of that stress hormone, cortisol, can lead to chronic diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia or even cancer.

Saying “no” on occasion is a powerful gift we can give ourselves so that we have the energy to focus on what matters most and is better for our health: like being with friends and family, or spending time with a good book.  

 Here are three helpful tips to slow down and set boundaries so you can enjoy your life so much more.

1. Get comfortable with saying the word “No”—Nicely. It can feel awful to say no to help someone else but making yourself a priority is an act of self-compassion that can help prevent burnout— take time out to walk the dog, go to your favourite yoga class or soak in a bath. In the end, you will be more focused and engaged in the activities you commit to do.

2. Take time out to breathe – whether its 3 deep breaths, 3 minutes of quiet time or a 20-minute meditation session. There are enormous benefits of breathing more consciously. Invite a friend  to yoga & meditation classes to reflect and set your intention for being more present and centred..

3. Finally, say “thank you”—and mean it. We give and receive—whether it’s a home cooked meal, a donation to charity, or simply a present. It's easy to end up in “gratitude autopilot,” going through the motions of thankfulness without truly appreciating what was gained. Try a mindful scan of the body just after every time your say “thanks” or “thank you”.   Notice how you feel.
 
Yogarama's yoga and mindful meditation classes explore filling up our hearts with self-compassion so we can give to others. The focus is on the breath (pranayama), asanas (yoga poses) and calming meditation.

1 in 5 Australians live with a mental illness such as anxiety, depression, anorexia, bipolar or schizophrenia. Many don't seek help because of the stigma associated with mental illness. The truth is that we can all do something to help shed a more positive light on mental illness and to support them in seeking help.

On World Mental Health Day Wed 10 October 2018 we are encouraged to support those in your community that live with mental illness or know someone with a mental illness. Yogarama held a series of free yoga and mindful meditation classes to support help our community that may know someone or themselves have a mental illness. 

Our gentle yoga and meditation classes were led by two of our experienced Yogarama teachers that have recently joined the community - Simone Lai and Pats Kinnaird. Enormous gratitude to both teachers for taking the classes in the pouring rain.  It was pretty wet weather and still the staff from Black Dog Institute joined in the class to show their support for the cause.

Black Dog Institute for Mental Health Fundraiser
For the second time, Yogarama chose to raise funds for Black Dog Institute's research into mental wellness. Our first fundraiser for the Black Dog Institute was on a yoga weekend in July 2018 and raised over $500.

We met one of the researchers at the Black Dog Institute that is undertaking research into mindfulness and we hope to be working together to create a Mindful Meditation Course just for the Yogarama community.

Mindful Meditation Course by Yogarama (coming soon)
Please email yoga@yogarama.net if you are interested in our 4 week Mindful Meditation course.

For Support. Call Lifeline: 13 11 14 

Image: The Full Harvest Moon - September 2018

Practicing yoga can bring us more in tune with our own cycles as well as the cycles of nature. Humans are approximately 60% water and we are energetically affected by the phases of the moon. The moon is exerts two and a half times the gravitational pull of the sun. Many of us feel this powerful effect without realising it.

The full moon has a strong energy and is a time of fullness, completion, endings, and letting go.
Energetically the Full moon is a powerful time in the lunar cycle when the moon pours down a tremendous amount of energy. Our body responds to this and whatever is going on in your body and mind, is amplified. If you are angry, you will feel angrier or if you are happy, you will feel happier. This is a good time for spiritual practice to help you attain a calm state of mind so you can use the lunar energy for transformation.

Yogis and other spiritual practitioners throughout the ages have performed rituals during the Full moon to channel the powerful lunar energy to the higher chakras, so that it provides the opportunity to transform, empower, heal and cleanse.

By bringing awareness to those things that are blocking us and holding us back we are able to work on letting them go so we no longer feel as stuck. We can use the two week period of the waning moon (becoming smaller) to continue to let go and affirm our willingness to release any obstacles to happiness.

The new moon brings with it the opportunity for new beginnings and new directions. We can use the new moon energy to identify what it is that we truly want in our life and start to plant the seeds of growth. During the two weeks of the waxing moon (growing larger) we continue to add energy to the intentions and goals we have set, and take any action that we can to help make our dreams a reality.

The Full Moon then arrives once again, which gives us the opportunity to let go of anything which may be standing in the way of manifesting our goals and dreams – and so the cycle starts again!

If you ever found that you can’t sleep for a few nights in a row or feel overly emotional, exhausted or filled with the need to make big changes and start something completely new for no apparent reason? Step outside at night and check out the size of the moon. You may be tuning into the energetic cycles of the moon. 

Yogarama classes tune into the moon cycle and each week we explore a different aspect of yoga so that at the end of each month we are energetically balanced and in tune, bringing you into optimal health. If you are interested in how the moon cycles influence our yoga sequence - email: daniella@yogarama.net.