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Yoga Therapy

YAF in the News: The tools of Yoga Being Used to Help with Anxiety this Election Cycle

YAF in the News: The tools of Yoga Being Used to Help with Anxiety this Election Cycle

Check out this article in Chicago Tribune by Kate Thayer on a way to know the tools of yoga are being used to ease our troubled thoughts and moods during this cycle of politics and elections. Laura Jane Mellencamp and Ann Walther contributed.

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With political angst running high as midterms approach, voters on both sides worry: What if things don't go my way?

People on both sides of the political spectrum describe feelings of angst as the midterm elections approach. While Democrats are still reeling from Trump’s victory, those who are more conservative say they still recall a long eight years of feeling unrepresented under President Barack Obama.

Laura Jane Mellencamp said she often hears from her students about their reaction to the political divisiveness of the country. The political climate has people riled up, she said, and looking to her to help calm their nerves. Attendance is up at Mellencamp’s studio, Yoga Among Friends, in Downers Grove.

“They are coming in with great sadness or anxiety … to the point where I see people having more migraines or stomach disorders,” she said. “It’s definitely affecting people’s well-being.”

Read the full article>>

Where in the world is Laura? SYTAR and the Yoga Therapy Summit

Where in the world is Laura? SYTAR and the Yoga Therapy Summit

I was honored last month to be able to attend the International Association of Yoga Therapy's annual symposium in Newport, CA.

I was so excited to return to the West Coast as a speaker and presented my story of creating an intention and living a commitment to teaching and working in the holistic healing world of yoga therapy.

I have always called myself a Yoga Therapist and always preferred the heart-to-heart connection of meeting students one-on-one to refine the chatter of misdirected thoughts that no longer serve the well being of the soul.

Having left LA in the 90s, I decided to create a life in the Midwest as a yoga teacher.

People were quite surprised that I would leave sunny and beautiful southern California for what I now call the “Land of Ugly” (from Nov. to April).

Yes, I too question how and why I ended up in Downers Grove, but I headed my inner voice and moved into the great unknown.

Today I am so proud of our profession.

I presented at the Symposium On Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) on how I have witnessed the shift in mental health to return to the somatic tools of experiencing the physical breath to relieve the anxiety in the system, to restore energy in the mind that is exhausted, and to remove the fear of depression with actual yoga practices. 

I also spoke on the valuable way the medical model is now referring their clients and the ways yoga is moving into holistic health as tools for both physical and mental heath.

Yoga Therapists are finding greater opportunities to work along side mainstream health care providers to provide life changing solutions and bill health insurance for their services.

This fall I am helping to produce, The Yoga Therapy Summit, where for the first time, many of the most respected teachers in the Krisnamacharya lineage are coming together to present in one place. 

The event is open to all students, teachers, therapists and any health providers that might want to learn more about how yoga works for life changing health and healing on all layers of the mind, body, and soul. 

The event is being held here in Oak Brook, IL. 

Please consider attending as this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from some of the best in the field of yoga.

 Click for more information on the summit and to register.

Yoga is finally coming back to its true purpose of being a pathway to healing.

It coaxes the body to be as strong and flexible as possible as it removes the tension and pain in the joints and spine as well as alleviates the stresses of the mind. 

I knew in the early 80’s when I started this journey that there was a greater purpose in healing and I am grateful I listened to that inner voice that just said, "DO IT!" 

For me, that meant coming to the Midwest and today, YAF is a center of healing compassion for all that want to claim a better life of feeling the glow of one’s own aliveness!

Enjoy each day with love and light,
Laura Jane