Yomassage

try to imagine…

You set aside anywhere from 1h 15 - 2 hrs of your day to get into some of the juiciest restorative yoga poses with a BUNCH of supportive props. You get guided through mindfulness and breath work, you get relaxing massage in every pose, and you might even finish in a sound bath. Sound good? This is for you.

We take 3 different routes that all chat with the parasympathetic nervous system, telling it to down-regulate, so that by the end of the session you feel deliciously melty.

Touch, Stretch, and Breath all connect to different pathways of the “Rest and Digest” side of our nervous system.

Touch

Touch can stimulate seratonin ( works with melatonin to help control when you sleep and wake up, as well as wellbeing and how you feel pain) and dopamine (acts on areas of the brain to give you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation), and reduce cortisol (the primary stress hormone).

Stretch

Yomassage positions involve what we like to call effortless stretching or restorative stretch, this means that the stretch is passive and relaxed and there is no activation or contraction of the muscles. Recent studies suggest that slow, static stretching like in a yomassage class can encourage anti-inflammatory and pain relieving effects in inflammatory tissue

Breath

Breath work is one of the easiest pathways to mindfulness, and mindfulness is living meditation. We’ve all heard about the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of meditation, but so many people are daunted by the word alone- that doesn’t have to be the case! In every Yomassage session we do a few minutes of mindfulness that always incorporates breath work so that you don’t overthink it. Your mind needeth not be empty- we’re just gonna gently call you more and more into the now as the session goes on. Breathing is also one of those things that we can control that also talks to our nervous system - the steadier and deeper our breaths, the calmer we tend to be.

What’s the format?

It can be anywhere between just you and me, to you and 7 other friends with me and a helper. I have monthly sessions with Emily at Zata in Ballard, or we can schedule a session with any number of folks at any time during my work-week.