Do you practice yoga?
This is a question that is more common now than where do you go to church? Showing up on your mat can be a spiritual experience like no other in that the truth of your lifestyle will show up there too!
Here are 2 of my personal favorite truths that came from yoga...
Being able to put your leg behind your head doesn’t necessarily make you happier.
Breathing consciously and fully IS yoga.
I’m Anje and I’ve been in the therapeutic world and wellness community for over 20 years. As a young adult, I wanted to know and understand the mind/body/spirit connection so I studied psychology, biology and philosophy in college and graduated with a Master’s degree in psychology and counseling. I worked in settings as diverse as my interests and found the resilience of the human spirit to heal, adapt, change and grow in each of those places. This was just the beginning of my fascination into how the body and mind connect.
I studied and became certified in Biofeedback.
Then I found yoga...
Yoga has been a path I return to again and again. I found yoga before I became a mother, but I became a yoga enthusiast when I became a mother! Yoga both ignited a spark in me and also carried me into a very grounded place. To this day, when I come to mat, I find this to be true. Yoga became my path…
In 2005 I became a certified yoga instructor and started teaching classes. Since that time, I’ve studied several styles of yoga including Vinyasa, Prenatal, therapeutic yoga, Anusara, Bikram and yoga’s sister sciences of Aryuveda. I started to weave yoga into my sessions with my therapy clients right away; this was a big stretch and I was officially out of the counseling box. In my direct experience with all open-minded clients, body based healing was more effective, soulful and powerful than talk therapy alone.
Energy is powerful...
I studied Native American energy healing, energy psychology and biofeedback formally and have experienced incredible energy healings personally. I believe we all have a vibration that we can raise through mindful practices and that we are all energy.
Love is the highest form of energy and there is always the opportunity for love, hope and healing in every moment our lives - even in the chaos and challenges we experience. I use my intentions, prayer, God consciousness and hands to clear and release energetic blocks or stuck places of resistance. Our body speaks wisdom our minds cannot comprehend. Energy is the powerful life force, prana, chi that moves Spirit through us.
Music is the magic...
I love to challenge myself and often choose to step on the stage and see what happens next! Creating music and performing for others is at the very top of my list for ‘most incredible things I ever experienced’. There is nothing like losing myself in the moment and just pouring my heart into a song that moves me. It is pure MAGIC! I have performed live music on stage both by myself and with a band of amazing musicians.
My passion for music and singing weaves itself through my life in all that I do. Often I will sing or play music that integrates a healing element when I am working with someone. My gift of sensing others feelings and energy has given me the ability to go deep quickly when I am guiding someone through releasing and reclaiming parts of themselves. Toning and singing often shift the energy that is stuck within us.
This is at the heart of my work.
Yoga is for everybody.
It is a synchrony, an energetic union between mind, body and spirit. It is a way of being in your body, your life and on earth. Your impact on the world begins with us and our love for the life we have.
When I am practicing yoga on my mat and am intentional, centered and mindful, I have a place to root down. From this centered and grounded place, I can rise up and walk off my mat and into the world. There are no conditions to be met, judgments to be made or expectations to fulfill. We are always arriving. Yoga provides an experience, a taste and a possibility of freedom that is life-changing.