Is Yoga a Religion?

I often get asked, "Is Yoga a Religion?" And more specifically, "If I am Christian, can I practice Yoga?"

Because I am not an expert in this field, I invited my colleague, Gaylie Cashman MA, a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and Spiritual Direction practitioner, to write this article.

For more about Gaylie's practice in Portland, OR, please visit here at www.YourStillSmallVoice.com

Here's what she writes:

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Reconciliation of Christianity and Yoga

Let me begin with the concern that yoga is a religion. Yoga is a discipline or system that invites the whole human person to be present, creating the optimal potential of well being. A whole human person is considered body, mind and spirit, so wholeness within the yoga system invites all participants’ personal spiritual beliefs and experiences into the practice. Christians most requently express concern that yoga belongs to Hinduism, perhaps because so many teachings about the benefits and value of yoga are of a Hindu perspective. If only Hinduism’s perspective on yoga is examined, the water can get muddied about what yoga is and is not. While Hinduism is the predominant religion to incorporate yoga, the fact is, yoga has much to offer all of us.

Read the entire article here...

Written by Gaylie Cashman, MA, PRYT

Private Yoga - A Personal Practice

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1. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy - Private Sessions
   75 - 90 minutes / Mercer Island office (travel additional)
   $110 (1), $200 (2), $285 (3)
   
   New Client Special: $180 for 2 (1 mo exp)
   
   Couples ~ 2 hours - $180 (1)
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2. Private Yoga & Meditation Practice
   60 minutes / Mercer Island office (travel additional)
   $90 (1), $170 (2), $240 (3)
   
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Phoenix Rising vs. Private Yoga. What's the difference?

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Meditations, New Location being sought

Meditations
for Healthy Body, Clear Mind, Inspired Living!

Thematically Led Mindfulness Based Meditations for all levels.

Sit, Lay, or Stand. Movement and Stillness. Various types of meditation will be offered.

Bring whatever makes sitting comfortable.

New Location is being sought. Please Contact Soleil for more information.

Yoga on the Docks w/ Soleil

Lightly Led Yoga in Nature

SOME SUNNY Sundays
10 - 11am (later if a cool day)

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@ the Luther Burbank Park docks on Mercer Island.

Not Sunday? If the weather is nice, I'm always doing my yoga at the dock. Come on down & if you see me, feel free to plop down a mat and join in! Follow me on TWITTER to find out when I'll be there.

This is NOT a set class! If I am not there, then do your own yoga and enjoy the beauty that is all around you. (Be your own best teacher, you'll know what to do...)

Bring:
A yoga mat (that can get dirty), water, towel, and anything else that makes sitting & moving more comfortable. Don't forget suntan lotion!

"Lightly led" means that there is no format and will be led more by what's happening for you. Themed around connection to our selves, to nature, and each other - talking & sharing is included.

FREE - donations will be graciously accepted.

What is Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy? What does a session look like?

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Real Stories

A recovering cancer patient sobs as she allows her grief over the loss of her breasts free rein for the first time; she has had to remain strong and optimistic for too long.

A computer programmer follows his hip pain into the depths of fear & anger around the possibility of losing his job during this economic crisis. He now works at his desk, the hip relieved, the struggle gone, able to accept any eventuality.

A woman recalls her sexual abuse by her father. She connects the abuse with compulsive control over her eating. She eats a healthy meal today for the first time in years.

A psychotherapist who defines herself as an “incurable workaholic” breathes deeply, encouraging her busy mind to take a break and her body to relax. She finds it a pleasurable experience and vows to take a moment between each of her clients to smell the roses.

A want-to-be singer discovers her new found voice after being told in her younger years that “children should not be heard”. She decides to find a choral group and eventually falls in love & marries the lead singer. Together they now bring music to thousands.

Newly-weds are finding happiness to be such a new experience that they choose to keep the feeling alive in their bodies by engaging together in play.

A working mother let's her husband take the crying baby and the toddler to the park. She's discovered that when her shoulders scream - that 'pain in the neck' is a sign for her to stop taking care of the world and begin putting her needs first.

What do these people have in common?
They are all engaged in a holistic mind-body healing modality, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. As opposed to traditional psychotherapy which focuses upon the mind or yoga which focuses upon the body, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy understands that body and mind are not separate, and thus physical and emotional issues are profoundly connected.

Operating under the assumption that the body is a repository for all life’s experiences, both positive and negative, PRYT opens tensely held parts of the body so that pent-up feelings, fears and resistances are revealed and the insights gained are then put into action.

Read about PRYT in Time Magazine's:
Psychotherapy Goes from Couch to Mat.

What are Phoenix Rising sessions like?
NEW! View Soleil's Sample Session Videos
PRYT is a non-directive, client-centered process. In a typical session, you are guided through a sequence of carefully selected, assisted postures designed to bring you deeper into an internal experience. As you are supported in the postures, Soleil guides you in dialogue about what’s happening in your body.

This unique combination of postures and focused dialogue techniques often has a synergistic effect, enabling you to readily access information stored in the body, and to gain new insights into long-standing patterns and chronic physical and mental tensions.

Each session concludes with an integration, to assist in processing your experience and finding the connections with your life "off the mat" and exploring how you can bring new-found insights into action.

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No Yoga Experience is necessary.

Who benefits from Phoenix Rising?
Whether working with pain that stems from major trauma such as an accident or unexpected illness, or from the less recognized strain of life transitions, chronic stress or self-neglect, yoga therapy offers a powerful, safe and natural path to well-being.

Clients have found PRYT to be beneficial for a wide variety of situations and conditions including stress release, chronic pain, general malaise, resistance to change, and healing from physical and/or sexual abuse.

This work is complementary to more traditional forms of treatment such as psychotherapy and physical therapy.

List of Benefits
• Release anxieties that have a corresponding physical component
• Free up areas of tension
• Increase Awareness and Concentration
• Facilitate problem-solving and decision-making
• Overcome self-limiting beliefs
• Increase vibrant creative energy
• Alleviate pain
• Promote personal growth & transformation in body-mind-spirit

How does Soleil offer Sessions?
• Private Sessions ~90 minutes. Your site or Mercer Island office. Phone Sessions (Skype).
• Phoenix Rising for Groups – 8 Week Stress Management Program
• PRYT for Couples. Partners, Parent-Child, Friends
• PRYT Trainings & specialized workshops (Soleil has been on Faculty since 2006)

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Awakening a Corporate Soul. Learning to Play your Edge … at WORK.

Soleil's story of how she went from 20 years in Corporate High Tech to Yoga Therapy...

"One month after 9/11, with Seattle’s dot-coms crashing and unemployment rapidly rising, a Human Resources administrator walked into my office and sheepishly handed me an empty cardboard box with a pink-slip. Gathering my belongings into the box, I was smiling – thrilled to be on my way. Throughout my nearly 20 years in the High-tech industry, I had experienced chronic back pain, multiple migraines, and a bout with cancer. It was time to live at a more gentle EDGE."
Read the rest of Soleil's story here...