The holidays, a time of festivities, family, food, and sometimes stress. How can we keep calm, strong, centered, and relaxed this holiday season?

Try these three poses: one for breakfast, one for lunch and one for…dessert!

Start your day strong and focused with Warrior 2-Virabhadrasana II.

Create a wide stance with your legs, feet perpendicular, the facing forward foot/front knee bent, keep the knee directly over the ankle. Arms extend long and strong, bring your gaze over the front fingers. 5-10 steady inhales and exhales on each side.

Now you are prepared to take on your day.

Midday, before lunch, open up your spine and circulation with Cat Cow-Marjaryasana

Bitilasana. This can be done on your hands and knees or seated in a chair.

Floor variation: knees are under the hips, hands under the shoulders, starting like a table with a strong foundation. On a exhale round the back toward the ceiling and the face and head relax, inhale reverse the spine, belly toward the floor and bring the face-gaze up, staying comfortable in your neck. 5-10 inhales and exhales.

Chair variation (if you have knee or wrist issues or don’t feel like getting on the floor): sit on the edge of your chair, knees in line with your hips, feet directly under the knees. Hands on the knees. On a exhale(Cat), round the spine towards the back of the chair, face relaxed. Inhale(Cow) reverse the spine, the chest and face lift, be comfortable in your neck, the gaze comes up. 5-10 inhales and exhales. Feel refreshed with this gentle flow.

Ahhhh, the end of the day!
Legs up the Wall-Viparita Karani:
After you have digested your dinner for a least a hour. Come lying on your back with the legs straight up the wall. Start on your side, start with the hip close to the wall and swing your legs up the wall. Arms out to the side and neck long (some might want a small blanket or pillow under the head). If getting close to the wall feels uncomfortable, try legs up a chair or the couch. Try a minimum of 10 full breaths here or set a timer for 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy the restoration of this all time favorite pose.

May your holidays be filled with kindness, joy, love, and a little yoga.

To learn more about yoga or try a class come to Moab Yoga 37 E Center St. www.moabyoga.com 435-259-2455

Happy New Years Day Yoga Practice January 1, 2019, 10am-noon with Chelsey Hiemes!

Being diagnosed with a terminal illness can be a completely overwhelming experience. Depending on where an individual is in life, it can be an extremely emotional and spiritual process, on top of potentially debilitating physical symptoms. Developing and nurturing a trusting relationship with your physician is the key to laying a foundation for quality of life at the end. As the Director of Grand County Hospice, a local non-profit, I often see individuals and their families coming to us for help when death is very near. It is important to realize that hospice services can be utilized much, much earlier than that. The knowledge and care that can be provided by a hospice team is invaluable to those dying and their families. Early conversations with physicians about end-of-life preferences and services often lead to earlier hospice referrals. Given enough time, trusting, therapeutic relationships between your physician, the hospice team and you and your loved ones can be established resulting, ideally, in peace, acceptance and comfort.

Leading experts in end-of-life care at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization recommend that individuals spend at least 90 days on a hospice service to receive the optimal amount of care. The full six months allowable is even better. Unfortunately, the median hospice stay is 20.6 days. Many families who had loved ones with short hospice stays have reported wishing they had had more time in hospice care. We get constant feedback from our families that they “could not have done it” without us and express extreme satisfaction with the hospice service.

There are many barriers to early referrals. Initiating a conversation with your family or your doctor about your own death is not exactly easy. Discomfort and hesitancy can create resistance and ultimately end in a chaotic, last minute hospice admission. If possible, anticipating the need for hospice services early can allow for a death with dignity while creating a web of support for your loved ones as you move on. If you find yourself in this position and your physician does not broach this topic, I want to strongly encourage you to advocate for yourself. This is your life. You have control of what the end could look like. I know the physicians in this community well. They are more than happy to speak with you about this, and even more willing to support you on your journey.

Most insurances cover 100% of Hospice Services. Medicare has a very comprehensive benefit covering Physician, Nursing, Social Work, Volunteer and Spiritual Counsel Services, as well as medications and any necessary medical equipment at no charge to the individual.

I have witnessed the magical transformation in people from fear and denial to peace and comfort while on hospice care. It is overwhelmingly beautiful. I want more people to experience that. People are dying in this community whether they are on hospice or not. I cannot imagine that hospice isn’t the better choice. And the sooner the better.

Since the beginning of human history, we have been musical beings. From the earliest sounds of wood and stone striking a rhythm in the African night, to the elaborate chants in a medieval monastery, humans have used music to give language to Spiritual mysteries, emotional tales, and physical desires. Music is vibrational communication that is universally understood. The messages of music reach across time, space, race and culture. We are music deeply, to the smallest particle of our being. We are music in the nucleus of our DNA.

Scientists have found that DNA and living cells have certain modes of vibration, suggesting that sound vibrations can influence their functioning.

Science has come a long way in its understanding of how sound works in the body. We now know that when the brain hears different melodies, it can dispatch these melodies through the neocortex to the molecules of the body.
Before this can happen, the vibrations first travel through the subtle energy anatomy of our body. The physical body is enveloped by at least 6 subtle energy bodies which are composed of progressively finer and higher frequencies of subtle matter allowing interpenetration with each other and the physical body. These energy bodies can be seen by clairvoyants and Kirilian photography as extending beyond the physical body.

Overtones produced by the pure tones, used individually or within a scale, are powerfully transformational on a cellular level.

Last year after completing my doctorate, I returned to Moab and the energies of the Anasazi for the fifth time. It was here in 1980 on a desert solo backpacking trip when I experienced vibrational phenomena that resulted in a miraculous healing and set me on a path to study the transformational power of music and sound. I felt then and currently feel more strongly that each person has the potential to influence their healing process through music and sound. My studies included a bachelor's degree in music therapy, a master's degree in psychology and psychophysiology and finally a doctorate obtained through the California Institute of Integral Studies, School of Consciousness and Transformation, where I explored the transformational power of the Swiss Resonance Monochord Table. Results from my research support the balancing of many physiological responses.

I learned of the Swiss Resonance Monochord Table and other vibrational structures while studying with Fabien Maman in France. I had the Swiss Resonance Monochord Table and Columns of Sound imported from Switzerland and Germany. Strummed like a harp, the table begins to sing the overtone series, cocooning the body in harmonious sound. The overtones produced balance and harmonize the body mind physiology, having a positive impact within the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual domains. In general, a seasonal attunement is recommended (5 times per year). More frequent and individualized treatments are recommended for individuals with specific health challenges.

General Session Description
Lying fully clothed and comfortable on the overtone table, the session begins with the playing two Gongs (Sun & Moon). The Columns of Sound are played and the consciousness expands. Then begins the playing of the other vibrational instruments. The overtone table can be tuned to the season of the year, to a specific tone related to an organ in need of the vibration for healing, or to a missing frequency in a person's voice. The overtones create a flow of vibration through the physical body and fill the subtle energy fields with frequencies that balance and cleanse, creating a cocoon of sound.

It is recommended that one has an intention for their session. Examples may be to experience profound relaxation; to integrate, transform and become empowered by ones' past experiences; to access wisdom related to future endeavors; remove obstacles to one's realization of their full creative expression; to seek insights into physical dis-ease; to receive Spiritual guidance.

Annette Kearl, PhD has been a practicing music/sound therapist for 29 years. She has studied various sound, voice, and mind/body techniques with Deepak Chopra, Fabien Maman, Wolfgang Deiner, Sri Hanuman, Jill Purce, Don Campbell, Kay Gardner, Ashok Kumara, PhD., Bobby McFerrin, and Chloe Goodchild. She currently provides individual and group sound healing sessions, African drumming classes, and facilitates Kirtan (call & response singing) gatherings. She plans to offer several seasonal workshops and classes this next year related to sound, voice, and movement. Annette currently provides elder care services that can include music therapy. Certified in Gong Yoga by Methab Benton, she plays gongs for the weekly Kundalini Yoga classes, guitar and bodhran drum with the Contra Dance Band. Call Annette at 435-260-8302.