WICHITA, Kan., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Sullivan Higdon & Sink (SHS), a communications firm with a reputation for not following the flock, has introduced a new yoga pose that inspires employees to embody the philosophy of sheephating. In commemoration of National Yoga Month this September, the agency asked one-time employee Nickki Head to develop the proprietary Sheephater Pose to enhance workplace wellness.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120925/CG81161)

"As a former sheephater, I had a good idea of the high-stress environment that is advertising," said Head, owner of Firefly Yoga Studio, "I think SHS recognizes the many benefits that yoga offers, like taking the time to empty the mind and increase the flow of energy."

Head returned to SHS this Tuesday to lead the agency in a group demonstration of the new pose.The session started with a short flow to get warmed up before employees tried the pose for the first time. SHSers are accustomed to stretching their creative limits, but for some, this was a first-time experience in stretching their physical limits through yoga.

"The pose was kind of tough," says senior art director Mike McCoy. "I think a few of us might be sore today. But we're always pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zones to snag that next great idea."

Why does SHS hate sheep so much? Because sheep are reminiscent of advertising that follows instead of leads. In fact, SHS teaches all its employees Seven Ways to Exterminate Sheep, a philosophy that keeps them collaborative, pure of heart and strategic, to name just a few values.

"In our fast-paced industry, the ability to stay fluid and clear-headed is essential to our success," says Lathi de Silva, vice president, director brand reputation. "These abilities, along with our sheephating philosophy, set us up to think differently and often, unexpectedly."

Similar to in the practice of yoga, SHS is always looking to continue growing and improving. To see photos of flexible sheephaters or to learn more about the proud history of sheephating, visit SHS at wehatesheep.com.

About Sullivan Higdon & Sink

SHS creates integrated brand experiences for a diverse roster of business-to-consumer, business-to-business and business-to-government clients. The agency has offices in Kansas City, Wichita and Washington, D.C. Learn more about SHS and view our recent work at http://www.wehatesheep.com. Connect with us atwww.facebook.com/wehatesheepor on Twitter @wehatesheep.

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Creative Firm Takes Its Mantra to the Mat with New Yoga Pose

What better setting to practice yoga than under the shade of trees in the crisp autumn air? And what better opportunity to get an introduction to the ancient meditative technique than at Saturday's "Yoga in the Park" at the Hanover Arboretum?

Five Hanover-area yoga instructors are taking their talents outside for the free event in an effort to draw together the yoga community and educate newcomers to the practice. The joint yoga event, to be held behind the Warehime-Myers Mansion on Baltimore Street, runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and will be followed by a vegetarian potluck social.

Organizer Misty Stillman said there is a solid but fragmented yoga community in Hanover.

"I feel like sometimes the yoga community is just not

Life In Balance Yoga owner Misty Stillman demonstrates some yoga techniques at her York Street studio. (THE EVENING SUN BRETT BERWAGER )

"Here, there is certainly no reason our community can't come together and get to know each other and support each other and show people who've never done yoga what yoga is all about. I think it's a really good thing," said Stillman, who has been a registered yoga instructor since 2008.

An ancient discipline for physical, mental, and spiritual development, yoga has been steadily gaining in popularity in this country for decades. Yoga proponents say it helps with the body's ability to heal itself and offers a relief from stress, improved concentration and peace

"Every time you do yoga it's an opportunity to get to know yourself better," Stillman said. "For me, it's changed my life. It's allowed me to grow emotionally."

Saturday's event will offer visitors an opportunity to learn firsthand about the different types of yoga and to meet and talk to the various instructors.

"There are so many different styles of yoga and different ways people teach yoga. You need to find a teacher that speaks to you," Stillman said. "Every teacher is different about how they work."

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Taking yoga to the park

Broga is yoga for men, a.k.a. bros, and it's now being offered in the Queen City at the recently opened Manchester Yoga Mill. Yes, Broga sounds hilarious, but Yoga Mill co-owner Johanna Tejada assured me it is a serious strength workout for men and women alike.

Oh, yeah. Girls can do broga, she said. Broga's really focused on the upper-body strength building.

Tejada, 27, opened Manchester Yoga Mill on the third floor of the Waumbec Mill less than three weeks ago. The studio offers more than 25 different classes for all levels. Broga, offered on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m., is more appealing to some men than more traditional yoga classes because it focuses on strength rather than flexibility.

Tejada, who has a degree in fashion design, said she came to New Hampshire from Philadelphia about three years ago to work as a designer for Eastern Mountain Sports. But after becoming entwined with the yoga community here, she decided it was time for a career change and opened the studio with her partner, Ryan Andrews, 32.

In addition to the regular classes, Manchester Yoga Mill has some interesting special monthly events. Last week they offered yoga accompanied by live music. In October, Tejada said she plans to offer a Halloween class where costumes are encouraged. Mommy and me yoga classes are also in the works.

You can see the studio's current offerings at http://www.ManchesterYogaNH.com. And be sure to keep an eye on http://www.UnionLeader.com for an upcoming Deal of the Day that offers four yoga classes for $20.

Religious response to hunger

Growing up in Manchester I was fortunate to have many Jewish friends who invited me to their synagogues and homes to celebrate various Jewish holidays and traditions. I secretly hoped my own family would convert to Judaism so that I could have eight days of presents during Hanukkah, an amazing Bat Mitzvah celebration when I turned 12, and two extra days off from school to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

My mother did agree to buy me matzah during Passover, but I never did get that Bat Mitzvah. Still I am happy for the opportunity to join with our city's Jewish community during their High Holy Days and to help fill the shelves at New Horizons Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen.

I'd like to thank Judith Jolton of Temple Adath Yeshurun for alerting me to this year's Religious Response to Hunger Food Drive. Jolton, chairman of the drive, said the synagogue has been holding this annual event during the High Holy Days for more than 30 years and today it is one of the biggest food drives to support New Horizons.

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Broga gets the guys involved in yoga class

Laughter is an expression that comes easily with the innocence of youth.

But with the coming of age, a good giggle or guffaw can be harder to muster.

So when Hermosa Beach resident Matthew Rand heard about Laughter Yoga, he was intrigued. Basically finding ways to make yourself laugh as a form of exercise, Laughter Yoga has been growing in popularity since it was launched in India in 1995.

"With the stress of school, work and everyday life, people tend to really have to work to express what someone is feeling through laughter as opposed to just letting it out as children do," Rand said.

The idea of loosening up one's ability to laugh more often sounded rewarding on many levels. Once he began attending sessions, he quickly became a Laughter Yoga teacher and recently created the Hermosa Beach Laughter Club through Hermosa Five-O, the city's senior activity center, which is open to any South Bay resident at least 50 years old.

As a volunteer, Rand has been holding sessions the last two months for a half-dozen members who have already seen the benefits of Laughter Yoga.

Rand said the free sessions aim to bring out that "childlike" personality that everyone has embedded within themselves. The club meets every Thursday from 5-6 p.m. at the Hermosa Beach Community Center. During meetings, the group goes through 15 laugh exercises that last about 45 seconds each.

Rand said it's all about triggering certain parts of the

"It is based on the scientific fact that the body does not know a difference between fake or pretend laughter and real laughter," Rand said. "In a good group with good eye contact; the fake turns real very quickly."

Rand said Laughter Yoga is extremely popular on an international level, with 9,000 laughter clubs in 85 countries.

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Participants are just tickled by Laughter Yoga

A novel study (1) assessed the salivary stress hormone cortisol and another stress biomarker (alpha-amylase) on day six of the menstrual cycle for six cycles in two hundred and seventy four women who were trying to conceive. Salivary alpha-amylase is thought to measure psychological stress and has been described in other studies (2) as a:

"...sensitive biomarker for stress-related changes in the body..."

The study (1) was able to show that the stress marker alpha-amylase (but not cortisol) was significantly correlated with an increased time to conception; women with alpha-amylase levels in the top quarter of the range were less likely to conceive than those with levels in the lowest quartile. The researchers concluded that:

"Stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window..."

Although many of life's stressors may be out of our control, yoga may prove to be invaluable in lowering chronic stress - and salivary amylase levels - when trying to conceive. A Japanese study (3) examined the effect of a weekly or bi-weekly 90 minute yoga class yoga on stress hormones over a month testing salivary amylase before and after classes.

In individuals aged 20-30 years the yoga intervention reduced salivary amylase levels by about a third; anxiety assessments also showed a significant reduction in scores leading the researchers to conclude that:

"Decrease in Salivary amylase activity may be due to reduction in sympathetic response. Reduction in State and Trait anxiety score signifies that yoga has both immediate as well as long-term effect on anxiety reduction. Thus yoga helps to improve the mental health in both the groups."

If you are trying to conceive and having trouble becoming pregnant try taking a yoga class once or twice a week or doing an online class or yoga DVD at home. Finding a friend to do yoga with regularly can help you to be more regular in your practice and make it more enjoyable too.

Would you like articles like this delivered to your email weekly? Sign-up for the BellaOnline infertility newsletter, the link is below.

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Yoga Reduces Biomarkers For Infertility Stress

Photo by Abdiel Lopez

Photo by Abdiel Lopez

Photo by Abdiel Lopez

An afternoon of free yoga events featuring top teachers took over the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, Sept. 8.

The Wanderlust Festival, in partnership with Yoga in the City and the Yoga Aid Challenge, held its Los Angeles event at the pier from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Yoga in the City was inspired by different charitable organizations from around the world and its purpose was to raise money for charities.

With hundreds of eager individuals participating in this event, the atmosphere was full of positive energy. Participants ranged from different experience levels and were all encouraged to attend the event.

Los Angeles-based writer and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson led an incantation to start the first session just after lunchtime.

Every American should be deeply concerned right now about overt and blatant efforts to suppress the vote, Williamson said.

Seane Corn also took the stage to talk about the correlation between politics and yoga as well as the importance of this Novembers upcoming election before the first session began.

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Wanderlust Yoga Takes Over The Santa Monica Pier

People News

Sep 20, 2012, 3:01 GMT

Russell Brand

Russell Brand's love life is 'the talk of his yoga class'.

After flings with a number of women in recent months including Geri Halliwell and Jordana Brewster's sister Isabella, the British comedian was spotted kissing a pretty brunette as he left a class in Los Angeles on Tuesday (18.09.12).

A source told The Sun newspaper: 'Russell arrived at yoga with his new girl on Tuesday and they shared a big kiss in his car after the class.

'His antics are the talk of his yoga class.

'He was spotted with a girl after his lesson last Thursday (13.09.12) too. He had just left the class and was all over her in a nearby caf.'

Russell met a number of his former lovers at the class including Isabella and Mexican artist Oriela Medellin Amieiro and it was previously claimed he was planning to open his own studio because he had slept with too many of the ladies in the one he attends.

A source said: 'Since he split with Katy Perry, Russell has had sex or flirtations with quite a few of the women he used to meet in yoga classes.

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Russell Brand's yoga class fascinated by his love life

Imagine a 102 dry room. Then imagine practicing intense yoga in there for 60 to 75 minutes. Then repeat that for 150 days. Welcome to the last several months of my life.

The first time I went to class, I simply wanted check out the new Moksha Yoga London West studio in London, Ontario. The next day a friend wanted to check it out, so I went again. The next day, another friend. And then it was just me--and I figured, why not just keep going?

While I do realize that one is supposed to be thought-free while practicing yoga--moksha, after all, is Sanskrit for release--as a business owner and writer, I couldn't help but notice how my commitment to hot yoga impacted my day-to-day life and my business. Here are some of the parallels:

This wasn't the first time I'd tried to make a commitment to daily exercise, but it was the first time in five years I succeeded. Halfway through my first 30-day challenge, as I was rushing through traffic to make it to 5:30 class, (yes, there is irony in rushing to be peaceful at yoga), it dawned on me that not once had I questioned whether I was actually going to go to class. Instead, each day I looked at the schedule and planned my day to include the priority. In business, we set goals and yet we don't always achieve them. When it comes to networking, I see a lot of frustration around this issue. People just can't--or don't--fit the required activities into their overloaded lives. Despite the best intentions to grow one's network, the to-do list takes priority while the volunteer activities and lunch meetings get pushed. Six months later they're no more connected than when the goal was set. Once you've decided a goal is worth achieving don't question whether or not you should do it. Just make it happen.

Those who work out routinely may wonder, What's the big deal?' 150 classes, heck, you may have done that twice a year, every year, for decades. While it may be no biggie for you, for me it's a huge accomplishment. While I'll spare you the details, I can assure you this personal challenge wasn't without its difficulties.

Once the decision was made to attend class daily, challenges arose and I had to recognize them, think through and find solutions, and then roll out implementation strategies.

In business, it's easy to perseverate on the obstacles or to ignore trouble that is brewing. Neither works. Tackle snags head on and overcome them.

For some, hot yoga may seem easy, but it is assuredly not easy if you do it properly. The goal is to find ease while exuding strength. A correctly executed posture requires exponentially more effort than just going through the motions. Yoga practice is different for everyone. There is no "perfect" way to do a posture and there is no final pinnacle to reach with your practice. It just keeps moving forward, much like business. There are, however, foundational elements that make a practice stronger. Spending time in an easier version of a posture in order to train your body to keep your hip down or core engaged may look boring, but by attending to those fundamentals, you'll be able to eventually--and then suddenly--pop into the "advanced" posture, just the way you wanted.

In business, the foundational pieces are what separate the masters from the people going-out-of-business--especially in a tough economy. Creating strong foundations and processes for customer service, financial management, and overall business practice may take longer to develop but all of a sudden, you will pop into success.

Just as business ebbs and flows, so does a yoga practice. At about the four-month mark, I started to question my abilities and wondered why I wasn't further along in my skills development. Then it dawned on me: back then I couldn't do one Chaturanga Dandasana, let alone several in a row; toppling tree was a posture reserved for the very strong; and the mere mention of "pigeon" was an excuse to roll over and have a break. Hot yoga is like anything that grows gradually: we don't recognize progress because we're living it every day.

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Namaste! 5 Hot Leadership Lessons From The Moksha Yoga Studio

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Then, Stanley Cup MVP Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins gave partial credit to yoga for his big win a couple of years ago, recalled Keserich, goaltender for the Tulsa Oilers.

Has it helped his own game? "Absolutely," Keserich said. "Health, mind, body - it's a total work out."

Still, he admits that he first thought yoga was for women, which is a popular preconceived notion about yoga.

"People are hesitant for whatever reason," said Keri Edwardes, who has practiced yoga for five years and taught for four at local places like St. John Siegfried Health Club. Keserich was even one of her students.

"The hardest part of getting into yoga is walking into the class for the first time," said Edwardes, who joined other local yoga instructors in helping demystify the ancient practice of yoga for folks who might be intimidated by it.

The benefits of taking yoga abound, she said, including increased flexibility, focus and confidence, and decreased symptoms associated with stress.

Before she started doing yoga, Meghan Donnelly was an "extremely stressed" student at Oklahoma State University, putting herself through school, working full time and struggling with a bad relationship.

When she tried yoga, "it was like the best drug," she said, adding how it calmed and centered her. "I wanted some more of that."

Now, at 35, "I look better and feel better than I ever have in my life," said Donnelly, the owner and instructor at Inner Peace Yoga, 7718 E. 91st St.

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Experts, enthusiasts debunk preconceived notions of yoga

Yoga has fast become the go-to exercise routine for both men and women wanting to get fit while they relax. When you want a toned body and a clear mind, yoga can be one of the best forms of fitness. Yoga exercise apparel and accessories are simple and fit all budgets so choose your style from the local stores below and get shopping. Stay toned and healthy all year long, whatever the weather outside.

Photo Credit: ThinkStock

Find luxury yoga clothing and accessories from brands such as Shakti activewear, .72 K and tonic. The store is located within the Bikram Yoga San Rafael studio and offers a vast selection of all things yoga customers could want. The staff is not only extremely friendly but also knowledgeable about what you really need, whether you are a beginner or pro in the yoga world. Products will also be offered online toward the end of the year, so keep a look out for new additions.

Red Dragon Yoga 1701 4th St. San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 306-7904 reddragonyoga.com

This shop offers one of the widest selections of yoga apparel and accessories in the area with seasonal sales on brands including Hard Tail, Beyond Yoga, be present, Om Girl and Shakti activewear, as well as Red Dragons own exclusive collection. Pieces are updated regularly, on trend with the seasons and can easily be worn from the studio through to lunch as lifestyle apparel. The yoga studio is family owned and the environment has been kept to maintain that family vibe which you will notice whether you are stopping in to shop or take a class.

Related: Best Yoga Studios In San Francisco

en-er-gy 450 1st St. E, Suite J Sonoma, CA 95476 (707) 217-4584 en-er-gy.com

A refurbished clothing and accessories store awaits customers at en-er-gy fitness studio where they will find comfortable, eco-friendly pieces. Brands include prAna, be present and ym. As well as clothing, custom yoga mats and towels, you can find unique, locally made gifts such as candles and essential oils. En-er-gy fitness studio is a specialist fitness centre for yoga, body sculpting and dance which is staffed by knowledgeable, well-trained yoga/fitness instructors who also help at the apparel store. They give customers the advice they need when picking products for their exercise lifestyle.

Bikram Yoga Petaluma Yoga Hell Boutique 1484 Petaluma Blvd. Petaluma, CA 94952 (707) 775-2400 bikramyogapetaluma.com

A bold, bright and loud store location can be found at Yoga Hell where yoga apparel and accessories have been specially created for yogis wanting to have fun yet needing the essential pieces for their exercise. Sport the cartoon devil on tees, vests, shorts, water bottles, mats and even pick up a little something at Yoga Heck for the children. The apparel and accessories store is located in the Bikram Yoga studio building and is staffed by locals who all work or take classes at the studio. Expect friendly, homestyle service that goes that extra mile. If you cannot find the size or color you want, just shout it out and someone will get it to you.

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Best Shops For Yoga Clothes And Accessories In North Bay