Yoga is taking on a family feel in the Portland area, with more classes catering to kids and families -- and at least one open to babies.

Mama and Me Yoga runs 75 minutes, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Sundays, so that moms can bring babies and care for them during class -- change a diaper, nurse -- while still getting enough time to work out, Heagberg said. The class also incorporates a few mother-baby activities, such as infant massage and exercises for connecting with baby and developing baby's motor skills.

Women between six weeks and 18 months postpartum will get the most out of the class, Heagberg said.

The class also differs from traditional yoga in its focus on the core. "I talk about getting reacquainted with your abs," Heagberg said. She also helps new moms modify poses -- "it might not be comfortable if they're breastfeeding to lie on their chest."

Whether new moms are going to classes or practicing yoga at home, Heagberg advised them to stop worrying about how their bodies look or fitting back into skinny jeans. "Focus on making a strong connection with your body -- everything will come from there," she said.

Postpartum is also not the time to stress about nailing Warrior Two. "Do what (poses) you need that day," Heagberg advised. And with a baby at home or alongside, an hour-long yoga session can seem as unachievable as scaling Mount Everest. "Little 10-minute yoga breaks are OK," Heagberg said.

Zenana also offers a kids yoga class, for ages 2 to 12, that Heagberg has observed. That instructor uses child-size mats and makes a game out of getting into poses to make the class as fun as possible, she said.

Kids also can try yoga through Yoga Playgrounds, which partners with the Multnomah County Library and schools to offer classes.

Leslie Wilda, owner of Yoga Playgrounds, said she's seen increasing interest every time she does a free children's yoga class at a library branch (check with individual branches for times and dates). At a recent yoga-and-storytime class she led at the Central Library, she counted 84 children.

In her classes, Wilda said, she might do any of the following: Read aloud stories then match movements to the characters or actions; incorporate games; give kids a pose and let them "play within the pose"; lead conversations about how the kids are feeling about their bodies that day; pair movements with the kids' energy level.

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Yoga for kids and families: Options are increasing in Portland area

On a recent summer evening on a calm stretch of the Farmington River in Canton, a group of 11 people came slowly and quietly downriver.

That people gathered on the east bank to watch was not surprising.

This was a floating yoga class.

Each member of the group was atop a paddleboard essentially a bigger, more stable surfboard moving from one yoga pose to another. If the board was the yoga mat, the river, the sky and all of nature were the yoga studio.

It was one of the first manifestations of paddleboarding and yoga in Connecticut, a fusion of the rapidly growing new paddle sport with the ancient practice of yoga.

Paddleboard yoga sessions began on the Farmington River in late June, a collaboration of Collinsville Canoe & Kayak, which rents and sells paddleboards, and the neighboring Yoga Center of Collinsville.

Paddleboarding in recent years has boomed nationwide, with board sales soaring. "We've tripled our sales from three years ago," said Jon Warner, who owns the canoe and kayak shop with his wife, Sue. The latest trend, seen now from California to Florida to Connecticut, combines paddleboarding and yoga. It is increasingly popular, with classes on the Farmington getting larger each week.

Dotty Craig of New Hartford already has participated in several paddleboard yoga sessions and finds them special.

"Yoga on a mat in a studio is a mind, body, spiritual connection," she said as the session ended. "When you get out on the water, something surreal happens, and it is just that much more fantastic."

Paddleboard and yoga sessions on the Farmington are led by certified yoga teachers and open to anyone, even those who have never been on a paddleboard or practiced yoga. They are held on the section of river behind the canoe and kayak shop.

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Paddle Board Meets Yoga Along Stretch Of Farmington River

HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire -07/02/12)- To many in the West, yoga is anything but unfamiliar. Though the practice of yoga may be Eastern in its roots, it has been thoroughly adopted into American culture, to the point that yoga classes are offered at many gyms and YMCAs, while yoga videos and books are in abundance. Though yoga, in general terms, maintains a high profile, there are some forms of yoga that remain obscure to American adherents -- including the ancient practice of kriya yoga. A teacher and author named Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath is seeking to change that, however. Earlier this year, Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath released a new book, which illuminates many of his teachings on the practice of kriya yoga -- and now, he is taking those same teachings to audiences across the world, embarking on a major international tour that will include stops in India, Europe, and the United States.

Teaching and spreading the word about kriya yoga are hardly new endeavors for Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath, of course. He has been an instructor for more than four decades now, beginning in the Himalayan mountains but since then delivering his message to listeners across the world. In fact, Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath has even taught from the floor of the United Nations. Additionally, he has published a handful of books, and his YouTube channel has garnered thousands of hits.

Most recently, Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath has released Babaji: The Lightning Standing Still. Described by the author as the culmination of his life's work, the book delves into the life of the historic spiritual figure, Babaji, from whom Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath claims direct spiritual lineage. The book also includes ample insight into the practice of kriya yoga, an ancient and rigorous practice that remains little-known to American audiences. In fact, kriya yoga is a largely forgotten art across the world, with Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath standing as one of its last masters.

Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath hopes to change that, however, by bringing his own insight into kriya yoga, as well as all of the teachings from the Babaji book, to global audiences. His new world tour will run throughout the summer, and will boast seminars, workshops, and multi-day teaching sessions in India, the United States, and several European countries.

More insight into the book, as well as details about ordering it, can be found at the author's website, http://www.siddhanath.org. The site also provides an up-to-date schedule of remaining tour dates, plus registration information.

ABOUT:

Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath is a spiritual mentor and kriya yoga master from Pune, India, who has been teaching meditation and yoga techniques for more than forty years. He has taught from the floor of the United Nations, and his YouTube videos have attracted thousands of hits. Additionally, he is an acclaimed author of numerous books. Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath is best known for his teachings on the topic of "Earth peace through self peace." Most recently, he published a book, Babaji: The Lightning Standing Still, that he believes to be he summation of his life's work. More information can be obtained at http://www.siddhanath.org.

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Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath Advances Kriya Yoga Practice Around the World

PORT BURWELL - The young yogis are breathing through their noses, their toes pointed the right way and their energy focused.

Their fingers extended and their knees bent, they move into warrior pose as their teacher looks on, modelling the common yoga posture.

Focus on your fingertips. Concentrate, says Ian Hibbert, who is leading the class of four- five- and six-year-olds through their daily yoga class.

Breathing through your . . . he continues.

Nose, the pupils shout as they complete the pose.

Hibberts junior and senior kindergarten class at Port Burwell public school has been doing yoga for several months.

We started off learning two new poses a day and we worked up to about a dozen, and now weve just been working with those same 12, Hibbert says.

We do it usually five to 10 minutes a day, once a day. Yoga for kids has skyrocketed in popularity, with several London studios also offering classes for kids as young as four.

Those who teach kids say it has physical as well as mental benefits, particularly for kids living in an increasingly hurried and plugged-in world. Yoga allows them to take time out of their days to breath, relax and focus.

Hibbert learned about the benefits of yoga for kids from other teachers and decided to give it a try with his class. He bought a DVD that showed him the basics and began teaching his pupils.

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Yoga stretches limits of kindergarten

On a recent summer evening on a calm stretch of the Farmington River in Canton, a group of 11 people came slowly and quietly downriver.

That people gathered on the east bank to watch was not surprising.

This was a floating yoga class.

Each member of the group was atop a paddleboard essentially a bigger, more stable surfboard moving from one yoga pose to another. If the board was the yoga mat, the river, the sky and all of nature were the yoga studio.

It was one of the first manifestations of paddleboarding and yoga in Connecticut, a fusion of the rapidly growing new paddle sport with the ancient practice of yoga.

Paddleboard yoga sessions began on the Farmington River in late June, a collaboration of Collinsville Canoe & Kayak, which rents and sells paddleboards, and the neighboring Yoga Center of Collinsville.

Paddleboarding in recent years has boomed nationwide, with board sales soaring. "We've tripled our sales from three years ago," said Jon Warner, who owns the canoe and kayak shop with his wife, Sue. The latest trend, seen now from California to Florida to Connecticut, combines paddleboarding and yoga. It is increasingly popular, with classes on the Farmington getting larger each week.

Dotty Craig of New Hartford already has participated in several paddleboard yoga sessions and finds them special.

"Yoga on a mat in a studio is a mind, body, spiritual connection," she said as the session ended. "When you get out on the water, something surreal happens, and it is just that much more fantastic."

Paddleboard and yoga sessions on the Farmington are led by certified yoga teachers and open to anyone, even those who have never been on a paddleboard or practiced yoga. They are held on the section of river behind the canoe and kayak shop.

More:
Paddle Board Yoga Popular Along Farmington River

Splash News

BIG DAY Alec Baldwin walks into St. Patrick's Old Cathedral as fans try and get a glimpse in the background. The 54-year-old '30 Rock' star married his 28-year-old yoga instructor sweetheart Hilaria Thomas.

Alec Baldwin finally got a lesson in anger marriagement.

After years of public meltdowns, punching photographers and verbally abusing family members, the 54-year-old 30 Rock star tied the knot Saturday evening with beautiful yoga teacher Hilaria Thomas, 28, in a traditional Catholic ceremony at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Nolita. Hilaria will be taking her hubby's last name.

Kristy Leibowitz

Baldwin's fiance, Hilaria Thomas leaves Alec's apartment on the way to St. Patrick's Old Cathedral for the wedding.

AP

Woody Allen, seen here with wife Soon Yi m was one of several stars of stage and screen at today's wedding.

Guests, including Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Woody Allen, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and brothers Billy and Stephen, were texted details of the reception just hours before the nuptials.

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Baldwin weds yoga gal Hilaria Thomas

Jun 30, 2012 9:23pm

(Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images)

Alec Baldwin wed yogainstructor Hilaria Thomas today at downtown Manhattans St. Patricks Old Cathedral.

Hilaria Thomas and Alec Baldwin were married this evening at St. Patricks Old Cathedral in New York City, sharing the occasion with family and friends inside the Cathedral, and Alec warmly receiving congratulations from well-wishing fans on his way into the service, Matthew Hiltzik, (@hiltzikstrat) a friend of the couple, said in a statement released this evening.

Thomas wore a silk magnolia trumpet Amsale gown with cap sleeves and a keyhole back neckline accented with crystal buttons, and her mother and Baldwins daughter from his marriage to Kim Basinger, Ireland Baldwin, also wore Amsale.

Hilarias mother wore a navy jersey sheath gown with a cowl neckline and Ireland Baldwin wore a slate silk chiffon gown with a strapless neckline and a lightly pleated bodice.

The New York Post reported earlier this week that because the happy couple is wary of paparazzi Baldwin scuffled with a New York Daily News photographer last week they had yet to tell guests where the reception would take place.

But a source close to Baldwin told ABCNews.com thats nonsense.

Everyone knows where to go, the source said, adding that while Baldwin and Thomas didnt send out traditional wedding invites, the idea that they are not telling people details is just not true.

If the couple is planning a honeymoon, it may have to wait. Thomas is scheduled to be back at her yoga studio on July 2, and Baldwin is set to host documentary film festival on July 6 in East Hampton.

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Alec Baldwin Weds Yoga Instructor Hilaria Thomas

McClatchy photo/Santa Cruz Sentinel

Jessica Gallione gives a tender kiss to her 10-week old daughter Coralia during Momma and Baby yoga class.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Babies can be good yoga partners. Just ask the folks at Pacific Cultural Centers Ashtanga Yoga Institute.

Babies live in the present moment, are flexible and like to stretch. But the Mama & Baby Yoga classes are really for the moms.

One or two volunteers attend, holding and distracting the little ones who have had their fill of a quiet yoga practice, allowing their moms to continue with the asanas, or poses.

Hannah Muse and Treea Clements teach the classes two days a week.

A mother of two, Clements said she started teaching postnatal yoga in 2005 and taught prenatal yoga before that. She said she includes a check-in time for moms to talk about what they might be dealing with as new parents.

The women really bond, she said. We are all coming in to spiritually center and ground ourselves and to bring our bodies back to strength, flexibility and health. It includes some powerful inner stuff.

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Mom and baby yoga class offers peaceful energy

(Discovered by the west during the hippie era as a way to transcendence, yoga has in recent years become part of the search for the perfect physique. Thanks to new teachers, gadgets and practices, it could again become an entry point for deeper spiritual practice)

The first time I tried yogaI wont say when, but Carlos Santana was still calling himself Devadipit was in someones basement in the suburbs, with plastic mats on the floor. Some guy in sweatpants led us through the Sun Salutations and the obligatory guided relaxation in the Corpse pose. Afterward we all hung around drinking soy coffee.

A couple of months later, I was struggling to stay in the lotus posture in front of an intense, scary-looking Indian guy in orange robes. The scent of sandalwood incense hung in the air, blending with the sampaguita garlands draped around a framed portrait of the guru. After a couple of minutes he told me my mind wasnt pure enough, and that I should chant babanam kevalam some more before coming back.

I had flunked the initiation.

The first wave of interest in yoga came in the aftermath of the hippie era, but the focus was on transcendence. Their minds having been expanded with psychedelic drugs, people looking for enlightenment turned east. In the 70s, ex-hippies chanted Hare Krishna, tried Transcendental Meditation, joined Ananda Marga or devoted themselves to Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh or Satya Sai Baba.

Few people actually practiced the asanas-the yoga poses. Those who did did so perfunctorily, mainly to prepare themselves for meditation and-they hoped-eventual enlightenment.

Then toward the end of the decade, yoga took a turn for the weird. Chess grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi enlisted two monks from Ananda Marga to psych out Anatoli Karpov in their 1978 world championship match in Baguio City. Later that same year, a nun from the same sect set herself on fire in Luneta to protest the continued imprisonment of their guru in India.

Things went quiet in the 80s, but something interesting happened during the 90s. Somehow the practice of yoga merged with the cult of the perfect physique that had emerged during the Yuppie era. Western disciples had taken the teachings of their Indian gurus and democratized it, adding more than a bit of marketing spin. What in India were seen as age-old traditions emerged in the new global marketplace as brands: Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, Jivamukti. The asanas became the focal point of yoga practice.

Today, yoga is a growth industry. Ten years ago, you could count the yoga teachers in Manila on the fingers of one hand (and still have a finger or two left over). Today there are literally dozens of yoga studios offering a plethora of classes in Metro Manila alone, and other metropolitan areas arent far behind.

Beyond Yoga, a studio that opened last October in the Tomas Morato area of Quezon City, exemplifies the modern, Westernized approach to yoga.

Excerpt from:
Going beyond Yoga

Thursday, June 28, 2012

SHANTI Shala Yoga Cebu will present the Greet the Sun event tomorrow from 8 a.m. until noon at 5th floor AMWSLAI Bldg., Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City (across Metrobank).

One may call 516-5404 or 511-2342 for reservation.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

The following will be featured during the event: two-hour Sun Salutation Series guided by the Shanti Shala Yoga teachers, healthy snacks available for the soon to open Caf Namaskar, performances from established students and teachers, a short video presenting for yoga in line with health and wellness.

There will be special presentation from guest performers, namely, Giselle Tribaco-Halleux for Poi and belly dancing and Jai for yoga dance, and the introduction of the well-being modalities.

Kick off

The event will served as the kick off for Shanti Shala in its holistic approach to health and wellness.

Students, practitioners and guests will enjoy a whole lot of sampling from each of the modalities the studio will offer.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 29, 2012.

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Free yoga event at Shanti Shala Yoga Cebu