Join MGYS on the Winter Solstice to acknowledge the changing of the season with a gentle physical practice followed by a guided meditation. Afterward, let the celebration continue while enjoying lite fare and drinks with friends in our yoga community.
Donations are welcome but there is no formal fee for this gathering.
All are welcome.
Morning Glory Studio cordially invites you to a specially scheduled Restorative Yoga Class. Take time to slow down, relax & restore during the holiday season.
Quietly stretching into relaxation during a few long held supported poses. Focusing on breath and stillness to benefit your health and well-being.
*class is limited to 15 students
This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the many health benefits of yoga while gaining a foundation upon which to build a practice. The course is appropriate for those new to yoga as well as those who wish to refresh and refine their relationship with the practice.
Yoga builds strength and flexibility through physical postures while helping students understand individual stressors through techniques that include mindfulness, breath, and gaze. Through a regular yoga practice, awareness and quality of one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are improved. Students will learn basic yoga postures, proper alignment and breath work, and be introduced to basic meditation techniques.
This class is suitable for students of various ages although it is geared towards adults; no children under the age of sixteen please. The class is also suitable for people of various fitness levels. Poses will be modified to meet individual needs. Students should wear comfortable, moveable clothes and will remove their shoes during the class. A yoga mat is recommended but not required.
Back by popular demand, this evidence-based program will teach participants to be more responsible in the management of their own health, vitality, and healing, and to find greater balance, ease, and peace of mind. 
MBSR combines mindfulness meditation and yoga in an 8-week intensive training. This practice is ideal for cultivating greater awareness of the unity of mind and body, as well as of the ways the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can undermine emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Mindfulness has been shown to positively affect a range of autonomic physiological processes, such as lowering blood pressure and reducing overall arousal and emotional reactivity. It’s been estimated that stress contributes to 80% of medical office visits. Stress exacerbates physical pain, hypertension, and various medical conditions, and can lead to declines in immune functioning and overall physical well-being. In addition, stress causes irritability, relationship problems, and declines in performance and reliability, which can in turn lead to more significant anxiety and depression. But unlike many other physical concerns, we have the ability to manage stress and its effects. 
This class will teach a variety of mindfulness-based stress reduction and self-care skills that can be integrated into participants’ lives on a regular basis. The foundation of the class is mindfulness, which means paying attention to our experience without judgment. This class is modeled on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn at University of Massachusetts Medical School. By bringing more awareness to their lives, participants can learn to respond with choice rather than reacting automatically. Participants will learn to access powerful inner resources to enhance coping and to live their lives with more balance and clarity. Mindfulness will be cultivated through both informal and formal practice. In addition, participants will be taught a variety of ways to counter stress physiology, cognitive behavioral strategies to increase self-awareness regarding distorted thinking patterns, and nutrition management. Research supports the following benefits of MBSR:
Who can benefit? Anyone who would benefit from learning stress management skills, individuals with anxiety, panic, or mild to moderate depression, and individuals with health conditions, such as pain and chronic medical conditions, that are exacerbated by stress.
Dr. Sydney Kroll is a native of Nacogdoches and received her undergraduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin and her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology at Baylor University. She has been using mindfulness-based interventions for over a decade in behavioral health settings, including university counseling centers, the Veterans Healthcare Administration, and currently in her private practice. Dr. Kroll specializes in using integrative interventions to treat trauma, stress, and depression, as well as to manage chronic pain and health issues. She provides training across the country in state-of-the-art mindfulness practices and is excited to offer her expertise to the East Texas community.
9am – 12pm
Complexity and Variety in Yoga and Life
As we age, it is natural for habits to take over. We fall prey to mindless repetition. Asymmetries are exacerbated. This leads to joint disease, and to restricted and unhealthy connective tissue. Over time we become more prone to inflammation and injury of tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Fascia hates repetition. It loves variety and complexity. In this workshop we will apply principles of ‘anti-fragility’, including: optionality; complexity; and variety in order to reverse the aging process and restore youth – first in our attitude, then in our breath, then in our movements, and over time, in our body.
1 – 4pm
Integrating the Breath into Asana Practice
When we move as deep into a pose as we can the breath is sacrificed. Overtime we develop poor breathing habits in these poses. When you experience the difference that a breath centered practice makes you will never want to go back. Learn how to use all 8 areas of your lungs in different combinations to support your breath. Then explore how to emphasize different combinations to breath in each different pose, and during transitions.
9am – 12pm
Yoga Asana and Pranayama for the Endocrine System
One of the things that distinguishes yoga from most Western exercise programs, is Yoga’s emphasis on the health of the endocrine system. In this workshop we will explore how our thinking, breathing, posture and asana practice can affect the endocrine system. We will touch lightly on the interaction of the nervous system and the endocrine system, with subtle energy.
1 – 4pm
Yoga and Altered States of Consciousness
This workshop delves into lesser known practices from a variety of less well known styles of yoga including Kriya Yoga. These include eye exercises, perception training, paradigm shifting, visualization, and somatic yoga. Some students call this ‘Spacey/Floaty’ yoga! Come experience for yourself the power of meditative movement and concentration to slow down the frequency of the mind and lead to altered states of perception.
Location:
Morning Glory Yoga Studios
207 East Main St
Nacogdoches, TX. 75961
Charles F. MacInerney, E-RYT-500, has practiced Yoga since 1971. He is known for his fun and playful teaching style as he leads students into a deeper understanding and appreciation for yoga. Charles is a gifted generalist and as one studio owner put it, “the most out-of-the-box thinker that I know.” He started teaching full time in 1989. He is a pioneer in laying the foundation for Yoga’s growing popularity in Texas. In the early 1990’s he was the first Yoga teacher in Central Texas to bring yoga into schools (A.I.S.D. & E.I.S.D), 4 universities including the University of Texas where he worked with students, faculty, administration, dormitories, Women’s Athletic Program (Track, Gold and Volleyball teams), and Departments of Dance, Music, Kinesiology.
He introduced yoga to four hospitals and set up two Cardiac Yoga Programs (Seton Hospital and The Austin Heart Hospital). Charles also led the way in bringing yoga into the workplace. His clients include numerous Government Agencies, IBM, Motorola, Apple, 3M, and Sematech. He teaches ongoing yoga classes in Austin, offers yoga workshops at studios around the country, and leads Yoga & Meditation Retreats as well as Yoga & Writing Retreats throughout the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala. He is the founder of Expanding Paradigms through which he regularly presents at National and International Conferences. He has written articles for numerous magazines including the Yoga Journal. In 2014 he presented at the International Association of Yoga Therapy conference in 2014.
Charles is also the Founder of the Free Day of Yoga, Living Yoga Teacher Training Program, and the Texas Yoga Retreat. Please visit his primary website at www.YogaTeacher.com, contact him by email: [email protected], or call or text Charles at 512-459-2267.
Arrie will introduce various types and styles of meditation and contemplative practices including
Participants will be confident and comfortable practicing meditation on their own and participating in group meditations.
Gentle, Restorative, and Beginner classes are included (and encouraged) in the Meditation Foundation Course.
