Yoga On The Rock
Upcoming Courses/programs/Retreats –
for the New Year 2011, January-March.
Wellness Programs:
The Thirty (30) Day Challenge – Program commencing Wednesday January 5th thru to Wednesday February 16th. This program invites students to a 6 week (45 day) membership to practice 30 days of yoga in a 45 day cycle. The cost of these classes are drastically reduced from our regular class prices to just $10 per session. Classes include Yoga On The Rock classes, The Yoga Centre open classes (with Bill, Elaine, Frances and Joanne), Yoga with Sarah and /or Elaine and Living Yoga classes. Classes are held early morning, mid-morning, lunchtime and during the evening. The prices of these classes generally ranging from $15-$20 per class, all are being offered at $10 each.
Practicing yoga on a regular basis greatly benefits all the systems of the body. A simple backbend can tone the thymus and thereby improve endocrine health – our endocrine system when working well, helps balance out various hormones in the body; a shoulder stand can improve our circulatory system and standing poses our posture and therefore our skeletal system. One notices these changes instantly when practicing yoga. When practicing regularly or through a 30 day challenge initiative, health is noticeably improved and participants feel and look better.
All classes are taught by experienced, Yoga Alliance certified teachers, some with training in pre-natal yoga, restorative yoga and cardiac yoga ( as designed by well-known cardiologist, Dr. Dean Ornish).
Companies are encouraged to share this information with staff and/ or partner with those interested, to financially meet the challenge for the 30 days. We are open to any ideas you have of how this might work for your employees.
Workplace Wellness – Yoga On The Rock is offering Workplace Wellness Fridays to companies either exclusively for their staff, or by allowing employees to join workshops on particular scheduled dates available to all companies employees.
Workplace wellness is about managing stress in the workplace. It focuses on training to improve workplace relations and effectively managing conflict in the workplace. It encompasses keeping the body healthy through desk yoga techniques as well as yoga practice for daily life. Meditation techniques and tools to understand and focus the mind, right eating and individual wellness coaching, focusing on personal needs and goals, are part and parcel of this course. The date for the next general Workplace Wellness seminar is Friday, January 14th from 9:30am to 4:30pm.
Wellness- Body, Mind and Spirit – This is an 8 week wellness course designed to take participants through 8 weeks of yoga, meditation, healthy eating, spirituality and connectedness both with those in the community and the good earth. The aim of the course is to utilize group support and encouragement to motivate individual back to wellness regimes. A weekly report- card to chart successes and monitor habits that hold us back and prevent “wellbeing” living, as well as candid group discussions are mainstays of this course. The goal is for improved and healthier lifestyle choices for overall greater wellness and “purpose” – body, mind and spirit.
This course is held on Saturdays at 11:30am. Yoga stretching practiced at each class session. The next course commences Saturday, January 15th. Course price - $175
Yoga Classes:
“New" Bob Marley plus, Reggae Flow Class – New daytime vinyasa flow class-
This class will use the conscious soothing vibe of Bob Marley, Apache Indian, Collie Buddz and others in this morning and lunchtime flow yoga class designed to rock your soul, thighs and abs. A great way to get a good workout while enjoying the conscious beat. Monday 9:30am-11am or Friday 1:10pm-2pm.
“New” Early Morning Ease- Vinyasa Yoga – Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7:30-8:30am – Join in our new open yoga classes on M.W & F and get your early morning yoga workout to easy listening popular tunes to allow you to ease into your day on a good note and step before the real work begins. An easy but strong yoga class. Better than a cup of coffee! These classes commence Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Christ Centered Yoga Practice and Meditation – Early morning yoga commencing at 5:45am -7:20am, generally M,W & F ( held M-F during the 30 day challenge) –
This class now in its 6th year! continues to attract those early birds who wish to practice meditation and yoga early in the morning to jumpstart their day. This class is a Christ focused meditation class (5:50am-6:30am) and a 40 minute Christ focused spiritual music vinyasa flow commencing at 6:35-7:20am. A wonderful way to pray into your day and to set the tone for blessed assurance thereafter. Classes remain as always, $10 per class.
Meditation Courses:
Deepening Your Meditation II Course – A five week course commencing Tuesday, January 18th – Tuesday, February 15th at 7:30pm- 9:30pm .
Exploring the analytical mind, this course will raise awareness about the intricate nature of the mind and encourage a clearer understanding of the obstacles that impede effective meditation and contemplative living. Discernment in the Christian tradition, Jnana Yoga in the yogic tradition and shenpa and tonglen in the Buddhist tradition are some of the methods introduced and explored, so that we more clearly come to understand where the mind goes and what we can do to get it back to balance. This course is a 4-part program, with one additional week to provide for intro and wrap-up components. A pre-requisite is Deepening Your Meditation I course or special permission. A half-hour meditation will be practiced each session. Course Price - $100
Deepening Your Meditation Course (Basic) - Revised and Enhanced – An 8 week course (reduced from 10 weeks) with new and improved approaches and material concepts. Thursdays commencing January 13th at 7:30pm-9:00pm.
A comprehensive meditation course for those wanting a thorough introduction into meditation - theory and practice. This course looks at several meditation traditions and provides a basic template for practice, while introducing students to effective tools to help strengthen and deepen meditation. Good for all new beginners as well as seasoned meditators who need a boost to get serious and regular with their practice. A half-hour meditation will be practiced at each session. Course price - $150.
Teachers Training:
Yoga On The Rock – Teachers Training ( Basic 200hours) – Yoga Alliance Certified: Interview Sessions, January 2011.
Yoga on the Rock will commence its 2nd Yoga Teachers Training Course in March, 2011 and with this in mind, we are now preparing to interview those interested in taking this training.
The head teacher for this training is an experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 500 (E-RYT500) and therefore teachers trainees enrolled in this course will be eligible to register as a certified yoga teacher under yoga alliance.
As the course training is rigorous and demands a full commitment from those interested in participating, we ask that those interested to please email jewohlmuth@logic.bm for an interview session in commencement of the acceptance and enrollment process. These interviews are conducted during the month of January only.
Yoga On The Rock – One Day Retreats:
Sunday, January 16th – One Day “Justice Yoga” One Day Retreat- (9:30am-4:30pm)
This one day silent yoga retreat honoring the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will focus on the teaching of Dr. King, Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Thich Nhat Khan and other great guides and justice and peace spiritual leaders. The retreat is intended to inspire and call to action a focus on our own path in support of the cause for justice and peace in our world. Meditation, yoga, pranayama and other yoga retreat standards will interlace the teachings to make for a day of reflection and opening to a New Day, new cause and new beginning for making the world a better place in which to live. The cost of the retreat is $65 which includes breakfast, lunch and snack as well as several yoga sessions. Early registration recommended. Spaces are limited and are on a first come first serve basis.
Sunday, March 6th – One Day Yoga -Lenten Retreat Day – (9:30am-4:30pm)
In commencement of the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday- March 9th) this one day Lenten, Christ focused yoga retreat will have at the heart of its practice Christ focused yoga and meditation and inspired teachings for spiritual Christian living, geared to prepare us for the Lenten Season ahead. Meditation, yoga, pranayama and other yoga retreat standards will interlace Christian Spirituality geared to prepare us for Eastertide. The cost of the retreat is $65 which includes breakfast, lunch and snack and the various yoga sessions through the day. Early registration recommended. Spaces are limited and are on a first come first serve basis.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Yoga and Preventive Health Care
These were comments sent to the Bermuda Health Council about yoga's contribution to preventive health care in our Bermuda community.
Bermuda Health Insurance Report 2010 – Bermuda Health Council
( Comments – As invited)
By Joanne Wohlmuth (August 30, 2010)
Overview: I decided to send my comments on the above mentioned report for a number of reasons. I read glimpses of Dr. Astride-Stirling’s remarks over the recent months in the Royal Gazette, and have been very interested about many of the issues and concerns about public heath care that have been raised. I am keenly interested in health and wellness and social sustainability as it relates to health in our Bermuda community and, operate and co-manage a wellness center (The Yoga Centre) in our Bermuda community, and have done so for the past 16 years. I strongly believe in and advocate wellness as a way forward to improve the overall health and wellbeing of my students (particularly as we age) and feel that in our wider Bermuda community, the only way to improve health and cut cost for rising healthcare effectively is to begin educating community members about the importance of preventive medicine and wellness.
In addition to running a wellness center which operates as a not-for-profit organization, I have been self-employed for the past 10 years as an OD consultant and trainer. Notwithstanding, I continue also to work part-time, which restricts putting my energies into what I really want to do, because I simply cannot afford the health insurance. I work part-time in a charitable organization for a minimal wage, just to cover my health insurance, while I continue to try to make a living, doing my “real” work on the side. At this charitable organization, they have never in the past 6 years been able to give me a raise in pay other than a cost of living wage which I have received only in the past three years. This however, because of the increased cost of health care, has diminished my salary over the years, not increased it!
As I get older I see myself working not for a living, or for enjoyment in what I do, but to pay for continued protection through healthcare insurance. I wish that my situation were unique, and if it were, I probably would not be so keen to offer my comments. But it is not. My voice also echoes the sentiments of many aging persons in Bermuda at the expected end stage of their work careers. Hence I share my comments, add my voice, and advocate, for those do not, cannot, or will not, speak out also. Something has to be done to reverse the tide of rising health insurance costs, for the insured or those who would be insured in our Bermuda community, if we are to remain as a thriving community in which to live!
Wellness and the Bermuda Community
To begin with, in your points # 21 and #22 you state, “The leading causes of death on the island are associated with chronic, non-communicable diseases. Chief among them are circulatory system diseases, which include atherosclerosis, congestive heart failure, hypertension and peripheral vascular disease, among others. Circulatory system diseases were responsible for 47% of all deaths in 2007. Lifestyle factors are poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, and high levels of alcohol consumption contribute to the incidence of these conditions.
Circulatory system diseases, along with cancers, diseases of the respiratory system and other chronic non-communicable diseases are anticipated to drive and intensify health system utilization and expenditure over the next decade. The management of chronic diseases requires integrated services from preventive care, to primary care, to hospitalization. This has two implications for Bermuda’s health system. First, it challenges the degree to which the standard hospital benefit package can adequately meet the basic healthcare needs for the population. Second, it requires a financially strong and well functioning health insurance system that treats all strata of the population fairly and equally.”
While I agree with and support your points #21 & #22, I’d like to expound upon the point about ‘preventative medicine’. Insurance companies and the companies/organizations that they serve and health care professionals, need to be encouraged to look at lifestyle management, preventive medicine and wellness as the best way to keep cost down and change the tide of rising health care in our western world. Hence companies that are prepared to invest in educating the community about preventive health care; insurance companies that are willing to partner with health and wellness centers and professionals to keep clients well; insurers who invest in seriously changing the tide in community health, by partnering with organizations like our yoga centre, should be applauded.
It is not good enough for doctors to just write prescriptions and request expensive testing. It is a proven fact that preventive approaches to healthcare that encourage insurance companies and the companies they serve (as well as healthcare professionals) to develop programs and/or liaise with wellness professionals, to educate clients to be more responsible about their health and to make quality health choices and significant lifestyle changes (if possible) before the damage occurs, is the most conscientious way to effectively bring down healthcare costs in the main, by avoiding them in the first place.
Bermuda, as per your report, has a population with 64% of its residents obese or overweight, 14% living with Type 2 ( I’m presuming) diabetes, a community where the leading cost of death is circulatory system diseases, for nearly half of its population. Our community is clearly one that has exorbitant health costs primarily due to poor lifestyle choices, which makes it a whole community issue, not just one for the insurance companies. From an article in John Hopkins Magazine, winter 2009, the writer Rich Shea makes reference to an article by Dr. Bernard Guyer, entitled “The Embarrassment of Riches”, in which he (Guyer) says, “the forces that shape the health of our population are not just medical but social, environmental, economic, political and cultural as well..” Guyer is also quoted , in the Shea article ( The Long View) , saying
“ Most of what goes on around adult chronic disease in health care is contemporary….Treatment, which often includes expensive medicines, caters to the patient after he or she has contracted a disease (this) costs a society a huge amount of money.”
Also on the Preventive Medical Research Institute website, the institute headed by leading cardiologist Dean Ornish - an ardent proponent of a lifestyle approach to health care and a cardiologist known for his work in reversing heart disease - this website states…
“we reported changes in gene expression in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2008 (Dr. J. Craig Venter was the communicating editor). In that study, we found that changing lifestyle changes genes. After only three months, over 500 genes were beneficially affected—up regulating (“turning on”) disease-preventing genes, and down regulating (“turning off”) genes that promote cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and other illnesses. This is the first time that comprehensive lifestyle changes have been shown to beneficially affect gene expression in men with prostate cancer.”
What I am suggesting here is a greater emphasis on the importance of the management and promotion of wellness and preventive health care as an incentive and a premium way to measure and bring down the cost of health care in Bermuda. If more emphasis were put here, more insurance companies and workplace organizations would be ( I believe) more creative, more innovative and more inclined to partner with organizations like ours for better health care and wellness for their organizations, clients and staff . At present the major scope for insurance companies and workplace organizations when it comes to wellness, is a focus heavily on and geared more toward fitness and massage while more widely used approaches are either ignored or shunned. Preventive approaches like yoga, meditation, deep relaxation, nutrition and healthy relationship building (conflict resolution) as well, are also known to bring about major successes in stress management, healing and wellness, and are proven to be most effective and in lowering the tide of rising health care costs, and should be more seriously considered.
As wellness professionals our center has approached Colonial Insurance and Argus as well as the Cardiac Centre at the hospital about the use of some of these approaches for clients. As highly trained professionals with full accreditation for the work that we do, in particular certification in Dean Ornish’s Cardiac Yoga Training, yoga therapy training; extensive training in breathing exercises, the relaxation response, nutrition, conflict management and various other stress management techniques, we get invited into companies to do Lunch and Learns, but other than that, as professionals, we are being completely underutilized and undervalued in providing assistance to insurance companies and corporations, in this regard!
Notwithstanding, ironically, our centre has been an avenue for improved health and wellness of many persons in the Bermuda community over the past 16 years and has a number of faithful students who come to us, even when they cannot get support for our services through their organizations or insurance claims.
The techniques we offer are integral to most other wellness and preventive health programs abroad, why not here in Bermuda? Just recently a friend returned from Boston General from an operation for breast cancer. Ten days prior to the operation, she was given a Relaxation Response CD to listen to, to minimize the amount of medication she would need and also to accelerate healing. If these practices are honored in other major cities, namely the U.S. to help curb rising health costs, why not here in Bermuda?
I can and will make my plea again to the insurance companies, and to Corporate Bermuda, about the need to consider the services that we have to offer, in their wellness programs if they seriously hope to change the tide of rising health care costs in Bermuda. We would appreciate your support as well.
Healthcare for ageing adults/Self-employment
Secondly, I remember when my husband and I attempted to get house insurance for the home that we own when upgrades were done. I clearly remember that day, as a healthy woman in my early fifties at the time, who exercised regularly, who did not smoke, who was and had been a vegetarian for 25 years and who maintained a well disciplined diet, who drank only wine on occasion and who was an advocate and example of healthy living and had been for the last 30 years, who had never spent time in the hospital other than to deliver two babies, and yet, I was refused this insurance to protect my house! The reason being, my pre-existing health condition (hereditary hypertension, diagnosed at 50) albeit controlled through medication.
I was floored by this company’s response. I said to them, ‘so do you mean if I came in here and was a little younger and had an unhealthy lifestyle, which you as insurers know might lead to a heart attack or stroke or if I were obese and did not exercise or eat right, and if I led a risqué lifestyle, would I than be eligible, if not for the hypertension, albeit controlled? And they, said. “Yes”!’ I was floored again. With this experience in mind, I am happy to know that the Bermuda Health Council is advocating that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions and that this kind of discrimination cannot happen in insurance companies or corporations when people need it most.
For about one year during the past 10 years I was fully self-employed, however because of the need to have health insurance and knowing that it was not possible to maintain healthcare and grow a business at the same time, I was forced to return to part-time employment to secure my health care protection. I found, realizing that I could not do both, that to maintain consistent health care and grow a business as a self-employed person, trying to get started, is extremely difficult to do in our society. I found it a huge risk, and for a period, like many others who have found themselves in similar positions, I was without protective health care as a self-employed person. Hence, I truly appreciate the consideration to protect self-employed persons in Bermuda, when it comes to health care; appreciating how difficult it can be for the average person in Bermuda who is self-employed, to maintain health insurance. The fact that our management team at the Yoga Centre runs a none-for-profit organization, where we serve the public without payment to ourselves is attributed to the fact that it has never been affordable to do otherwise. This however has an overall effect on our centre’s ability to growth and to remain in operation.
Finally, despite my eagerness to side with your council with your motivating insights and proposals, I still believe that with the infrastructure of Big Business and Insurance Companies, whatever regulations you impose, when all is said and done, it will be the consumer, the customer and/or the patient who will pay and who will be most disadvantaged. So how the Council works out these fine details, it shall be interesting to observe. The last amendment where the patient now pays up front has a huge negative impact on the average person who requires healthcare, such that now (because of lack of funds to pay up front) many members of the community are just not bothering to go to take care of their health needs. This is tragic!
Finally, I believe the report is a valuable and an important contribution for the improvement of public health in Bermuda. However if everyone is to truly benefit from these insights, everyone needs to feel involved, be made to be responsible; and, encouraged to do their share to help lower rising healthcare costs in Bermuda. So I do hope a healthcare/wellness conference will be a future endeavor of the Council, to educate the Bermuda community, and rally them to your cause.
Many thanks for this opportunity to share.
Sincerely,
Joanne Wohlmuth MA, E-RYT -500, Certified Mediator (workplace, family and spiritual institutions)
Bermuda Health Insurance Report 2010 – Bermuda Health Council
( Comments – As invited)
By Joanne Wohlmuth (August 30, 2010)
Overview: I decided to send my comments on the above mentioned report for a number of reasons. I read glimpses of Dr. Astride-Stirling’s remarks over the recent months in the Royal Gazette, and have been very interested about many of the issues and concerns about public heath care that have been raised. I am keenly interested in health and wellness and social sustainability as it relates to health in our Bermuda community and, operate and co-manage a wellness center (The Yoga Centre) in our Bermuda community, and have done so for the past 16 years. I strongly believe in and advocate wellness as a way forward to improve the overall health and wellbeing of my students (particularly as we age) and feel that in our wider Bermuda community, the only way to improve health and cut cost for rising healthcare effectively is to begin educating community members about the importance of preventive medicine and wellness.
In addition to running a wellness center which operates as a not-for-profit organization, I have been self-employed for the past 10 years as an OD consultant and trainer. Notwithstanding, I continue also to work part-time, which restricts putting my energies into what I really want to do, because I simply cannot afford the health insurance. I work part-time in a charitable organization for a minimal wage, just to cover my health insurance, while I continue to try to make a living, doing my “real” work on the side. At this charitable organization, they have never in the past 6 years been able to give me a raise in pay other than a cost of living wage which I have received only in the past three years. This however, because of the increased cost of health care, has diminished my salary over the years, not increased it!
As I get older I see myself working not for a living, or for enjoyment in what I do, but to pay for continued protection through healthcare insurance. I wish that my situation were unique, and if it were, I probably would not be so keen to offer my comments. But it is not. My voice also echoes the sentiments of many aging persons in Bermuda at the expected end stage of their work careers. Hence I share my comments, add my voice, and advocate, for those do not, cannot, or will not, speak out also. Something has to be done to reverse the tide of rising health insurance costs, for the insured or those who would be insured in our Bermuda community, if we are to remain as a thriving community in which to live!
Wellness and the Bermuda Community
To begin with, in your points # 21 and #22 you state, “The leading causes of death on the island are associated with chronic, non-communicable diseases. Chief among them are circulatory system diseases, which include atherosclerosis, congestive heart failure, hypertension and peripheral vascular disease, among others. Circulatory system diseases were responsible for 47% of all deaths in 2007. Lifestyle factors are poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, and high levels of alcohol consumption contribute to the incidence of these conditions.
Circulatory system diseases, along with cancers, diseases of the respiratory system and other chronic non-communicable diseases are anticipated to drive and intensify health system utilization and expenditure over the next decade. The management of chronic diseases requires integrated services from preventive care, to primary care, to hospitalization. This has two implications for Bermuda’s health system. First, it challenges the degree to which the standard hospital benefit package can adequately meet the basic healthcare needs for the population. Second, it requires a financially strong and well functioning health insurance system that treats all strata of the population fairly and equally.”
While I agree with and support your points #21 & #22, I’d like to expound upon the point about ‘preventative medicine’. Insurance companies and the companies/organizations that they serve and health care professionals, need to be encouraged to look at lifestyle management, preventive medicine and wellness as the best way to keep cost down and change the tide of rising health care in our western world. Hence companies that are prepared to invest in educating the community about preventive health care; insurance companies that are willing to partner with health and wellness centers and professionals to keep clients well; insurers who invest in seriously changing the tide in community health, by partnering with organizations like our yoga centre, should be applauded.
It is not good enough for doctors to just write prescriptions and request expensive testing. It is a proven fact that preventive approaches to healthcare that encourage insurance companies and the companies they serve (as well as healthcare professionals) to develop programs and/or liaise with wellness professionals, to educate clients to be more responsible about their health and to make quality health choices and significant lifestyle changes (if possible) before the damage occurs, is the most conscientious way to effectively bring down healthcare costs in the main, by avoiding them in the first place.
Bermuda, as per your report, has a population with 64% of its residents obese or overweight, 14% living with Type 2 ( I’m presuming) diabetes, a community where the leading cost of death is circulatory system diseases, for nearly half of its population. Our community is clearly one that has exorbitant health costs primarily due to poor lifestyle choices, which makes it a whole community issue, not just one for the insurance companies. From an article in John Hopkins Magazine, winter 2009, the writer Rich Shea makes reference to an article by Dr. Bernard Guyer, entitled “The Embarrassment of Riches”, in which he (Guyer) says, “the forces that shape the health of our population are not just medical but social, environmental, economic, political and cultural as well..” Guyer is also quoted , in the Shea article ( The Long View) , saying
“ Most of what goes on around adult chronic disease in health care is contemporary….Treatment, which often includes expensive medicines, caters to the patient after he or she has contracted a disease (this) costs a society a huge amount of money.”
Also on the Preventive Medical Research Institute website, the institute headed by leading cardiologist Dean Ornish - an ardent proponent of a lifestyle approach to health care and a cardiologist known for his work in reversing heart disease - this website states…
“we reported changes in gene expression in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2008 (Dr. J. Craig Venter was the communicating editor). In that study, we found that changing lifestyle changes genes. After only three months, over 500 genes were beneficially affected—up regulating (“turning on”) disease-preventing genes, and down regulating (“turning off”) genes that promote cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and other illnesses. This is the first time that comprehensive lifestyle changes have been shown to beneficially affect gene expression in men with prostate cancer.”
What I am suggesting here is a greater emphasis on the importance of the management and promotion of wellness and preventive health care as an incentive and a premium way to measure and bring down the cost of health care in Bermuda. If more emphasis were put here, more insurance companies and workplace organizations would be ( I believe) more creative, more innovative and more inclined to partner with organizations like ours for better health care and wellness for their organizations, clients and staff . At present the major scope for insurance companies and workplace organizations when it comes to wellness, is a focus heavily on and geared more toward fitness and massage while more widely used approaches are either ignored or shunned. Preventive approaches like yoga, meditation, deep relaxation, nutrition and healthy relationship building (conflict resolution) as well, are also known to bring about major successes in stress management, healing and wellness, and are proven to be most effective and in lowering the tide of rising health care costs, and should be more seriously considered.
As wellness professionals our center has approached Colonial Insurance and Argus as well as the Cardiac Centre at the hospital about the use of some of these approaches for clients. As highly trained professionals with full accreditation for the work that we do, in particular certification in Dean Ornish’s Cardiac Yoga Training, yoga therapy training; extensive training in breathing exercises, the relaxation response, nutrition, conflict management and various other stress management techniques, we get invited into companies to do Lunch and Learns, but other than that, as professionals, we are being completely underutilized and undervalued in providing assistance to insurance companies and corporations, in this regard!
Notwithstanding, ironically, our centre has been an avenue for improved health and wellness of many persons in the Bermuda community over the past 16 years and has a number of faithful students who come to us, even when they cannot get support for our services through their organizations or insurance claims.
The techniques we offer are integral to most other wellness and preventive health programs abroad, why not here in Bermuda? Just recently a friend returned from Boston General from an operation for breast cancer. Ten days prior to the operation, she was given a Relaxation Response CD to listen to, to minimize the amount of medication she would need and also to accelerate healing. If these practices are honored in other major cities, namely the U.S. to help curb rising health costs, why not here in Bermuda?
I can and will make my plea again to the insurance companies, and to Corporate Bermuda, about the need to consider the services that we have to offer, in their wellness programs if they seriously hope to change the tide of rising health care costs in Bermuda. We would appreciate your support as well.
Healthcare for ageing adults/Self-employment
Secondly, I remember when my husband and I attempted to get house insurance for the home that we own when upgrades were done. I clearly remember that day, as a healthy woman in my early fifties at the time, who exercised regularly, who did not smoke, who was and had been a vegetarian for 25 years and who maintained a well disciplined diet, who drank only wine on occasion and who was an advocate and example of healthy living and had been for the last 30 years, who had never spent time in the hospital other than to deliver two babies, and yet, I was refused this insurance to protect my house! The reason being, my pre-existing health condition (hereditary hypertension, diagnosed at 50) albeit controlled through medication.
I was floored by this company’s response. I said to them, ‘so do you mean if I came in here and was a little younger and had an unhealthy lifestyle, which you as insurers know might lead to a heart attack or stroke or if I were obese and did not exercise or eat right, and if I led a risqué lifestyle, would I than be eligible, if not for the hypertension, albeit controlled? And they, said. “Yes”!’ I was floored again. With this experience in mind, I am happy to know that the Bermuda Health Council is advocating that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions and that this kind of discrimination cannot happen in insurance companies or corporations when people need it most.
For about one year during the past 10 years I was fully self-employed, however because of the need to have health insurance and knowing that it was not possible to maintain healthcare and grow a business at the same time, I was forced to return to part-time employment to secure my health care protection. I found, realizing that I could not do both, that to maintain consistent health care and grow a business as a self-employed person, trying to get started, is extremely difficult to do in our society. I found it a huge risk, and for a period, like many others who have found themselves in similar positions, I was without protective health care as a self-employed person. Hence, I truly appreciate the consideration to protect self-employed persons in Bermuda, when it comes to health care; appreciating how difficult it can be for the average person in Bermuda who is self-employed, to maintain health insurance. The fact that our management team at the Yoga Centre runs a none-for-profit organization, where we serve the public without payment to ourselves is attributed to the fact that it has never been affordable to do otherwise. This however has an overall effect on our centre’s ability to growth and to remain in operation.
Finally, despite my eagerness to side with your council with your motivating insights and proposals, I still believe that with the infrastructure of Big Business and Insurance Companies, whatever regulations you impose, when all is said and done, it will be the consumer, the customer and/or the patient who will pay and who will be most disadvantaged. So how the Council works out these fine details, it shall be interesting to observe. The last amendment where the patient now pays up front has a huge negative impact on the average person who requires healthcare, such that now (because of lack of funds to pay up front) many members of the community are just not bothering to go to take care of their health needs. This is tragic!
Finally, I believe the report is a valuable and an important contribution for the improvement of public health in Bermuda. However if everyone is to truly benefit from these insights, everyone needs to feel involved, be made to be responsible; and, encouraged to do their share to help lower rising healthcare costs in Bermuda. So I do hope a healthcare/wellness conference will be a future endeavor of the Council, to educate the Bermuda community, and rally them to your cause.
Many thanks for this opportunity to share.
Sincerely,
Joanne Wohlmuth MA, E-RYT -500, Certified Mediator (workplace, family and spiritual institutions)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Course Date Changes - Blame it on Igor!!
The start dates for the following courses have now shifted. These new dates are as follows:
Basic Meditation - Commences Thursday, October 7th at 7:30pm
Meditation II - Commences Friday, October 8th at 7:00pm
Wellness over 50 - Commences Saturday, October 9th at 11:30am.
Please feel free to leave a comment, ask a question or send a personal email to jewohlmuth@logic.bm
Basic Meditation - Commences Thursday, October 7th at 7:30pm
Meditation II - Commences Friday, October 8th at 7:00pm
Wellness over 50 - Commences Saturday, October 9th at 11:30am.
Please feel free to leave a comment, ask a question or send a personal email to jewohlmuth@logic.bm
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Upcoming Courses/ Programs for Fall
The summer season is almost over, as the earth cools down for us and the welcoming and gentle fall breezes begin to blow. As nature has it we are probably preparing to hurry back from summer vacation to begin work on the Rock again in earnest. Here are some courses that might peak your interest to get you started back in the mood and perhaps,keep the stress at bay and a joie de vivre for the season ahead. All Yoga On The Rock courses held at The Yoga Centre, Victoria Street.
Wellness Over 50 - Body, Mind & Spirit - This 8 week yoga and wellness course will take you through 8 weeks of yoga, meditation, healthy eating, spiritually and connectedness both with those around you, and the good earth. The aim of the course is to utilize group support and encouragement to motivate your back- to -wellness regime. A weekly report card to chart successes and monitor habits that continue to hold us back and prevent "wellbeing" living, and group discussions, are an integral part of this course. The goal is for improvement toward healthier lifestyle choices and an overall greater sense of wellness and "purpose" focus - body, mind and spirit. Life, at any age, put in particular over 50, is truly worth living, to the fullest!! Commencing Saturday, September 25, 11:30-1pm.
Deepening Your Meditation Course - Commences Thursday, September 23 7:30-9:30pm . A comprehensive meditation course for those wanting a thorough introduction into meditation - theory and practice. This course looks at several meditation traditions and provides a basic template for practice, while introducing students to effective tools to help strengthen and deepen meditation. Good for all new beginners as well as seasoned meditators who need a boost to get serious and regular with their practice.
Deepening Your Meditation II Course - Part 1 - Friday September 24, 7-9:30pm. Exploring the analytical mind, this course will raise awareness about the intricate nature of the mind and encourage a clearer understanding of the obstacles that impede effective meditation and contemplative living. Discernment in the Christian tradition, Jnana Yoga in the yogic tradition and shenpa and tonglen in the Buddhist tradition are some of the methods introduced and explored, so that we more clearly come to understand where the mind goes and what we can do to get it back to balance. The course is a 4-part program, other Friday dates to be determined by student/teacher schedules with a 2 month window for course completion. Prerequisite -Deepening Your Meditation course - basic.
Wellness Over 50 - Body, Mind & Spirit - This 8 week yoga and wellness course will take you through 8 weeks of yoga, meditation, healthy eating, spiritually and connectedness both with those around you, and the good earth. The aim of the course is to utilize group support and encouragement to motivate your back- to -wellness regime. A weekly report card to chart successes and monitor habits that continue to hold us back and prevent "wellbeing" living, and group discussions, are an integral part of this course. The goal is for improvement toward healthier lifestyle choices and an overall greater sense of wellness and "purpose" focus - body, mind and spirit. Life, at any age, put in particular over 50, is truly worth living, to the fullest!! Commencing Saturday, September 25, 11:30-1pm.
Deepening Your Meditation Course - Commences Thursday, September 23 7:30-9:30pm . A comprehensive meditation course for those wanting a thorough introduction into meditation - theory and practice. This course looks at several meditation traditions and provides a basic template for practice, while introducing students to effective tools to help strengthen and deepen meditation. Good for all new beginners as well as seasoned meditators who need a boost to get serious and regular with their practice.
Deepening Your Meditation II Course - Part 1 - Friday September 24, 7-9:30pm. Exploring the analytical mind, this course will raise awareness about the intricate nature of the mind and encourage a clearer understanding of the obstacles that impede effective meditation and contemplative living. Discernment in the Christian tradition, Jnana Yoga in the yogic tradition and shenpa and tonglen in the Buddhist tradition are some of the methods introduced and explored, so that we more clearly come to understand where the mind goes and what we can do to get it back to balance. The course is a 4-part program, other Friday dates to be determined by student/teacher schedules with a 2 month window for course completion. Prerequisite -Deepening Your Meditation course - basic.
Workplace Wellness – Friday October 1st, 9am-4:30pm.
Interested in wellness at work? Managing stress in the workplace, in particular working effectively with others, and learning to manage workplace conflict; keeping the body healthy through desk yoga techniques as well as yoga practice in daily life to help eliminate stress and improve health and wellness that cuts down on workplace fatigue, are just some of the tools learned in this most informative workplace wellness program. Also techniques for learning to focus – work more effectively with right and left brain workplace demands - and other simple meditation techniques; including healthy eating and wellness coaching focusing on personal needs assessments, will as well be incorporated in this course. Open to all, however specific workshops, tailored for specialized groups, are available on demand.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Between a Rock and a Soft Place
"Rock fever" is a term used in Bermuda when one has to go, split, disappear aka "get off the frigging rock!!" It can happen when the bookends of life in a community that is too small, too inquisitive, too proud and too unforgiving close in on us. So we (Bermudians) leave, on a jet plane, just for the hell of it; just to get off rock island.
To call "time out" when rock fever hits, is a very okay thing to do in Bermuda. Most Bermudians, even young adults and teens, understand the need to "go" when all is sizzling hot in this sultry climate environment. And we (most of us) do, more often than not. In an island community as small as Bermuda (65,000 residents) it is amazing how well traveled residents of this 22 square mile Rock in The Sun,really are. But what if we could not travel, what if we could not just up and leave? What if we had to stay and duke it out? How would we manage the rock fever then!!!
Learning to stay is not an easy thing to do in Bermuda or anywhere else. Of course, it is not that we stay that matters most, but how we stay, that makes all the difference. In yoga, trying to navigate oneself through a difficult place, requires that we learn how to stay but remembering that our approach is what makes all the difference. Practicing yoga, like working through the ups and downs of life, requires one of many important rules... learning how to balance between "Sthira" and "Sukha",how to maneuver our way between, not a rock and a rock, but between a rock and a soft place!
In the yogic tradition "sthira" means steadiness or firmess/rootedness or strength and "sukha" means softness or comfort/ pliability or flexibility. So when we talk about maintaining sthira and sukha we refer to the balance between strength and flexibility, between too hard and too soft or between giving too little and giving too much. In Patanjali's yoga sutras Book II SADHANA PADA #46 (The Yoga Sutras of Patanjalii by Sri Swami Satchidananda), Swaniji writes, "STHIRA SUKHAM ASANAM Asana is a steady, comfortable posture." He goes on to say, "Asana means the posture that brings comfort and steadiness. Any posture that brings this comfort and steadiness is an asana."
In The Essence of Yoga - Reflections of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Bernard Bouanchaud, the writer describes Book II Sutra #46 as, The posture is firm and soft. He goes on to write,
"...Firmness is the opposite of physical agitation(angamejayatva,1.31) and ease is the opposite of suffering (duhka, 131). Both, firmness and softness are physical and mental. They form a whole that corresponds to the state of equilibrium (sattva), without agitation (rajas) or apathy (tamas). No yoga posture is real unless these two qualities are present together-they are constituents of the posture."
In any given day in class, I am reminding students of this fine yoga principle. If a student is relying too much on their flexibility, I remind them to use or develop their strength, if a student is too stark, too strong in their body and mind, I remind them to surrender, let go, lean into their softer self. Not just in yoga, also dance, gymnastics, ice hokey, track,actually all sports or activity, I would argue, sthira and sukha is required. In the popular T.V. show, So You Think You Can Dance which I love to watch from time to time simply for this very same reason, they are constantly informing the participants, 'you have a nice style but you need to develop your technique, or you have great technique but you are not feeling the music, becoming the dance'...is this not Sthira and Sukha?
Yoga, as we know, is not something just practiced on the mat (although it may begin there). Taken off the mat and applied in the every day living, it is a way one becomes aware of his or her personality type and general modus operandi . When approaching a pose then carrying that knowledge outside and recalling it, through life's activities, one learns something about him or herself. Learning to cope, learning to balance oneself in life requires a similar balancing act, where all is not too hard, and not too soft but just right! Even Goldilocks knew about stikra and sukha!!
In this tiny little rock island in the sun Bermudians, back in the day, knew about this balance; or, when they lost it, they knew how to get it back. Today we are a different community. We are stronger (of sorts) and have gone from strength to strength, as they say; but we have lost our softness, our sweetness, our balance, hence our desperate need to flee the Rock every so often, just to let go, just to get back to balance. As a community we need to return to the drawing board and reexamine our wellness and health, and that of our neighbours. As individuals we need to return to the mat, or come to the mat and learn about sthira and sukha and finding that sweet spot, that fine balance between a rock and a soft place.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Sunshine, Blue Skies and Beaches…Why Yoga?
Bermuda is known for its sunny disposition, faultless blue skies and squeaky clean beaches, untouched by the oil spill in the Gulf, as we know it (right now). What Bermuda is not known for, is its stress.
“Bermuda is stressy!” say young folks, (usually under the age of 25) like my two girls.
Many visitors to our Island in The Sun always say, “Why do you need yoga with such sunny blue skies, such lovely beaches?” An obvious answer might be, “Why not?” And, the not so obvious one? Bermuda is hard work! Behind the well-put-together lady in pink, there is a lot of angst on the Rock, that will take more than a long visual drink of God’s lovely creation to dissolve.
As a vacation destination, it takes money to rendezvous in Bermuda; but also, it takes money to “live” here as well. There are no cheap meal tickets! People work hard (two or three or four jobs – or a four-rolled-into-one job) just to stay afloat. There is little time for the sun, less time for the beach; and blue skies are covered by cool air conditioned roofs, if we’re lucky, and if not, there’s a fan, but a roof overhead nonetheless! Despite what popular tourism ads may say, there is never enough time to “just be” outside or elsewhere, for too many locals (as we are called), too often.
So how do Bermudians and those fortunate enough to live and work on our Rock Island “paradise” relieve stress? Well, “Bermudians like to drink..” and eat, but mostly drink. And, sometimes we run, or walk or cruise along the island shores in boats (on weekends and holidays); and sometimes we do yoga.
Amid the stress of the decline in jobs, increase in cost of living, enhanced frustration and anger from the same old going on at the same time, for too long; and, growing violence and fear ( of what is and what undoubtedly will be for us in the future – if we keep on the same path); Bermudians who back in the day would smile, saunter and ease into their day and about their business, now jostle, kick or stamp to maneuver and take control from one day to the next. More so than ever before, many living in Bermuda are mentally stressed to the hilt, which too easily is transformed into a stiff (beyond the upper lip), painfully tight bodily posture and an overly defensive, over-charged mental attitude. As a consequence more and more people today, at least at our yoga studio, are taking to the floor on their mats, to work out their stuff, aka STRESS!!
Hatha Yoga Illustrated, by Martin Kirk, Brooke Boom and Daniel DiTuro says “Hatha Yoga can calm the mind, provide a gentle workout, or make you sweat. It can reduce your heart rate when you are stressed or elevate it by providing a vigorous workout. “
But hatha yoga, the physical aspect of yoga, according to classical yoga tradition, is more than just a workout. According to A.B. Mohan in Yoga for Body and Breath and Mind, it is about Personal Reintegration. Mohan says, “True personal reintegration encompasses all elements of our lives. Accordingly, the yogic approach is an integrated one, in which all aspects of one’s being will be touched…..These aspects include the body, breath, mind, food, the behavior of the senses, habits, society, and environment of the individual.”
Hatha Yoga, in its truest sense, can relieve the stress of pain and angst held in and pushed down and imbedded in our bones. The kind of stress, that Ronald Rolheiser intimates, does not go away when we go on vacation. In article Getting Down to Essentials, 2010 06-27, Rolheiser says “ The most tired and stressed part of us ‘does not’ get to go on vacation, ‘does not’ get to let go and relax, and ‘does not’ find itself warmed by wine and friends.” He ultimately prescribes “forgiveness” which is a whole other posting, but hatha yoga, also does help in getting to this bone deep stress.
In Yoga, the Body, Breath and Mind, Mohan also says, “The Broadest goal of your yoga practice is to reintegrate and clarify your vision…….In aiming to bring about personal reintegration, yoga is also about the pursuit of real freedom.”
Sunshine and lovely beaches can’t do that….they can only give us something to focus on, once the balance of what really matters, is already set.
Bermuda is known for its sunny disposition, faultless blue skies and squeaky clean beaches, untouched by the oil spill in the Gulf, as we know it (right now). What Bermuda is not known for, is its stress.
“Bermuda is stressy!” say young folks, (usually under the age of 25) like my two girls.
Many visitors to our Island in The Sun always say, “Why do you need yoga with such sunny blue skies, such lovely beaches?” An obvious answer might be, “Why not?” And, the not so obvious one? Bermuda is hard work! Behind the well-put-together lady in pink, there is a lot of angst on the Rock, that will take more than a long visual drink of God’s lovely creation to dissolve.
As a vacation destination, it takes money to rendezvous in Bermuda; but also, it takes money to “live” here as well. There are no cheap meal tickets! People work hard (two or three or four jobs – or a four-rolled-into-one job) just to stay afloat. There is little time for the sun, less time for the beach; and blue skies are covered by cool air conditioned roofs, if we’re lucky, and if not, there’s a fan, but a roof overhead nonetheless! Despite what popular tourism ads may say, there is never enough time to “just be” outside or elsewhere, for too many locals (as we are called), too often.
So how do Bermudians and those fortunate enough to live and work on our Rock Island “paradise” relieve stress? Well, “Bermudians like to drink..” and eat, but mostly drink. And, sometimes we run, or walk or cruise along the island shores in boats (on weekends and holidays); and sometimes we do yoga.
Amid the stress of the decline in jobs, increase in cost of living, enhanced frustration and anger from the same old going on at the same time, for too long; and, growing violence and fear ( of what is and what undoubtedly will be for us in the future – if we keep on the same path); Bermudians who back in the day would smile, saunter and ease into their day and about their business, now jostle, kick or stamp to maneuver and take control from one day to the next. More so than ever before, many living in Bermuda are mentally stressed to the hilt, which too easily is transformed into a stiff (beyond the upper lip), painfully tight bodily posture and an overly defensive, over-charged mental attitude. As a consequence more and more people today, at least at our yoga studio, are taking to the floor on their mats, to work out their stuff, aka STRESS!!
Hatha Yoga Illustrated, by Martin Kirk, Brooke Boom and Daniel DiTuro says “Hatha Yoga can calm the mind, provide a gentle workout, or make you sweat. It can reduce your heart rate when you are stressed or elevate it by providing a vigorous workout. “
But hatha yoga, the physical aspect of yoga, according to classical yoga tradition, is more than just a workout. According to A.B. Mohan in Yoga for Body and Breath and Mind, it is about Personal Reintegration. Mohan says, “True personal reintegration encompasses all elements of our lives. Accordingly, the yogic approach is an integrated one, in which all aspects of one’s being will be touched…..These aspects include the body, breath, mind, food, the behavior of the senses, habits, society, and environment of the individual.”
Hatha Yoga, in its truest sense, can relieve the stress of pain and angst held in and pushed down and imbedded in our bones. The kind of stress, that Ronald Rolheiser intimates, does not go away when we go on vacation. In article Getting Down to Essentials, 2010 06-27, Rolheiser says “ The most tired and stressed part of us ‘does not’ get to go on vacation, ‘does not’ get to let go and relax, and ‘does not’ find itself warmed by wine and friends.” He ultimately prescribes “forgiveness” which is a whole other posting, but hatha yoga, also does help in getting to this bone deep stress.
In Yoga, the Body, Breath and Mind, Mohan also says, “The Broadest goal of your yoga practice is to reintegrate and clarify your vision…….In aiming to bring about personal reintegration, yoga is also about the pursuit of real freedom.”
Sunshine and lovely beaches can’t do that….they can only give us something to focus on, once the balance of what really matters, is already set.
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