“More than just a traditional yoga class”

One thing is always the same come the new year - resolutions. People want to be healthy and have positive changes and Yoga Highlands has some recommendations on becoming a better version of yourself.

Yoga Highlands rebuilt its new studio in 2020 and is beginning its 18th business year in Highlands.

Owners of Yoga Highlands, Chad Garner and Ashby Underwood, said yoga is good for health and empowers individuals.

“People are seeking a foothold for positive change in 2022,” Underwood said. “Since yoga is an education system for learning to listen to your body, it empowers you to handle many physical and mental stressors on your own.  It’s good for your health and a lot of us have developed some poor habits during the pandemic, one of which is becoming used to isolation.  A yoga class puts you in touch with a community that inspires you.”

There are several positive effects in just one yoga class, according to Underwood.

“The hallmarks of even one yoga class are improved immune function, better flexibility and agility, increased breath capacity, a clear and focused mind, deeper sleep, decreased anxiety,” Underwood said. “How we move is how we do anything.  This teaching style is easy on the body, energetic, and balancing for the spine and joints.  We may ask you to move slowly and to feel, not to push or strain.”

Yoga Highlands offers more than just a traditional yoga class.

Underwood said they offer several things that incorporate holistic healing.

“We offer training in Healing with Traditional Foods, Lifestyle Balance, Contemporary Pilates, Core Awareness, Breathwork, Meditation and Retreats,” Underwood said. “We teach about nourishment in winter. After the holidays, people are looking to feel lighter, shed weight, and to feel better inside.  Body image is key. We teach about food as medicine and how improving digestion can improve immune function and increase daily energy levels.”

One difference with Yoga Highlands that may be different from other yoga studios is that Garner and Underwood have specialized in the Ida P. Rolf Method of Structural Integration.

“The Ida P. Rolf Method of Structural Integration is a manual therapy that specializes in whole body alignment of an individual balanced within the field of gravity,” Underwood said. “We found this work through healing the back pain which halted our fun as athletes. We both tried different types of therapies, and Structural Integration worked to get us out of pain when nothing else did. It was efficient and effective. We both liked the interactive nature of the sessions themselves. We now have clients that drive into Highlands to receive sessions.”

Dr. Rolf practiced for nearly 40 years before she found an audience willing to learn her craft as a trade. In the late 1960’s scientists and psychologists began to validate that the state of the physical body could affect a person’s mental state.

“Dr. Rolf was the first woman to receive a PhD in Biochemistry in 1918 and a degree in Atomic Physics and Mathematics in 1921,” Underwood said. “On a horse packing trip into Yellowstone in 1923 she was kicked in the chest by a horse and developed pneumonia. She had to be taken to an Osteopath in Billings, MT and ‘after his ministrations to my ribs the symptoms went away.’ Dr. Rolf developed this holistic osteopathic bodywork from science and her experience.”

Being at the elevation that Highlands is, Underwood said it is an invitation for optimal health.

“We all hope to be agile and hearty into our old age no matter where we live,” Underwood said. “In Highlands, there is absolutely an invitation for optimal health by engaging the outdoors, farm sourcing, bodywork, meditation and yoga- we complete your mountain lifestyle.

When clients move here from living at sea level there may be awkward adjustments initially with sinus pressure and oxygen capacity.  All of the things we teach are adaptive and tonifying. We have an abundance of opportunity in the mountains to stretch out our legs on a trail or to sit quietly with a view. And even better to do those things without pain and with ease.”

People can call the studio 828-526-8880 or go to Yoga Highlands’ website, www.yogahighlands.com, to find out more about their winter classes and private sessions.

- By Christopher Lugo