Looking forward to seeing you soon in our studio,

                                            Deborah Harris
Studio Owner

CLASSES COME &
    CLASSES GO -    September Schedule Changes

A fully updated schedule is attached to this email or it can be downloaded here. 

These classes are no longer active:

• Monday morning Yoga Class with Sky from 9:30 to 10:45AM

• Thursday morning Yoga Class 9:30 to 10:45AM, (Gillian) 

• Thursday Tower Classes:
  Thursdays 8:30-9:30AM (Gillian)
  Thursdays 6-7 PM with Tara

A number of new classes will now be available to you:

• NEW Pilates Tower Classes
      Wednesdays 6-7 PM with Tara

• NEW Pilates Tower Classes
      Thursdays 1-2PM with Kathy

• NEW Moving Meditative Yoga
      Thursdays 10:00-11:15AM
      with Swapna

• NEW "Hip Opener" Workshop
  September 18th, 7-8:15 PM

• TIME CHANGE Friday morning Tower class moves its starting time to 9AM (instead of 9:30AM)

A number of workshops will be starting anew or continuing in September. We are now starting or continuing registration for these special workshops:

• Prenatal Yoga Workshop
     Mondays 6:00-7:00PM
     Aug 28th - Oct 2nd

• Prenatal Yoga Workshop
     Wednesdays 5:45-6:45PM
     Aug 30th - Oct 4th

• Budokon Bootcamp Workshop
     Tuesdays 9:00-10:15 AM
     Aug 15th - Sept 19th

• Budokon Bootcamp Workshop
     Thursdays 6:00-7:00 PM
     Sept 14th - Oct 19th

To reserve your spot in these space-limited classes, please drop off your check for $150 as soon as possible.

FITNESS FUSION
By KAREN IRIS TUCKER
Correspondent for The Courier News

On the surface, Budokon, a fitness program that blends yoga, martial arts and meditation, might seem just another fitness fad. Embraced seven years ago by exceedingly toned glitterati such as Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox, it's now making its way to us plebes via neighborhood gyms around the country.

Budokon, however, is not to be confused with general workout routines like Tai-Bo, according to its originator, Cameron Shayne.

"It's an art form and a way to explore working with your body and mind in a unique way."

Shayne, 34, who has studied martial arts and yoga extensively, beginning instruction at age 12 with the traditional Korean art of MooDuKwon, created Budokon as a way to wed the two disciplines.

"Martial arts is a very rapid-speed movement that requires strength, agility and power," said Kancho (the title of founder in Japanese) Shayne, theorizing that if you were to slow martial arts down, it might look like yoga.

For Shayne's own training, he found there weren't enough techniques in the body of hatha yoga to accommodate all of the many aspects of martial arts. "So, I needed to create new postures that were more reflective of martial-arts techniques."

Thus, Budokon, or "the way of the spiritual warrior" in Japanese, was born. Shayne bases his system on four key components -- mind, power, body and spirit -- and toward the goals of developing character, discipline, honor and self-mastery.

The North Carolina-bred Shayne, now a Los Angeles transplant, first began teaching Budokon on the West Coast in private sessions with the likes of Aniston and Cox. He said those clients gradually gave it the national momentum it is beginning to enjoy. A typical class, he said, begins with meditation, moves on to a yogic-type flow of Budokon techniques, and transitions from there to Budokon martial-arts moves before coming to a close with a return to meditation.

Deborah Harris, Pilates instructor and owner of Premier Pilates and Yoga in Warren, which offers Budokon workshops, finds that first-time attendees of the class are often unsure of what to expect.

"You're not sparring with other people; you're not competing with anybody else," Harris said. "It's purely a workout for yourself. And with the martial arts, you're adding a physical-defense aspect, which is very empowering, especially for women."

Harris says her clients remain motivated, in part, due to the building-block nature of Budokon. Workshops are taught in a six-week interval where attendees continue their mastery of the initial poses and exercises they learned in the first week.

"It's always challenging, but not discouraging," Harris said. For this reason, she said, Budokon is a great way to come back to the exercise world after being out of it for a while.

Sensei Oksana Fitzmaurice, a Budokon instructor at Harris' studio, contacted Shayne and began studying with him after reading about Budokon in a yoga magazine. Fitzmaurice, who also has taught yoga and martial arts for eight years, said the Budokon system is "excellent for improving cardiovascular (fitness), your limb muscles and to develop self-esteem."

The latter echoed Shayne's contention that Budokon at its core nature was developed with more in mind than just the physical.

It is much more than that for Danielle Abramson, 32, of New Providence , a devotee of Fitzmaurice's class. She said that Budokon strengthens her core, arms and shoulders, giving her a total body workout. Equally important, said Abramson, who has a 3-year-old son, are its mental benefits.

"It helps center me," she explained. "I'm a working mom, so by Saturday morning when I take the class, I've usually built up a lot of stress and aggravation." Abramson said Budokon, "really helps me let all of that go. The meditation at the end is a great reminder of how to focus on the moment and not worry about what comes next."

For Bridgewater resident Ruby Manalo, 37, Budokon was a way of reaching beyond the everyday dimensions of being "Mom."

"I enjoy being active, and I want to show my kids that I'm not just a mom who cooks, cleans and works. I take care of myself." Budokon, she added, clears her head. "I come out of the class smiling."

Shayne may have had these enthusiasts in mind when he created Budokon, an alternative to the mindless mish-mash of exercises often thrown together at the gym.

4 tips to take to Budokon

1. Never train with someone who isn't certified in what they teach.

"I kid you not," Pilates instructor and studio owner Deborah Harris said, "you can actually get certified off the Internet for $35.95. Those people aren't going to be trained properly." 

2. Let the instructor know ahead of time if you have an injury or sprain. "The instructor will give you appropriate modifications and let you know what you should and shouldn't do," Harris said.

3.  Come with an open mind, Sensei Oksana Fitzmaurice said.

"People often come into their first class with a competitive mind frame, and they shouldn't," she said. "You are here to create your own space and go at your own speed."

 4. "Prepare to sweat!" Budokon enthusiast Ruby Manalo of Bridgewater said.

from the Courier News website www.c-n.com

AN EXCITING NEW ONE-DAY WORKSHOP:
      A "Hip Opener" Yoga Workshop with Swapna

     On September 18th 7-8:15PM Swapna will be teaching an exciting one-day "Hip Opener" Yoga Workshop. This workshop will take you through various yogic poses that encourage the extension of the hips, making them more flexible and helping them open up!

These days our movements are limited due to the amount of time spent at our desk at work or driving the car. The long hours of sitting causes the hip flexors to shorten and shrink thereby limiting our ability to flex. This in turn affects the lower back as well as pelvic position.

The benefits are multiple as you not only feel the increased physical openness but also a sense of emotional release as much of our tension and anxiety is concentrated or referred to the hips. Opening of the hips removes the obstructions impeding the free flow of energy through the body.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

• Opening Prayer

• Standing Hip Opener poses

• On-the-mat Hip Opener poses

• Meditation

• Ending Prayer

Cost: We are asking people to let us know in advance if they are planning on attending this exciting workshop. You may use your class card to attend this class or pay the $20 drop-in rate.

      Medical approach to hip pain depends on the cause of the pain. Most commonly the pain is not due to an acute injury, but rather due to the chronic wear and tear that happens over time to this large, weight-bearing joint. Medical evaluation of the pain includes a thorough medical history, physical exam and, frequently, imaging that ranges from an X-ray to an MRI.

      Anti-inflammatories are the mainstay of treatment of hip pain. Physical therapy along with Yoga and Pilates can help increase the hip's range of motion, decrease pain and, perhaps, slow the erosion of the joint cartilage and capsule.

      Chinese medicine and Neuroanatomical Acupuncture approach this problem from two different perspectives. The first views hip pain as a local obstruction in the free flow of qi (pronounced "chi"). As such, special acupuncture formulae seek to treat the underlying imbalance that has led to this obstruction. By correcting the original imbalance the body is allowed to heal itself.

      Recently medical studies have confirmed that "acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and hip, and serves as an effective complement to standard care."

      A landmark study funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, demonstrated the following results:

"Overall, those who received acupuncture had a 40 percent decrease in pain and a nearly 40 percent improvement in function compared to baseline assessments."

     David Boguslavsky, MD is a physician at Premier Medical Acupuncture, a holistic medical practice geared towards integrating acupuncture into every patient encounter. Look for his series of articles in the upcoming newsletters on Chinese medicinal approach to such common illnesses as insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches. If you are interested in reaching him for a consultation, please call (908) 938-7717 or email him at PremierMD@gmail.com.

In the span of the past year at the studio we have been lucky to have access to great instructors and have been really creative with our classes & special workshops. With the summer winding down we are once again looking to improve our offerings and would like some input from you.

Listed below are some ideas we think might be of interest to our clients. Please look over the list and let us know whether these classes sound fun to you, and whether you would be able to attend them on a regular basis if we did offer them. This is just an informal survey but we do hope it will lead to more and better classes at the studio.

• Mommy & Me - Tuesdays 11:15-noon (If interested please respond with age of child)
• "Yoga for Two" - Tuesdays 6-7PM (my husband and I took this class in August and LOVED it)
• Meditation Classes - would you prefer mornings or afternoons/evenings?

Please let us know if the classes above interest you even if the times they are offered don't work with your schedule. Your feedback is much appreciated :)