#OneBostonDay! A new tradition in Boston!

Boston One Day

Boston is Health Yoga Life’s city! The co-founders and sisters of HYL grew up in Boston, love all things Boston and are never shy to sing loudly…”Well I love that dirty water Oh, Boston you’re my home!”

If you consider Boston home, you know exactly where you were on 4/15/13 at 2:49pm when the first Marathon Bomb went off. We, sisters, were there on the streets cheering the runners on at Hereford and Boylston, the iconic corner for completing the marathon. We are fortunate that none of our nearest and dearest were directly affected, but we can assure you everyone, our entire city, was impacted.

Patriots Day/Marathon Monday is a day our city shines. The skies were blue that day, and the human spirit and strength of the first responders and the people of Boston shown brighter than the sun. Boston rallied and we became #BostonStrong.

Today a new tradition begins, Boston is big on tradition, today the Mayor and Governor declared the day to be #OneBostonDay:

“On this day, we remember and reflect. We greet our neighbors. We lend a hand. We reach out, give back, and go above and beyond. We epitomize the spirit of the city we love.”

With this in mind HYL starts a new tradition in support of #OneBostonDay! Today in each yoga class there will be free giveaways. We also will bring a treat and some yoga vibes to our local firehouse, and want to extend a special discount to everyone in our community.

We know that yoga and meditation, heals and transforms! Near or far you can practice yoga with us! For the next 24 hours, take 15% off our Mind, Mood, and Muscle Plan! An on-line yoga, meditation, and wellness program to take you from plateau to peak! CLICK HERE and add to cart to receive instant savings read all about this amazing program HERE.

Be well, shine bright, celebrate the day!

Attention Runners: Why Yoga Can be Great Pre-Marathon!

Although the weather hasn’t felt much like spring yet, the sun is shining a little brighter and a little longer. This is a good indication here in Boston that the marathon is just around the corner.  With just a little over one month before the big day, this year’s marathon promises to be a special one given last year’s tragedy.  Our city will shine, and “we will finish the race!”

Yoga can be a terrific tool for long distance runners, especially as they head into the final month of preparation.  Stephen Allison, a teacher at Health Yoga Life, Advantage trainer, and five time Marathon finisher himself, explains below:

More runners should incorporate a weekly yoga practice into their regimen.  Yoga increases flexibility and adds strength without adding size.  It will help you recover faster and will prevent injuries.  You’ll be amazed by the things your body will learn in a short time.

If you run enough you will get injured.  That’s just a fact.  You can train smart, and take all the precautions but eventually a pothole will find you, or you’ll get stuck in a car seat after running long.  Your hips will be sore or your Achilles will ache.  Yoga will not fix everything, but it will make you less susceptible to injury and quicker to return.

You don’t see too many 60 and 70 year olds running, but you do see people that age with thriving yoga practices

The perfect time to increase your yoga is during your taper.  You take the last few weeks before the big race lightly.  Add a few (light) yoga classes.  Your body will remain stimulated without taking anything away from your race day effort.

Your body is designed to run.  Your body is also designed to move through the poses in a yoga practice.  Yoga is thousands of years old. If a pose were detrimental to your movement it would have been marginalized already.  The more ease your body can move through a yoga practice the more ease you will experience when you run.

If you are newer to yoga, I would caution not to overstrain and don’t try to do all the poses in a typical yoga class.  Make sure to introduce yourself to the teacher and explain that you are new, that you are a runner and what is a good way to take some precautions during your first few classes.

Yoga can also help you find ease from the anticipation and tension prior to race day.  You have prepared long for the moment of stepping over the start-line and you want to get to the finish line.  And this year, Marathon Monday isn’t just Boston’s day. The world will be watching.  The cheering crowd no longer is just lining heartbreak hill, it’s extending from “sea to shining sea. So being able to reduce your own expectation of how it all should go or your own judgments after the race can you help you actually enjoy and relish in the experience.

After Boston, Chase the Unicorn – by Vyda Bielkus

My sisters and I call Boston home. When we decided to open a yoga studio, we all unanimously knew we would open in the heart of Boston (Even though only 2 out of 4 of us now live in Boston full time. This is where we grew up). We love our city. We proudly shout the song by The Standells “Well I love that dirty Water…Oh Boston you’re my home!” It has been a little more than 48 hours since the Marathon bombings. As I type those two words together, the tears swell up and my throat tightens. The experience of hearing two bombs go off in the city I love, and then not knowing what had happened and if one of my sisters (who was near the finish line) was harmed is still very, very fresh and raw in my mind and body.

Boston like any city in America or anywhere in the world for that matter is full of loving caring amazing heroes; the people who ran to the injured to help, the people who ran 26.2 miles and ran 2 more to the hospital to give blood, the people who opened their apartments to total strangers. This is what humanity is all about.

So how do we make sense? What do we do next? We chase the Unicorn. The Unicorn? The Boston Marathon’s symbol is that of a unicorn. In 1887 Boston Athletic Association chose the unicorn as their symbol and to this day there is a unicorn on all the Boston Marathon medals. It is a fitting symbol as you think about athletes that chase the undoable, the elusive, and chase that thing like an un-quenching thirst-the desire for accomplishment, of total completion, of Samadhi the space in time when all is just that very perfect moment.

We are being called upon now to chase the unicorn for peace! This is not a time to hide, to remain quiet, to stay complacent. It is time to lace up the sneakers and run toward it. And, we must train for it every day.

What I know for sure now that was previously only a concept of mind, is that the only thing we can absolutely be sure of is the very moment we have. We have no control of our fate. But we can control how we are with others in the present and that we have total control of who we choose to be in this world. Monday, my family and friends, all made very small choices. Had any of our choices had just been slightly different, our fate could have been that of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, or any of the 180+ injured. The truth is we are all the victims, we are the injured, we are the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends. We are one. At this time I am reminded so much of the Indian philosopher’s Krishnamurti’s quote, “What you are the world is. And without your transformation there can be no transformation of the world.”

So my sisters and I are ready. Every student of ours that came to our “This one’s for you Boston” classes on Tuesday are ready. Are you ready? Practice yoga, practice truth, practice love and run after your own inner unicorn. Our world is relying that we finally realize that which has only eluded those before us, the dream of peace and a non-violent world.

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