Yoga benefits women by reducing stress, increasing flexibility and strengthening focus of the mind. At Wellness Haven Yoga, we have made it our mission to help women facing health concerns or to assist with structuring their lives better. Based in San Ramon, Wellness Haven Yoga is a central location for women living in the Tri-Valley area and are needing encouragement with finding balance and harmony. We extend our yoga classes to all women in San Ramon and neighboring towns like Danville, Dublin, Pleasanton, Castro Valley, Concord, Walnut Creek, Hayward and other surrounding areas in East Bay.

“I do not know when and how my life turned upside-down. I used to be active and slim. And now I am so inflexible, my muscles are painful and I have put on a lot of weight!” – These are common thoughts and feelings for many women who are overwhelmed with family responsibilities and their work. Yoga can assist with women of all ages, who are have similar thoughts and feelings.

Top health concerns for women:

• High Grade Stress
• Restlessness
• Depression
• Overweight with High Fat percentage
• Joint Ache
• Weakness and Tightness in Muscles
• Lower Back Pain
• Neck and Shoulder Pain
• Breathlessness
• Hormone Imbalance
• Allergies
• Sciatica
• Breast Cancer
• Ovarian Cysts
• Osteoporosis
• Auto Immune Diseases
• Heart Disease

The benefits of yoga for women’s health

Yoga asanas are vital to women’s health. It gives women physical and emotional balance and teaches self acceptance. It helps them get better body awareness and encourages appreciation for all that our body does for us. It removes negativity and enables self-love. In yoga we use our own body resistance to build our muscle strength, flexibility, stamina and endurance. Yogic exercises differ from the gym exercises in many different ways. At the gym, you take care of the big muscle groups through weight-lifting, other gym machines and equipment. Asanas take care of the body inside-out. They impact the internal organs and rejuvenates them resulting in a refreshed body as well as a refreshed mind. Yoga also strengthens the big muscle groups through planks and core building exercises. Every yoga asana brings in flexibility to the body together with strength and balance. Yoga is a complete body and mind workout, enabling health in every aspect: physically, mentally, emotionally, nutritionally and spiritually.

Yoga is essential for men and women alike, and for every age from children to senior citizens. It equally provides health benefits to all. Even though at Wellness Haven, we have yoga for every age, gender and experience level, our focal point is “Women, who are around 35 and above.”

Why?

Women around 35 are in dire need of help in every aspect of their life: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and especially working women.

What happens by the time women are around 35 (in general)?

During high school and college years, a woman is busy developing her academic and social interests, getting ready for a career, and marriage, in general. The aware women did exercise and eat right, but many did not.

Motherhood, Stress and Yoga

After marriage, for the most part, a woman is inevitably planning for children while she may also be involved in her career. She does all this in her 20’s or early 30’s mostly, while she is still enjoying the youthful physical body and does not realize what is in store for her in the next 15 years!

When children come in her life, she becomes very busy taking care of her babies, hardly finding time for herself as she stays involved building her young career or even without a career as stay-at-home-mom.

When children are going through their elementary and middle school years, and even through high school sometimes, the woman is extremely busy running around – dropping her children to school and picking them up or coordinating with other mothers about activities for their children, until they still cannot drive themselves. The mother is now feeling the stress and strain of an extremely hectic life around home, children, friends and work. When stress release becomes the most important part of her life, she has no time for it! This is when yoga for women comes to the rescue at Wellness Haven Yoga through a variety of programs based on the needs of the woman.

We are constantly striving to find ways to help women whose constant complaint is, “no time for myself.” Some women are forced into coming to us by their doctors when they reach a stage where it has become a necessity. Some become aware earlier and come to us on their own. Some are still struggling with time! Those who do not have time to come out to Wellness Haven, but understand how critical yoga is to their health, invite us into their homes for a private session. We even provide yoga from home through Skype sessions from the comfort of your own home.

Yoga, Stress and the Work Environment

Women are overwhelmed as they first get their children ready for school, and then drop them to school, before they head to work. Stress at work due to work overload and connecting with many different personalities at the work place puts a lot of mental and physical strain on the working women. Their muscles tighten up and they need a release. This is when Wellness Haven Yoga comes to the rescue through evening and late evening classes.

We also provide our service to the corporate environment, at the work place as a much welcome relief from the stresses women face at work.

Yoga and Anti-Aging

The aging process is inevitable. By the time a woman reaches 35 years, time typically begins to take a toll on the woman’s body, and especially on those women who did not do their best to take care of themselves very well through exercising and eating right in their younger years. This is when they start feeling the aches in their stressed, weak and tired muscles and inflexible joints. They are overwhelmed with the various aspects of their lives. They realize that they have completely let go of themselves in their zeal to take care of their family and work as well as staying involved with their social lives. They become aware of their inability to say ‘No!’. When they reach the point of complete overwhelm or when their physician brings to their attention the medical health concerns due to lack of exercise and unaware eating habits, they reach out to the experts for help. Wellness Haven Yoga comes to the rescue of such women in need of expert care, and especially through our much loved Jump-Start Your Life Program. This program provides immediate assistance with the 3 critical aspects of health to such stressed and overwhelmed women: Yoga, Breathing and Meditation, Weight Loss. Wellness Haven Jump-Start Your Life Program is the best anti-aging tool that women have.

Yoga for women at Wellness Haven

At Wellness Haven, we have been very successful in our health venture over the years in giving exactly what women need and when they need it the most:

• bringing in flexibility and pain release from tight muscles and joints (yogic stretching and strengthening)
• learning skills and techniques in reducing stress and overwhelm (breathing and meditation)
• eating better to shed excess body fat and weight (Nutrition)

Yoga for women at Wellness Haven is a unique experience of mind, body and soul connection.

At Wellness Haven, the word yoga really means practicing all the 8 limbs of yoga, which is the reason for its much loved soulful environment.

• The first 2 limbs of yoga are around ethical and moral behavior towards oneself and towards others and we believe and follow these guidelines joyfully.
• The 3rd limb of yoga is practice of the physical postures or yoga asanas which is practiced in totality in the various classes.
• The 4th limb is pranayama or controlled breathing techniques, which are taught in our Breathing and Meditation class every Saturday morning.
• The 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th limbs of yoga are about going inwards, focus, and meditation, which go hand in hand with the breathing techniques taught in the Breathing and Meditation class.

Type of yoga taught at Wellness Haven:

Hatha Yoga describes any of the physical practices of yoga and is the umbrella for all yoga practices. We practice a wide variety of yoga asanas, from static poses to poses in sequential flow. We use props and rejuvenate our body with restorative yoga. We learn asanas to raise our kundalini and practice devotion through asanas. We learn breathing and meditation techniques, chant and learn hand mudras. We practice authentic yoga in its totality. Women enjoy every aspect of yoga at Wellness Haven.

The types of yoga asanas taught at Wellness Haven Yoga at Wellness Haven are geared towards women’s health in every way, as every class has been created with women and their needs in mind.

• They indulge in Bliss Yoga, a restorative yoga class, where they stretch gently and then go into a deep meditative sleep.
• Women enjoy Gentle Yoga where they build their strength, flexibility and balance through gentle yoga exercises. This class is desired by all such women who are not quite flexible in their bodies no matter what their age.
• Women who desire to build themselves up through the next level of yoga practice do so through Wellness Haven Slow Yoga and Energetic Yoga classes.

All these classes are spread through the day throughout the week for women as is evident in the class schedule.

• Retired moms as well as those whose children are older, find our Easy Yoga class very desirable.
• Stay-at-home moms love dropping off their children to school and then giving themselves the much needed me-time in our Energetic Yoga class.
• Working women, retired moms, those who are recovering from injuries, and  those who like working gently with their bodies love to attend the Gentle Mat as well as Chair Yoga classes.
• Working women who can only attend yoga in the evenings, like to work through their stresses and tired limbs, and rejuvenate in our Evening Yoga classes.
• Working women who can only attend our late evening class to re-create their lagging energy come to our Late Evening Yoga class.

Women are an integral part of the Wellness Haven Family

Women love us because of our family based community environment which is safe, positive, educational, peaceful and joyful. They love the fact that they can practice yoga asanas with their independent children in the same class. We come together for stress free health tools and to share our joys as well as concerns. We share a beautiful trusting relationship with each other as we communicate and listen to their needs. We enjoy Wellness Haven Community Building Events and Wellness Haven Yoga Retreats, where we share joy and laughter.

Women of all ages need to take charge of their health and age gracefully without medicine and pills. Wellness Haven Yoga is a perfect fit for women of all ages and especially those facing overwhelm.