Mara Hesed
Podcast Writer & Presenter
hOM Yoga Studio
Contact me to schedule a private yoga session:
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The American Psychological Association has this to say:
Studies show the practice—which combines stretching and other exercises with deep breathing and meditation—can improve overall physical fitness, strength, flexibility and lung capacity, while reducing heart rate, blood pressure and back pain.
But what is perhaps unknown to those who consider yoga just another exercise form is that there is a growing body of research documenting yoga's psychological benefits. Several recent studies suggest that yoga may help strengthen social attachments, reduce stress and relieve anxiety, depression and insomnia. Researchers are also starting to claim some success in using yoga to help with post-traumatic stress disorder.
'The evidence is showing that yoga really helps change people at every level,' says Stanford University health psychologist and yoga instructor Kelly McGonigal, PhD.
That's why more clinicians have embraced yoga as a complement to psychotherapy, McGonigal says. They're encouraging yoga as a tool clients can use outside the therapy office to cope with stress and anxieties, and even heal emotional wounds.
So should you do Yoga??
Perhaps IF...
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You’re experiencing weakness or chronic physical pain.
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You’re engaging in destructive, possibly addictive behaviors.
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You struggle with problematic unresolved trauma.
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You consistently have poor communication outcomes.
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You feel isolated or lonely or lack a sense of belonging.
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You’re scattered and have trouble focusing on people or tasks.
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You are sexually or creatively blocked.
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You can’t sleep.
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You’re low energy and feel an absence of vitality.
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You (and everyone around you) are impacted by your unmanaged stress.
Yoga is an ancient wisdom tradition. It is NOT a religion, but there is philosophy and psychology baked in. It is astounding and even beautiful that thousands of years ago, our ancestors struggled with the same human suffering we experience today. Time-honored healing modalities, such as Yoga, have evolved alongside the fullness and complexity of the human condition.
Yoga is a practice. Yoga methodology provides an integrative, holistic tool kit that requires consistent practice. Yoga guides us incrementally into a more profound understanding of ourselves, thereby empowering us to shift negative patterns, unlock stuck energies and change our lives for the better. For it to work, one must trust the process and return to it again and again.
When practiced with trust and commitment, yoga will lead YOU on a step-by-step path from unhappiness and dis-ease to a state of joy and well-being and maybe even to potential moments of bliss.
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You are invited to join us on zoom for:
hOM Yoga Circle
Next Circle TBA
What is a Circle? You might ask.
A circle of trust has no agenda except to help people listen to their own souls and discern their own truths…Its singular purpose is to support the inner journey of each person in the group, to make each soul feel safe enough to show up and speak its truth, to help each person listen to his or her own inner teacher.
In a circle of trust we are governed by a simple rule:
No fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight.
--an explanation of the Quaker Circle by author Parker Palmer
Not only is this an opportunity to coax our own shy souls into the light, it is a practice of showing up for others in a truly meaningful way.
Cost is $25, or included in monthly class package
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Looking & Breathing:
A Six Week Transformation
This is an opportunity for individuals and couples to dive deeper with me into yoga psychology. Just like on the podcast! Except that, in our 6 sessions together, we will customize this vast breadth of yoga wisdom to YOUR unique personal journey in a practical, user-friendly way.
In addition to exploring time-honored yoga philosophies and methodologies, our sessions may incorporate movement, breath, meditation, talk, tarot, thai massage, reiki and Somatic Experiencing.
You will be heard, and you will practice hearing yourself.
In yoga, we say it takes 40 days to affect change--START NOW!
Schedule a Preliminary Phone Consultation free of charge!
$600/6 weekly 90 minute sessions, includes access to group classes
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"When was the last time you attended a yoga class and knew everyone's name?
The small classes form a strong community...a truly supportive, non-judgmental setting to practice...Mara is a creative teacher who makes the familiar unfamiliar...her excellent instruction is clear, soothing and gently demanding."
Mara Hesed has been doing yoga for half her life. She took her first class at The Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Seattle in the nineties. To pay for her yoga education, she cleaned the studio. Six days a week she’d wake at 5am, clean the toilets, then practice with the rising sun. (And she was not, nor has she ever been, a morning person!) But the yoga deeply compelled her. They say that people who take to yoga like that have already been doing it in past lives. Perhaps? Anyway it has definitely been an important part of Mara's current path.
Mara has been teaching yoga for over 15 years. Trained at the oldest studio in Los Angeles, she has taught 3-13 classes weekly ever since. (She does take holidays off, though she's rarely sick. And while she was in a yoga class only hours before her daughter was born, she did take maternity leave for about a month after birthing both babies!)
Mara has led retreats, workshops, managed and taught in yoga studios. She started her own studio called hOM, originally operating out of her living room. Later she began making house calls for small groups, couples and individuals. Currently she teaches students in their living rooms all across space and time...on ZOOM.
"Mara truly creates the feeling of hOM."