Zhi-ba Shing-ga Yoga Studio for Holistic Healing

10/29/2025

ZHI-BA SHING-GA YOGA NEWSLETTER
10/29/25

Dear Friends,

It’s a rainy Fall day, and I’m trying to make it as cozy as possible. Tea, a book, and preparations for a vegetarian dinner from the cookbook Blue Zones American Kitchen, 100 recipes to live to 100. (We’ve made some recipes that have become our favorites). I hope you are having a cozy day too!

I do have some schedule changes planned for the month of November. I will be out of town this Friday, 10/31 (Happy Halloween!) For Thanksgiving, we will not have classes on Thursday 11/27 or Friday 11/28. I hope you each have a blessed Thanksgiving with people you love!
Otherwise, my schedule is as usual:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:15 am, First Baptist Church, 123 Main St., Morehead, second floor classroom.
Saturdays 9:00 am, First Baptist Church.
Wednesdays and Fridays 9:00 am, my studio, 1165 Cub Run Rd, Wellington.
Please bring your own mat and wear comfortable clothing that allows for full range of motion. Classes last approximately 75 minutes, including meditation at the beginning and the end. Drop in classes are $10.00, or $60.00/month with unlimited classes at both locations.

I had a request recently for teaching about yoga for trauma healing. I imagine very few of us have experienced life without trauma at some point. I found some really good information, which I will share here. My first resource is the Cleveland Clinic, with an article titled How Yoga Can Help Heal Trauma. “When you experience trauma, it might be hard to pinpoint what you are feeling. It’s also hard for your body and brain to comprehend everything. As a result, your muscles tense up and your brain might go into overdrive because you are constantly trying to protect yourself. Trauma-sensitive yoga is not designed to take you back to the source of your pain. Its purpose is to help you become more aware of what’s going on in your body. Once you tap into that, you can work on releasing built-up emotions, stress and tension.
When beginning the yoga session, an alternative to closing the eyes to eliminate distractions, is to lower the eyes or look down, which may feel safer. All pranayama, or yogic breathing techniques are relaxing, but specifically, if one is feeling anxious, it helps to focus on the exhale. When feeling anxious, the tendency is to take short in-breaths, not exhaling all the way. When feeling depressed, try to bring that energy up, and focus on the inhale.
Here are a few yoga poses for releasing trauma, taken from The Yoga Collective online site, “Using Yoga to Release Stored Trauma in the Body”.
Child’s pose: This gentle forward pose encourages the body to relax and surrender. It stretches the lower back and hips, two common areas where emotional stress accumulates. Deep breathing in this pose can help process and release pent-up emotions.
Pigeon pose: Provides a deep hip opening, making it one of the most powerful postures for trauma release. Holding the pose and breathing deeply can lead to unexpected emotional releases.
Bridge pose: This heart opening pose helps release tension in the chest and shoulders, areas that often tighten due to stress and emotional pain. It also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting a sense of calm.
Seated Forward Fold: Forward folds encourage introspection and deep release. This pose stretches the entire back body and promotes relaxation, making it a great way to unwind stored stress.
Legs up the Wall: This restorative pose calms the nervous system and encourages full body relaxation. It is particularly beneficial for those dealing with anxiety or insomnia related to trauma.
Savasana: Though it looks simple, it is one of the most important poses for trauma healing. Lying still allows the body to integrate the effects of the practice and fully relax, which can be incredibly healing for those who have trouble feeling safe in stillness.
I sincerely hope that you find this information beneficial to incorporate into your practice. I continue to be amazed at how yoga is healing in so many areas of our lives!

Namaste (the light in me honors the light in you),

Linda Smith-D**e, APRN, retired
Advanced Yoga Teacher, certified with Yoga Alliance
Reiki Master

Send a message to learn more

09/26/2025

ZHI-BA YOGA NEWSLETTER
9/26/25

Dear Friends,
Good morning! It is a lovely Fall day, and I hope you are enjoying it! I'm thinking of you all with gratitude this morning. What a wonderful life I have, teaching you yoga!

I have no plans to cancel class this month. My normal schedule is as follows:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:15 am, First Baptist Church, 123 Main St., Morehead, second floor classroom.
Saturdays 9:00 am, First Baptist Church.
Wednesdays and Fridays 9:00 am, my studio, 1165 Cub Run Road, Wellington.
Please wear comfortable clothing that allows full range of motion, and bring a mat. Classes are $10.00/drop-in class, or $60.00/month for unlimited classes at both locations, payable the first week of the month. Classes last about 75 minutes, including meditation at the beginning and the end.

Today I’m going to focus on the topic of loving-kindness for the whole world, from the book Buddha’s Brain, the Practical Neuroscience of, Happiness, Love and Wisdom, by Rick Hanson, PhD and Richard Mendius, MD.
“In light of our tendency to collapse the field of love to a small circle of ‘us’ surrounded by ‘them’, it is good to cultivate the habit of pushing that circle out, widening it ultimately to include the whole world. Here are some suggestions for doing so.
Be mindful of the automatic mental processes that cause you to identify with a particular group (e.g. gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, political party, nation), and then regard members of different groups as ‘others’. Focus on similarities between ‘us’ and ‘them’, not differences. Recognize that everything is connected to everything else, that ‘us’ is the whole wild world. In a deep sense, the entire planet is your home and the people on it are your extended family. Deliberately create mental categories that include you along with people you usually regard as not-me; for example, when you see someone in a wheelchair, think about how we all are disabled in some way or another.
Be particularly mindful of the default processes of valuing your own group while devaluing others. Notice how often that valuing has no rational basis. Be aware of the little ways your mind regards others as less of a person than you, as an ‘it to your ‘I’. Focus on the good things about people in other groups. Regard people more as individuals than as representatives of a group, which reduces prejudice.”

I always feel encouraged and uplifted by this book. I encourage you to read it if you haven’t! It is largely about specific methods to work with your brain to experience more wisdom, happiness and love.

Wishing you all good things, Namaste,

Linda Smith-D**e, APRN, retired
Advanced Yoga Teacher, certified through Yoga Alliance
Reiki Master

Send a message to learn more

08/29/2025

ZHI-BA SHING-GA YOGA NEWSLETTER
8/29/25

Dear Friends,

School is back in session, it’s almost September, and we are enjoying cooler days!
I have no plans to cancel class this month, so my teaching schedule is as follows:

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 10:15 am, First Baptist Church, 123 Main St, Morehead.
Saturdays: 9:00 am, First Baptist Church.
Wednesdays and Fridays: My studio, 1165 Cub Run Rd, Wellington.
As of September 9, the Ollie classes will begin in the Fellowship Hall, so we will move our weekday classes to the second floor classroom. The last day in the Fellowship Hall will be Thursday, September 4. Our Saturday classes will continue for now in the church sanctuary.

Please wear comfortable clothing that allows full range of motion, and bring your mat to class.
Classes are $10.00 for drop-ins, or $60.00/month for unlimited classes at both locations, payable the first week of the month. Allow 75 minutes for class, which includes guided meditation at the beginning and at the end.

My teaching topic this month is on Therapeutic Breathwork, taken from Therapeutic Breathwork:
Clinical Science and Practice in Healthcare and Yoga, by Christiane Brems. She describes some specific breathing techniques that can reduce anxiety and depression. These techniques are not traditional pranayama (yogic breathing which I teach in class), but can easily be added to your practice of conscious breathing.

“It is helpful to learn and practice nasal and diaphragmatic breathing.
Basic Nasal Breathing: You can do this lying down, sitting, standing or even walking. The focus is on directing the breath only through the nostrils by keeping the mouth closed.

Hands-on-Belly-and-Chest Breathing: Starting in a comfortable position, place one hand at the region of the navel and the other hand low on the chest (I like placing it near the heart). Once you are breathing through the nose, your attention is drawn to feeling the parts of the body under your hands.

Back Body Breathing: This is practiced in Child’s Pose. Movement is directed to and sensed in the back body. Resistance, either from the legs or from the floor, creates an experience similar to breathing with a belly weight or with the hands pressing on the abdomen and chest. In this position the breath becomes subtle because the front of the body moves less and the breath is redirected into the back body. Breathing in this position tends to create a gentle self-massage of the organs and releases fascia, energy, and unnecessary contraction in the front body.

Take five minutes every hour to tune into the breath, inviting it to recalibrate to about 6 breaths per minute, honoring your own needs as appropriate. Invite the breath to be quiet and subtle.”

I hope you find these techniques helpful as an addition to your practice of conscious breathing!

Namaste,

Linda Smith-D**e, APRN retired
Advanced Yoga Teacher, certified with Yoga Alliance
Reiki Master

Send a message to learn more

07/30/2025

ZHI-BA SHING-GA YOGA NEWSLETTER
7/30/25

Dear Friends,

Hello on this 96 degree day! Yoga classes are cool now, upstairs and downstairs in the church! The a/c is fixed and we are comfortable! I hope this finds you well.

I have no planned schedule changes for the month of August. Here is my teaching schedule:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:15 am, First Baptist Church.
Wednesdays and Fridays 9:00 am, my studio, 1165 Cub Run Road, Wellington.
Saturdays 9:00 am, First Baptist Church.

Currently we are having classes in the Fellowship Hall at the church. As most of you know, we stay flexible about location because other groups share the same spaces we use. Somehow it always works! Please bring your mat and wear comfortable clothing that allows for full range of motion. Classes are $10.00 for drop ins, or $60.00/month for unlimited classes in both locations, payable the first week of the month.

Today’s teaching topic is a description of my students’ favorite vinyasa, Swaying Palm Tree. I have received requests for this, so you can practice it at home. A vinyasa is a short yoga practice in which the postures flow together rather than being done separately, along with conscious breathing. I always include a vinyasa at the beginning of each class as a warmup. There are several vinyasas that we practice in class, but this is the group favorite. It is especially beneficial for the spine, and promotes the feeling of groundedness. I have taken this from the book Aurvedic Yoga Therapy by Mukunda Stiles.
Starting from standing with feet hip distance apart, inhale into the upward salute. Exhale interlocking the fingers and turning the palms inside out.
Inhale up on the toes, exhale, heels down.
Inhale, stretch up, exhale side bend to the right. Inhale again and exhale side bend to the left.
Inhale back to the center, exhale looking up at the hands, rotate to the right. Inhale back to center and exhale rotate to the left.
Exhale the arms down to the shoulder level. Inhale, then exhale spinal twist to the right. Inhale, then exhale spinal twist to the left.
Inhale the arms up above your head, exhale hinging at the hips, inhale arms out to the sides, exhale arms forward again.
Inhale as you return to standing, exhale hands into namaste.
Inhale, then exhale into forward bend, hands drop toward the feet, touching the floor when possible. Inhale up to half table, hands come to the shins. Repeat two more times for a total of three.
Inhale to the upward salute, exhale interlocking the fingers behind the spine. Inhale back bend, then exhale into forward bend, the arms pull away from the back, opening the shoulders.
Inhale back to standing. Exhale into reverse namaste.
Still in reverse namaste, inhale, then exhale spinal twist to the right. Inhale, then exhale spinal twist to the left.
Inhale back to center, exhale back bend, still in reverse namaste.
Inhale, open mouthed exhale, then forward bend, still in reverse namaste. Release all thoughts that are not serving you!
I realize this description is likely to be helpful only if you have done it before and are familiar with this vinyasa. If you would like to know more, I would love to teach you in class! Sending good energy to each of you,

Namaste,

Linda Smith-D**e, APRN retired
Advanced Yoga Teacher, certified with Yoga Alliance
Reiki Master

Send a message to learn more

07/22/2025

As many of you know, I share meditations from Thich Nhat Hanh in my yoga classes. This is a beautiful description of his point of view about Buddhism, which I share. I was incredibly privileged to stay at his home monestary, Plum Village, in the south of France, for a month in 2013. I learned meditation, among many other things. It was life-changing.