Yoga with Dr. Melissa West Intro 2018

January 10, 2019

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Hi I’m Melissa from Yoga with Melissa we offer Real Yoga for Real People every Friday 9 am PT. The last Friday of every month is a live class.

Yin Yoga

Restorative Yoga

Yoga Nidra or Sleep Yoga

and Yin Yang Yoga

The yoga here is different from other yoga channels on YouTube. We offer deeply nourishing full length yoga classes that give you the opportunity to consciously and deeply rest in a world that is addicted to the speed of busy-ness, obsessed with over-achievement, and the compulsive need to be doing proving and producing.

Why yin yoga? Yin yoga is a practice that allows us to move into stillness, turn our senses inwards, and heal from our highly competitive, fast-paced lives. By softening our muscles in passive floor postures that are held for 3-5 minutes we pull and pressurize our connective tissue increasing the pliancy in our joints. Yin yoga also, stimulates the meridian system and the movement of energy. Many yin yoga practitioners find the practice deeply stabilizing for their nervous system and report it reducing stress, tension and anxiety.

Why restorative yoga? Many yoga practices are still about doing more. In restorative yoga, we consciously practice doing less. Restorative yoga is about asking your body and mind to unwind and release habitual unnecessary tension. The actual effort involved in restorative yoga is the willingness to explore how and where you are holding tension, relaxing your body into the ground and the props, and allowing your breath to come in more so that trension can be released.

Why Yoga Nidra or Sleep Yoga? We live in a time of overstimulation, light pollution, workaholism, exhaustion, anxiety, insomnia and sleep deprivation. We are literally sleep walking through our lives. Ironically we confuse sleep with being unconscious. With yoga nidra, we cultivate awareness across all states of consciousness, including sleep. Research has shown that short yoga nidra sessions (even if you fall asleep) offer the same benefits to cognition and wellness as a full night’s sleep.

If you are brand new to yoga and get frustrated with other yoga classes on YouTube that move too quickly, don´t give modifications and are too hard to follow, don´t worry. We have over 50 beginner yoga classes that are actually for beginners, people who have never done yoga before. We have a 31 day beginner yoga challenge that you can sign up for at melissawest.com and have it delivered right to your inbox or you can check out the beginner playlists (including a beginner yin yoga playlist) here on my YouTube channel. We offer slow, easy to follow, step by step instructions with lots of modifications.

If you want access to my leading edge research and best value added creative content with the support of an amazing community of yogis from all around the world and more high touch, one on one interaction with me, I highly recommend our membership community.

Every Monday at 9:30 am PT and 4:00 pm PT I meet with our members for a live teaching talk, discussion and meditation. The third Sunday of every month we have a live 2 hour Yin Yoga workshop at 9:30 am and 4:00 pm PT.. That is 10 Live Classes a month in my membership community.

Oh, and if you are interested in my education and lineage. The doctor in Dr. Melissa West comes from the Ph.D. I received in Communications and Cultural Studies from York University in Toronto Ontario, I also have a masters in Music Criticism and a bachelor’s in Music. As far as my yoga lineage I started as a fitness instructor in 1998, shortly thereafter I certified as a mat pilates instructor at Body Harmonics with Margot McKinnon in Toronto, so I know my anatomy. My yoga training started at Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto with Tama Soble. I received my accreditation with Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy in Vermont and I am a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, Teacher and Group Facilitator. I had about 10K hours of training there according to my main teacher, Elissa Cobb. In 2017 I took refuge in the lineage of Dharma Ocean, Reggie Ray and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. My main teacher now is Neil McKinlay here in Victoria B.C.