This week we took a moment to BREATHE....

Week Three

This week we were fortunate to have Jennifer Taylor, Executive Director of the Wellness Foundation of East Hampton, come and speak to us about the importance of reading food labels. She spoke to us about WHOLE foods and what they are: fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains. We learned about the "bad for you" fats and oils such as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. The most shocking part was the exercise she prepared for us. We had to tally the ingredients in many popular "healthy foods."  To our amazement we learned that these so-called healthy products (even the ones that say Healthy on the box) are made mostly from CHEMICALS!!!! It was a big eye-opener. In fact Katie responded with, "WOW, that's a lot of chemicals!" Thank you Jennifer for bringing this to our attention!

After school we traveled to lululemon athletica,  in East Hampton, NY where Heather D'Agostino, assisted by Marissa McNaughton, led us through a partner yoga class. Many of us have had some experience with Yoga before but only breifly.  It brought us a bit out of our comfornt zone but we really enjoyed it. It is not easy to be silent and still. Heather taught us to focus on our breathing: notice the inhale and the exhale. She said that it is that brief moment between our inhale and exhale where we will find a quiet mind. 

We started the class with brief individual asanas, sanskrit for poses. Then we moved to partner poses during which we supported our partner and helped them get deeper into their pose and practice! We learned it was important for us to trust in our own stregnth and ability as well as our partners. It was a very good exercise in "letting go" and being present in that very moment.

We finished class with three OM chants. Heather explained that OM in is the sanskrit syllobol for the underlying sound or vibration of everything in the universe. After chanting a few of us recognized the sound was similar to the sound of exhaling beneath the water during our swim workouts......OOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Thank you Jennifer Taylor, Heather D'Agostino and Marissa McNaughton for helping us with our discoveries this week!!!

NAMASTE!