Zen4Ten – February Edition: Finding Balance

Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016

February is a hard month to come to terms with. It’s difficult to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Most of us find the month of February quite challenging on the physical and mental well-being. We may feel cooped up, tired, and down. Use yoga and meditation to create space in the mind and body. These subtle, yet powerful acts can ease us through the month of February.

The Person behind the Voice: Julie Sylvestre

Hi!

My name is Julie Sylvestre. I am the Applied Research Coordinator at Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley (Pembroke), and also teach part-time in the Environmental Technician Diploma Program at the Pembroke campus.

My first introduction to yoga was in my teens, probably around 1998, in the basement of a building somewhere in Pembroke, Ontario. It’s important to understand that seeking out yoga as a teen in Pembroke circa 1998 wasn’t easy. To be honest, I don’t even really remember how I came to be acquainted with what yoga was and how to find it in Pembroke! This was before yoga experienced hard core commercialization and had yet to proliferate throughout many rural Canadian communities. But, despite all of that, I found yoga in my small Ottawa Valley hometown.

It was in the basement of a local social services office in a room filled with adults twice to triple my age, being taught by a radiant and eccentric middle-aged woman with long, thick, curly red hair. I decided to join for personal reasons: I struggled with a lot of anxiety and bouts of depression, and somewhere, somehow, I heard that yoga might help. And so, I sought yoga to heal.

Fast-forward to my 20’s where I practiced yoga on-and-off in Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. During that time, I explored different styles, moods, and paces of yoga. Now, in my 30’s and back in the Ottawa Valley – where I was born and raised – I had the opportunity in 2014 to do my 200-hour Yoga Alliance Teacher Training, under White Pine Yoga Centre in Pembroke, Ontario. It was there where I immersed myself in yoga and where yoga finally became a staple in my life.

Yoga continues to help me in more ways than one. Movement and the breath are two of the most powerful forms of healing. Incorporating breathing exercises and some stretching 10-15 minutes each day, in some shape or form, will only benefit a person in the long run. After all, we are living, breathing human beings – moving and breathing is literally the stuff of life.

For this reason, and many others, I hope you will find Zen4Ten useful in cultivating vitality in your life!

Many thanks,

Julie Sylvestre

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