My Ten Day Vipassana Meditation

Bio: Bridget’s path to yoga began in 1998 when she started looking for a way to combine her interests in personal and spiritual growth with physical fitness. A Chicago native, she has followed an eclectic road to teaching yoga. Highlights and “rest stops” along the way included law school and practicing medical malpractice litigation, as well as earning an MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A pilgrim at heart, Bridget has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the UK, Central America and India. One of her carry-on items is always her yoga mat.

Bridget is a certified senior Forrest Yoga instructor. She has trained with and assisted Ana Forrest in workshops and teacher trainings since 2001. Bridget has also studied with other yogis, including Shiva Rea, Rod Stryker, Diane Long, Charles MacInerney and Russill Paul.

Bridget offers group and private instruction, corporate classes and pre/postnatal yoga. A writer as well as a yogini, one of Bridget specializes in private sessions and retreats that combine asana, meditation, and journaling/writing exercises to help her students reach deeper levels within themselves.

Class schedule: Bridget is available for 60 minute private yoga sessions. Rate is $150/session, up to 5 participants, then $25/each additional participant.

Workshops: Bridget is available for Forrest Yoga, Yoga for Emotional Health and Well-being, and Pre/postnatal Yoga workshops. Call or email for more information or to schedule a private or workshop.

Benefits of Yoga: Stress Relief: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma, and insomnia.

Pain Relief: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have shown that practicing yoga asanas, meditation, or a combination of the two reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases, and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, and other chronic conditions.

Better Breathing: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function and trigger the body’s relaxation response.

Flexibility: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.

Increased Strength: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. Yoga also helps to relieve muscular tension.

Weight Management: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the body’s cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self-esteem.

Improved Circulation: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

Cardiovascular Conditioning: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance, and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

Better Body Alignment: Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint, and muscle problems.

Focus on the present: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time, and memory. For more information, visit  © 2005 Yoga Alliance