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Published on: 10/15/2004
Last Visited: 2/23/2006
Profile: Lee Gurreri 08/15/2005
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Lee Gurreri
Mon Aug 15, 2005 - 0 comments - Add your own
by Denise Briggs-Potter
According to Lee Gurreri, founder of Yoga and Beyond, breath is primary to our well-being.
"When you come into the world, you inhale," says Lee."When you are taken out of this world, you exhale.If you put some thought into your breathing, it's amazing how your whole system calms down and functions better."
Lee has loved, lived and practiced yoga for 24 years and says yoga is for every body - deliberately separating the two words.
"There are different forms of yoga," she says."For people who like to move around a lot, there's the flow style of yoga, where one pose flows into another.For people who need gentle, quiet work, we have restorative yoga."
But what about those of us who feel we need something active or aerobic?
Lee explains that many exercise forms actually stem from yoga, which originated 6,000 years ago in India to facilitate quiet meditation.The Americanization of yoga has turned it into more of an exercise-result-oriented regimen where folks are likely to overdo or strain, thinking more is better.
"Usually," she laughs, "the person who just wants to move around probably needs the quiet, relaxing benefits of yoga, and the person who is tentative about moving needs the flow style."
Lee says yoga is hard work that increases your body strength and flexibility.
"It's also experiential.You're completely involved in each pose, actively making adjustments and growing into it."
Lee was born in New York and moved to San Diego with her family when she was five.She became interested in yoga at age 17.
"There was a fabulous yoga teacher at the junior college," says Lee.
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The purpose of yoga, Lee describes, is to empty our mind of the noise we experience daily, relax the body through conscious breathing and ultimately feel the integration of mind, body and spirit.
"The body, mind and spirit are never separate," Lee explains, "one does not function without the other.
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"When we engage the body, we open up all the energy centers," Lee explains."Obviously we're not just flesh and bones; there has to be energy to keep everything working.When we are grieving, energy can get stuck.It helps to move all of our emotions and process them.We can't do it effectively on the mind level alone."
After 24 years of sharing yoga with others, Lee has created a thriving center for classes, workshops, and acupuncture.There are yoga and Pilates classes for adults and teens, and she is developing a yoga class for children.She's also in the process of welcoming a partner to her business so she can devote more time to teaching and consider plans for the center's future.
"We're asking our community what they want the ‘beyond' in Yoga and Beyond to be and how they'd like to be part of making that happen," she says."Our mission statement is ‘to be the thriving heart of the spiritual community here on the island that is inclusive of any spirituality.'"
Yoga and Beyond is located at 425 Ericksen Avenue N.E. Phone 842-4395 for information, or email either ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or Lee directly at ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.
The Fall 2005 class schedule will be out in a few weeks.
Check it out:
Lee Gurreri and life coach Jeaneen Schmidt produce an online workshop called "Life's Essentials" at lifessentialtools.com.Every month Lee and Jeaneen introduce a particular theme (this month it's service, next month, balance) and offer a related feature article, "essential tools," guided meditation, yoga and resources.
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