Did you know that September is National Yoga Month? Yoga, once eyed suspiciously in this country as some kind of foreign menace or New Age craze (it’s true!), has now truly become a totally mainstream practice that brings so many benefits that it’s hard to keep track of them all.

On the physical side, there’s enhancement of flexibility (really important as we Boomers keep aging), reduction of stress, regulation of blood pressure and maintenance of overall robustness. Mentally, yoga allows us to relax like nothing else can and find a calming center from which to base our daily existence (there’s that stress thingie again).

We talk a lot about healing the mind/body/spirit in the pages of Natural Awakenings, and yoga is a low/no-cost, completely portable practice that perfectly address all three. It’s no wonder that millions of people (all over the world) have turned to it to fix what ails them and keep it that way.

Check out our profiles of several yoga practitioners and teachers in town, especially Rose Kress, who practices yoga therapy. Her field is a new offshoot of yoga that focuses more on the medical benefits than flexibility or meditation. Learn from local performance artist Laura Milkins (LauraMilkins.com) about her fascinating ongoing Kindness Project, and heed some sage advice from Tucson’s own “Dr. Arianna” Sholes-Douglas, owner of Tula Wellness, about how “Integrative Wellness Works for Women.”

The new Body & Sol Expo we’re putting on next March is really gathering steam, and it’s so exciting! If you are an artist, a musician, a practitioner, an authority or have a company that resonates with the Natural Awakening lifestyle, start partnering with us now to reserve a good spot. 

Holly Baker, Publisher