We hope you enjoy the new way of tuning in and out and make it your own, so that your participants can enjoy being guided in the new soft presence intonation

TUNING IN

Palms together, and thumbs gently pressed into your sternum.

Inhale, say softly out loud: I am here
Exhale and feel the surface you are sitting on or feel your feet if you are standing up. Feel how heavy your body feels.

Inhale again, say softly out loud: I am present

Exhale and pay attention to the sounds around you.

Inhale one more time, say softly out loud: I feel my body

Exhale and notice your pulse – feel it in your body.

Take a few long deep breaths and all at the same time, feel the surface you are sitting on and notice all the different sounds around you, while feeling the pulse in your body

Pause.

Inhale – Exhale.

You feel grounded and peaceful. Even though we strive to keep our eyes closed as much as possible during the exercise, you can always open your eyes at any time, to watch me doing the different postures. With your eyes closed, it is easier to turn your attention inward to focus on your own body.

TUNING OUT

Palms together, and thumbs pressed into your sternum.

Inhale, say softly out loud: I am here
Exhale and feel the surface you are sitting on or feel your feet if you are standing up.

Inhale again, say softly out loud: I am present
Exhale and listen to all the different sounds around you.

Inhale one more time, say softly out loud: I feel my body

Exhale and notice your pulse – feel it in your body.

Take a few long deep breaths and all at the same time, feel the surface you are sitting on and notice all the different sounds around you, while feeling the pulse in your bodyThis is a technique you can use anywhere, at any time, to make you more present.

When you feel stress taking over, take a few long deep breaths and feel your feet on the surface you are standing on. Just listen to all the different sounds around you and feel your pulse somewhere in your body. Experience how the stress is leaving your body. Being present is helping you understand the situation in full.

Practice feeling your own pulse. You can do that anywhere, just like practicing long deep breaths.

1. Yoga and Meditation

Your brain is dependent on the circulation in your body to be able to work properly, especially if your brain is healing from illness. Everything going to the brain must pass the spine. It is through movement of your spine, neck, and pelvis that circulation to your brain is formed. MediYoga is a gentle, parasympathetic form of yoga that helps your nervous system, and brain to heal. MediYoga strengthens the adrenal glands and balances your hormones. Start small, like with a few minutes of “spinal flex” a couple of times during the day. To add a meditation will strengthen your concentration ability as well as your mental stamina. Give yourself time to do yoga and meditation, which is a great way to prioritize yourself. Everyday!

Try for free our guided yoga program “The Short Spinal Program” for 2 weeks at MediYoga Play. Designed so that you can have your eyes closed while listening.

2.  Less Screen time, More Crafts

What we see on the screen is formed to trigger our reward system, and to get us hooked. Our body is like frozen while we see and experience a multitude of feelings and emotions. It feels like 5 minutes has passed when in fact you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes, since our time perception is affected when our body isn’t involved. Studies shows that circulation and movement is essential for healing from fatigue syndrome. Our genetic design is processing stress by physical activity, which is not present when you sit in front of a screen. It creates stress in your whole body, especially in your brain. A triggered reward system is more likely to make you feel anxious and unfocused when doing other things, creating split vision. Your brain benefits from working with your hands, and your concentration span increases as well. Working with your hands can be painting, coloring, drawing, do embroidery, crocheting, knitting, or handwriting. Maybe it’s time to take up writing letters by hand again? What’s on your screen is not more important than your health. Time to log out?

3. Breathe In, Breathe Out – Slowly

To breathe in a conscious way reduces stress and increases the circulation in your whole body. Normal beathing in rest, according to reference books, are 12-16 breathes per minute, and if you are under stress your breath can be up to 30 breaths per minute. When you lower your breath rate you are sending signals to your whole body that everything is calm, which creates a deep relaxation in both your body and mind. Long, deep breaths increase’s your lung capacity, strengthens your lungs and diaphragm. Deep breathing with your diaphragm is a powerful anxiety reducing technique that activates your body’s own relaxation response. Both body and mind will benefit from a few minutes of long, deep breathing. Try it!

Do like this:

Lay on your back or sit relaxed with your back straight.

Inhale slowly through your nose.

Let your abdomen relax so that it can expand when you inhale, allowing your chest to expand as well. Pause briefly and let your body exhale through your nose in its own pace. The exhalation is automatic when you relax. To help your lungs empty out completely, gently pull your stomach in. This way you are preparing your body for the next breath. After you have exhaled completely, wait for your body to tell you when it is time to take the next beath. Then slowly take a new long, deep breath in through your nose. Do a brief “mini pause”, exhale, pause, and continue in this way. Laying down doing long deep breaths can be easier than sitting up, since the muscles in your back and abdomen are involved in your breathing. Continue for 5-10 minutes.

Try being guided for free in ”Long Deep Breathing” for 2 weeks at MediYoga Play. Designed so that you can have your eyes closed while listening.

4. Fresh Air and Daylight

To take a walk affects the circulation of the spinal fluids, which strengthens our brain and increases the circulatory system in our body. To be outdoors is according to multiple scientific studies both healing and vitalizing for us. We heal a lot faster if we are outdoors in daylight for at least an hour a day. Get out, leave the phone at home, and bring your curiosity out to a bench in the park or for a walk. Even if it’s raining, which is an experience per se. Just be properly dressed for the occasion. Torbjörn Åkerstedt, a well-known, Swedish sleep researcher and professor in behavioral physiology at Karolinska Institutet, and at the University of Stockholm, Sweden explains why daylight has such an impact on us.

­“Daylight has a direct constructive effect on our central nervous system. It affects multiple areas in our brain. The light increases the metabolism which is revving our brain up to make it more active, making us feel more alert and happier”.

So, get dressed, open the door, and get outdoors!

5. Rest

Relaxation and rest are needed for our recovery and for getting out of our “wired but tired” mood when you’re sleepy but still cannot go to sleep. To watch TV, a computer screen, or your phone is not to rest even if you’re laying down on the coach. On the contrary it creates stress in your brain. It can be restful doing gardening, reading a book, to contemplate over a cup of hot beverage, to take a bath, or lay a puzzle, etc. To rest is when you do something that you desire in your own pace, when you’re “in the moment”, given that you’re in a peaceful environment, body and mind can slow down. So, find your way to rest repeatedly during the day.

Try being guided for free in ”Relaxation” or “Long Deep Breathing”, or “Tranquility” for 2 weeks at MediYoga Play. Designed so that you can have your eyes closed while listening.

“First thing you should do when you feel anxious is to breathe,” says Tom CEO at the OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) Center, in Los Angeles, CA.

A deep diaphragm breath is a powerful anxiety-reducing technique that activates your body’s own relaxation system. It helps your body to go from the active sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight mode) to the calming and relaxing parasympathetic nervous system.

Take long deep breaths for at least 10 minutes, once a day, and note what happens to your anxiety.

Breathe slowly, and deep: Inhale through your nose and let your abdomen relax so that your belly can expand. Continue to inhale all the way up into your chest. Briefly pause before you start to exhale through your nose, letting your body set the pace of your exhale. The exhalation happens automatic when your body is relaxed. Help your body to empty your lungs completely by softly pulling your belly in, making your body ready for the next breath. Wait for your body to give you a signal, for when it’s time to take a new breath, then you start inhaling through your nose again.

Inhale, take a mini pause, exhale, pause, and so forth. Lying down and breathing can be easier than sitting up, so the back and abdominal muscles that are involved in the breath can relax easier. Continue for 5-10 minutes.

Try “Long Deep Breathing” on MediYoga Play for free.

2. Acceptance

Accept that you are anxious. Stay in that feeling and explore it. Anxiety comes in waves, and when you accept that the feeling is there, then it diminishes all by itself after a while. All feelings come and go, as well as anxiety. Without acceptance the feeling will increase, so trust in that feeling anxious isn’t dangerous, that it’s a feeling that eventually will subside.

3. Follow The 3-3-3 Rule

1. Look around and name three things that you see.
2. Name three sounds that you hear.
3. Place your hands on three different parts of your body, for example; on your belly, on your arms, and on your shoulders.

This is a good technique to use when you feel that your mind is racing, that will take you into the present moment, into your body.

4. Stay Away From Sugar

It can be tempting to get something sweet when you are stressed out, but to eat a chocolate bar can do more harm than to make you feel relaxed. Research shows that eating to much sugar can aggravate anxiety. Instead of reaching for a candy bar, drink a glass of water or eat something high in protein, which will give you slow energy that your body can use to recover from the anxiety attack. Alcohol, sugar, and coffee can even trigger a panic attack.

Harvard Health Publishing; Eating well to help manage anxiety
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-well-to-help-manage-anxiety-your-questions-answered-2018031413460

5. Move Around

Anxiety is often due to too much stress in your body. An efficient way to burn stress hormones is to get your body in motion with soft movements, yoga, or go for a walk. When you move around your body is creating feel-good hormones that counteract the anxiety. Yoga also helps your chest to open up and your diaphragm to relax, which tend to contract when you feel anxious. By stretching your chest and abdomen out, you reset your brain. The brain reacts to your body being able to open up, since your body can relax there cannot be any threat.

Several scientific studies show that MediYoga helps rehabilitate heart patients and has a positive effect on reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Are you curious about yoga? Try MediYoga Play for 2 weeks, free of charge.

5 programs to reduce anxiety:

• Starter Pack 3
• Breathing Meditation
• Long deep breathing
• Tranquility
• Short spinal program

“Finally, Saturday March 14th, I was going to an inspirational weekend in Oslo with Elisabeth, happy as a child! My MediYoga friend from Bergen was also going to be there – this was going to be perfect.

I’m on leave of absence from home health care in Norway, now living in Denmark with my Danish loved one, my mother, and sister. And now – on March 4th it is time to leave Copenhagen with my yoga wool mat and pillow. One week in the west of Norway, to be with my 17 year old son that now lives there on his own, and with a ticket for Oslo on March 12th. I’m combining the yoga weekend with some time for a few film shots of my yoga class for my upcoming web page.

And then Covid-19 hit and the trip to Norway got cancelled.

I choose to stay with my son in west Norway since it wasn’t safe for me to go back to Denmark. By this time my son had lived on his own for 6 months, and I had on my hand, been gone for the same length of time, so this was a new situation for us. My loved one and I agreed that this was the best deal for all of us. I was lucky and instantly got a job within home care nursing.

I’m getting my yoga mat out, pondering on what yoga program to do. Lately I’ve been stressed and only doing yoga sporadically, and been anxious throughout winter.

“Lotte, now it is time for Starter Pack 3. Every day at noon you will be rolling your mat out no matter what or where you are” – this clear message came from deep within.

There and then I made a deal with myself, like when I stopped smoking. Totally convinced from deep within.

No two days on the mat are alike. Some days everything just flows, other days a thousand thoughts are in my head. As a nurse I need to keep a distance at work, use a visor in close contact with patients, and increased hygiene routines. A lot to think about all the time. Days I have off, or when I have the night shift, I sleep in and then roll my yoga mat out at 12:00 sharp, fully focused within.

I’ve been doing the same yoga program over and over since March 13th, when I got stuck in Norway with my son, due to Covid-19. Starter Pack 3 has become my Corona-program – and I love it. The breathing exercise is just love, love love. When I have the day shift I only do 10 minutes of long deep breaths before going to sleep.

As a matter of fact, since Covid-19 started I haven’t felt stressed or anxious, and the uneasiness I earlier felt disappeared as soon as I got my daily yoga routine going.”

If you suspect, or know, that you have contracted Covid-19, you should at an early stage make sure that you’re getting enough fluid, and exercise your lungs, says Johan Styrud, Chief Physician of Danderyds Hospital, Stockholm Sweden. Even if you’re not ill, you will benefit from a breathing exercise. The effects are showing early on, since your breath affects the immune system, blood pressure, digestion, and your mental health. Breathe through your nose and you’ll stimulate the circulation in the lung tissue, and you’re filling your lungs better then by breathing through your mouth.

Here are five different techniques and tips on how you can strengthen your lungs. And you can always practice this breathing exercise whenever, or wherever you are, since you always have your breath with you.

Start your journey towards stronger lungs and better lung capacity immediately. Inhale and…

1. Strengthen Your Lungs And Heart With Long, Deep Breaths
   Let your belly relax so it can expand when you inhale through your nose. Breathe in so that your chest is expanding. Briefly pause, then exhale through your nose in your body’s own tempo. Exhalation is automatic when you relax your body. Help your body expel all the air from your lungs by gently pulling your belly in, to get a better start on your next breath. Hold your breath, then breathe slowly in through your nose when your body gives you the signal that it’s time to inhale. Breathe in, mini pause, breathe out, and so forth.
   
   To lay down on your back can be easier than sitting up, since all your muscles in your back and along the spine, that are involved in breathing, better can relax. Continue taking long deep breaths for at least 10 minutes. Do long deep breaths on your own, together with your partner, or with your whole family. Let the kids “fill up a balloon” in their belly. You also get a calm mind, which is a bonus.
   
   Try ”Long, Deep Breaths” on MediYoga Play – now free of charge until June 30^th.
   
   
2. Relieve the Health Care System
   ”When patients arrive to the hospital they’re most often dehydrated, and they can’t replenish the fluid loss since their general condition is so bad” says Marie Sundberg-Svensson, Intensive Care Nurse at Danderyds Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
   “Relatives, friends and neighbors need techniques to use early on in the course of the disease. See to that the person that’s ill gets enough to drink from start, and that he or she is doing deep breathing exercises as well as staying active. To lay on your back for long periods is not good for the lungs.”
   
   A breathing tip from Johan Styrud, Chief Physician of Danderyds Hospital, Stockholm Sweden;
   Take a deep breath through your nose. Hold your breath for 7 seconds, then release the air through your mouth with almost closed lips. The resistance of the air forces the lung alveoli to open up. Repeat. Do this practice several times an hour.
   
   

3. Keep Yourself Active!
   Even if you’re in quarantine your body needs exercise. When you’re physically active your heart and lungs are working harder to distribute oxygen to your muscles throughout your body. Just like exercise on a regular bases strengthens your muscles, it also strengthens your heart and lungs. MediYoga is a physical activity that’s easy on your body. It strengthens the muscles in your neck and chest, as well as all the small muscles in between your ribs, which are involved in your in- and exhalation. To practice Yoga doesn’t need a lot of space and can be done at home in your living room. On a chair or sitting on a pillow on the floor.
   
   A short program to start your day with is “Short spinal program”. A longer program is “Starter Pack 3”. Try them on MediYoga Play, yoga online, – now free of charge until June 30^th.
   
   
   
4. Do Whatever You Can
   ”There are things you can do toward off a worst-case-scenario” says Sarfaraz Munshi, Doctor, Associate MD, and UTC leader, Queen´s Hospital, Romford, UK.
   ” As soon as you suspect Covid-19 you should start your breathing practice, which will help your lungs build a resistance to the virus so you don’t need hospitalizing and a respirator”. This technique is recommended by Dr. Munshi for people in intensive care, and other patients with respiratory distress.
   If you can, do this exercise standing up.

5. One Breath A Minute Strengthens Your Lungs And Reduces Stress
   Normal breathing at rest, according to Medical Reference books, consists of about 12-16 breaths per minute. Reducing your breathing frequency creates a deep relaxation in both body and mind. The “One Minute Breath” optimizes your lung capacity, strengthens your lungs and diaphragm, as well as reducing anxiety and fear. Both your lungs and mind feel better.
   
   Lay down on your back, or sit as relaxed and comfortable as you can, with your spine straight.
   Slowly inhale a long deep breath through your nose.
   Count silently to yourself how long your inhalation takes.
   Now hold your breath for the same amount of time as your inhalation.
   Exhale through your nose for the same amount of time.
   Start from the beginning.
   
   Strive to create longer and longer intervals. Your goal is 20 seconds for each part of your breath, i.e. inhale for 20 seconds, hold your breath for 20 seconds, exhale for 20 seconds – a total of 60 seconds, 1 minute.
   Start off with 5-5-5, or 10-10-10, and slowly create longer and longer intervals with every third or fourth breath you take. Continue this breathing exercise for at least 10 minutes. Take it easy afterwards, and reflect over how it has affected you.

Try “Long Deep Breath” on MediYoga Play –  now free of charge until June 30^th.

Sources:

Medical Daily

Aftonbladet

American Lung Association

Even though there’s no vaccine for COVID-19 at the moment, you can boost your immune system and help yourself stay healthy and mentally strong. That’s the best way to fight an infection.

A vast number of studies shows that a balanced diet, practicing yoga on a regular basis, exercise, and sleep improves your immune system.

1. To breathe long deep breaths. We constantly breathe, but to control our breath – and take slow deep breaths all the way down into the belly – has an impact on all of the cells in your body. When you take control of your breath, you indirectly take control of your thoughts. So long deep breaths make your mind calm. 
   
   Deep breaths for only 10 minutes a day reduces stress, lower the blood pressure, and increases your concentration span. It can also increase the quality of your sleep, as well as reduce anxiety.
   
   Inhale and relax your belly so it can expand. Inhale so much that you can feel your chest expand. Let go of your breath and exhale in your body’s own pace. Exhale completely so that you can take another deep breath. You can do this exercise anywhere, as you need to breathe to stay alive.
   
   
2. Get plenty of sleep. Without enough sleep, your body makes less cytokines – a type of protein that targets infections, inflammations, and contributes to a strong immune system. It is during sleep that these cytokines are produced and released throughout the body. Chronic sleep deficiency is shown to have effect on making vaccines less effective, since sleep deficiency reduces our body’s ability to build an effective immune system. So see to that you get enough sleep every night.
   
   
3. Practice yoga! All yoga that affects the parasympathetic system – the calming part of the nervous system – reduces stress. Less stress means a stronger immune system. Only 10 minutes a day can make a difference, so find yourself a yoga practice that works for you – something you can do on a daily basis.
   
   
4. Eat a varied diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. There’s no research that shows that there is only one super food that can cover it all. Instead a lot of research shows that diversity of different vegetables strengthens the immune system. You need a lot of different amino acids for the biochemical processes that takes place in your body when infected. For example you can make a vegetable dip, fruit salad, or oven roast different root vegetables.
   
   
5. Take a walk, since both fresh air and physical activity strengthens the immune system.

A healthy diet, physical activity, and balance in your life is crucial to your health – both in these times, and for the future. Take good care of yourself, be kind to yourself and to others. That will boost your immune system!

That was what pioneering and ambitious MediYoga Therapist Helen Miller Lynch was thinking when she moved from Sweden to California in 2015. She soon learned that the road is both bumpy and uphill, but her goal is visible.

Hospitals in the U.S. are generally private, so money is a prime focus. Healthcare professionals can work up to 60 hours per week. No one knows anything about MediYoga. Those are the difficulties. So how do you approach that when you’re used to the Scandinavian healthcare system?

Helen Miller Lynch is a Diagnostic Radiology Nurse with a specialty in cardiovascular intervention. As part of the established healthcare system in Sweden, she shared MediYoga with her patients to help them in their recovery. But to generate interest in MediYoga within the U.S., she has to find a different strategy beyond just educating healthcare personnel to become MediYoga Instructors.

She needs to approach the public relations people at the hospitals and answer questions such as, “What is your product? How would it be beneficial for us? What about funding?”

“I have to involve lots of people in order to get in. It requires networking with CEOs, obtaining funding, project planning, evaluation, and building the credibility of MediYoga as a trusted brand. Many are skeptical, and large hospitals have limited time, so in a very short meeting I have to make MediYoga a personal experience for each one of them by being very specific,” she explained.

As Educational Director for MediYoga USA, Helen Miller Lynch has educated 15 MediYoga Instructors in the U.S. Some of them work closely with Helen toward the goal of implementing MediYoga in both physical and mental healthcare services within the United States. Together they have taken on the daunting challenge of slowly changing a nation’s paradigm in healthcare.

Community support and grant funding

Little by little, MediYoga services are spreading. Helen applies for grants to fund classes which include those being taught by other MediYoga instructors she has trained. Her first grant gave her a start in working with heart patients in a small mountain community three hours south of Yosemite where she lives. They conducted a small study on the effects of MediYoga, and the healthcare providers saw the beneficial results.

“I have a very supportive community here in the mountains who want to help. Executives mention my name to potential connections; they want MediYoga to succeed, as do the physiotherapists and the newspapers. They tell me, ‘You’ve picked the hardest place to start’ since it is a rural community unfamiliar with new healthcare services,” Helen said.

With another grant, Helen gained access to hospitals and has worked for the last four years with cancer patients at the AIS Cancer Center in Bakersfield. And yet another grant from Kern Behavioral Health & Recovery Services made it possible this spring to offer 108 community-based MediYoga classes focusing on stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. The first of two 12-week programs has finished with some amazing results.

“In only 12 weeks, both stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems were reduced. Right now I’m working on an article about those results,” Helen commented.

When in Rome

Helen Miller Lynch is a tall and strong woman with a powerful yet soothing voice, and with confident, focused eyes. As such, her constitution already gives her the strength to move forward in the American Way.

“Americans are pioneers and want to make things happen. They put themselves up front; they are persistent and can be very forceful. In Scandinavia we’re used to ‘Janteloven’ – don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. We know the public rules and trust that what people say is what they mean. We know that healthcare is run by government money. Here it’s totally different,” explained Helen.

To get through to the right people, Helen has had to learn to be both forceful and put herself up front while maintaining a humble approach.

Staying centered and focused

“I believe in uplifting others,” Helen added. “Here I have to uplift myself. Even though your constitution lets you be forceful and forward-going, you need energy from another source to knock on doors and break down walls. My daily MediYoga practice is essential for me to keep up.”

“You need a clear vision of the goal that you’re working toward,” she said. “To get there you need to tap into the energy from a source – the universe. All is connected. To stay centred, Nabhi Kriya is my best friend by working on strengthening personal power, and I tune into my chakras with mantra. Everything comes into one.”

Helen has been quoted as saying, “I stand straight with my head held up high so people can see that I am for real, am reliable, can deliver, and am always there.” And with a big smile on her face, says, “May the force be with me; Namaste!”

ABOUT HELEN MILLER LYNCH:

As Educational Director of MediYoga USA, she educates MediYoga Instructors in Central California, conducts research on MediYoga, and holds Stress & Burnout courses and retreats. She is a Diagnostic Radiology Nurse specialized in cardiovascular intervention, and has a long history of experience in heart disease and patient care in several countries.

Kern Behavioral Health & Recovery Services has award Ms Miller Lynch a grant to hold 400 MediYoga classes for stress, depression and anxiety in ten different towns in Kern County, California,free to the general public.

Read the article written by Debbie Teofilo, of the Kern Valley Sun:

The 90-minute session every Friday morning is both fantastic and special. Via the project Active in Daytime that I work with, I am fortunate enough to finish the week with MediYoga in the high security wing of Arendal Prison, part of the Norwegian Correctional Service.

My first visit inside the prison walls had a powerful impression on me, and it took a long time to take in. Of being locked in behind you when you step through doors and enter buildings, seeing all the fences, the cells, hearing the sound of jangling keys sends a shiver through every cell of your body. Added to which, the sight of the tiny outdoor exercise yard where all you can see of the outside world is a patch of sky, was so powerful and intensive, that it brought tears to my eyes when I was standing in the middle of the carpentry workshop.

Every week, the inmates came up to the top floor of the prison, where I was greeted with firm handshakes, smiling faces, open minds and a thank you. The feeling that more and more of them wanted to tell me everything, about why they were there, their plans and dreams, for when they were released, to explain about everything that was painful and difficult. Of seeing (people who were often diagnosed with many things) lying close together entirely at ease, breathing side by side, being inside themselves in all the exercises, tears were dried, snores and smiles. To feel the sense of heartfelt gratitude that filled the room, of what they were now involved in, is nothing short of magical. You have to experience hearing someone say “this beats getting high”, “a dead wonderful feeling”, “my body is totally relaxed”, to understand. It makes me feel deeply moved, grateful and humble.

In order to fully document what I was experiencing, I asked if they could bring a notepad and write down what they felt and thought about the yoga session. Here are a few of the notes they gave me:

“Yoga means a lot to me here in prison. It helps me relax my mind and body and makes everyday life much easier to face. I am very grateful that we have been offered something so wonderful.”

“Yoga for me has become an hour in the week where I am able to completely clear my head of bad thoughts. And where I find an inner peace that is totally unique compared to all the hours in the rest of the week. Yoga has therefore become very valuable for me. It also helps me to find the calmness to sleep at night with the techniques I have learnt.”

“MediYoga for me was very therapeutic and liberating and a little “escape” from everyday stress. It was good for both body and soul and is absolutely something I would recommend to others. I think it should be offered at more places as I think and know most people would gain a great deal from it.”

A big thank you to our Yoga Instructor who comes to the prison and spends time with us inmates NAMASTE (This man was moved to an open prison with forest clearing work).

Nobody could foresee that this hour in the week would have such great importance for inmates, warders (who get calmer inmates) and the undersigned.

An extra big thanks to the Extra Foundation that enabled me to realize my Dream of being given permission to “enter my own world”. I hope and believe that this is just the beginning of being an agent for MediYoga in prison.

Namaste'” Anne

A thousand thanks, Anne, from us, your colleagues, for making the difference here.

Author: Anne Vatne Myhre

Since February, MediYoga Instructor Pia Lundén has been working as a volunteer at Olivar de Quintos Hospital outside Seville, Spain, providing MediYoga sessions to cancer patients in Proyecto Mariposa, (Butterfly Project). The project aims to find complementary therapies in cancer care.  

Pia and the doctors have all seen how the patients have started to feel better. The group participants say that MediYoga has given them more emotional stability, more energy, internal and external balance and helped them feel better in general. Their pain levels have also gone down, especially in the case of joint pain. “And naturally, their breathing has improved,” says Pia.

Doctor Yolanda Rodriguez Caballero, who works with integrated medicine and heads the Butterfly Project, explains, “I have gained indirect experience of MediYoga via my patients. I can see really positive changes in patients who do the exercises regularly. I have observed how feelings of anxiety, negative thoughts, fear, anger, impotence and existential angst amongst my patients have decreased markedly.  Many patients reported reduced pain. MediYoga creates relaxation such that the body and soul can open an inner space for acceptance and belief in life and provides simple tools that enable patients to actively participate in their own healing process, themselves.”

Following this excellent feedback from both patients and doctors, Pia has now been invited to other hospitals and clinics in Seville, to explain about MediYoga and offer sampler sessions – of this modern, therapeutic form of yoga that delivers such good results. 

“I am really passionate about MediYoga and the Butterfly Project. That I am able to provide something that is so healing and beneficial for both body and soul can only be a good thing. I am now looking to train care personnel in MediYoga here in Spain, and especially within cancer care as I see its positive effects,” says Pia with a big smile.