About Cultivating Your Awareness
Our Mission
At Cultivating Your Awareness my mission is to offer you tools to add to the toolbox for your journey of health and wellness. Learn practices that engage holistic methods to help you manage stress and cultivate personal awareness through meditation, movement, and breathing techniques gathered from traditional yoga therapy and other positive health practices whether you are retired, an athlete, a stay-at-home parent, a student or juggling life in a high pressure job.
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Positive Health Practices
Practice for Positive Health is meant to inspire and master greater control, balance, and strength in body and mind so that you can grow to a state of being which encourages you to develop the ability to maintain inner peace at all times, in all of your actions. Cultivate your capacity for Equanimity. It is an invitation to yoke body, breath, mind, and spirit, not just for your good but also for building a cohesive and productive society.
Equanimity: Noun - The ability to concentrate your attention on any given subject or object, and the capacity to quiet your mind at will in any given situation.
Join the practice on Zoom. Feel your Awareness Blossom!
You might laugh, you might sweat. You will get quiet, and you will get focused! Whether it's stress at work or home, a competing athlete with chronic injury or a mature fitness enthusiast getting back into the swing of things after injury, repair, or replacement, or you're a fitness/wellness enthusiast somewhere in the middle, yoga therapy is here to help you bring balance back into your lifestyle.
Current Practice Being Offered
4 Week Workshop - Breathing and Meditation for Relaxation
~ Coming Soon ~
This practice is useful for everyone, particularly those who do not yet know the art of sitting still … kids, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, et all. It can also prove to be especially beneficial for people with anxiety, high stress demands of life or job situations. And let us not forget stay-at- home parents and caregivers who are juggling life and responsibilities. Learning and practicing control of your breath helps energize yet stills the mind. You become more aware of how you are breathing and why you are breathing the way you are. This is where meditation blends with the practice of breathing.
- Join via Zoom. @ 7:30 PM For Orientation
- Mon -Wed-Friday 8:00 PM Enjoy 30 Minute Breathing Practice.
- Saturday 9 to 10 AM for 30 Minutes of Breathing and Yoga Therapy to give your weekend a positive grounding start.
- This practice is taken at your own risk.
- Contact us for additional information.
Cultivate Awareness with Breath and meditation
Meditation or Reflection involves learning the power to concentrate on a single thought, deep total body relaxation, and slowed breathing. You can live without food or water for some time, but you cannot live long without Breath. Give yourself the valuable time to learn methods of breathing and meditation to help stop the chatter in your mind and reduce anxiety, anger, and depression, and focus on your positive intentions through short or long practices. It may be challenging at first, but as you practice more, the easier it becomes to focus and relax.
Reflections:
How do you breathe when you are stressed or angered?
When you inhale, what do you do with your stomach?
What do you see when you close your eyes, when you relax?
Don't think about it.
Just Observe!
Yoga Therapy & The Fitness Mindset for Building Balanced awareness, movement, Fitness, and breath
Yoga was not popular or acknowledged by athletes or fitness enthusiasts in the 70s or 80s. I applied what I learned at VYASA-LA to what I know about athletics and a fitness lifestyle coupled with what I felt most athletes and physically active people would benefit from in yogic practice to maintain their fitness health and become less prone to injury. This is based on my personal experience.
- Breath and movement are powerful—whether you’re an athlete, a student, or a busy professional. Regular practice builds calm focus, eases stress, and helps you move with strength and balance at your level.
- Dynamic movement is athletic by nature, yet when paired with relaxation and focused breathing, it can also cultivate inner awareness and calm. Learning to move mindfully helps tame anxious energy, encourages reflective thought, and builds both strength and balance at your own level.
- This mindful approach is especially helpful for injury recovery and returning to balanced, safe movement. I may not be the “pretzel” I once was, but I’m still grateful to stay active in ways that feel good. The old “no pain, no gain”? For me, it now simply means—just keep moving.
And that’s what it really comes down to...finding and experiencing joy in the movement and caring for your body, one step at a time, bringing back your body's dynamic equilibrium .
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My students enjoyed the calm and peacefulness of Cynthia’s practice which helped create an environment of positive relationships.
My students were always excited to do yoga. And, most importantly, the benefits of yoga are everlasting.
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Former NFL Pro Cornerback Lucious Irvin Smith
of Lou’s Training Systems ~
"Portable" Sand for Body and Balance Awareness
Experience “relief, energy, and strength—right at your feet" after those long days of sitting or standing that can leave you stiff, heavy, and drained. The SANDDUNE™ Stepper brings your body back to "dynamic equilibrium "with a soft, shifting surface that eases pressure, wakes up circulation, and gets you moving again. It’s a simple, refreshing way to stay strong, keep your circulation flowing, and feel better in your body—no gym required. Just a few minutes of use anywhere—by your desk, in the kitchen, outside, or while watching a movie or doing yoga for balance, and strength. Get to know this great tool for post-workout winddown.
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With the SANDDUNE™ Stepper, "you can keep your body strong, your circulation flowing, and your energy up—even on the longest workdays."
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“It (SANDDUNE™ ) challenges the glutes making them fire. This is your base and key for keeping the lower back strong.” Former NFL Pro Cornerback Lucious Irvin Smith of Lou’s Training Systems is no stranger to sports performance training and rehabilitation. After his 2nd hip replacement surgery, Lou was positively influenced with the lower body strengthening the SANDDUNE delivered in a short period of time with consistent use.
Lucious "Lou" Irvin Smith - Former NFL Pro Cornerback
ABOUT CYNTHIA
I was first introduced to yoga in the mid-70s through the book Wholistic Health and Living Yoga by Malcolm Strutt, and what began as simple “exercises” soon became a deeper practice for strength, stress relief, and balance. In 2016, I earned my certification as a Traditional Yoga Therapy Instructor through SVyasa LA–Vivekananda Yoga, which opened my eyes to the true meaning of yoga—yoking body, mind, and spirit. As a lifelong athlete turned “mature, inflexible yogi,” I now focus on working with the flexibility I/we do have, while weaving in breath and meditation. Over the years, I have enjoyed guiding kids, athletes, veterans, elders, officers, and business owners. The best part is always watching students surprise themselves with their progress.
You might laugh, you might sweat—you’ll definitely get quiet, focused, and relaxed. It's a privilege guiding students to discover, feel, and see their progress, because yoga meets you exactly where you are.
Certified Yoga Therapy Instructor 2016
Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Los Angeles -VYASA-LA
VaYU Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU), USA