Yoga has been shown to improve flexibility, strength, endurance, lung capacity, concentration, mood, and posture, with studies observing positive effects for specific medical conditions including hypertension and heart disease, immune function, mood disorders, asthma, back pain and arthritis.

At the emotional level, a consistent yoga practice frequently results in increased equanimity and grace, a feeling of being at home in the body.

Energetically, yoga helps us align with natural rhythms ("ritam" in Sanskrit, the root of the English word "rhythm"), increasing our vitality and creativity.  

Like the rest of life in which sometimes we need to be active and outwardly focused, and sometimes receptive and inwardly drawn, there's a time for yin and a time for yang.  Y Elements teaches both active and receptive styles of yoga. In a active practice, the muscles and movement are emphasized Postures flow from one to another and are held usually for 5-10 breaths. Yin yoga involves long-held poses on the mat that focus mostly on the area with most connective tissue -- in general the mid and lower part of body, as well as the joints. Both are needed to keep you healthy.

Y Elements will help you develop a customized practice to bring you into balance with whatever you're dealing with physically, energetically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Your yoga will increase your physical vitality, activate the body's own repair response, improve the quality of your moods and reactions, and create more space for you to do other forms of healing and growing. A good yoga practice requires regular tweaking - depending on your constitution, rhythm of your life, your immediate environment, and even where on earth you are, since the earth's energetic arteries can affect your own energetic meridians! 

Y Elements can teach one-on-one or group yoga sessions.  We offer workshops in topics such as Yoga & Writing, Yin Yoga, Morning Yogic Routines, andYoga & Anatomy.  We are also available for longer retreats. Yoga can easily be combined with other modalities, such as coaching.  

I was introduced to Yael and yin yoga by accident. I immediately loved Yael's spirit and dedication to the practice and to her students. I found her so amazingly supportive and therapeutic, both physically and emotionally, that I retained her services for private sessions. It changed my life, by helping me find a stillness that I did not know existed for me... Mary T. Washington, DC