3. 60 Reasons to Take Yoga with Amber Adams

1. She will start a relationship with you that will last a lifetime if you want it to 
2. You will become a priority for her; part of her service to the world
3. You can have a dynamic dialogue with her talking to her about life questions
4. As a yoga teacher and mental health counselor in training she can offer empathy, support, and guidance
5. In classes she shares about the why we are doing what we are doing
6. She gives dharma talks – yoga philosophy explanations
7. We sit still and meditate every class, leaving space to witness the mind and calm it
8. We check-in with all of our koshas; physical, breath, mind/emotional, intellect, and soul
9. We learn about how to effectively use emotions and experience self-regulation
10. We learn about and focus on the five pillars of health; nutrition, breathing, exercise, rest, and meditation
11. Classes are often small and personal
12. A community is created where people care about each other
13. She gives spots; hands on alignment adjustments and deepening pressure 
14. She practices what she preaches, living a yogic lifestyle 
15. She is open and shares about her personal life lessons
16. She offers simple and clear asana directions 
17. She prioritizes safety in the body over achievements of the mind 
18. Her heart is full of bhav; love and devotion for yoga, the source of everything, herself, and each other 
19. She offers a balanced blend of heart and knowledge 
20. We learn about how to love ourselves and each other more fully 
21. We experience self compassion, meeting ourselves where we are 
22. We recognized the more abilities we gain, the quicker we can access the correct one in a given moment 
23. She reminds us over and over that love is the way 
24. She appreciates variety and never teaches the same exact class twice 
25. She creates intelligent asana sequences 
26. She often teaches and references the chakra system to keep all chakras in balance 
27. She sometimes uses a whiteboard, drawing pictures and drawing visuals for enhanced learning 
28. Quotes from great minds and metaphors are used to expand our present state 
29. She offers mind expanding thinking 
30. She offers heart expanding acceptance and compassion
31. She reminds us of our oneness with everything; human beings, animals, the earth, the Supreme, and beyond 
32. She holds space for and activates unconscious and subconscious thoughts to become seen and held 
33. She brings in gratitude thinking every class 
34. We learn about mantras; how to save the mind from itself 
35. We incorporate a little chanting in every practice, opening our throat chakras 
36. She provides a calm, nurturing environment to heal and transform 
37. Mindfulness is guided throughout classes 
38. Intentions are set at the beginning of our practice to focus our mind and manifest our next right move
39. She continually reminds us that we are a trifecta of soul, body and mind and how to keep them all connected 
40. She teaches Ayurvedic principles that can easily be incorporated into daily living 
41. On occasion she will do some really creative classes, like practicing in a circle, spotting each other, and being more playful 
42. In the warm months she teaches outdoor yoga in beautiful expansive nature 
43. She reminds us of our inner light and our inner strength 
44. She incorporates a variety of asanas so that we can embody all the different qualities of our humanness
45. Her students consider her yoga classes very spiritual 
46. Her inner light is bright and has been referred to as radiant 
47. She uses Sanskrit to keep that languages’ uplifting resonance in the body and defines the words and concepts
48. Her voice is known to be angelic, sweet and calming
49. She is reliable, dependable, organized, punctual and trustworthy to name a few
50. Her class pace is not too fast, nor too slow; just right her students say
51. She plays traditional Sanskrit chanting music that correlates to the type of class and sets a spiritual mood
52. She teaches a variety of hatha yoga classes; restorative, alignment, yin, vinyasa, chakra
53. She is 3 generations away from B.K.S. Iyengar, the founder of alignment yoga who brought it to the West from India 
54. She became a practitioner of yoga at 22, a young age to remold her mind, practicing for over 13 years, and teaching for 8 years
55. She has experienced all kinds of loss, and knows how to build resilience from adversity
56. She has recreated her life at least 5 times, and knows the journey of transformation well
57. Her yogic lifestyle has been healing the chronic muscle and pain, fibromyalgia she has been experiencing since she was 20 years old
58. Working with her emotions has been healing her childhood trauma and produced great compassion for others trauma and suffering
59. She teaches much about the soul, what it is, where it is, what it feels like, its qualities, and how to live from it
60. She offers a yearly yoga, meditation, vegetarian retreat on an Island in Mexico that you could join for a yummy week of restoration and connection

1. How Primal Therapy & Yoga and Meditation Can Work Together

A misconception of yoga is that it focuses solely on unattachement rather than connection. That is not so. The word yoga means connection. Both in Yoga and Meditation the practitioner is invited, as we are always invited, to connect with our real or true self as Dr Janov says is who we really are. It is not to cultivate more of the unreal self with defense mechanisms. Yoga and Meditation are cultivations of self love. They encourage us to get quiet and connect with our real self, allowing us to get to know ourselves. Release the unreal self of the defensive mind and ego and spend time with who we really are. Once we spend this time with our true self, we desire to be with ourselves more and more. We desire to spend more time in quiet. Doing less. Being more. Dr. Janov writes neurosis pulls people in struggle, and incencant doing and thinking. Yoga and Meditation allow us to connect with existing and being at peace with who we truly are.

Some beings are so suppressed and blocked at who they really are, that these modalities allow them a window to see and feel their real self. That is completely important and its something many can get a little guidance on and do on their own anytime.

Much of yoga and primal therapy says healing is usually gradual. Just like getting the primal pains of unmet childhood wounds has been gradual. Often we heal or wake up in stages. If yoga and mediation is an improved form of ones current state, than thats healing. That is progress towards the real self. Then if one is noticing the externals and internals of yoga aren't healing them enough and the same anxieties and behaviors are happening, primal therapy, feelings ones unmet childhood wounds can be connected to as well.

Breathing/pranayama. If we were all loved as children, perhaps our breath would always be constantly balanced. But since we all have unmet needs to some degree our breath quality changes. Mostly to anxiety (the past creeping into the present) which makes our breath short, choppy, poor. I find controlling the breath to be very helpful in presence moments. For example if we are driving and suddenly get a trigger, we can begin consciously breathing to sooth our sensitive nervous system before we can safely pull over or arrive somewhere to feel our total body feelings. And since we still have anxious feelings and tension it is another tool that we can use to love ourselves and meet our own needs as adults. It is also important for the whole organism to run smoothly and effectively. So i think its better to put less stress on the organism and help the organism, love it, where possible.

I know my bhakti yoga teacher has shared some beings need to go back into their child and refill those fillings as part of their moving on and fully living. Others who have had their needs met more as infants and children do not. That is a personal feeling and knowing. I am one of those people who do FOR SURE, so I listen to my feelings, release and am learning more and more to nurture them. Therefore yoga and mediation isn't forcing anyone to not listen to themselves if they have feelings come up. In the Bhagavad Gita it says, “Abandon all varieties of religion, and follow me.” This tradition is a guide, a pointer to inner connection of the true self. It has systems, traditions, guidelines to help lead people closer to themselves, but each individual is unique and at different places. But yoga is just a means of being one with our eternal self; love.

So many forms of healing have been experientially felt as healing from others and documented by many. If many lifetimes exist, than maybe different forms of healing work in different lifetimes according to the unmet needs in that lifetime….or previous lifetimes catching up. So if yoga aids in healing in this lifetime so be it! If it just helps keep the body purer from environmental harms than thats worthy of doing. Either way our body needs to be stimulated through exercise and movement. Muscles, breath, digestion, cardio all need to be engaged, and much of modern societies jobs are stagnent. Yoga I have found does the finest job at this with a humongous bonus of teaching love and compassion for oneself.

2. What If We Are Just Meant to Meet Our Basic Needs?

Dr Arthur Janov in Primal Therapy says there are no physcological needs, just basic survival and physical needs. Physiological needs are born symbolically as a way to meet unfulfilled infant/child needs in adulthood.

If this is so, no wonder why everyone feels so stressed, overwhelmed, burnt out, coming up with separating phrases like time is money, you’re waiting my time, i don't have time for this, etc. Chasing money, importance, stuff, living through their children, being the best, perfect bodies, rat race etc. all to find fulfillment from unmet childhood needs. And sadly it never comes from this. Over and over we hear stories about how someone thought when they got their goal, lived their dream THEN they would be happy and fulfilled. It never comes…..so why do humans keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?

Fear, anxiety, ignorance, pride. One doesn't know that pain is our teacher. One has no idea they can feel their childhood wounds and still survive. One  is lost in how to transcend their darkness into light. To acknowledge these wounds, feel them as an adult, release them, empower themselves to nurture their wounds. Be the parent themselves they never had. Learn how to self love…

If we chose to return to a lifestyle where we focused more on meeting our basic needs. We would probably go back to living in larger communities and get a lot of physcological needs met more nauturally….Stimulation for example in the form of affection, play and support. Connection in the form of inclusion, companionship, and stability. We would have more time to understand nature and align with its wisdom. We would have more needs met peace, ease, presence to name a few from having space in our lives to just be. To connect. Dr Janov says we heal these unmet wounds through connection. Yoga says the way to oneness is connection. All wisdom traditions say connect with the source energy that makes all things exist.