Shoulder LOVE @ lululemon athletica

Sunday February 21, 2010 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
472 Bergen St (at Flatbush)
Q to 7th Ave, 2/3 to Bergen


By now you know the drill... Join me for another great *FREE* workshop @ lululemon athletica!


Show your shoulders some LOVE!


Our favorite Thai yoga masseuse is back!!

Do you have tense shoulders, a tight neck, and rounded chest? Sitting at your computer all day, stress, and even the February cold air can make your upper body stiff.


Don't you wish your friend/lover/roommate knew how to rub your shoulders and stretch your neck?

In this workshop you will learn partner stretches and Thai bodywork techniques to relieve your neck and shoulder tension. You don't want to miss this!


We will combine stretching, reflexology, energy line work, yoga poses, and massage to decrease pain, increase flexibility, and improve circulation. Your instructor, Elyse Sparkes (www.sparkeswellness.com), will lead you through exercises where you will be both the giver and the receiver of the stretches. Bring a friend so you'll be able to practice these new stretching techniques at home!

*Be prepared to work in comfy clothes and bare feet*

Did I mention?... It's *FREE*!

Valentine's Partner Stretch Class

There's still space available in Valentine's Partner Stretch class this Thursday!!

Click here to sign up by Paypal
or
Email esparkes@gmail.com


Thursday, Feb. 11th

8-9:30pm

@ Conscious Body Studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn

575 5th St. between 8th Ave & Prospect Park West, 2nd floor

F train to 7th Ave stop



Ever wish your friend/lover/roommate could massage your shoulders or stretch your back?

Bring them to this fun, original event!

In this class you and your partner will learn Thai massage and partner stretching techniques in a relaxed, fun atmosphere.

Partner stretching and Thai massage combine stretching, reflexology, energy line work, yoga poses, and massage to decrease pain, increase flexibility, and improve circulation.


You'll leave with simple and effective techniques to practice at home. Plus there will be healthy treats and surprise gifts!!!!

You won't want to miss it.

I'm a Celiac Chick

As many of you know I'm a Celiac Chick! (Remember my Gluten Free Thanksgiving post?)

I live with Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that destroys the lining of your small intestine when you eat foods containing gluten.

Once you get diagnosed it's not too bad! If you eat a gluten free diet (no wheat, rye, barley, or any derivatives of proteins found in those foods), your symptoms will disappear and your health will improve.

Thanks to growing awareness it's easier to buy gluten free foods at grocery stores and find meal options at restaurants. Plus you can find a bunch of resources on the Internet. My favorites are the Celiac Chicks website, a hip & healthy guide to gluten free living, and the NYC Celiac Meetup group.

When I was in Asheville, NC over the holidays I stumbled upon the Posana Cafe, %100 gluten free! I was so impressed with this place that I wrote a guest blog about it for the Celiac Chicks website.

To read it and see more pics, click HERE!

Chocolate-Raspberry Truffle Cake w/almond ice cream (%100 gf)

YOGA: Strength & Stretch

Stretch class is back by popular demand, and with a new twist!

*Now at the Conscious Body Studio in Park Slope*

4 Wednesdays in February (3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th) @ 6:30-7:30pm
Conscious Body Studio in Park Slope (5th street between 8th Ave & PPW)

YOGA: Strength & Stretch class will focus equally on building your strength, endurance & increasing your flexibility.


This class will invigorate your physical body, calm your mind, and bring balance to your practice on and off your mat.

You will:

* develop long lean muscles
* feel more grounded and open
* condition your arms, legs, & core
* have limited class size for personal attention
* receive modifications for injuries or special conditions
* increase your breath awareness


4 weeks for $75 *Limited Class Size.
$20 dollar drop in rate *(if room is available)

Register by Jan 30th: email esparkes@gmail.com to sign up.

Hamstring Showdown Success!!

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Hamstring Showdown Workshop at lululemon athletica last Sunday!


It was a huge success. The lululemon athletica Brooklyn Showroom was packed with people learning about Thai yoga massage, partner stretching, and how to effectively increase hamstring flexibility.


Check out some pics!



Partners chatting before we started


Elyse introducing Thai yoga massage



Missed this event? Don't fret!

Stay tuned for details about the Valentine's Day Couples Stretch Workshop!!!

*NEW* location: Conscious Body Studio

I am so excited to have a new home studio in Park Slope!

I will start holding classes and private sessions in this studio starting next Wednesday, January 27th!

This studio is:
• conveniently located (5th st. between 8th Ave & PPW)
• warm, bright, and inviting
• equipped with free weights, resistance bands, yoga mats & props
• quiet and calm for private sessions and Thai massage
• personal for classes and workshops
• close to F train, short walk from 2/3
• perfect for buddy sessions

Call me at 201-240-4228 or email esparkes@gmail.com to book a Thai massage, personal training, or yoga session at this new space!

Help for Haiti

Natural disasters strengthen our sense of community...I have received several different messages from local health organizations for ways to help the situation in Haiti.


Here's a list of ways to contribute through your local fitness centers:

Triomph Fitness, Health, and Wellness
540 President street
Brooklyn, NY
11215

"Clothing, hygiene products (men and women), canned foods, etc... will all be collected at Triomph this Saturday between 12-5p.m. Of course items can be brought in starting immediately, and we will continue to gather products well after Saturday."

Cobble Hill Fitness Collective
278 court street
Brooklyn, NY
11231

"Please stop by the Collective with your cash donations. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Clinton Foundation for rescue efforts."

Brooklyn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
412 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

"Accepting donations to go to Operation USA."


List of other resources for help and donations: MSNBC world news

Hamstring Showdown *FREE* class

Thai Massage & Partner Stretch workshop @ lululemon athletica

Sunday, January 17th @11am

It's FREE. Bring a friend!

lululemon athletica
472 Bergen St
Brooklyn NY 11217
tel: (718) 636-6298


"Hamstring Showdown at the Showroom!! Have you always wanted to be able to bend down and touch your toes? Or, for those yogis out there, get closer to that split you've been working on? Well, with the help of a partner, you can!

In this workshop, fantastic Elyse Sparkes (dancer, personal trainer, and thai yoga masseuse extraordinaire!!) will teach us partner stretches and Thai bodywork techniques to lengthen our hamstrings for a more effective stretch.

Partner stretching and Thai bodywork combine stretching, reflexology, energy line work, yoga poses, and massage to decrease pain, increase flexibility, and improve circulation. In this dynamic workshop, Elyse will lead us through exercises where you will be both the giver and the receiver of the stretches - so bring a friend and take these techniques home with you!"

Plan an exercise-cation in 2010

HAPPY 2010 !

I had the pleasure of spending New Year's at Lindy Focus, a lindy hop dance festival in Asheville, North Carolina.

It was a 5 days full of dance classes, lectures, workshops, formal evening swing dances, and late late late night blues dances!!

One of the best things about this was that I was on vacation, but was still being super active! When I take time off from work I usually try to keep up my fitness, but usually somehow I get off track. At Lindy Focus my vacation was based around dancing!

Dancing might not be your drug of choice (I highly recommend it anyhow), BUT you can build a vacation around your favorite activity. Take an exercise-cation! You could hike, bike, ski, take a yoga retreat (like OM's), or anything that makes you move.

Plan an exercise-cation for 2010

Pink Glove Dance

Providence St. Vincent Medical Center employees donned pink gloves and danced in support of breast cancer awareness.
The Pink Glove dance has gotten over 1.6 million hits on YouTube!
If you haven't seen it yet, watch it HERE.
(The more YouTube hits, the more funding for breast cancer awareness...SO SEND ON THIS LINK!!!)

"We thought that seeing health care workers wear pink gloves would remind people to talk about breast cancer and that some of the money from the gloves could be used to pay for mammograms for women that couldn't afford it," said Sue MacInnes of Medline Industries Inc., the company that created the gloves. Medline Industries Inc. says it will donate a portion of the profits from the pink gloves to fund mammograms for women who otherwise would not get them.*

*from ABC News article

NY Times Advocates Self Massage

I happened upon this great article in the New York Times about the importance of regular self massage and massage therapy! It's a quick informative read: Becoming Your Own Massage Therapist. Foam rollers get press, wohooo!!

**NEW SESSIONS & DECEMBER SPECIALS**

Here are two great NEW types of sessions!!


Buddy Sessions:

Workout with a partner. Personal Training or Yoga sessions for 2 people with 1 trainer.
Save some cash, exercise, AND have a great time ;)

DECEMBER SPECIAL: 1 session for $100 OR 3 sessions for $285

• Great present for your significant other, best friend, or relative
• Get inspired by your exercise buddy and have a blast
• Save mucho money




½ & ½ Yoga and Thai Massage:

An hour and a half ALL about YOU. Drop into a meditative state while strengthening your entire body with 45minutes of vinyasa yoga. Then become completely passive as you receive 45minutes of Thai massage.

DECEMBER SPECIAL: 1 (90 min) session for $120 OR 3 (90min) sessions for $285

• Guaranteed to reduce stress and tension
• Will increase circulation and flexibility
• Strengthens and stretches muscles
• Perfect gift to put on YOUR wish list

Call 201-240-4288 or email esparkes@gmail.com to book your sessions!

City Harvest

Feeling full from your Thanksgiving meals?
Now is the perfect time to do some giving.

One of my favorite organizations to donate to is City Harvest.


"Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city's hungry men, women, and children.

This year, City Harvest will collect over 25 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week,
City Harvest helps over 260,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.

City Harvest also addresses hunger’s underlying causes by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of local farm food into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of our agency partners to feed hungry men, women, and children."

You can donate your time in volunteering, individual or corporate gifts, or food drives.

Gluten-Free Girl and Thanksgiving

Many of you already know that I am a gluten-free girl. Not the Gluten-Free Girl (a well known blogger, chef, and author), but a gluten-free girl.

What is gluten, and why would I be free of it? Read about Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease at www.celiac.com


My favorite hip and cool gluten free resource is Celiac Chicks. You can watch one of the celiac chicks in this (long but informative) video.

Now, how does all this relate to THANKSGIVING?
Holiday eating can be torturous with food allergies and restrictions (missing out on bread stuffing, pies, sauces, etc.), especially on a holiday that's all about one enormous meal.

BUT...
there's hope.

One of my personal training clients, a chef, suggested that instead of trying to replace those holiday staples with gluten free alternatives, try new recipes that will appeal to gluten eaters and gluten free alike.
This makes me happy.
Very very happy.
:)

You can experiment with recipes that will give a new flair to your traditional Thanksgiving meal too!
I'll try to make Quinoa Stuffing and maybe Rum Apple Cake.

(recipes & photos from www.food52.com)

There are also some good recipes at Gluten-Free Girl Thanksgiving 2009


Want some other tips for the holidays? Read my post from last year: Thanksgiving 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

have FAITH see CHANGE

This weekend, in my yoga teacher training course at OM yoga center, we began to delve into the teachings of The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali.

Patañjali organized the study of yoga. He wrote the Yoga-Sutras in the second or third century and people still use it today as a guide for observing the human mind. The word sutra means thread, an appropriate description of the work, as Patañjali threaded and interspersed the ancient yogic ideas with practical meditative techniques.

According to Chip Hartfranft's translation the Yoga-Sutra is a, "collection of 196 compact observations on the nature of consciousness and liberation [that] remains unrivaled for its penetrating insight. Though brief, the Yoga-Sutra manages to cut to the heart of the human dilemma."


This is one of my favorite quotes from the translation...

"The forces that give rise to change exist before change becomes visible."

To me this comes down to having FAITH. Faith that you are where you are supposed to be at any given moment.

Do you ever feel like you're NEVER going to get what you want?
Or that you've been working SO hard towards one goal, which always seems to be unattainable?

I do and I often find myself getting stuck in the "What If's" of a situation.
What if I don't make enough money?
What if I never lose those 5lbs?
What if my foot pain never goes away?
What if I'm single forever?

And then when things do happen, (I financially support myself, I make positive changes to my body image, my injuries heal, I'm in an amazing relationship, etc.) I look back on the stress and worry of the "What Ifs" and wish I could've just relaxed and had faith that everything would work out.

This reminds me of my previous post Living RIGHT NOW! with a Buddha Body
If I have FAITH that I am doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing RIGHT NOW! then it is impossible to label something 'good' or 'bad'. If something is neither good nor bad, it just Is. If everything just Is at any given moment in time, then you can feel content in knowing that you are on your path. The forces that give rise to the changes you want may be unrecognizable to you until after the change has occurred.

All you need is FAITH that you are on your path!

(cue Beatles song)

;)

Yummy Root Veggies

Roasted root vegetables are easy to prepare, packed with nutrients, and definitely my favorite healthy dish in the fall and winter.

Here's a straightforward recipe to try.

Feel free to experiment with your own combinations of root veggies and flavorings.

Choose a few different root veggies:
Beets
Potato
Sweet Potato
Carrots
Parsnips
Fennel bulb
Onion

Choose your seasoning:
Garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil


1. Preheat oven to 425 F
2. Wash veggies & chop into small chunks
3. Mix veggies with seasonings & evenly distribute on oiled baking dish
4. Bake covered for 30min, uncovered for an additional 15min (times may vary for your oven)

Allow to cool and enjoy with some steamed greens and healthy protein.

YUMMY!!

The Art of Self Care & Healing Massage Workshop

I'm teaming up once again with lululemon athletica (my all time favorite exercise clothes store) to present a new workshop The Art of Self Care & Healing Massage. This time in partnership with Zoe Levine, personal trainer extraordinaire and MELT method instructor.



@ lululemon athletica

472 Bergen St. @ Flatbush Ave in Park Slope (2/3 to Bergen)

Wednesday, November 4th, 7-8:30pm

It's FREE!!!

In this workshop, body practitioners Zoe Levine and Elyse Sparkes will share techniques on self-care and healing others through the MELT method and Thai yoga massage. Learn easy ways to make your body feel great on your own and with the help of a partner. Awaken and energize your hands and feet with MELT methods, and then use your increased sensitivity in full body assisted stretches and Thai massage. You'll leave feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

The M.E.L.T. Method® (MELT) is a self-treatment technique that helps prevent pain, heal injury, and erase the negative effects of aging and active living. In this workshop MELT instructor Zoe Levine (www.everydaybalancenyc.com) will guide you through simple yet powerful self-treatment techniques that reduce pain and tension in your whole body by treating just your hands and feet. Regular treatment can provide relief from neck and low back pain, arthritis, bunions, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

These quick self-treatments can be done anywhere – home, work, or travel.

Thai yoga massage is a modality that combines stretching, reflexology, energy line work, yoga poses, and massage. Learn to be both the giver and the receiver in this workshop, which will focus on increasing flexibility and improving circulation for your whole body. Your instructor Elyse Sparkes, www.sparkeswellness.com, will show you ways to reduce stress and feel completely relaxed.

Bring a friend so you'll be able to practice these new healing techniques at home!


Workshop attendees practicing Thai massage & Assisted Stretching

Park Slope Parents

I was recently added to the Park Slope Parents website as a recommended personal trainer!

"Elyse is a great personal trainer with a lot of energy, skill, and knowledge. She's patient, but pushes you to be your best."

Park Slope Parents is an online resource for raising children in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Want to write a review? Add your entry HERE.

Thanks parents of Park Slope!

Climbing the Knife Edge @57

My dad recently celebrated his 57th birthday by taking a 10 hour hike up 5000 feet to Mount Katahdin and across its most dangerous and narrow ridge: The Knife Edge.


(Can't imagine traversing loose rock piles only 3 feet wide on the very top of a mountain? Watch this short video and you'll get the point pretty quickly).

I've always known my dad to be active and adventurous, and upon thinking about this impressive feat I realized how much physical endurance, dedication, and passion for life he has in order to accomplish this. He is absolutely a role model for me in my health and the ultimate inspiration for fitness and longevity.

I'm always curious about what motivates people to keep a continuous healthy lifestyle. How can I make sure I'm fit enough to climb a mountain on MY 57th birthday?!? Well, I asked the man who did it himself....

ELYSE: How long have you been hiking?

DAD: Since I went to the International Ranger Camp in Leysin, Switzerland, in 1962. I was 10 years old and hooked by seeing the Alps.

ELYSE: What was hiking the Knife Edge like?

DAD: Totally exhilarating...beautiful...wicked good! We were up 5000 feet traveling a narrow ridge about a mile from Baxter peak. There are several old codgers like myself up there, but mostly 20, 30, and 40 somethings.

ELYSE: How did you train for this hike?

DAD: I trained this summer with yoga classes, daily lake swimming, kayaking, biking, and 3 preliminary lower elevation mountain hikes. I was in good shape by early September.

ELYSE: How did exercise become part of your lifestyle?

DAD: My father and mother started yoga, stretching, and walking when they were in their 50's. They are now 94 and have a personal trainer for strength training and physical therapy for rehabilitation. My father still goes to the gym on his own to do leg presses. They are inspirational to me at their age, so I made exercise a priority in my lifestyle as well.

ELYSE: Do you think hiking/fitness/exercise keeps you feeling young?

DAD: Yes! Keeping the blood flowing like that is good for the body, mind, and spirit, which creates agelessness!!

ELYSE: Any advice you have for those of us who also want to climb a mountain at age 57?

DAD: The only thing between you and staying fit are the barriers you put up to exercise. I am not the most graceful or athletic person (they used to call me Mr. Peabody). I've had numerous injuries throughout my life, but I committed to the idea of starting to go for body toning & endurance, and stick to a meal plan geared to obtain my goals. I got a personal trainer and followed a program. There have been highs and lows, but I know now that I can do it. Truly, fitness is the key for alignment with self, energy, and longevity. It's a blast!

ELYSE: Wow, how true!
"Fitness is the key for alignment with self, energy, and longevity. "
You are such an inspiration.

Happy birthday and many many many more!!
Mount Everest at 75 years old perhaps?!?

;)

STRETCH class in Prospect Park

Back by popular demand :)

Meet @ Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park
Thursday, Oct. 15th, 6pm

*** ONLY $10 ***



Take advantage of the autumn weather in the beautiful Prospect Park. You'll be able to breathe in fresh air as you lengthen your muscles and relax your mind. Bring a towel, yoga mat, and/or clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

We'll meet at Grand Army Plaza entrance @6pm and settle on the Great Lawn.

Rain Date TBA.

Bring your friends!

***All attendees will receive a coupon for a $50 Thai Massage with me (normally $80/hr)***