COM MU N I TY + FAM ILY
4715 Grand Ave ~ Des Moines
515-277-9721
GET TO KNOW CARRIE ELLEN GIUNTA
www.FitnessByDesignDM.com Where do you teach? I’ve taught privately for two years, and now have offerings at Santosha Yoga in Urbandale, Iowa.
Let us guide you on your Fitness Journey!
Favorite yoga pose Dvipada Pitham, or Bridge Pose.
Visit our website for a Complimentary Class Pass for a Yoga, Strength, HIIT, or Pilates Mat class.
It’s like dental floss for your back!
Something you splurge on Good bourbon, a spunky manicure.
One thing people don’t know about you I used to play honky-tonk piano in a melodrama house!
What makes your style of teaching unique? I’m currently the only certified Viniyoga teacher in the Des Moines metro, and one of only three in Iowa. The Sanskrit word viniyoga means “appropriate application.” We are driven by function, not form. A yoga posture looks different on every individual, so we say, “Teach the practitioner, not the posture.” I’m committed to making the teachings of yoga available to those for whom the average, exercise-driven class is intimidating or utterly inaccessible. By using the movements of yoga to cultivate a relationship with one’s own breath, rather than as an end unto themselves, we unleash the deeper potential of a yoga practice—such as regulating physiological processes.
If you weren’t teaching yoga, what would you be doing? I have sung professionally for many years. I always felt singing, at its best, reconnected people to a sense of their own humanity. With yoga, I feel I’ve stepped it up a notch, and rather seek to connect people to a sense of their own divinity.
Cindy Hick 515.720.5060 www.cindyhick.beautycounter.com, @abeautycounter
What inspires and motivates you? The ease yoga gives me in everyday life. On average, I work with forty individuals one-on-one in a given week between my yoga and music teaching. When my yoga practice is organized and consistent, I communicate and connect with each individual with much greater clarity, whether they are six or sixty. Additionally, I can find joy, or at a minimum, satisfaction, in tasks that I used to find taxing or tedious. Yoga doesn’t change my circumstances, but it decidedly changes how I interact with them. If I can offer people a fraction of that experience, I’ll consider my return-on-investment high.
TRUST WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM Local • Certified Organic • Sustainable • Humane
COOKING & NUTRITION CLASSES Free for CSA members or $ 25 for non-members • Vegetables Harvested Daily • Therapeutic Gardening 32513 Ute Ave. Waukee, IA 50263 515-987-3561 ltorganicfarm.org L.T. & Ahilia Bhramdat, Owners
RESTAURANT
Patanjali’s yoga sutras, which defines yoga as “the state of mind where the constant fluctuations of the mind cease,” and the mind becomes “like a fortress.” In other words, the static in our heads gives way to a clear channel. Imagine being free of all those persistent little nagging voices, being able to find and define what’s of value to you, and then live by those values, rather than be a slave to your habits. And notice that nowhere in that definition is any mention of flexible hamstrings! The practice of yoga is a mental practice and the promise of practice is a clear head.
Open Seasonal, 7 Days a Week
May 9–October 31 from 11 am–9 pm
Serving Indian, Caribbean and Mediterranean cuisine. • Gluten Free and Vegan available • Menu changes to fit seasonal vegetables Call to make a reservation or just walk-in!
• SPRING 2015
Photo by Kerri Hays
Visit us on the North Edge of the Waukee exit on I-80
How has the yoga philosophy resonated with you? Deeply and profoundly. Take even the opening of
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