San Antonio Public Library will celebrate the 4th annual International Day of Yoga on Thursday, June 21 at 20 library locations across San Antonio with free classes and programs for all ages. n addition, San Antonio Public Library cardholders are invited to check out magazines, books, eBooks, eAudiobooks, fitness DVDs, and other materials all about the ancient practice of yoga. Visit https://sanantonio.overdrive.com/collection/154840 to download digital material to your personal device.

I’m OK. You’re OK. Are you really? Most of us are on overdrive. As a result, we are stressed out. We don’t eat well. Don’t sleep well. Don’t enjoy time with our loved ones enough. Stress interferes with everything. Especially our health. We have too many deadlines, and too many devices running our lives. Read a few of my previous posts (http://thenamastecounsel.com/yoga-blog/) on “The Way Life Should Be,” “The Yoga Sutras,” or “Yoga at Sea” for my view of a more balanced stress free life.

The City of San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District reported, last year, that more than one in seven residents have been diagnosed with diabetes.  Among seniors in Bexar County, the figure skyrockets to one in three. Hispanics are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, and are 50 percent more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. There is no clear cut answer why diabetes is an epidemic, but we can address blood sugar management to prevent renal failure, amputations, cardiovascular disease, and other problems associated with diabetes.

In honor of its tenth anniversary in San Antonio, The Union will open its doors Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1, with nine complimentary 60- or 90-minute hot yoga sessions for San Antonio’s first Free Day of Yoga. Free Day of Yoga attracts thousands of participants in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Corpus, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Guam, and now, San Antonio.  Back in 1999, when some yogis in Austin came up with the idea of a smorgasbord of classes for Free Day of Yoga, Stevan Falk was testing the waters with the ancient Indian practice.

Hatha Yoga began in India at least 5,000 years ago. The yoga community has grown exponentially, and radiated its popularity throughout the world to include more than 20 million yoga practitioners in the United States.

For as long as we have been human, we have had healers in our midst.  Whether it was a curandera, shaman, monk, or the old woman down the street that grew herbs, there was always someone in our own community that knew us, cared about us, and healed us.  These individuals had a calling, a gift, a duty.  It was NOT about business, but about helping people. 

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (July 21, 2011)—In response to staggering obesity and breast cancer mortality rates, a new local study is testing how different types of exercise—like yoga—best improve cancer survivors’ fitness, quality of life and molecular indicators of future risk. The project, Improving Mind and Physical ACTivity (IMPACT), is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.