My Story:      

     Hi! I am Christine Shaw, founder of YES- Yoga for Emotional Support. I am a Yoga teacher & studio co-owner and the parent of a child with mental health disease and substance use disorder (addiction).

     YES came about after I experienced years of pain and worry, feeling hopeless and scared for my daughter who suffers with trauma, anxiety and depression and then turned to drugs and alcohol to manage her pain.

     I discovered through my  journey of trying to care for and “help” my daughter that I needed support and care for my own health and well being. I remember being in a terrible state of high emotions most of the time. I carried around guilt and shame along with anxiety and huge mood swings. I would break out crying at any moment and when someone asked how I was doing I would cry and begin talking about my daughter and not myself.

    I realized that I can't live in this high state of emotional turmoil anymore and although it was so very painful to watch my daughter make unhealthy and unsafe choices those were still her choices.  I was teaching yoga and doing breathing and meditation which did help. I sought out places for support. I started going to Al-Anon and Nar-anon meetings and parent support groups and even began a support group (through Caron treatment center) with 3 other moms. These groups were and are so helpful because they allow everyone to share their similar experiences and find support and help from people who are going through the same things. I also felt I needed something that was solely for me and my self care. I needed tools so when all of the turmoil and craziness happened I could remain calm and handle it with loving kindness for myself and others. My Yoga practice, breathing and Meditation helped me to do this.

From these desires YES was born!

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My vision:

As a Yoga teacher and a born nurturer, I love to help others.  After seeing how much my personal Yoga practice and other methods of relaxation, empowering thoughts and self care techniques helped me I wanted to offer others the same support I found. Through my experiences I was able to envision what could be of help to many others who are seeking some emotional support and balance and the ways to achieve it.    

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The Benefits of YES:

     Moving our physical bodies and feeling a connection to the mind, body and breath is an excellent way to tap into our bodies natural stress or pain relievers called endorphins. It allows us to make space to move out of a place of fear and hopelessness and make room for healing, love and possibilities.

      Yoga for Emotional Support will help you to get back to focusing on yourself. It helps by combining the physical movements of  Yoga and breath and the mental calming of meditation, visualization, positive self talk, energy work, mantras, essential oils, and more. Many family members or loved ones may have neglected to do things for their own health and well being. These tools will help you to not only survive but to thrive in life

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What do we usually do to “help” a person with addiction?

Parents, caretakers or loved ones often direct time, money, resources, effort, focus, thoughts, energy and emotions towards those with mental health, substance use disorder (addiction) or trauma with all good intentions towards helping and nurturing them and then we find ourselves an emotional wreck because we haven’t taken care of our own emotional, mental and physical needs. We are asking those with a disorder to self care and yet we are not practicing self care for ourselves. We check out of life and run on automatic pilot, pushing our emotions down and thinking that we must focus all of our attention on another person and many times that other person does not even want the help we are offering 

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How can we be the most effective?

When we learn a variety of tools to take care of ourselves so we can become more available, stable, empathetic, calm, grounded, grateful, loving and centered; then we can truly be free and able to help our loved ones in the most appropriate and caring ways. 

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What does taking care of ourselves look like?

Finding and using tools for self care is the best way to respond appropriately in emotionally charged situations. These tools and techniques are proven to help you to connect  with your energy & emotions as they arise, nurture yourself and become emotionally stable and strong. We can fill up our worry bucket or our joy bucket. a YES Class will help you to learn to fill up the joy bucket. 

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YES (Yoga for Emotional Support) will give you the tools you need!

When you come to a YES class the focus is on you! From the moment you enter you will be accepted right where you are. An intention of nurturing yourself begins as soon as you enter the class where you will gain insight and tools throughout to manage stress or emotional upsets when they occur. (Go to the Classes page to see a sample class format). Learn a variety of ways to access the parasympathetic nervous system or the relaxation response, like breathing, moving, mantras, guided meditations and visualizations, essential oils, energy work, positive self talk and more. You will begin to change the way you respond to life and feel empowered to manage all situations.

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So, YES, support your loved ones with your time, focus and energy but first find compassion and

kindness for yourself.