These real and authentic testimonials are to inspire you to vision what is possible for your healing transformative journey with Gentle Heart Yoga and Wellness.
You draw out and inspire the Goddess in me.
Dear Yulia! I want to thank you fro enhancing ,y life with your light, smiles, intention, and wholeness. Your entire aura engulfs me in a sense of bliss, joy, and feminine confidence. I am so glad to have met you in Bloomington. My participation in the Women's Temple have helped me grow and cultivate a sense of place in Bloomington. Thank you so much for your generosity of self, healing energy, and inspiration!
I have gained a spiritual insight and trust in the act of moving towards what at first feels difficult or constraining.
Coming into yoga therapy, I had no idea what to expect. In my mind, I thought I'd be helped into some stretches and then guided to breath, but WOW there was so much more here. Not only did Yulia provide a space for the body, she also welcomed me to share some about my mind and emotional processing. I came to yoga therapy with some discomfort in my right hip due to a recent Hernia Surgery repair. And what I found out from our work together was just how much fear and tissue trauma was still left over from this surgery. Through yoga therapy, I witnessed that my intuition was still to move AWAY from the pain, but what my body needed was to remember and understand the sensations I had been avoiding. I now experience more freedom in my right hip, but even deeper I have gained a spiritual insight and trust in the act of moving towards what at first feels difficult or constraining. Yoga therapy is much more than a physical modality, it is a discipline that shows a body, a mind, a spirit to be patient, kind, and loving with itself even in the heart of challenge. Yulia's gentle and present guidance helped me to stay with AND move through waves of contraction and release. Highly recommended
There have been many sessions when I come in to class with stress related muscle tightness and by the end of class I feel pain free and taller than when I walked into class.
My Total Body Pilates class always exceeds my expectations. Yulia is one of the best instructors at the "Y". The class is small, giving opportunity for individualized help where needed. Yulia has a gift for tailoring her instruction so that it is accessible at whatever level of expertise one may be practicing and so avoids holding back or boring more experienced class members. The exercises we do show the attention to detail and careful instructions, both verbal & demonstrated, that allow each of us to challenge ourselves and also gain a deeper understanding of the purpose of each exercise. I've done Pilates before, but got a new "aha" about some of those basic core-strengthening moves. She varies the exercises weekly to give us new challenges and work other parts of the body. I really enjoy the camaraderie of the other class members and the support they give. What I take from each class is remembering to integrate body/mind awareness into my daily activities. Thanks, Yulia, for the opportunity to take this class. I highly recommend taking Total Body Pilates and experiencing the benefits yourself!
I am a pretty wound up kind of guy... I was really not prepared at how powerful this guided meditation was going to be.
What really surprised me at the end of the afternoon session was this part when you actually let go into the nothingness. I was really not prepared at how powerful this part was going to be. That really spoke well to your instruction and to the way that you progressed in that instruction in the way that gave that outcome at the end. That was surprising to me because I would say I am a pretty wound up kind of guy and it takes something for me to get relaxed into the world of nothing.
I thought coming to the retreat was very practical and it was worthwhile and I would do it again.
Before the retreat, I was feeling overwhelmed with too many responsibilities. After the retreat, I felt the sense of calm that things were not bothering me as much anymore.
The Yoga Nidra that Yulia leads is very special and it is really the heart of the retreat. What makes the Yoga Nidra so special is that it’s like a juicy powered nap plus meditation combined. You feel so nurtured and rested and it’s a very deep space of rest and meditation. You are just lead through the whole thing. And the whole retreat is lead very beautifully. You are just so taken cared of. I felt so nurtured and relaxed through the whole thing. The space in which it happens is amazing for you to go deep and rest and get a safe space to let go and relax.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with life being so busy and to push ourselves a little too far, and say yes I’m going to do one more extra thing, one extra thing. We have the built up adrenal fatigue from pushing ourselves too hard in life. These retreats and Yoga Nidra help us recharge our batteries, restore our energy levels so you can come back to life with your full energy and be at your best.
This retreat was a catalyst in me getting closer toward my authentic self and what I want in my life.
Before participating in “Restore Your Balance” retreat I felt stressed out because of work.
I loved the Yoga Nidra that allowed me the rest that I needed and I was able to feel more relaxed than I had felt in months.
I would say if you are on a fence, just think about when was the last time you did something for yourself and how much have you invested into yourself lately because I can tell you from personal experience it was really great for me.
There is a part of myself that I tend to ignore when I am not listening and with Yulia’s Yoga Nidra I really was able to check in with that and tune into that small voice inside of me that needed to tell me some things that I had been skimming over previously. Well, I’ve made some pretty drastic changes in my life after this retreat and I have to say I believe this retreat was a catalyst in me being able to delve deeper into those changes, getting closer toward my authentic self and what I want in my life and say no to the things that were keeping me from that part of myself that I had missed.”
After taking this workshop, I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to take it!
It was hard for me to find just a chunk of a weekend knowing that 3 kids can get pretty crazy. And I made it, and I have not regretted it because the day that I went in I was in such deep pain. I felt like my heart was broken and my whole body was just rigid and tense. And we spent 2 hours with Yulia just relaxing. I felt something open in my heart during that process. And after the retreat I got in my car, and I spontaneously burst into tears and I cried the most beautiful, ugly cry. And that whole cry was just the most wonderful release. My body relaxed, everything opened up, and I found my center, which is what I was missing. After taking this workshop, I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to take it!
It's not like anything I've ever done before.
Just the way that she accepts me as a person. Even though in my daily life I just see all these flaws in myself and it can be really hard not to focus on that sometimes. And when I come into Yulia's class, it's like a different world. I'm able to step out of this mindset of what's wrong in my life, my "to-do" lists and what do I have to do, what do I have to think about, and I can just let it all go. And her energy and her voice is there and it's just guiding me to this place that's really safe and really nurturing. I really like the name of the event - The Blissful Rejuvenation Retreat - it really does a service to the actual practice because afterwards I feel totally blissed out and blissed to the max. It's not like anything I've ever done before. It's not like a typical yoga class. I mean that in a good way because it's an experience. The way that she guides it gets me into this space that I'm not really good at doing on my own.
Everyone should do this type of yoga. The world would be a nicer place because of it.
I just left a Yoga Nidra mini-retreat. It's a deep relaxation form of yoga. Everyone should do this type of yoga. The world would be a nicer place because of it. Thank you, Yulia. My prana is flowing.
It was a great reminder to give my own body more love.
After Yulia's retreat, I felt connected to love - love for myself and all others.
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