WHAT OUR COMMUNITY SAYS
Julie, Parent
To watch your child in a state of peaceful contemplation is the best feeling in the world. Story and Stretch has been the greatest experience for our kids. They are learning life lessons in every class, enjoying movement, and gaining physical and mental strength!
Janie, Preschool Director
I could not believe it when I walked into the gym and saw our 50 children fully engaged in the story through yoga and having a ball!
This innovative program is a winner
all the way around!
Angela, Yoga Student
I look forward to Michel's class all week. Michel's Liturgical Yoga class includes elements for your mind, spirit and soul so that you feel you are praising God through your movements on your yoga mat. You instantly feel at peace in her class. Liturgical Yoga has changed my life for the better, as it has allowed me to release my stress, make me happier and grow deeper in my relationship with God.
Kim, Course Member
Michel's energy is inspiring & her encouragement & guidance have been extremely beneficial. She has a way of making you feel very comfortable and helping you find ways to make the changes to keep you on the path to your goals.
Michel is genuinely concerned with my success in the program. She is very good at helping me focus on what works for me, rather than be competitive with myself or the group.
Fruitful Living has enhanced all aspects of my life. I am sleeping much better and eating better which in turn enhances my energy and mental clarity. I have also had the added effect of becoming much more in line with my intuition and spirituality.
Today I know that creating the life I want is more than possible, it is being created right now with each and every action I take.
Christine, Course Member
Julie, Course Member
How would your life be different if you had been introduced to yoga as a kid?
Every child deserves to be taught the tools necessary to grow into a healthy and peaceful individual. Effectively teach those tools using this body-centered life education and yoga play therapy program.
Story and Stretch combines the ancient art of oral storytelling and the healing practice of yoga to help kids connect with their inner world of creativity while acquiring listening and literary skills, body awareness and character development.
story & stretch
Narrative yoga for kids
Meet Michel
(SOON TO BE REPLACED BY MEETING OUR COLLECTIVE OF FACILITATORS)!
Michel first created Ombrella with the mission of helping you, regardless of age, reconnect to your center through the spiritual practices of yoga, mindfulness, meditation, labyrinths & reiki.
Through this work she realized that despite being a part of the body of Christ she didn't know how to live in her body the way God intended. As a result, she had unnecessarily suffered with everything from allergies and anxiety to digestive issues and an eating disorder for decades.
After acknowledging that the Church does a great job of extending hospitality to the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor, but not to the Holy Spirit living in our very own bodies, Michel started exploring the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern science. On the evolving journey of healing, she has transformed her experience in her body and felt her sense of call expand.
Now, Ombrella is expanding to include a collective of beautiful people prepared to support you in truly loving your life through practices that promote play, peace, and personal growth!
Michel is an Author, Yoga Instructor, Labyrinth Facilitator, Reiki Practitioner, Mindfulness Educator and creator of Labyrinth Now, Liturgical Yoga, Story & Stretch: Narrative Yoga for Kids, the Tidy Your Temple 2-week Seasonal Reset and the annual Fruitful Living Course.
Liturgical Yoga
Christianity is an “incarnational" faith in which our bodies are meant to be holy offerings to God. Indeed God chose to come in a body to express the fullness of love.
In Liturgical Yoga we take scriptural truths and access them through body movement. In doing so participants experience the ancient teachings of the Christian tradition resurrected in news ways by mindfully listening to scripture, flowing through a sequence of yoga poses uniquely designed to symbolize that scripture, praying, and finally entering into contemplation, a time to rest in silence and stillness in the presence of a loving God.
No experience with yoga is necessary for this all-levels class and you do not have to already be flexible to benefit from the class.
Story and Stretch
Narrative Yoga for Kids
Every child deserves to be taught the tools necessary to grow into a healthy and peaceful individual. Story and Stretch: Narrative Yoga for Kids, a body-centered life education and yoga play therapy program, does exactly that. Story and Stretch combines the ancient art of oral storytelling and the healing practice of yoga to help kids connect with their inner world of creativity while acquiring listening and literary skills, body awareness and character development. Sessions include breathing, meditation, and mindfulness exercises, a story and corresponding yoga poses, yoga games, and a time of relaxation, all designed to help kids blossom into their best selves!
Labyrinth
Whether you seek solace or strength, clarity or peace, a space to celebrate or mourn, the labyrinth meets you where you are and gives you what you need. Walking the labyrinth ignites the best that is within you and gives you the clarity to know how to share it with the world. It’s literal path into the center is a symbolic path leading you to reconnect to your own center. Within that inner sanctuary you are restored to your highest self, where Divine Spirit permeates every moment of your life.
Meditation
Slip into the quiet gap between your thoughts and access that still, small voice that always exists beneath the noise. Tend to your interiority and discover your highest self. In the process improve your brain power and bring healing to your whole body.
Mindfulness
Moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, emotions, and the surrounding environment helps children and adults improve attention, intuition, self-control, working-memory, resilience, and immune response, as well as overcome stress and anxiety.
Meditation & Mindfulness
Reiki
Your body has the innate power to heal itself. When this healing power is intentionally connected with universal life force energy your whole body is brought into balance. That balance brings about a profound sense of peace and deep relaxation, renewed clarity and purpose, as well as reduced stress, decreased pain and discomfort, and overall greater wellbeing. Reiki’s ability to enhance your immune system in a safe, natural way, makes it the perfect compliment to your individual health care plan.
During a Reiki treatment you will lie down or sit in a chair fully clothed while a Reiki practicioner places their hands lightly on or just above specific areas of the body. Throughout the session, they recite silently within my heart the following phrase, “May Reiki energy flow through me to (your name) for his/her highest healing good.”
