Creative Energy Yoga - What does it mean? It isn't necessarily about "creativity," though when we can recognize creative energy our creativity does open up. I explore this more below.
This website is a product of my studies, personal experiences, and ongoing reflections to help you integrate yoga, meditation, and other self-reflective techniques into your life. These tools, alone or combined, help you connect directly to creative energy, and from there the possibilities are endless.
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With Love,
Sandy Naimou
TESTIMONIALS
Sandy Naimou of Creative Energy Yoga is a masterful instructor of yoga and meditation, an earnest teacher/student of the world’s wisdom traditions, and a loving and creative force in the mind-body wellness community of metro-Detroit. With her head, heart, and will securely devoted to service, Sandy dives in to her craft of designing and facilitating innovative classes and workshops that offer a remarkable breadth and depth of benefit for her corporate and public student-participants.
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Sandy does not shy away from the personal transformation and change that is required to master ever-higher levels of knowledge. As her student, yoga teacher training mentee, and sister in Theosophy, it is clear to me that Sandy’s work is nothing less than a full-being engagement with the people, places, ideas, and circumstances of her sphere of influence. Her projects are approached enthusiastically, thoughtfully, and with attention to detail that signals an expansive awareness and a magnetic willingness to rise to the potential of her own excellence. What I find most incredible about Sandy Naimou is this: she whole-heartedly lives the wisdom she teaches. For me, that is enough said.
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Kelsey Dovico / Fulbright Spain Grantee
"I tried yoga a few times before and I did not learn to enjoy it then. Sandy opened my eyes much wider. I call that teaching." -Edie
Yoga with Sandy is the real deal. Her classes have transformed my body, strengthened the bridge between my mind and body using the breath, and radically improved my body awareness.
-Randy Olson
I have attended Sandy's yoga class along with recent drum circles. She amazes me with her several talents, keeping body and mind strong and healthy with yoga, meditation, spiritual teaching, and entertainment! I lover her positive outlook. She is an outstanding teacher and a friend.
Liz Asmary / Keller Williams Realty
Sandy has been a very caring, skillful leader of my yoga practice for 3 years. Practice with her gives a good balance of the physical and spiritual sides of yoga. Since GM has generously offered yoga (through Lifesteps), she has been a primary influence in improving my work life. Namaste!
Patt Shanks / GM / Sr. Analyst
Sandy Naimou's love for yoga and its teachings is a true source of spiritual energy. Her knowledge and wisdom as well as her ability to uplift and inspire is brought into every class. Sandy has helped me to challenge my limits which has greatly improved my strength and flexibility. Her Sunday yoga class is part of my weekly ritual.
Phyllis LaPrairie / Certified Hypnotherapist / Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
Realtor, Signature Sotheby's International Realty
I was looking forward to The Vision Board Practice workshop because I wanted to get my goals in order and have a way to implement them. Sandy did a phenomenal job breaking down the material piece by piece and having you think about your goals with direction! She is a very eloquent speaker and kept me engaged and inspired the entire time. I think what was also important is the follow through even after the class. She follows up with you and is open to any questions. I am looking forward to more individualized workshops to further break down the content. Thank you Sandy!
Dr. Nora Zoma, D.C. / Michigan Optimal Health Center
Chiropractic / Sports Medicine / Massage / Nutrition
I had never participated in Yoga classes prior to this. I travel out of state for work , fairly often. I sit for long hours at my desk while on the computer, and I also do a fair amount of walking through all kinds of GM facilities.
My personal doctor had been encouraging me to try Yoga, for several years to deal with arthritis in the neck /low back and with work related stress. To say that I was apprehensive entering her class would be a strong understatement!!!!
Sandy is a talented and gifted Yoga instructor. She has the innate ability to explain the theory, practice and movements in easy terms that the most basic newcomer can understand. Her non-judgmental and patient demeanor are very well suited for those of us who stumble (quite often) in our attempts to learn.
I particularly enjoy how she relates the breathing techniques to “handling stress” at work and provides practical examples of how to use/employ Yoga exercises (neck-shoulder-lower back) while sitting at a desk. It has become a habit for me to stretch and breathe while at work. I do these regardless of whether I am sitting at a desk or walking a plant floor. Sandy has a great deal of knowledge about keeping the body, mind and spirit healthy.
As a direct result of her influence, I now set my watch to alarm every 60 minutes- when it goes off, I get up and walk around the floor, breath and do a couple of quick stretches. Through Sandy’s encouragement, I have started going to a Yoga studio near my home on a weekly basis and I love it!
If you would have told me one year ago that I would be a regular attendee at Yoga, I am certain I would have laughed! What Sandy and Yoga have taught me, helps when I am riding my bicycle long distance, running 5K races, lifting weights, working in my yard and “real job” work requirements. It has been an incredibly informative journey with Sandy!"
Mike Rumley, GM Staff Safety Manager – Detroit , Michigan.
Creative Energy Yoga began on January 5, 2014, with the mission of helping people connect with themselves through relaxation. Being relaxed naturally grows into feeling connected with the surrounding world. In that connection, we plant seeds for Self-realization, the goal of Yoga.
"Creative energy" is the powerful force in Nature that realizes Divine thought. It is the force that flows in us and through us as we create in the world. It is the force of Love and the desire in us to achieve union with the Divine: "Yoga."
We have to start somewhere. Sometimes, somewhere is on a yoga mat working with the body.
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The best version of You is relaxed
When we are relaxed we can look deeper... and ask...
Am I moving in a direction that leads towards Self-knowledge? So that I know who I already am... whole and complete.
What am I doing to become more of my True Self everyday? How am I feeling? How am I thinking? What am I doing? Is everything I am doing contributing to my growth? My expansion in the world? If not, what can change so that I can experience myself as an individual that is part of a larger whole, a community, humanity, and the greater universe. Am I living in a way that helps me experience who I already am?
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I wish for all of us the feeling of belonging in this world, wholeness, expansion and above all growth into the fullest expression of each and everyone One of us.
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In Love & Peace,
Sandy Naimou, Creative Energy Yoga
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Questions we ask ourselves...
How can I evolve into the person I'm meant to be?
How can I be my best self at work and at home?
How can I relieve and prevent physical discomfort and pain through the day even at work?
What do I want to change in my life while still practicing self-acceptance and how can I do that?
How can I connect with my work on a deeper level that helps give meaning to what I do?
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Get started with the free meditation below!
Do you know what truth feels like in your body?
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ABOUT SANDY NAIMOU
Hello! I'm Sandy Naimou...
BRIEF HISTORY AND INTERESTS
I've been teaching yoga since 2011 and practicing since 1997. I've been studying techniques for individual growth and fulfillment for over 20 years and I continue this study as an active member at The Theosophical Society in Detroit, Berkley, having served as Secretary and now President on the Board. Theosophy is the study of Divine Wisdom, both Ancient & Ageless Wisdom traditions. I also have a strong and active interest in Anthroposophy, which studies the wisdom of the human being.
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WHERE I'VE BEEN GIVING CLASSES
I've been teaching yoga at General Motors Corporation since 2013 where I guide a handful of classes at the different facilities. Sundays I offer a public class class, meditative in nature, mostly held at The Theosophical Society and outdoors weather permitting. In August I give classes through the Detroit Zoo, in October at a Spirituality & Writing Retreat called "The Path of Consciousness" offered by Weam Namou, award winning writer, director, and more. I've previously taught at L.A. Fitness, Red Lotus Yoga, Delphi, for the City of Royal Oak, the City of Novi, and at The Honey Studio where I facilitated a miscarriage and infant loss support group because of my own experience.
FORMAL EDUCATION
My formal education includes a B.A. in Psychology and M.L.A. in Women's & Gender Studies which focuses on consciousness-raising, especially in terms of the social divisions that society has created. I believe we must all lift ourselves out of these socially constructed divisions, which are illusions, and recognize the Unity of All Life.
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TOOLS FOR EMPOWERMENT
Yoga and meditation are some of the tools I've drawn on to help empower others, and most recently my love for sound and its effects comes out in sound immersions, Yoga Nidra workshops, drum circle, and Sanskrit chanting.
FULFILLING YOUR POTENTIAL
My main focus is to help people maximize their potential, at work, at school, at home, and in the throes of life's challenges. That "knowledge is power" is a strong sentiment in yogic philosophy just as it is elsewhere. Yoga helps us on the deepest level possible, and it also helps relieve and prevent stress in the body, the heart, and the mind for mental clarity. Physical yoga, coupled with other techniques that go deep into the mind, helps with productivity and creativity for a life full of purpose and meaning.
Explore
Creative Energy Yoga BLOG
I have always loved writing, writing for clarity and connection, writing for understanding. Since I was a young girl I've been journaling daily. Here, on the blog, I write about my classes, realizations, the meditations I create in class and more...
With Love, Sandy
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My Yoga Journey - How I came to teaching
In 1997, a good friend of mine bought me a souvenir from Florida. The gift was a double sided audio tape of two kundalini yoga sequences, given to me as a joke because of the time I found yoga being taught on PBS, which I found captivating
Good humor sparked my practice, and since then I have used yoga as a tool to fulfilling my potential. Yoga transformed my body; it improved my posture, gave me strength, and remedied back pain brought on by scoliosis. It gave me confidence to take college dance classes as a young adult who had never had formal dance training. Yoga gave me mastery over my body.
Yoga helped me think more clearly. In college, I always made sure to practice at the start of the day, especially on test or presentation days. During graduate school I practiced yoga to stay on top of my disciplined schedule and spark the creativity and clarity I needed to succeed. My practice was mostly a private one, attending classes here and there at gyms, and soaking up books on yoga.
Until 2010, my personal intention for my yoga practice was about physical strength, physique, and mental clarity. For so long I had ignored the spiritual aspects of yoga, until 2010 when I gave birth a sweet baby boy who had a heart defect and blood complications. We lost him nine days after his birth. Even though doctors informed us of these complication at four months gestation and I was regularly at the hospital for in utero monitoring and procedures, his death was a shocking and traumatic experience.
But I knew from the moment that he was diagnosed in my belly that no matter what happened, my life would change forever. To me, it was a necessary slap in my face to wake up and stop taking life for granted. I needed to stand up for myself at my job. I needed to finish graduate school and get the M.L.A. that life, jobs, marriage, and my first born child who was now three-years-old, put to a halt.
So, after his death I delved into a healing process of creative endeavors and yoga. I started a personal blog for self-expression to work through my thoughts and experiences. I didn’t want to speak to a therapist; I wanted to express myself and if anyone felt like listening I welcomed it. Once my body had healed, I stepped onto my mat outside of the privacy of my home and into classes. I had an unstoppable energy. I dabbled in knitting, made little doo-dads and bath salts for friends and family. I started reading Buddhist texts. I started understanding.
And then months later it occurred to me that I had begun the healing process, and the main force behind it was my yoga practice. The light turned on. I realized it was time to teach yoga.
So I prepared and delved deeper into my expanding practice, flourished in teacher training, experienced a life changing silent retreat, all while finishing up the master’s degree project that I had begun years before. With a whole bunch of self-discipline and yoga, I cared for that beautiful three-year-old boy and became an RYT 200 certified yoga teacher and finished my master’s writing project by October 2011, just over a year after losing Milan, the second son. I now have a third son, and it was my training that helped me through another difficult pregnancy and the three blood transfusions he needed before birth, and the three transfusions after birth. He is the strongest boy I've met, but he needed a strong mother to get through this series of tests.
I know the power of yoga and work towards realizing more of it every day. I embrace this power, step into it, and share it. We all have our struggles and challenges, fears and hopes, wishes and dreams, and it’s the power of yoga that can lift us above those challenges to overcome the fear, realize our Soul's dreams and desires, and realize our True Self.
With Love,
Sandy
