corporate yoga

On Becoming a Roll Model

December 20, 2016 heather

Well, it’s official! I attended The Science of Rolling, Ball Sequencing & Innovation, turned in the homework and took the final. I am now a Certified Roll Model® Method Practitioner! What does this mean, you ask? It means that I can guide you through some really amazing self-myofascial sessions that will leave you feeling more relaxed, taller, and more attuned to your body.

One of my homework assignments was to create a 5 minute video where I teach all the rolling techniques. The video is below. This was our first shot, and it was chilly and overcast, so I called it good. I learned a lot that I will incorporate into video #2, if/when we make it! The video will give you a general idea of what I mean when I say either “ball-rolling” or “self-myofascial release.” This sequence will also help relieve tightness in the ankles and knees (great for runners!!).

[vimeo 189527194 w=640 h=360]

Calf Mash from Heather Longoria on Vimeo.

Basically you use the grippy, pliable Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls to lengthen muscles, relieve tightness and tension, hydrate tissues, and just generally make you feel better in your body.

I have been teaching these techniques at a yoga studio, private club, in private lessons, and in corporate yoga classes, and everyone falls in love with the balls after their first session. It is unbelievable how much change you can effect in the body with a few minutes of strategic rolling. Self care is the best form of health care!

That is my update for now. If you are interested in finding out more about Yoga Tune Up® or the Roll Model®, hit me up in the comments or use the Contact Me link.

Yoga

One week down…

July 9, 2015 heather

I taught my first evening class on Monday. It was an hour and 15 minute long all-levels vinyasa class. I borrowed (aka stole) a sequence from our Yoga Sequencing book. It was chock full of sun salutations, so I figured it was a good basic sequence that would cover all the bases.

I had 5 people show up, which is not too shabby for a brand new class and for a summer evening. To be honest, I felt as if I struggled a bit at first getting into a flow. About 1/2 way through, though, I started to loosen up and go off-script, and then I really started to enjoy myself. It seemed as if the class started to enjoy it more too. I think that’s a good lesson – the less tied to a written plan you are and the more extemporaneous you are, the better the class will be. You can be more nimble and responsive when you’re not tied to your notes.

I used the same sequence for my 5:30AM class yesterday. I had to tweak it a bit, of course, because this was just a 60 minute class. Plus I only had 2 people there which allowed me to do some experimenting. I read this article a few weeks ago, and I was very intrigued by the balloon exercise. To me it seemed to really illustrate how to keep your core engaged during exhales AND inhales. Since we had such a small class, I was able to try it out. I’m not sure the students thought it was super enlightening, but I think they thought it was fun to do something different. 🙂 We did a lot of that kind of stuff – just trying out different ways to get into asanas to see what works and doesn’t work for the particular body and day. It was fun and interactive. At least I thought it was fun! And they both said they will be back, so they must have enjoyed it a bit too.

That is SUCH a good feeling when people leave your class with smiles on their faces. SUCH a good feeling.

I taught another lunch-time yoga class at work today too. We started with some gentle breathing and then moved on to stretches and twists and a couple of standing postures. We ended with a Gratitude Meditation, where you focus on someone that is indispensable to your joy and happiness. You steep your body in those positive emotions for the 5-7 minutes in savasana (which since this was a corporate class, involved sitting in a chair with your hands in your lap and your eyes shut). During savasans, I gave everyone a very brief shoulder massage. I put orange essential oil on my hands (a tip from one of my Teachers!) and placed my hands by their face first. As we ended the class, I shared this article with everyone. I encouraged them to take 2 minutes every day to write down 3 very specific things for which they are grateful. The reasoning is that doing this for 21 days will help rewire the brain to look for the positive instead of the negative in life.

The attendees (7 of them) really seemed to enjoy the class. I think 1 or 2 of them may end up trying out my class at Indigo. Again, I felt so happy after the class. It was so nice to be able to improve someone’s day.

So it’s been a good week of teaching so far. Again, I’m afraid of blowing my wad too early. What if I run out of ideas?? What if I can’t think of anything new, different, or interesting to say in class?? But I just need to chill the f@ck out and have faith that fate or God or the universe will help me discover interesting tidbits each week to keep my classes fresh.

What do you like in your yoga classes? What keeps you coming back? If you’re a teacher, how do you keep your classes fresh and interesting?

Health & Fitness, Uncategorized, Yoga

The sickness of busyness

May 16, 2015 heather

Ugh – boy do I have it. Life lately has been rather insane. Mostly it’s insane with good stuff – yoga teacher training, the yoga festival, meeting friends for supper, visiting the parents, doing yoga observation hours, exercising, reading, making water kefir, cooking, working on the garden, planting flowers. These are all things I love to do, but Jesus Christ, it all takes so much time!

And there is so much more that I WANT to do. So many more books to read, things to paint or draw, blankets and coozies to crochet, walks to take, podcasts to listen to, friends to keep in touch with, writing to do. But I just don’t have time. I really need to just quit my job. That’s the only way to get my life back in balance again. 🙂 But, unfortunately, I don’t think that can happen any time soon. There are too many classes I want to take, too many yoga clothes I want to buy, and too much eating out that I want to do. Hopefully yoga will help me reign in all these wants, and I will eventually find that I have just enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that I need to do to make me happy.

ANYWAY, had another great day at YTT today. We learned how to teach a stress management class that you can do in a corporate setting. This is something that I am very interested in, since it’s the world I live in every day. I’m surrounded by people who are even more busy and more stressed out than I am, and I would love to get them a little relief. These people SOOOOO need yoga. Well, everyone needs yoga, but these people that I care about and work with daily would be so much happier with some yoga in their lives. I’m going to ask HR if I can do some free 30 minute lunch hour sessions. It will help me get my practice hours, and it will also help me gauge the level of interest at the bank for these kinds of things in the future.

The rest of the day was spent learning about how to use the wall to teach people correct alignment in asanas, learning about adjustments for certain postures, and in doing some practice teaching. Oh, and in getting free strawberry plants, sugar cookies cut out in asana shapes, and handmade chapstick. Awesome. This is the kind of people we have in our YTT group.

But now I am severely beat. Severely. I ran this morning for 3 miles, which I used to do with regularity and almost without effect. However, I don’t run as much as I used to due to the aforementioned disease of business. So when I do run, crap, am I ever beat afterwards!

Anyway, I hope you are having an excellent weekend! Tell me, if the company you worked for offered free lunch-time yoga classes, would you go? And if so, what would you want to learn/do??