Sunday, April 26, 2015

Chocolate, Chakras, and Catching Up

Hello there!
Happy end of April, haha! Man, does time fly when your a busy gal! April is shaping up to be my most successful month! I feel as though I am settling in to my classes as a teacher. Of course, I will always be a student, in many ways, but currently, I am enjoying finding my confidence when sitting in front of students. I imagine that if I continue to be authentic, continue to expand my knowledge, and continue to listen to my students, May will be an even better month!

In May, Modern Milk will be holding several free community classes to try to draw people in to the amazing space. If you are local or surrounding Scottsdale, AZ I HIGHLY recommend you check them out. I've bragged about them before, but it really is a great resource for any expecting and new mother! We've introduced a toddler yoga class, for babes crawling to 2 years old. I get to take Leia to it which is great, but she is still trying to find her way in the class. She is used to having ALL of mommy's attention, and while I am teaching, I can only give her so much of that attention. She notices, and begins to act out. I know that with time, this will only get better, but it can be frustrating. If another mothers child were to act out in the same way, it wouldn't even phase me. However, I have set unrealistic standards for myself and Leia, and I am realizing that sometimes having the teachers kid be the one who has a total meltdown can be good haha. I know she is picking up on the yoga though. She can now do hands at the heart, down dog, three legged down dog, tree pose, and a few pranyamas (breath work). It's amazing when suddenly your daughter will calm herself down from a tantrum by taking a deep breath! Anyways, at the end of May, I will be teaching a Chocolate Yoga class! It is my first time ever doing anything like this and I am so excited! I'm going to use a locally made, wonderfully infused chocolate and tie them in to certain yoga poses. Do a few poses, take a bite of chocolate! How wonderful does that sound?! As soon as the flyer's are posted, I will post a link here!

Things are also going great at Aloha Yoga! (BTW, it is so freeing to only be employed at 2 studios. They are in completely different areas of town and so it gives me the freedom to promote both equally). We tried doing a Family Yoga class, but it didn't stick so we are doing a VinYin style and I am SO excited! I got the idea to tie in the chakras to the classes (at least for the first 7 weeks) and the owner thought it would go perfectly with her own free Intro to the Chakras class. So far, there seems to be a lot of interested people and positive buzz surrounding the class. The first class will be on Muladhara, or the Root Chakra. I just finished creating the layout for the class and I think it is going to be great! My goal for each class is to get people in touch with each of these energy centers in the body and to find out if there are ones that are closed, open, balanced, or in disarray. Even if you don't believe in "energy centers", there are bundles of nerves exactly where each chakra is located. I've created a special sequence that will target each chakra, thus targeting those nerve bundles. I hope it is an informational and healing experience for all that attend. We've also introduced Toddler Yoga, and so far it is picking up! I expected a full class, but I am remembering that the people who need it will come to it when they are ready. Leia likes this class the best, I think because the space is huge and she has plenty of space to run around. Plus, the kids are older and more interactive! I am excited to see where this class goes as well.

Everything else in my little life is going great! I have started the regimen of prenatal, fish oils, and probiotics as we get closer and closer to trying for baby #2! I still have a "weight goal" in mind of where I would like to be before getting pregnant, but I know that if I continue to eat healthy and move my body, I will get there. My biggest problem right now is trying to cut way down on caffeine. I am realizing just how addicted to it I am and it definitely is weighing heavy on my mind. I am hoping that my doing this chakra series myself, I will find my root cause for holding onto this addicting and thus, letting it go and creating a healthier home for our 2nd babe. We are in a transitional phase, but we are ready for what lies ahead!

I am off to bed now! Letting the wind of the storm outside lullaby me to sleep. Have an awesome week everyone!

Friday, April 3, 2015

Toddler Yoga and Family Yoga

Happy Spring everyone! Or if your in AZ, whatever you call this season before triple digits. I've had lots of new things happen over the past few weeks and I am so excited to share! Personally, I am happy to report that everyone in our house FINALLY seems to be sickness free! Thank the lord! Finally getting back into our normal routines, healthy eating, working out, etc!

Yoga-wise, everything is going great! I've added a Mommy and Me Movers Yoga class at Modern Milk. For those local, it is Wednesday morning at 10:30am. Perfect to get energy out before nap time. Ages will be crawling to 2 years! I'm so grateful that a place like Modern Milk exists for moms. If you are expecting or are a new mom, please come check this place out. Stephanie, the owner, is a former labor and delivery nurse and certified lactation consultant. They have weekly support groups, breastfeeding 101 groups, infant sleeping classes, and of course all the prenatal and mommy and me yoga you could ask for! Check out the website here for class times and pricing.


Another fun venture has been adding Toddler and Family Yoga to Aloha Yoga and Hula in Chandler! The toddler yoga is for ages 18 months to 4 years old and the time is Fridays at 3pm! It is still in it's testing phase, but I know the want for a class like this is high so I'm hoping that attendance picks up! Family Yoga is Sunday at 4pm. This class is for anyone ages 6 and up! You can come with kids, or feel free to come just by yourself or with your husband and friends. I've designed the class as a fun beginner flow style!

I did end up dropping two classes from my weekly schedule, one by circumstances and one by choice. My fellow co-teacher at Modern Milk did a great blog post recently on how we sometimes glorify being busy. Society seems to value us as better functioning members in society if we have our plates full. However, where is the glorification in having so much prep work to do for classes your teaching that you don't have any patience and energy left for your family? I am teaching double-digit classes a week. A lot of people think that it's as simple as time spent driving to the studio and then teaching an hour or a 75 minute class. The truth however is I spend at least 5-10 hours prepping all my classes for the week. Mostly I do this at night after Leia has gone to bed, which means I'm working exhausted. Now, I love teaching. I find that my body is getting used to practicing almost daily while I teach (I like to run through the sequence with the students as a lot of them need visual cues over verbal ones), I love teaching Prenatal and Mommy and Me and then relaxing into my Yin and Restorative classes. Right now, I feel like my body can handle everything! Plus, the money isn't half bad. I love being able to contribute to our bills and still have money for coffee, shopping, spoiling haha. However, I had to face the fact that I was getting burnt out. So the Universe took care of one class, and I took care of another. Of course, I got offered to teach another class on a day that better suits me :) So I will stick with it and see how long I can go on teaching 12 classes a week!

Enough of that! Do you have plans for Easter? I am off from all teaching jobs! So my 1 and only goal is to RELAX! Hopefully you can do a bit of the same!

Namaste! Until next time!