3 Tips To Elevate Your Zoom Class Experience

The landscape of yoga & fitness classes has changed in the past 6 months. And while embracing zoom may not be our first choice, here are some ways to make the best of the situation and some perks of practicing at home too! Debra Mishalove, founder of DC’s Flow Yoga Center & workFlow Wellness shares her favorite tips.

1.

Create A Special Place To Practice

Keep it simple. I keep my supplies in a basket so I can quickly transform my space into a home studio. My favorite place to practice is my kitchen! Options you can include:

- Yoga mat

- Blanket & pillows for extra support

- Candles or plants

- Props like soup cans for weights & a belt

- Essential oils (lavender for calm, rosemary for energy!)

2.

Your Mind & Muscles Thrive On Variety!

Plan your schedule for the week ahead by taking an honest look at how you’re feeling and what may serve you best to help you make your class choices. Variety & creativity are key for building positive change & healthy habits. All of our classes come with a recording just in case your schedule changes. My favorite week includes these classes:

Monday - Vinyasa Flow
Tuesday- Cardio Barre
Wednesday - Yoga For Strength & Flexibility
Thursday - Flow Fit
Friday - Happy Hour Yoga
Saturday - Align & Flow
Sunday - Yoga For Peace & Calm

3.

Become Friends With Zoom

Zoom may not be your first choice but can’t beat the convenience. Practicing in your pjs, no parking struggle have their perks.

A few ways help you recreate that studio feel:

-Turn on your screen & add your first name so your teacher can get to know you! With this 2-way relationship you’ll feel more connected and get more support to grow in your practice.

- Use the chat box! Special requests? Need tech help? Or want your teacher to know about a special condition or injury you are dealing with? Send a pre-class chat to your teacher or our online producer for any support you need.

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Ready to try some zoom classes? Flow’s Intro Special gives you 2 Weeks of Unlimited classes for $25!

This will give you access to our expansive online class schedule, Flow’s team of talented teachers, and our amazing community full of inspiration and motivation.

All of our classes are currently live stream, so you can join us from where ever you are!

Restorative Yoga Poses You Can Try At Home

Home Yoga Practice: Restorative Yoga Poses You Can Practice At Home

Feeling depleted or overwhelmed? Looking for ways to relieve stress? Or perhaps you’re just in the mood to tend to your overall sense of wellbeing.

Today, we are inviting you to give yourself the gift of deep rest and relaxation by trying out this simple practice that can enhance your self-care rituals, nurture your mind-body-heart, and replenish your energy.

Restorative yoga poses are an effective and accessible way to soothe the body’s nervous system and promote supportive feelings of calm and grounding. Many of us have extended, overloaded, and sometimes even hectic days…and we all have moments in our lives that will ask of us to navigate challenges and change. Having a way to support yourself through the flow of both expected and unexpected life circumstances can be the difference between moving through your life with ease and grace…or feeling upside down and knocked around. 

As a way in cultivate balance, try carving out a little time and space in your life at home by settling into these poses to recharge, recenter, and recalibrate.  As much as possible, quiet any potential distractions or interruptions. Aim for about 7-10 minutes per pose, but if you’re comfortable, feel free to linger longer. Set a timer for each pose so you don’t have to think about it while you’re in your practice. You can practice these poses anytime of day from morning, mid day or evening. We always recommend a darkened room that is a comfortable warm temperature if possible.

Start each pose with a few deep exhales out through the mouth, and then relaxing into long and natural breaths for the remainder of the pose. Let the space behind your eyelids be soft or use a weighted eye pillow if you have one. You can also place a small towel over your eyes to help quiet the mind and shift the gaze inward. Relax your body into the props, letting your body be fully supported and held rather than applying effort. Practice these poses as often as feels good, and enjoy! 

If you don’t have yoga props, no worries!! Use blankets, towels, pillows, couch cushions and books. And feel free to get creative with your own modifications to support what feels best for you! 

Reclined Bound Angle Pose with Pillows (photo credit)

Legs Up The Wall Pose (photo credit)

Reclined Bound Angle Pose aka Baddha Konasana

Place folded blankets or stacked pillows on the floor, recline on your back so that you are supported on the props from the tip of your tail to the top of your head. 

Turn your feet towards each other, bending your knees and opening your legs to form a diamond shape.

Place folded blankets, pillows, or stacks of books beneath the knees to meet your flexibility, allowing your legs to fully supported and relax the full weight of your legs into the props.  Open your arms at your sides, resting them on the floor, palms down. Alternatively, you can place your hands palm down on your belly or heart.

Legs Up the Wall (aka Viparita Karani)

Place a folded blanket or pillow right next to the wall. Recline with your bum a few inches from the wall and rest your lower back supported on the blanket or pillow so that your hips are slightly elevated. 

Place a pillow or folded blanket under your neck and head. 

Rest your arms by your side or in any way that is comfortable. 

Relax your feet and legs up the wall. If you notice a tingling feeling in your feet, take a break by bending your knees and bringing your feet flat against the wall for a minute or two.

Finally, it is helpful to practice with a teacher the first few times to get good tips to customize the poses. We have 15 kinds of Restorative Yoga Classes each week at Flow including Sound Meditations, Yin Yoga, Gentle Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Relax & Renew and Mindful Flow. Let us know if you practice any restorative poses and share your own tips for doing them at home!

A Better Than Caffeine Afternoon Pick Me Up.

Elevate Your Mood With This Simple Breathing Practice

Need an afternoon pick me up?

If you get a little sluggish in the late afternoon like I do - this breath practice is a great pick me up to elevate your energy and mood. You can do it either seated or standing. Try it out and let me know how it goes!

The Inhale
Place your arms by your side. Take a deep breath into your belly. Stretch your arms out and all the way up, moving with your breath. When your lungs are full your arms should be fully stretched up over your head. Linger for a moment enjoying the fullness of your inhale.

The Exhale
Slowly exhale, synchronizing the movement with your breath, lower your arms back down by your side. Pause at the bottom of your exhale, enjoying the space you’ve just created.

Pro-tips
If you want to get fancy you can fold your 4 fingers into your palm, thumb out (like your hitch-hiking!) as you lift and lower your arms. And, once you get into a good rhythm with your arm movements and breath synchronizing, start to engage & tighten all of the muscles in your arms and hands and stretch them out as wide as you can. Take up as much space as you can — see if you can sit up even taller for a more invigorating effect and stretch your arms out even wider feeling your fingers engaged and long.

You can do as many rounds as feels right to you. We like to do this breath in cycles of 9.

Enjoy & let us know how it goes!

Yoga Teacher Training - What To Consider Before Signing Up

I said "YES" to Yoga Teacher Training in 2001. ⁠

I just moved to D.C. from San Francisco for work. I didn't know too many people. I felt lonely. I was starting to question the move & considering leaving.⁠

⁠And then I saw a sign at the local yoga studio where I was taking classes.

It said "Yoga Teacher Training. ⁠

I said yes. And, the moment I did - the universe started to say yes right back to me-- everything started to fall into place in the most unexpected perfect ways.⁠

I met my best friends in the training. The "chosen family" kind I'll have forever.⁠

⁠And, though I didn't take the training to teach (I just loved yoga & wanted to learn more about it!), a few weeks in something inside shifted & I began to offer "practice classes" in my tiny living room in Cleveland Park. We could squeeze in 6 mats & I served tea afterward. ⁠

About halfway through the training, I gave notice at my job. A job I liked. A job I was good at. A job where I often asked myself...."is this it? Is this the job I want to be doing in 5, 10, 20+ years? ⁠A job that before the training I would have never had the guts to leave.

⁠Looking back, I know it was the steady yoga practice we did so often in the training that helped me get clear. I know these “ah -ha” moments were not by chance or coincidence...transformation is exactly what happens when we take the time to check into our lives using yoga & our steady practice as a lens for inquiry. Change for the better is possible when we take a good and honest look at our current situations, ask (and answer) the tough questions including what is working and more importantly, what is not working. Change also becomes possible when we feel the encouraging support of a good community of fellow trainees & program leaders cheering us on and holding us accountable.

There were SO MANY REASONS that I could have said NO. So many excuses- from me not being good enough at yoga, to the investment, and all the unknowns in between. I actually doubted the value of investing in myself. I'm so glad I did. ⁠

⁠Many of you know the rest & the beginning of the next part of this story.....a story that brought forth Flow Yoga Center ;). We are now in our 16th year!⁠

All of this is to say....if you're curious Teacher Training, or want to take free class w/ any of the lead teachers. Now is the time. No question is too big or small.

If you’ve been considering training - here are a few inquiries we recommend to assess the strength of the program. Remember - any teacher training worth of your time and investment should be led with utmost integrity, depth, and the highest standards.

1. How long has the program been around? Does the program “accept” everyone that applies or is there an interview/vetting process? How many “teachers” have graduated from the program? Where are they currently teaching?

2. Who are the teachers leading the training - and what are their experience/credentials. Did they write the curriculum? Who are their teachers? Where did they do their training? How many trainings have they led?

3. What is the specific format of the training? Is it led by the main teacher or mostly guest teachers?

4. Is the training based on a system of yoga? Who is the leader of the system?

5. How does the training address cultural appropriation and the social injustices that can be found in the current world of wellness?

6. What is the expectation for your attendance and workload outside of the training? How do they handle missed sessions?

7. What kind of support will you get upon completion of the program?

8. Is the program associated with the Yoga Alliance? Make sure you compare the Yoga Alliance criteria to the training schedule to assess if the syllabus is actually meeting the standards including the full 200 hours. You can also take a look at Yoga Alliance reviews - each trainee is asked to rate & remark on the training upon graduation.

9. Does the school have advanced trainings to explore, like a 300 hour training and continuing education credits if you would like to further your studies?

10. Finally, make sure you talk to program graduates to help give you insight on their training experience.

Taking training is a big decision - and a big investment so take the time you need to make sure it is a good fit for you. If you find the right one, it may just change your life too!