Blog | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

What To Eat After Your Corporate Yoga Class?

Our onsite yoga classes utilize the lunch break usually. So this question comes up frequently: “what to eat before and after the class?”

In a previous blogpost we gave you a few smart ideas around what to eat before the yoga class. Fresh or dried fruit, veggies sticks with dips, an apple with peanut butter or natural yoghurt with added fruit – all delicious and healthy choices! Here is the link to the article: https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/what-to-eat-before-a-corporate-yoga-class/

After your corporate yoga class you will feel purified and clean, empty of negative emotions, relaxed and ready to face the second half of the day. And most probably you will feel hungry at least a bit.

Before getting back to your desk take some time to fill up your stomach with some healthy food to give you energy during the afternoon.

Do you feel very hungry and your stomach is grumbling loud? Eating a big meal is not your best choice if you don’t want to get into a major energy slump by 3 pm. Are you craving a real lunch not just a light meal? Either bring your own home-made lunch to the office or search for a few lunch options near your office. A nice fresh salad with turkey, tuna or eggs is a filling but healthy choice.

Bring your lunch

Use your leftovers to make a filling lunch:
Leftover soup from the evening before
Fresh salad plus meat/fish from last evening
Prepare an extra smoothie for the office
A bag of vegetable sticks and a home-made dip
A vegetable burger
A sandwich filled with leftover meat, cheese and lots of green salad – just look in your fridge and improvise!
A selection of fruits: bananas are a clear favorite plus any seasonal fruit you can get your hands on. And lots of berries!

You will be thirsty!

Always have water with you so you can quench your thirst after a yoga class. We believe in drinking lots of spa water, lots of flavor and no extra calories! Here is a website with lots of different spa water recipes for every taste:

You can try lemon water or mixing unsweetened apple juice with water (1 part apple juice and 9 parts water).

The most important thing is to pay attention to your body: when do you crave something to eat? Already during class? In this case you could try to eat a bit more before class. You might not be hungry at all right after class – but wait 30 minutes and you are starving.

Have a healthy dark chocolate or protein bar around as emergency food when the big hunger hits. Dried fruit and nuts mixes are a great choice, too. It is always better to have your own emergency food around – at least this way you will not succumb to buying all junk you can get your hands on because you are starving.

Enjoy your on-site yoga class and don’t forget to ask your yoga instructor about her favorite after yoga meal!

Start Meditating Today

Did you notice that chronic and severe stress levels are becoming the norm for society? Many of us are so used to their stress that we do not notice it until it begins to significantly affect our health.

Meditation is an essential practice that will help you to recognize when you’re feeling stressed as well as give you the tools you need to overcome and remove these feelings.

How Meditation Works

Meditation teaches you to practice focused attention and concentration in order to bring about peace and tranquility. It is a mindfulness exercise that requires you to learn how to identify thoughts and feelings on a deeper level. This helps you to become in tune with your body so that you can recognize what you’re feeling while you’re feeling it and understand what it means.

Meditation is best done in a quiet place where there are little to no distractions. To get started, find a place where you feel at ease like your bedroom, living room, the library, the park, or the beach. The key is to choose a location that is soothing to you.

Usually during meditation practitioners focus on a prayer or mantra that helps them to welcome calm energy. Adding deep yoga breathing and tranquil thoughts while sitting in an upright posture that encourages clear thinking and easy breathing helps tremendously.

If you are focusing on stressful thoughts and memories, you will notice that your body is tensed. Your shoulders may be up to your neck, your back tight, your fists clenched, and your toes curled. Let these thoughts go and notice your body begin to relax. Through meditation, you will be able to become more in tune with yourself.

Why start meditating?

Mindful meditation will help you in many different ways:

boost your energy levels all day every day
help you find inner peace
reduce stress to manageable levels in your work and private life
increase your mind and body awareness
boost your ability to focus and concentrate in your job
improve your sleep quality and being able to fall asleep faster
improve your quality of life and well being
strengthen your immunity so you get ill less and less
reduce chronic pain
lower blood pressure
will help your heart to stay healthy
support you on your weight management journey
improve your cognitive flexibility and help you become more creative
boost your memory
reduce depression and help you get a more positive outlook on life
can also support you dealing with anxiety
all in all it will help you greatly to enjoy your life at a deeper level!

With so many wonderful gifts meditation can give you, there is no reason to wait another day before starting your practice.

Do you need help getting started with meditation? Ask your corporate yoga instructor to create a joyful meditation for your next corporate yoga class!

Let us help you set up an awesome company yoga program for your organization. Feel free to give us a call at 314-630-1677 and we will be happy to assist you to find the very best wellness program for your special company and employee needs!

Clayton Yoga Celebrates 5 Years with St. Louis County – Employee Testimonials

Our yoga classes throughout St. Louis County government are growing strong! For close to five years, Clayton Yoga has been presenting 9 classes directly with St. Louis County. Even better, many of these students have reported tremendous health benefits and continue to enjoy high levels of excitement for the practice of yoga.

Do you know the real story about how Clayton Yoga Studio got started?

The owner, Michelle Maue, began teaching in 1997, without any formal teacher training. Trusting in her intuition and love for yoga, Michelle just followed her passion and with great excitement started teaching new students at a local community college. Over time, she developed her technique and learned from one of her favorite yoga instructors, Jonny Kest.

Jonny would say that peace was not the absence of conflict but the choice was make to remain peaceful in the face of challenge and difficulty. Yoga empowered Michelle to become better with her finances and gave her the strength to achieve her dreams.

Today, she has taught over 5,000 corporate yoga classes and trained over 500 fabulous yoga instructors around the world. Michelle likes Vinyasa yoga because of its healing, lasting and powerful results.

Let’s see what some of the yoga participants say about these fabulous yoga classes.

“The main thing I like about the St. Louis Corporate Yoga classes is the convenience. I work during business hours here at St. Louis County and I also have a part-time job that I work in the evenings and on the weekends. I exercise during my lunch hour and I actually feel like I’ve accomplished something great for the day. I’ve noticed a greater sense of calm in potentially stressful situations. St. Louis Corporate Yoga has helped me to focus on my daily tasks and produce better quality work. This benefits me and in turn benefits my employer both personally and professionally.” Natalie Warren

“You were awesome today! Everyone was feeling great after class. That’s all they talked about.” De’lacey Robinson

“When I found out St. Louis Corporate yoga was being offered at my workplace, I signed up for the convenience. However, after a few classes, the instructor was better than most I had practiced with and I was pleased to continue with yoga at work. Mentally, I use deep breathing and meditative aspects of St. Louis Corporate yoga when encountered with stressful moments throughout my day. These methods have helped me deal with my own anxiety and stress so that I can be at my best on a day to day basis. Yes, I would recommend yoga to others.” Sharon Schuler

If you are interested in having yoga at your workplace, please contact 314-630-1677. You will be very glad you did! Namaste!

Working Women’s Survival Show 2015

In just a few weeks, Clayton Yoga will present a yoga demonstration at the St Louis Working Women’s Survival Show! The date for this fantastic event Saturday, February 22nd, 2015 4:00-4:30pm. We will be offering you great yoga tips and a fantastic yoga sequence for energy, vitality and joy!

As the owner of Clayton Yoga and creator of St. Louis Corporate Yoga I have taught over 2,000 corporate yoga classes to over 800 corporate yoga students employed by wellness-minded companies since 2001. After working with numerous companies in the Greater St. Louis Area I know how to design and implement corporate yoga programs that deliver the desired ROI and benefits to both the employer and employees. I enjoy leading yoga teacher trainings where I train and empower other yoga instructors to teach yoga in the corporate setting.

All St. Louis Corporate Yoga teachers graduated from our Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher Training run by Clayton Yoga. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss how I can help you create the best corporate yoga program for your company’s and employees’ needs. I can be reached at info@stlouiscorporateyoga.com or (314) 630-1677.

The Working Women’s Survival Show began in St. Louis in 1988. The Show, now in its 28th year, has food, fitness, fashion and fun. The Show features the latest and greatest in product and services from over 370 exhibitors all over the country. Overtime the show has evolved into the Ultimate Girl’s Day Out.

The experience is like no other; there is a mall, a spa, a fitness club, fashion shows, live entertainment, a chef’s kitchen, a 5k race and a vineyard. There is something for everyone of all ages at the Show.

The best part about the Working Women’s Survival Show is the inexpensive price. The cost is just $9 per day!

Here are the four different ways you can get your ticket.

1) Online Purchase
Tickets can be purchased online at www.wwssonline.com .

2) Box Office
You can also purchase tickets in advance at the St. Charles Convention Center box office. If purchased on days of the show only, a $1.00 per ticket service charge will be added.

3) Two-day Wristbands
You can purchase two-day wristbands from our online ticket site below. Wristbands are good for two days of access and will be mailed once the purchasing process is complete. Purchase by 2/14/14 and they will be mailed to you. After 2/14/14 they will be held at the box office of the Convention Center.

4) Discounted Tickets at Dierbergs right up until the day of the show!

Our current students in our corporate wellness classes say they enjoy the convenience, excitement and positive energy that onsite yoga classes bring. Would you like to create a new healthy habit? Take advantage corporate yoga classes offered at your workplace!

No office yoga at your company yet? Let’s change this! Please call Michelle at 314-630-1677 so we can create the best on-site yoga program for you and your colleagues!

Interested in corporate yoga onsite classes?

Welcome to St. Louis Corporate Yoga where we make yoga friendly, fun and accessible!

Interested in corporate yoga onsite classes? We offer yoga right to your doorstep! Since 2003, Clayton Yoga has initiated many on-going, successful wellness and yoga corporate programs throughout the metro St. Louis area. The style of yoga taught includes Vinyasa, yin, restorative and breath work.

In 2003 we began with two classes per week, today we offer over 11 weekly all level style yoga classes with more than 6,000 corporate classes having been taught.

In a workplace environment today, one of the greatest dangers is too much sitting. This sedentary lifestyle has many negative health side effects. Our corporate yoga classes is all about helping you to breathe deeply, get up and move!

When we stay focused on our own mat, we begin to open, quiet the mind and find inner peace. It really isn’t about unlocking the perfect posture as much as learning to be with what is imperfect in a more gentle, loving way. A lot of people in our culture would be surprised to find out that their vulnerability and soft spots are actually treasures waiting to be revealed.

While we consider ourselves to be the experts in this field, it is important to know that your feedback is very important to us. We enjoy encouraging our staff to teach classes which inspire, providing new handouts, great improvements, and better yoga sequences.

Participation rate in class is important to us as well. Not everyone can make every single yoga class! Very often in our corporate yoga programs, we offer one make up class to take at Clayton Yoga Studio for FREE. Please come to class and please try to make it in when you can.

To read a bit more about what we offer and do, please click on one of our helpful yoga blogposts here:
https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/get-unplugged-for-more-serenity/
https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/what-exactly-is-meditation-and-can-i-begin-practicing-in-the-office-too/
https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/how-to-deal-with-stress-in-your-workplace/

We would love to schedule a complimentary phone consultation at your earliest convenience to tell you more about our yoga wellness services and to empower your organization to better health. Let us help you bring yoga to your workplace, please call Michelle at 314-630-1677

Namaste!

Breathing With Awareness

There are many special breathing exercises we share with our corporate yoga students during on-site classes. There is really an appropriate breathing style for nearly all ailment of body and soul.

A healing journey teaches that yoga is life and all life is interconnected. When we practice stretching, we access and expand 72,000 energy openings called Nadis. Watching our breath, we step to the edge, and ignite our spirit!

Yoga is not about having the most flexible or strongest body. Real yoga is developing the ability to maintain an equanimous mind no matter what is happening. When we push ourselves to the edge, breathe and remain gentle and calm, we begin to rewire our mind. The parasympathetic calms, soothes and repairs our system. As well, we also experience all of the following benefits as well.

Breathing with Awareness

■lowers high blood pressure
■slow digestion
■increase blood flow to the skin and surface of the body
■provides constant stimulation
■slows down an irregular heartbeat
■helps the mind rewire and change a fear of constant threat to
■work with the root causes of disease in the body

Watching our breath or meditation, helps us shift from the unconscious to the conscious. This “witness of breath” helps raise the parasympathetic nervous system where we may quiet and raise the balance energy of our nervous system.

As soon as we feel sensation, the Buddha taught, we have been conditioned to compete, react and judge, thereby limiting our true experience. We will show you how the issues of your life are trapped inside the tissues of your body.

Tension in the body is just trapped energy. Yoga does not seek to manipulate the mind. Rather, we work with opening up the web of life found in your body. And when you learn to move your bodies in a sacred way we wake up the life force and feel good. With constant practice and application of the tools we share with you, you will learn how to transform the reactive places in your mind/body experience, expand on new possibilities, find greater levels of inner peace and have fun.

When you live from your truth, from your joy, and from feeling good every day, you become abundant. Practicing like this on a regular basis will bring about greater transformation, magic and rapture! Yoga develops longer response time, and increase our ability to make better choices. This results in activating parts of your limbic system, and brain to make better choices based on motivational living. The more we practice this kind of yoga, the more we expand our circles to inspire and motivate others by our own example.

Our yoga classes are all level style and a great fit for both brand new beginners to yoga as well as those who are more advanced. Our corporate yoga clients report a much greater overall level of joy, life satisfaction, vitality, and improved energy.

We would love to schedule a complimentary phone consultation at your earliest convenience – just call us at 314-630-1677. Namaste!

Find the Courage to Shine at the Workplace

We are more than physical beings getting caught up, we are metaphysical beings transcending our environment. Yoga helps us connect with our energy. We experience our life force energy– stronger, faster, and more powerful than any of our thought systems. From here, we access the courage necessary to be ourselves. Yoga postures wake up space in the body, clear out garbage in our tissues, allow the flowing of waters to move in and around, purifying our being and illuminating our light.

The Buddha’s teaching is one of empowerment. The balance and wellness of our planet depends on our own individual ability to be disciplined. Like two wings on a bird, we must be both: aware and equanimous. A lack of compassion or equanimity may produce bad feelings. For example, if we feel guilty for noticing our own frailties or weakness, then we become self-indulgent and reproduce more of the same. However, if we can see fear as frozen, engage a new neural pathway in our brain, we illicit greater compassion and then begin to thaw the ice.

We can redirect our attention to possibility of new growth, when we neutralize judgment and fear. Each one of us are unique, with different backgrounds, needing something that is particular to us. My friend Rampersad once said, we are each complicated beings, and may look for short cuts and project unfinished work onto others in hopes of finding something everlasting.

We are not born in perfect alignment and we came here to find that alignment, so the best we may hope for is to bring some guidance and support to the other. When we assist the other person in our workplace or our friendships or family life to be successful, then the universe will in turn help to facilitate our own growth and development.

The discipline of the practice is making the time every day to connect with a soft, gentle yielding peace which lends itself to finding an internal resource and empowered state. The old school of exercise tells us to keep pounding and pushing but the body never allows time to recover. Yoga gives us time to replenish and articulate the unique needs coming from the inside resulting in expanding the power within.

When we work with vitality and feeling great, there is no need to get caught in our negativity. We work with energy first, let go of the fear based model: emptiness, neediness, laziness and being an ostrich and instead turn our attention to soul. We let go of the desire to manipulate and control, and go with a dynamic, fluid, changing, sharing compassionate energy for real support.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga currently offers 11 weekly yoga classes throughout St. Louis. If you are interested or know someone who may enjoy a nice weekly yoga class during lunch or before work contact us for a free phone consultation today. To start a corporate yoga class at your business ask for Michelle Maue at 314-630-1677 or contact us at info@claytonyoga.com

Energy Dynamics In The Workplace

From the moment we are born, gravity is working to compress, compact and tighten our cells and tissues. Overwhelming sensations can get trapped in the body, emitting a vibrational pull that will attract more of the same experience until we learn. If we don’t understand that this is just energy dynamics at work, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

Yoga postures encourage us to stay with the sensations of discomfort. In a consumerist culture, we are lulled into thinking that distractions and quick fixes are the best solution. After some time, distraction and excessive consuming not only did work but also possibly heighten the challenges. Rather than taking more responsibility for our job, we are fired, we get seriously sick or a relationship breaks up.

When we breathe deeply, we understand that we are in relationship to everything else. Yoga practice helps us stay grounded and become more present. The understanding of how or when energy dynamics start and stop present themselves in the form of bodily sensations. Do you feel supported, grounded or nervous and anxious? When you feel animated, you are strong. When you are scattered, you lose momentum.

It is those moments that we have an opportunity to step back, not react and like the witness or scientist, stay calm. The more awake, the more aware, the more we can practice, engage soul and develop clarity.

Years ago, I used to be very uptight around budgeting. Finances, was just something I was never good with, after all look at how little my parents showed me, I told myself. My tipping point came when my daughter was about 3 ½ and I remember just never wanting her to see her mother worry about money or security like that again. I began taking action steps and reading all about finances. It took me several years, and it was a very slow, gradual steady amount.

When we feel empowered to take care of our self, to take greater self-responsibility, we will not be afraid of our shadow. We can then become more responsible for the management of our own energy, zoom out and not take our fears so personally or literally, we begin to really grow up.

Every time you make a stand for yourself, you will strengthen your vessel and you will allow an external or internal set of dynamics to control, manipulate or dictate your fears. Exceptional people will feel challenges and disappointments as a blessing which then inspires others to become victorious.

Yoga is a journey to go past the commercials, past our rational mind and listen from inside.

Rather than look outside for power, we want to teach ourselves how to breathe correctly, and reconnect to our life source. As we realign to spirit, we will be challenged and purified at the deepest level. The still and small place inside will gather courage and compassion, resolve the traumas in the tissues and know that wherever we are, it is with the highest peace.

We truly hope you have enjoyed reading this article on practicing energy dynamics. To pick up a yoga class in your workplace, give us a call at 314-630-1677.

The Power of 4-7-8

Do you have a problem falling asleep? Looking for some tips on how to increase the quality of your sleep? This article is a must-read for you!

At St. Louis Corporate Yoga we truly believe in the power of proper breathing. There are many special breathing exercises we share with our corporate yoga students during on-site classes. There is really an appropriate breathing style for nearly all ailment of body and soul.

Would like to fall asleep fast and stay asleep longer? Discover the power of 4-7-8!

The mysterious 4-7-8 means a certain breathing rhythm. Let’s explain!

4: Breathe in through your nose for four seconds,
7: hold your breath for seven seconds,
8: exhale through your mouth for eight seconds!

Please note that the exact counts are important in this sequence. Also when practicing this breathing keep it to max. 4 sequences otherwise you might get light headed.

How does this work? Most of the issues around falling asleep reflect your stressed out state. You might be breathing shallow and even not breathing for a few seconds. Your heart rate is too high which is not conducive to sleep. You need to use your breathing to trigger a more relaxed state and lower your heart rate in order to fall asleep.

Do you have difficulty to practice this special breathing? Watching a demonstration is always best! Below is a detailed demonstration of 4-7-8 breath by Dr. Weil. After watching it once you will be able to “put yourself to sleep” much easier tonight!

Would you like to read an enthusiastic account of how this special breathing rhythm works for falling asleep and sleeping like a baby?

“It was the week before my best friend’s wedding, and my anxiety (nerves, plus excitement) had reached epic levels. I wasn’t sleeping, to say the least. Part of that had to do with the maid of honor speech I would be giving. I was terrified and could not shut my brain off to fall asleep at night.

After day three of lying awake until the wee hours of the night, I sheepishly admitted to her that I was too nervous to fall asleep, and she—the bride, who was sleeping like a baby the week before her own wedding—told me I needed to try the “4-7-8” breathing trick….

…I couldn’t wait to put the trick to the test, and to my complete disbelief, I woke up the next morning unable to even remember getting to the eighth second of the exhale because it knocked me out that fast. For the next four nights leading up to the big day, even as my stress increased, I was able to fall asleep the minute I tried the 4-7-8 trick. I also used it to relax in the moments leading up to the speech.”

Source: http://www.byrdie.com/how-to-fall-asleep-fast

Watch the demonstration by Dr. Weil then put the special 4-7-8 breathing to test tonight. It worked for us!

Reach Your Wellness Goals With Mental Toughness

Why is it that sometimes it is easy to reach your wellness goals? But with your next goal? It might seem impossible to achieve the new level of fitness. You are still the same person so why did you manage to succeed last time and bitterly fail this time? Could it be that you were not “mentally tough” when you needed to be? Was your mindset to blame?

Let’s look at the influence of mental toughness has on your goal achievement! Dr. Jim Loehr is an internationally recognized performance psychologist and his book “Mental Toughness Training for Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence” will bring clarity on wellness mastery. In his book, Dr. Loehr defines mental toughness, revealing that it is made up of the following 7 components:

• self-confidence
• attention control
• minimizing negative energy
• increasing positive energy
• maintaining motivation levels
• attitude control
• visual and imagery control

When you look at the list of those 7 important ingredients, you will recognize that controlling your energy is essential to accomplish any physical fitness goals. By controlling and directing your mental and physical energies, you are able to set a habitual course that improves your ability to achieve the physical goals you set.

Does your state of physical health rely mostly on mental toughness? One thing is sure: you need to consciously adopt a healthy lifestyle which over time becomes an unconscious habit in your life. Until the habit is formed you will need to manage and control your energy and motivation levels! And this can be pretty tough on some days, right?

Let’s see 2 examples: Mary and Ann are the same age, same height and weight. They both enjoy a healthy diet. But after work, Mary heads straight for the couch and the remote control. She watches her favorite shows staying up late. Next day she wakes up tired and low on energy and starts the process all over.

Ann practices yoga and goes to the gym at least twice a week. She makes sure that she drinks plenty of water throughout the day. After work she spends time with her family and goes to bed at a decent hour, and gets plenty of sleep. On her lunch break she goes for a walk outside her workplace and even takes office yoga once a week.

Who is going to be in better physical shape: Mary or Ann? Ann is going beyond the easy choice every day. She manages her energy and is working on creating new preferable habits. Her confidence level increases every day and her chance of a long-term success is pretty high.

It is obvious that mental toughness has to be present to some degree for you to reach your physical goals!

Can you just simply sit on your couch and think about the level of physical fitness you want to achieve? If only it was so easy, right? Without taking action nothing will change in your life! You have to adopt the healthy lifestyle, eat right, drink lots of water and get enough sleep. Plus you have to move, keep exercising, practicing yoga or any other physical activity you chose.

Would you like to create a new healthy habit? Take advantage corporate yoga classes offered at your workplace! No office yoga at your company yet? Let’s change this! Please call Michelle at 314-630-1677 so we can create the best on-site yoga program for you and your colleagues!