Corporate Yoga Program | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

Follow Your Bliss in the Workplace

Follow Your Bliss in the Workplace Today

When it comes to following your bliss, do you have difficulty to find out what you want? Did you know that when you focus on what you don’t want, you bring more of what you don’t want! Let’s stop and take a minute to do a bit of guided imagery or even journaling. If you have a few minutes, take out your notebook and write down some of your thoughts. I assure you, you will find this very relaxing and enlightening way to spend some free time.

Is it impossible to find a deep and honest answer to the question: “what do you want”? You are not alone! Many of us struggle to find out what we really want in life.

The time comes when it is easier to come up with a long list of what you DONT want than creating a list of what you are really looking for. That’s where creative writing comes into play. Take a deep breath and let’s begin this visualization!
Imagine you have a huge bag full of ideas, situations, things, characteristics, images, etc. The bag has a never ending supply of every imaginable thing and thought. Now visualize yourself taking pieces out of the bag. Take one thought, idea, image, opportunity…. Have a look at it and decide if you want it or not. Make the decision as intuitive as you can. Decide quickly, you need to move fast to sort through all those possibilities in the bag.

Take one, look at it, decide, done. Then repeat. Take notes of the things that went to the “don’t want” list. To help you I have come up with different ideas, images, situations and characteristics to help you with this exercise. Below is a random list of possibilities around teaching yoga.

Here is the list:
Ashram , Making money , Comfortable living ,  Coaching others,  Practicing yoga every day,  Practicing yoga as you wish, no set times, Flexibility, Doing what is good for your family/community , Self-appreciation,  Taking care of yourself , Calming environment,  Excitement, Working for yourself,  Passion, great health,   Working for a non-profit, Creating value
Creating new ideas, doctors Alternative medicine, Nutrition, Ayurveda , Acupuncture , Quantum healing .

Now, you can write up the above 30 possibilities on small pieces of paper then put them into a bag, jar or box. Or write them down simply on a piece of paper! Feel free to add to the list above! Now take one piece of paper out of the container, decide if you want that or not. Separate the “want” and “don’t want” items. Keep on going until you worked through the whole list.

When you look at the “don’t want” items, you will have a pretty good idea what it is that you don’t want. And this will be a tremendous help in figuring out what you really really want out of your everyday life and attracting more of the same!

Clayton Yoga has been teaching over 13 weekly corporate yoga classes for more than ten years in the greater metro St. Louis area. We follow our bliss everyday and love what we do. Interested in having more of that energy in your company? Get started with corporate yoga wellness and onsite classes today, contact Michelle at 314-630-1677!

Yin Yoga for Workplace Stress

Yin Yoga is a unique style of yoga that emphasizes relaxation while also providing a beneficial stimulus to the bone and connective tissue of the body, promoting optimal functioning. The emphasis is on holding poses for long periods of time while relaxing the muscles of the body.

Jack Lalanne, who passed away at 96, worked out 2 hours per day and contributed regular exercise and nutrition to his longetivity and great health. In the early 1950’s, many people avoided exercise believing that exercise was detrimental to one’s overall well-being. Jack Lalanne, coined the term “use it or lose it”. Many people at that time avoided exercise, believing that exercise wasn’t helpful and even posed a risk to one’s longevity, diminishing the number of heartbeats. Imagine…

In a very similar way, Yin Yoga educates us about the powerful proactive steps we can take to reduce the fixation and immobilization of joints and improve the overall mobility and posture of our body. Up until recently, doctors believed that it was not wise to put pressure or to exercise the joints, believing joints would only wear out.

Yin Yoga can help to promote meditation and general relaxation, the important of which should not be underestimated. A wide range of health conditions are stress related and any practice that reduces stress will have far reaching effects on the general health of the individual. In addition when people are calmer they will be more likely to engage with their family, friends and all others that they encounter in a positive way, which then will improve the ealth of the social environment on more subtle levels.

Prolonged pressure (without force) increases synovial fluid and hyloraunic acids, keeping joints supple and pliant (opposite from atrophy, imbalance, fixation, dried out, brittle, hard, and more susceptible to injury)

☀Feeling of calm and balance

☀Regulated energy levels (chi-energy)

☀Greater strength

☀Improved health

☀Stress levels lowered

☀Greater stamina

☀Flexibility of the body’s connective tissues and joints

☀Slowed signs of aging

☀Improved meditation

☀Deeper Relaxation

☀Improved practice of yang yoga

☀Conditions you to sit longer and more comfortably

☀Also helps lengthen response time, stregnthens limbic system, hypothalamus, aid in the treatment of drug and alcohol, pain and trauma recovery, and eating disorders.

To start your onsite workplace Yin Yoga class, contact 314-630-1677. We have been teaching Yin style yoga in addition to our regular Vinyasa classes for over ten years!! Feel good. Namaste.

Clayton Yoga Now Serving up 13 Corporate Classes Weekly!

Clayton Yoga now offers through its subsidiary company, St. Louis Corporate Yoga, 13 weekly yoga classes throughout St. Louis. In addition, we offer daily drop-in yoga classes, yoga teacher trainings, and corporate on-site wellness programs since 2003. We are the experts in this field and would love to help you get started.

Summer days are here in full measure. The light can feel long, heat oppressive and pressure to have all that darn fun! Here are some additional helpful tips to help you get through the “dog days” of summer!

Three good reasons to keep up yoga this summer:

1. You need the energy boost yoga gives you in the summer! Heat and humidity can make you feel sluggish. Just thinking about getting in the car and drive to the studio might seem too difficult. In reality, you will walk out of the yoga class energized so it is totally worth the extra effort to get to class. You might want to take early morning or late evening classes during summer if your schedule can accommodate these times.

2. Don’t give up on “me” time! Especially if you have kids, your summer can get even more stressful now that the kids are out of school. Organizing activities, carpooling, managing higher expectations…. And who is at the end of all the lists you produce? You! Keep your yoga class once or twice a week sacred.

3. Keep up good habits! Don’t give up on your good habits even though this might be the easiest solution to manage your busy summer schedule. If you do, it might happen that by the time September comes around, it will be very difficult to get back into the habit of yoga classes. You worked hard to establish this good habit in your life, don’t let it disappear this summer!

To read 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/

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.

Corporate Onsite Yoga Special Promotion

Become a Corporate Yoga Ambassador and receive $100 Amazon Gift Card. Simply refer a new client to us and after three months, we will gladly offer you a way of saying thanks! We also are excited to announce the growing momentum of our corporate yoga 13 corporate wellness yoga classes each week.

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. Let us help you bring yoga to your workplace – call us 314-630-1677.

Namaste!

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!

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!

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

Increasing Productivity At Work

One of the many reasons companies decide to invest in on-site wellness services is to help their employees reach higher productivity levels. Higher productivity leads to more value creation – a very important factor in growth for any organization.

Here are the most important productivity killers in the office:
-constant interruptions
-lack of priorities
-low level of motivation.

Creating a company culture that values focus and concentration during the workday is essential. Putting up some boundaries around availability can be a challenge in a culture that still values constant availability during the workday and even outside of the usual work hours.

A never ending to do list without clear priorities is sad reality in most companies. It is easy to start a project, and another one, and still a new one…. What every organization needs is setting crystal clear priorities at all organization levels.

Listening to popular radio and TV shows gives us an impression that many employees are rapidly losing their motivation. This is such a sad development! We all need to believe in what we are doing or we turn into robots.

Is it possible to increase motivation at the workplace? The answer is a clear YES! Sharing the organization’s passionate WHY is crucial. Why is the company in business, what is the ultimate goal it has? Making money is a result of the company’s operations – not the ultimate why. Research shows that when employees know and identify with the passionate why of their employer, they give their best effort to make the company successful. Simon Sinek TED presentation gives an excellent explanation how this works in practice:

Does your organization offer corporate wellness programs? Not yet? At St. Louis Corporate Yoga we have easily customizable on-site yoga programs for companies in the St. Louis metro area. Our programs are flexible for smaller organizations as well as for big corporations.

We would be happy to share the benefits of a corporate yoga program and work with you to customize our program to fit your specific needs. All you need to do is call Michelle at 314-630-1677 or send a message directly through the box to the right.

Setting up an on-site yoga program does not have to take a lot of time, either. As soon as the financing of the program is approved, we will select the best yoga instructor for your company. All our yoga teachers go through our in-house yoga teacher training and certified through Yoga Alliance. We have been training yoga teachers for a decade. The best graduates have the opportunity to work with us in our local Clayton Yoga Studio plus with our corporate clients.

We also share the best practices to promote your new yoga program to your employees so it will be a success from the start. This is a win-win for everybody!

Why Does Yoga Give Us So Much Energy?

One of the most fundamental tools to great yoga and a healthy body is the yogic breath. Learning how to breathe the yoga breath is surprisingly easy. What is difficult is to keep going. This style of breathing will bring incredible levels of energy and vitality to your day. Higher levels of energy boost your mood and ignite creativity. When we are inspired spiritually speaking, contribute new insights and become a better team player.

In essence, the yogic breath has profound mind-body-spirit benefits. Our body is built on a network of wiring called the central nervous system. This system is made of a balance between two important and different functions called the sympathetic and parasympathetic. When we breathe from the belly, we initiate the well-being aspect of our physiology. Even sitting at our computer or desk, we can practice this yoga breath. Deep, calm, regular breathing mirrors feelings of safety, support and that the world is safe.

The Buddha once said, I live in two worlds, that of being and doing. What he meant was that he was able to accomplish everyday tasks, doing with staying present and calm.

Using our primary muscles of breathing, we inhale, expanding the abdomen, allowing the diaphragm to release, the lung tissue to expand and the deep, rich oxygenated breaths to flow. When we stay connected to our breath, we let life unfold without attaching to results. We circulate the body with life force energy and wire our brain to stay calm, confident and centered right in the center of change.

Yoga also works great for the overall toning and conditioning of the system because it stretches and releases tension in some of the deepest and tightest areas of the body. Shoulder and hip opening postures place tensile pressure on key areas which then help us to unlock anxiety, fear, stress, tension and transform this into vitality, support and feeling good.

When we use our body’s own natural resistance, and hold weight bearing postures for long periods of time, we increase the level of synovial fluid and hydrolauranic acids located in the connective tissues throughout the body. These vital life force energies bring tremendous stamina and strength both to the mind and body and help promote healing, health and balance to the system.

Postures taught by St. Louis Corporate Yoga are both safe as well as challenging. Students learn proper alignment techniques as well as important anatomy tips to help break apart difficult postures and learn how to build one’s practice.

Vinyasa Yoga or literally “moving with breath” is one of the safest, healthiest and beneficial exercises available today. All corporate yoga classes are open to any student, level, background, or ability. Clayton Yoga corporate teachers have been described as warm, friendly, helpful, intelligent and articulate.

Practicing yoga has helped many people find tremendous peace, gratitude and joy. Let St. Louis Corporate Yoga help you design a yoga program that uniquely fits your company’s individual needs today! For a private free consultation about how to get corporate onsite yoga started in your workplace, please contact, Clayton Yoga, at 314-630-1677. Namaste!

How To Manage Your Corporate Yoga Program

Setting up corporate yoga classes at your organization is the first step. You need to continuously manage the classes to get the most out of the wellness programs.

Here are a few tips we would like to share with you – these tips are based on many years of experience offering yoga programs to different organizations in and around St. Louis:

Have a corporate yoga coordinator who is responsible for communication flow between yoga teacher, company and yoga students. This will cut back on confusion many times thus saving time and sanity for everybody involved.

Explore the demand for on-site wellness programs before you begin looking for a supplier. You need to have a very clear idea about the preferred wellness options of your employees. Also, the number of interested co-workers makes a huge difference in your negotiations.

Ask your employees about best times for yoga classes. The easiest way is to set up an online survey with a few timing options. You can use SurveyMonkey.com for setting up free surveys (up to 100 respondents) or ask your IT department for help.

Promote the new yoga program as soon as you sign the contract with the yoga teacher. Let everybody know about the new classes so they can begin scheduling this new activity in their week.

Pay or no-pay classes? In our experience most yoga students have no issue with paying a small fee per class. Usually it is max $4-5. It is great savings for the people with the added flexibility and time saving as the class is offered at the workplace. Of course offering the new yoga program free of charge is also a very welcome idea.

One idea to try: gather the contribution your employees pay towards the yoga classes and use the funds to support a charity or company cause. Maybe help an employee in need with the funds? There are so many possibilities to use this money in the spirit of compassion, cooperation and support!

Pick a room for yoga with the help of the yoga teacher you are engaging. Let the instructor have a look at the available rooms and help you decide which one to take. You need some space around the yoga mats while practicing yoga – it can get very uncomfortable if you don’t have a big enough room. Also, the yoga teacher might need some space to store a few items between classes (e.g. mats, props, etc)

Share the company yoga experience in your newsletter to attract a continuous flow of students to the classes.

In case of changes due to holidays, vacations, or emergencies, try to notify all people involved as soon as you can. Please notify the yoga teacher immediately. It makes sense to create a separate mailer or email list of employees who are involved with the classes so you can reach them easily and quickly.

One class is not enough? Try to add classes and even different time if yoga got really popular at your organization. Offering yoga classes on-site is an excellent investment and brings real ROI to most businesses.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga will help you design the best program for your company. Just give us a call at 314-630-1677 or send an inquiry through the Contact page.

Help Your Employees Deal with Job Stress

Is your organization one of the very few companies worldwide whose employees have only moderate stress? It is no secret that stress is commonplace and even expected in a work environment.

While some stress will actually increase productivity, there is a fine balance between stress that helps and stress that destroys performance. Conflicting personalities and work methods, increased responsibilities, pressure from management and peers – it all adds up to increasing stress levels for your people.

How can an organization help its employees to better deal with work related stress? Yes, it is possible to ease the burden of stress with simple and cost effective methods!

Create an environment that supports a great work climate. If there is a chance to involve your employees in creating their own work spaces, definitely take advantage of that. Even if all you offer is to decide on the color scheme of the office, your employees will be happier to work in a room they helped design. Soft uplifting colors, some selected art pieces on the walls will work wonders to keep employees inspired all day.

Invest in ergonomic furniture if all possible. Sitting for hours in the office is a cause of many dangerous health issues. People who suffer from constant pain have very low tolerance level for stress. Fortunately there are many healthy options out there, special chairs and even standing desks enabling working standing up. What a blessing to be able to choose the position that minimizes any discomfort. These ergonomic options might cost more at first, but will pay back in the long run.

Add a plant to every office. Large plants will clean the office air and adding to the wellbeing of your employees. Their vitality and lovely green colors will cheer up everybody.

Adding an aquarium to an open office or to the entrance area will soothe the eyes of not just your people, your visitors will enjoy the sight, too.

Many companies had good experience with using Feng Shui (Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing the human existence with the surrounding environment) principles when designing the workplace.

Offering seminars and programs around health, nutrition, and overall well-being gives your employee an opportunity to heal what ails them. Having speakers come to speak on subjects of yoga, exercise, and healthy food choices gives an employee the opportunity to learn techniques and tactics to de-stress on his or her own.

Financing corporate wellness programs is an investment although many times employees are more than happy to contribute to the costs.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga brings yoga to the workplace! On the basis of more than a decade of offering yoga classes at the office we know that when you take an interest in the well-being of your employees’ it will reflect in your office atmosphere. This is a win/win situation.

Would you like to take the first step in adding yoga to the workday? Let us advise you how your organization can integrate yoga in order to have healthier and happier employees. Just call us at 314-630-1677!