Corporate Yoga Program | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

Walter Jones’ Corporate Yoga Testimonial

Walter Jones has been a housing specialist with St. Louis County for 18 years. Mr. Jones began taking yoga classes the first day our program began nearly 3 years ago in April. According to Walter Jones, the main reason for signing up for the yoga class was his desire to stay loose and gain greater flexibility. Staying healthy and in shape has always been important for Mr. Jones.

Walter found some success with weightlifting, bodybuilding and even Pilates. But in all honesty, he was looking for something that did not build bulk, but rather helped him to feel lighter and more flexible. In practicing yoga, Walter Jones really enjoys the relaxing and soothing breathing and the conscious way he notices how to listen to his body. He likes the fact that at work, his energy levels are very high. The social community that he finds with co-workers is also fun as everyone else apparently really enjoys participating in the yoga program as well. The yoga classes relieve lots of tension and stress during the workday. Walter Jones also states that he feels renewed and more relaxed at work.

“I go back to work feeling really relaxed and have energy and just renew myself. I love it. The changes I have noticed in myself, I am so much more flexible.” His job can at times be stressful and frustrating as he negotiates between homeowners & contractors. “I feel a lot less stressful, I tend to feel things will work themselves out if I take my time and not panic, just breathe.”

In addition to a healthy body and a relaxed spirit, Walter also finds that the yoga helps him to keep an open mind. In his job, there are always new things to learn. For example, new types of construction techniques and better ways of doing things. He enjoys the way yoga keeps him refreshed and able to absorb new information.

In a sense, yoga is not only a physical active part of his life but psychological too. Walter enjoys having lots of energy and doing things that make him feel good. He wants to share that feeling then with others. And no longer relies on just telling them, but being a person who acts as well in a way that demonstrations kindness and thoughtfulness too.

Walter’s last recommendation to other interested participants is “this is the best thing you can do for yourself”.

Clayton Yoga and St. Louis Corporate Yoga saves you time by offering professional, courteous service. Your employees will not need to worry about taking showers after class. Classes are between 50-60 minutes in length and always end on time. A proven, practical solution to help your company reap the benefits of offering corporate yoga classes. Call us today to set up your free phone consultation, 314-630-1677! Allow us to help you feel good, be good and do good too!

Clayton Yoga Classes Building Community at the Workplace

Anne Hollin, Executive Assistant, speaks to us about her fantastic experience as a corporate onsite yoga student with Clayton Yoga. Ms. Hollin has been working with the Family Court for over fourteen years. While she has never been a big, huge fan of exercise, Anne is extremely motivated, energized and excited to talk today about the benefits she has been experiencing. More than two years ago, Anne began attending yoga onsite classes. And the more that she came to class, the more she realized how difficult these yoga postures were and relaxed she felt afterwards.

Anne says that she had done yoga before. Though, when she started attending Clayton Yoga’s corporate class, she was not a real fan of yoga initially, she began to notice and enjoy both the exercise and empowering the yoga Family Court community. Anne has developed greater flexibility. Yoga helped Anne after her Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Doctors were very pleased with her overall prognosis and within 3 yoga classes, she was back to her regular plank routine. Having greater practice with breathing, has really taught Anne how to pay attention and back off meeting unique moment to moment varying needs as they arise. She finds that having a calmer, more peaceful mind has directly resulted in healthier decisions to eat better and take care of her body.

She finds that yoga helps her to become more accountable to her coworkers. Each week, they check in with each other and ask if they are going to yoga today? And if “I don’t go” Anna says, “then that’s my thing!”. Now after attending more than two years of onsite regular yoga classes, Anne finds a thriving connection and wellness culture taking place. Many work colleagues who have never tried yoga before are a bit intimidated to start. People would come by and check it out. Many of them may believe for example, that sitting cross legged and chanting Om is practicing yoga.

They don’t realize yet, that yoga is a great workout. Anne would like nothing better than to help get more people exposed to that. She remembers one colleague who came in and tried out one yoga class. Even after one yoga class, found what a difference that made. She noticed how this one yoga class made him more calm throughout that particular workday.

Above all, Anne really enjoys the group of committed yoga students who have made weekly yoga practice a necessary staple in their overall enjoyment for life. Anne looks forward to even taking her cat naps toward the end of class as she finds the teacher’s loving and soothing voice coupled with very meditative music nice. She is interested in the possibility of yoga class now twice per week. And would like to encourage any student from any background or ability to try this wonderful corporate onsite yoga class.

If you are interested in starting a corporate yoga onsite class with Clayton Yoga, we would be happy to provide you with a free phone consultation, 314-630-1677! Let us help you to set up an onsite corporate yoga class soon! Namaste.

Corporate Yoga Benefits – A Testimonial

Ed Enslin, a devoted corporate yoga student with Clayton Yoga finds his weekly yoga classes incredibly beneficial.

Having been always very athletic, Ed finds however, in his maturing years, the impact life can have on our bodies: “When I took my first yoga class, I was very stiff. And I had several previous injuries that had not gone away.” Over 13 years ago, maybe longer, Ed suffered a right broken heel, and after surgery, and many more months of painful recovery, still found it difficult to put his shoe back on. Even completing simple daily activities like mowing the lawn, left his foot feeling swollen for days. Also walking up and down the stairs, he had to go one step a time time leading with the left foot only.

At this point, Ed knew he needed to do something and to make healthy lifestyles changes or things were going to get a lot worse. Ed decided to sign up for his first corporate yoga session with Clayton Yoga. What initially interested him the most was the low cost and outstanding value. Because health insurance companies subsidize these corporate yoga onsite classes by more than 70%, individual students no longer have to carry such financial burden. Ed Enslin, also enjoys the added convenience of onsite yoga classes. Rain or shine, it is super easy to get to class!

The benefits he has found through attending classes are incredible. While he admits that very often before coming to class, he feels very sore and definitely is not pain free, soon enough, after a few yoga stretches, the soreness goes away. Also, he is much more interested in keeping an eye out for high potassium levels in the body.

The wellness model has helped Ed Enslin realize what terrible shape he used to be in and how is able to change all of that. The flexibility and learning that is taking place in my life now is incredible. The practice of breathing prepares Ed for other office tasks too. As he gets older, he finds that yoga also helps him to stay physically balanced as well.

He has even found in the past 4-6 months that attending two corporate onsite classes per week is not enough support. He supplements more yoga with 1-2 additional yoga classes each week at Clayton Yoga studio. Ed enjoys keeping his injuries at bay and his new found ability to take part in more and more of life’s activities. Now, he says he can walk up and down the stairs with two feet!

Ed Enslin finds the Clayton Yoga studio teachers to all be very intelligent, dynamic, active and people that he would want to be friends with. Also, he looks forward to the yoga classes because students are cheerful and bright.

In working with is colleagues, he notices many positive changes there too. People tend to become more social interactive. They really look forward to class. And quite frankly, it makes their day go by faster and folks are more productive. Because of all these benefits, more and more students are also attending. The benefits of yoga are there for everyone, but Ed advises that students do need to give themselves more than just 12 weeks to see all their dreams come true too!

Are you interested in being your healthiest and having your own best lifestyle? If you are interested in more information about starting an onsite yoga class with Clayton Yoga, please contact Michelle at 314-630-1677 or info@claytonyoga.com.

Clayton Yoga Teacher Training Offers Employment Opportunities for New Grads

Clayton Yoga creates a “win-win” selection process for its yoga teacher training graduates. Every year, Clayton Yoga hand selects enthusiastic and sincere yoga graduates to lead and teach corporate onsite wellness classes. It’s great because graduate students are very excited to gain solid work experience while Clayton Yoga corporate clients benefit enormously from the new enthusiasm and individual styles!

Our Clayton Yoga Training guarantees that all graduates will be prepared to teach all backgrounds in any type of setting. Sometimes our yoga teachers will lead a class of 25 students, while other teachers are perfectly happy with 5 or 6. Yoga privates at the corporate workplace is also very convenient for company executives.

We train our students and staff to create yoga sequences that are accessible for any background, level or ability. This makes is super convenient for companies to bring employees together and have more fun. Benefits of ongoing yoga are tremendous and include better sleep, higher productivity and greater teamwork!

Clayton Yoga currently offers 11 weekly corporate yoga classes will a staff of 7 fabulous lead corporate yoga teachers. This selection process happens when students graduate from the Clayton Yoga Teacher Training and express their sincere desire to teach corporate yoga. While we cannot guarantee employment opportunities to every student, one of the greatest benefits of attending our yoga course is this opportunity to be selected to teach at one of our corporate onsite locations.

A great example of how well yoga can benefit a company is with the SAS Institute. This world’s largest privately-held software company, reaps the benefits of wellness classes and boasts an employee turnover rate of just four percent, far below the average for the industry at 20 percent. What does SAS do differently? They emphasize the importance of daily exercise with a 36,000 square foot on-site gym and regular yoga classes. (Source: http://www.baldridge.com/criteria_workforce/a-culture-that-values-employees/).

We consider our Clayton Yoga Instructors to offer the best yoga classes available in the corporate industry today. We train our instructors to develop cordial guest relations with clientele and stay one step ahead exceeding employees overall satisfaction levels. Additionally, we provide ongoing feedback, research findings, nutritional tips, and many other preventative wellness lifestyle support.

Most of our corporate clients have been with us for many years. Anna Gall, Director of Employee Wellness for the St. Louis county began working with Clayton Yoga three years ago. She has seen yoga classes explode with popularity and interest. Ms. Gall says “Michelle and her staff are passionate about what they do and very respectful of each yogi who comes to class. This is a great stress relief and low impact fitness workout.”

Clayton Yoga is well aware that every company is different and requires a unique and courteous approach. We have taught collectively over 6,000 corporate onsite wellness and yoga classes in a ten year span.

In summary, not only do we offer fantastic yoga teacher trainings, Clayton Yoga also offers great opportunity to teach corporate yoga throughout St. Louis too!

Interested in starting a corporate yoga program at your organization? Setting up a phone consultation with us today can be the first step to a successful wellness program at your offices! We can help you gather as much information as you like to see if this if the right fit for you. Just click right here to set up your consult!

St. Louis Corporate Yoga Wellness Onsite Classes and Promotions for 2014

What would you like to see change in your life in 2014? Bring yoga to the workplace and show others why yoga is the best medicine and empowerment tool today. St. Louis Corporate Yoga is extending a free $100 Amazon gift card for all new company referrals in St. Louis during 2014.

Would you like to

become healthier,
loose a few pounds,
become more resilient against stress in your job?
Or would you like to finally take some time just for yourself?

No matter what change you are looking for – yoga is the answer! With over ten years of corporate yoga onsite experience, we know how to tailor yoga classes to best suit your personal and individual company needs. All of our classes are geared for all levels and backgrounds. There is no showers necessary, and most companies hire out for one or two yoga classes per week.

Here is a sample of what our corporate yoga clients have been saying.

“This class is a good stress reliever for me. Before taking the yoga class, I was having chest pains and I have not had them since starting yoga.” Phyllis Dilworth-Weaver

“I had migraines up to 16 times a year before. Since starting yoga 7 months ago, I’ve had 2! I’m off my migraine maintenance medication, and only have pain meds for migraines now.” Kathy

“Yoga has helped me reduce stress and tension. My balance has improved as I am getting older. The breathing aspect has helped me to quit smoking.” Donna Boeger

“I lost 40 lbs over the past year. Yoga has helped me lose and maintain the weight loss and made me much stronger in the process. I love yoga!” Darlene Rich

“Yoga gave me more flexibility in my joints, and I have better control of my stress and shoulder aches have disappeared.” Nora Pullen

Let St. Louis Corporate Yoga show you how to start a onsite wellness yoga class with just one consultation phone call. With over 5,000 corporate yoga classes taught, we are certain you will be pleased with our results.

If you are interested in having yoga at your workplace, we would be happy to have a 20 minute phone consultation with you. Please go to our web link here to sign up for a special phone consultation: https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/contact/. Make a commitment to a Healthy, Happy & Stress-Free You.

Also, check out our other very special New Year Yoga Class Card promotions available at our yoga studio in Clayton, Missouri. We have three types of packages available anytime in January. A 3-month Yoga Class Card unlimited for $150, 6-month Yoga Class Card for $300 and a really great promotion of one yearly unlimited Yoga Class Card for $500. A very small investment for a healthy return: http://www.secure-booker.com/bellayoga/ShopOnline/Series.aspx. If you would like to enjoy unlimited yoga time at the studio, please take action now.

Why wait and expect different results? Make a change and take action NOW! Stop by and start practicing yoga with us soon! We are here to support your transformation in health and happiness.

3 Corporate Yoga Pitfalls To Avoid

Offering corporate yoga is an easy choice for most organizations. Yoga has a high acceptance level among employees, it is not considered something exotic to be practiced only in ashrams any more.

The investment that companies need to make is relatively low and organizing an on-site yoga program is mostly stress free for the HR department. Yoga is here to stay as a wellness option.

There are a few pitfalls though that we want you to be aware of and avoid.

Not assessing employee demand

Before committing to a corporate yoga program it is very important to understand the preferences of your employees.

Is there enough number of people willing to sign up?
How often do they prefer to practice?
What time of the day will work for them best?

Asking these questions ahead of time will ensure that there is sufficient interest once you have the program set up.

Picking a provider whose offer is not the right fit

Is your company bombarded with yoga offers? How to find the right yoga teacher/studio to provide the best services for you?

You need a yoga teacher or a team of instructors who has a considerable practice in offering on-site yoga classes. 5-10 years of experience is ideal. Not all yoga teachers on the team has to have such long experience if newer teachers get mentoring and supervising from the owner or head instructor.

You want to avoid any disharmony between the ideals of the yoga instructor and the reality of your business. Aim to find a yoga teacher with a corporate background. You will be surprised to find quite a few yoga teachers who used to be in the corporate world then retrained as yoga teachers to find a new meaning in life.

Picking the right yoga style for a corporate program is essential. We teach Vinyasa yoga as it is so easy to integrate into a workday. Your employees will be able to return to their desks immediately after class.

Not committing to a long-term yoga program

As with any other wellness solutions, it takes time to see the benefits corporate yoga offers to the company and to the yoga students. You will need to commit to at least to a 3-month trial program to understand the results your employees will get.

We encourage our clients to offer 6 or 12-month yoga programs. If yoga is totally new to an organization, it makes sense to try a 12-week program to see how yoga will fit into your company’s life.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga offers a special 3-month case study opportunity to companies. Please ask us how you can be part of this initiative.

We are just a phone call away to answer all your question around on-site yoga. Please call Michelle at 314-630-1677.

Let’s create the prefect program for your organization!

Treasure Trove Of Our Best

Did you know? Our St. Louis Corporate Yoga blog was established 14 months ago. We share valuable content every week since November, 2013.

The articles we publish here cater to our two major audiences:

HR professionals interested in creating a unique wellness program for their companies
Employees interested in the benefits corporate yoga programs can offer

We gathered the best of the blog for you so you can discover evergreen articles published weeks and months ago.

Our best for corporate representatives, HR professionals and business owners:

The 10 best reasons to get started with corporate yoga at any organization.

This list of the incredible benefits of yoga will be useful when you need to convince the management team to fund a yoga wellness program.

Detailed list of questions to explore before starting a yoga program in your organization.

Around 75% of US population experiences physical and/or psychological symptoms as a result of stress. Stress be gone but how?

A bit of a stress can be a motivator in the workplace. When does stress become too much and start to influence performance?

Yoga classes at the workplace can benefit any organizations not just big corporations. If you are a small business owner or work for a non-profit or government organization, read this blogpost.

Corporate yoga is mainstream by now. These CEOs and their firm belief in the benefits of yoga offered in the workplace made this process easier.

Our best for employees: tips for home practice, remedies, and great tips from our editorial team:

How to supplement your corporate yoga classes with an at home yoga practice? If you would like to more deeply engage with your yoga practice, here we give you more options to do just that.

Feels like you have only a very limited time for yourself? Just one minute to meditate? Let’s make the most of that one minute with these tips from the owner of St. Louis Corporate Yoga:

A must read article for anybody working in an office environment! The dreadful truth about sitting – the research finding urge us to stand up and move as much as possible during the workday:

Precious, sweet sleep! Why don’t you try these easy practices for better quality sleep?

Some more sleep tips: https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/sweet-sleep-for-increased-productivity/

How to deal with stress at work? Find our best tips in the following articles: https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/how-to-deal-with-stress-in-your-workplace/ and https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/find-a-new-way-to-respond-to-stress/

Music to your ears! For relaxing music suggestions, go here.

One of the practical question we get from our students: what to eat before a yoga class. We gathered the best and tastiest options for you.

Stop these unhelpful behaviors to get the most of your corporate classes: https://stlouiscorporateyoga.com/you-need-to-stop/

Unplug for more serenity! Sounds scary? Read this inspiring piece on how to switch off distractions.

Success stories from our corporate yoga students:

We love to get feedback from our students! We regularly ask them to share their success stories. It is really inspiring to see what amazing results these people get out of their regular yoga practice.

Key benefits of corporate yoga practice as our successful students see it. Here is a selection of feedback, written and video testimonials.

Enjoy reading our articles!

Do you have any corporate yoga related topics you would like to read about here? Please let us know through our Contact page or in the Comments section below.

Is Corporate Yoga Competitive?

In an already high stressed world, do you need your yoga class to be competitive? Of course not.

Yoga is non-competitive in its nature. But did you know that there are actual yoga competitions going on in the US? Sounds unbelievable when you think about the true philosophy behind yoga but yes, there are practitioners who take their practice to that competitive level.

Do you feel competitive during yoga class? Checking out how your colleagues are doing? Who is most flexible? Who has more stamina or simply who has the trendiest T-shirt on? Who is huffing and puffing to keep up? Let’s be real, we are all human.

At the essence, yoga is about growth. Your own growth. Not your performance compared to anybody… not the teacher, not a fellow yoga student. It is about one person and that is YOU.

Some people say: “Compete against yourself!” But do you really have to be at war with your own self? Where is the compassion? Where is the loving kindness towards your body and soul?

Sometimes, we see yoga students struggling…. Struggling to keep a pose, struggling to breathe deeply, struggling to let all expectations go and just enjoy that 50 minutes they are gifted with during the workday. And we see yoga students focusing on their practice, accepting their daily form and smiling even if they decide to skip a pose or need a breather. What do you think who has more fun?

Doing yoga is a gift you give yourself. If you have the opportunity to practice in your lunch break – even better! You get this valuable gift from your employer (mostly) free of charge.

What if you decided to make the most of those 50 minutes of yoga? What if you showed up with the sole goal of giving yourself all those minutes to return to the now? What if you left all your expectations outside? What if you were curious of how your body can support your soul? What if it was all about the growth you can witness inside?

What if you could make peace with your current form, your limitations, the self-criticism and all the dark thoughts you might be still entertaining before entering the class? You know what would happen? You had a chance to grow… some days by small baby steps… some other days through a breakthrough.

This is what we want for you to happen: you leave the class a little bit stronger, a bit calmer, maybe more flexible and with a more positive outlook on life. Feeling that you did something for your own self. Just for you…. Knowing that you can come back next week and continue your journey to better understanding yourself and the people around you. Knowing that your body is grateful for being freed of all pressure, stress and competition… even just for an hour a week.

Our mission is to give you that one hour…. for you!

Yoga’s Incredible Benefits – Part 2

Why choose yoga as the base of your company’s wellness programs? There are tremendous mental health benefits in offering yoga to your employees! Let’s explore the most important of these benefits this week. If you would like to read more about why yoga is the best choice for a corporate program, please read our last week’s article about the most important health benefits of yoga.

Nobody can deliver great work without concentration – we know this from our own experience. Nowadays losing the ability to concentrate is easy. Distractions come from every direction: colleagues, email, messages, phone calls, the need for immediate responses – all working against focus.

Practicing Yoga gives the wonderful possibility to create harmony between the mind and the body. This harmony then gives way to a sharper focus. All the light poses during a corporate yoga class plus the deep breathing exercises work together to provide this experience. Yoga students enjoy these benefits not just during class but hours after the yoga class has finished. It becomes easier to concentrate on the most important tasks and actually getting them done in less time and with less effort. In short, developing focus is the best way to increase productivity.

During an overwhelming week at work, it is a blessing to be able to free the mind from constant worry and negative emotions. A meditation practice will help tremendously in providing “space” and emptying the mind.

Yoga is still misunderstood sometimes as a weird practice of endless meditation. But there are numerous medical studies proving that yoga can help many modern day ailments like mental anxiety, stress, worry and overwhelm.

Have you noticed your employees stress level rise? Job pressure, work overload, conflicts with co-workers and managers at the workplace are the most important source of stress in the US population according to a recent American Psychological Association (American Institute of Stress, NY) survey. Around 73% of those suffering from stress experience psychological symptoms caused by stress regularly. (Source: http://www.statisticbrain.com/stress-statistics/)

Fortunately yoga can activate the natural relaxation response! Deep yoga deep breathing, meditation or rhythmic exercises can help to relieve the stress we all face in today’s world.

Basically anybody can begin a yoga practice and reap the benefits of practicing this ancient art! (Individuals with medical conditions need to discuss taking up yoga with their health providers and specialist, of course.)

In a corporate setting we welcome everybody no matter their fitness level or previous practice of yoga. All the yoga classes are customized to fit the needs of the particular group.

From our own St. Louis Corporate Yoga case studies we know that even one corporate yoga class per week can bring lasting relief from job stress. If you are interested to learn about the results our programs deliver, please ask for our case study documents by contacting us – just send your questions through the green box to the right side of this page or through our Contact page. Would you rather give us a call? Here is where you can reach us: 314-630-1677.

Yoga’s Incredible Benefits

Companies looking to provide wellness programs to their employees often turn to Yoga for the preventative and healing advantages it provides. What a great choice! The body and mind can be rejuvenated by the gentle moves and deep breathing involved without needing to risk injuries or worsen existing medical conditions.

Here are a few of the amazing advantages that Yoga offers:

Improve Flexibility – Do you believe that you need to be flexible to be able to do yoga? That’s not true – your muscles and joints will become more flexible as a result of a committed yoga practice.

If your employees sit a lot during the workday, there are specific postures that address that issue. An experienced yoga instructor is able to build a customized practice to fit your people’s needs.

Build Muscles – If you think that only weightlifting can develop muscles, you’re wrong. Yoga can assist strengthening muscles through special asanas. You don’t have to lift weights – you can lift your own body weight! We can show you very effective yoga postures where the muscles get sculpted even without trying!

Toning and strengthening of the body is a natural result of consistently practicing Yoga.

Ease Back Pain – Back pain can be distressing and incapacitating. And ultimately decrease the wellbeing and productivity of your work force. Yoga postures can help naturally and provide the relief needed.

Restorative Yoga can neutralize the damage of a sedentary life style and too much sitting in the office. A few easy yoga poses that are terrific to ease back discomfort are Cat/Cow, Downward Dog and Spinal Twist.

Strengthen the Spine – To preserve appropriate spine alignment you have to have flexibility and balance. If your spine isn’t really aligned properly, you can struggle with back pain and lack of motion. A couple of Yoga stretches such as Seated Twist and the Bridge Pose will help to keep your spinal column straightened appropriately and to improve your range of movement.

Boosts Immune System – Priming your immune system for better wellness is essential to fend off colds and flu and other, more severe conditions. Yoga can boost your immune system by enhancing circulation of the lymph – a clear fluid that helps to get rid of microorganisms and viruses.

Yoga poses such as the Child’s Pose and Downward-Facing Dog can considerably benefit the immune system and are easy to practice even during a corporate yoga class.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga classes offer a customized plan to help your employees to enjoy better health and higher productivity. As no two work environments are the same, we will support you to find the best solution for your company!

It is easy to connect with us! Just fill out the box to the right on this page and we will get back to you as soon as possible, usually in less than 48 hours’ time. Alternatively you can give Michelle Maue a call at 314-630-1677 .