corporate yoga | 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!

Stress – It Never Stops

Do you feel that your life is filled to the brim with stress on most days?

It usually begins with hearing the sound of your alarm: time to get up! Have you ever woke up scared and not knowing where you are at hearing that alarm clock? Wanting to hit the snooze button… if only you could find the clock or your phone or whatever you use to signal the end of sleep.

You are on high alert even before getting out of bed. And it is not betting better, either. Your family members are intruding in your space (aka use the bathroom so you have to wait, eating up your breakfast instead of making theirs, and sharing with you the newest to-do list of the day and…and…and…).

By the time you hit the road to enjoy your daily commute, you are stressed deeply. The rest of the day has plenty of situations where your stress response gets tested. And it never stops, does it?

Stress becomes a constant in your life not an exception. “Good stress” that is helping you stay alive in the face of danger is an acute state. What you experience most of the time is the killer non-stop stress.

How can you get a breather during intense periods of stress?

First you need to become aware of the situation you are in. Become aware of the need to step back for a few seconds and realize what is happening. What is causing the stress response? What symptoms you experience in the moment of stress?

The second step is to make a conscious decision to step out of stress’ way. This might mean actually separating yourself from the place of stress. During an argument, you might decide to go to another room or office to remove yourself momentarily from this situation you are in. While driving you could take a short break. I know you might be stressed because you are late already but driving yourself crazy will not get you to your meeting any seconds earlier.

Take a deep breath! I know you hear this advice all the time. But have you tried it? Taking a few deep breaths concentrating on how the air is moving in and out of your lungs is guaranteed to help you to calm down.

Depending on your stress level, you might need to take a few more deep breaths. Do you feel you are wasting your time? No, you don’t. You are helping your body to get back to its normal state. Your thinking becomes clearer as a result and you are able to look for solutions to the issues that caused you the stress to begin with.

If you are able to take a few more minutes away from the stress source, even better.

The reason corporate yoga classes work so wonderfully to cut back on bad stress is that you are “allowed to walk away” for 50-60 minutes. Just imagine having an hour to actively relax your body, brain and nervous system!

Our corporate students return back to their desks rejuvenated and ready to look for solutions through cooperating with their co-workers. This is one benefit that all companies love!

Would your company be interested to create a calm, results-oriented and cooperation-based culture? We would love to help! The solution might be just a phone-call away. Call us at 314-630-1677 to discuss how we can support your organization!

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!

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!

You Need To Stop

If your company is caring enough to organize and invest in corporate yoga programs, make sure you make the most of those classes! We gathered a few behaviors you need to STOP doing during your on-site yoga class to benefit the most.

Stop the comparisons

It is very attempting to check out how your colleagues are doing during class. We all do it from time to time, don’t we? It is OK to peak once in a while… but don’t waste much time and energy on this.

Pay attention to your body instead. Our bodies always try to communicate with us well ahead of time that an illness manifests in symptoms. We just don’t have time and patience to listen. A class can give you this precious opportunity so focus on yourself!

In yoga we are all on our own path. What another student does is not relevant. Judgment or criticism have absolutely no place in a yoga class.

Stop the hard work

Practicing yoga is supposed to be fun. Lighten up a bit, this is no performance sport! You are doing awesome if you make it to the class, practice focused on yourself and enjoy this special hour of the day. Keep your expectations realistic. One class will change your state for some time but will not be able to remedy all your troubles. The longer you practice, the more beneficial changes you will notice in your life.

Stop pushing through the pain

If something hurts, stop. If you feel slight discomfort doing a pose, you might try it again after waiting a few seconds. If you feel pain, stop and ask your instructor how to proceed. She might have a modification that fits your body better or can show you a different pose that will deliver similar benefits to the original. You are taking a yoga class to relax and nurture yourself not to suffer.

Stop the thought carousel

All the problems, the worries, the questions from your work and private life might scream for attention when you finally take some time off your schedule. Why? It is easy to hush away those worries when you have 100 things on your to-do list.

Yoga class might be the only 60 minutes in a week when you have a single focus: you are doing yoga so it is impossible to call somebody while reading email and trying to put some files away. Of course problems and life’s big questions will try to take over this sacred time! If this happens, focus on your breath again and again. This can be a challenge, we know. Please try again… and again…and again.

Stop being late or leaving early

Arriving too late or leaving minutes before a class finishes is not very considerate to your fellow yogis. We know that it is sometimes not easy to get away from your desk! And there might be very good reasons for leaving the class early. But please do not make a habit of this behavior!

It disturbs the flow of the class for all participants. And it also kills the whole purpose of you taking these classes. Make a commitment to respect yourself and your fellow yogis!

Can’t wait to meet you in a corporate yoga class very soon!

St. Louis Corporate Yoga Shares with Students the Benefits of First Chakra Clearing

In our corporate yoga onsite wellness programs, Clayton Yoga instructors share with their students beneficial ways to feel empowered, creative, less stressed.

In noticing our breath, we create a neutral, calm, peaceful center and transform tension, negativity into vitality and joy.

The specific Chakra meditation helps us to clear out our fears or blocks by connecting first with our powerful energy process centers called chakras.

The first energy center is our foundation. It is interested in physical well-being and self-preservation. As well, our first chakra determines for us our perception of whether or not physical needs are being met.

You may enjoy reading this script with a recording first, then laying comfortably on your back, playing back the audio and listening. Many of us have powerful lines of energy in our body. All we need to practice is learning to listen and receive them. Sitting comfortably or lying down with eyes closed, begin to become aware of the breath. Feel the breath as it enters with a cool feeling and then warming the breath as it gently travels down into the lungs.

Now we will begin. Bring your awareness back to the meditation and when you become distracted, know that this is natural. Always with gentleness, you will return to this present moment and be able to once again access powerful energy.

We start by closing our eyes and bringing our awareness to the tailbone located at the base of the spine. Bath your Root with red: empowering, embodying, and grounding you in the ‘here and now’. Let your Root take what it needs.

When we relax and practice yoga, we give our self space to dance with life’s changes and enjoy the fluidity of life’s mysteries. One of the benefits of this practice is to feel more at home in the busy waters of our everyday life.

Allow your eyes to comfortably close, and come down into your breath, into your body, relaxing your belly, softening your mind. And say the words: “I am here”. I have a right to be here, as I am”. “The Earth supports me”.

Fill the lungs with a deep inhale, bringing in energy, vitality and prana, the life force. As you exhale, feel the body releasing toxins, stress and any negativity that has accumulated. This root chakra allows the life force to circulate between two poles, on in the physical world of the body and the other in the realm of pure consciousness.

Feel yourself as an energy being. Feel the healing energy and light at the base of the spine, moving all the way up the spine. Fill the whole body with divine healing light and energy. Allow that energy to fill the whole body with divine healing light. Allow that healing to completely fill any empty areas or feelings of loss and hold the thoughts of those intentions as you allow the healing energy to bring your deepest desires to life and intentions into reality. Hold yourself in your own center. Stay with this deep, relaxing, peaceful feeling of bliss. Now send this same peace to those you love and to the world. May we live at home in these murky waters…Namaste!

For more information about getting a corporate yoga class started in your workplace, please contact Michelle Maue, 314-630-1677, info@claytonyoga.com today!

Stress Be Gone!

Stress be gone! How many of your employees and colleagues have this deep wish in their soul every day of the week?

Would you like to guess? What percentage of your colleagues suffer from stress on a daily basis? 10%? 50%? Or even more? Here is the scary answer: Around 75% of US population experiences physical and/or psychological symptoms as a result of stress. When did life get so stressful for most of us?

What is causing our stress?

The top 3 causes of stress are

job pressure,
money and
health.

Job pressure means co-worker tensions, work overload and difficulties with bosses and supervisors. If you ever experienced any of these situations, you know how difficult it is to get things done in an efficient productive manner every day at work. And the impact of this stress doesn’t stop as soon as we leave the office, either. Fatigue, headaches, stomach pain and other health issues make life less enjoyable every minute of the day.

The major reasons why we stress about money is the fear around losing our jobs! Worry about covering living expenses during retirement and paying for medical expenses adds to the money stress.

Health is an important stress factor in other respects, too not just financially. Health crisis, terminal or chronic illness are high on the list of things we worry about constantly. Nothing has greater impact on the quality of life than the lack of health.

Nearly 50% of people say stress has a negative impact on their personal and professional life. 31% of employed adults admit that they have difficulty managing work and family responsibilities.

Employers face very high costs as a result of stress related health care expenses and the cost of missed work. The annual costs are around $300 billion!

Stress impacts corporations not just financially, of course. Tension among co-workers, bad corporate climate, and low employee job satisfaction add to the crisis on a human level.

It is interesting to see that the work life causes most of the stress we experience nowadays. But does it have to be this way? Is there anything companies could do to help their employees to enjoy a more relaxed life in the office and after work?

What if there was a way for effective stress reduction? What if your people didn’t even have to leave their workplace to get a few serene moments of relaxation? What if the results for your organization were easy to measure and prove? Would you be interested?

St. Louis Corporate Yoga has proved its yoga corporate yoga programs work. We recently ran a case study with impressing results at one of our recent partner companies.

We would be more than happy to share the case study results with you! Please call Michelle to get the details and explore how your employees could experience the same increase in their quality of life! Call us a t314-630-1677 or email to info at claytonyoga.com. Can’t wait to design the perfect solution for your organization, too!

All statistics by http://www.statisticbrain.com/stress-statistics/.

St. Louis Corporate Yoga Delivers Positive Results to the Workplace

No one is immune from feelings of frustration from too much expectation or competition. Tensions can arise especially in the workplace. Practicing yoga and looking at our breath can greatly neutralize excessive stress. When we redirect our attention to the breath, we find the unity and peace is there. According to Wayne Dyer, when we stay connected to spirit, nothing can go wrong. Judging another only makes us someone that needs to judge.

In order to develop a calm, equanimous mind, we look to our breath. After just one minute or longer, with the practice of deeper breathing, we feel more energized and refreshed. Too much work often results in poorer overall performance and results. Try to step back several times throughout the work day and simply be aware of your breath.

I began practicing yoga sixteen years ago to find inner peace. At 26, I was a restless, and very anxious first time mother. I wanted to be a great mom. So, I decided to try yoga. At first, I found it difficult to stay focused and concentrate on one pose at a time. My mind wanted to race around so many times! I must be honest, because my body was so flexible, it gave me courage to keep trying to calm my brain. After practicing yoga regularly for 6 months, I definitely noticed I was less judgmental both with myself and with others. Now after 16 years, my mind may still be unruly and reactive, but now I want to learn how to work cooperatively with others, soften their burdens and be happy.

Yoga corporate onsite classes has this same softening effect on our clients. Many students reports that they feel less tension at work, greater energy, more vitality and more patience with their own approach to learning. Students tell me that they practice the breathing on the plane, while in a meeting or completing a project. Corporate yoga students enjoy learning how to breathe the yoga postures apart in order to enjoy all the benefits yoga has to offer. They are most appreciative for the all levels yoga approach that St. Louis Corporate yoga classes offers and find that stretching with their work colleagues is a great way to build a cooperative and collaborative, fun work atmosphere!

By gently coming back to the breath, we can all release negativity and develop a stronger mind. In truth, I think the universe wants us to enjoy our tasks and to have a greater sense of ease with life’s responsibilities. It is certainly more fun to let go of things we cannot control and learn to stay calm, and be more focused.

Finding greater discipline to stay in there in times of challenge helps us to cherish and awaken loving kind energy and vitality at the workplace. Let us help you design a unique yoga corporate program that fits your company’s needs today! To get a free phone consultation with St. Louis Corporate Yoga, call 314-630-1677. Please join us!