health | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

Find Your Best Work Mojo With Onsite Corporate Yoga Classes

Find Your Best Work Mojo With Onsite Corporate Yoga Classes

Did you know that the type of breath you use, correlates with a particular state of mind. A rapid, shallow, irregular, noisy breath equals an angry, afraid or upset state of mind. While a calm, slow, deep, regular breath corresponds with a tranquil, creative and positive mental state. In our corporate yoga onsite classes, we provide all the breathing and stretching tips you will ever need. Our all level yoga classes, whether beginner or advanced, with Clayton Yoga corporate classes are geared for everyone! We often convert empty office space or conference rooms into yoga classes in no time. After each class, employees report feeling more relaxed, energized and confident. While students experience a great deal of work, showers are not necessary.

Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt therapy, describes “anxiety as simply the experience of breathing difficulty”. We can then, unblock negativity and fear, find creativity, joy and excitement again simply through the practice of deep breathing. Our corporate yoga program now boasting over 13 weekly corporate classes weekly in St. Louis teaches, empowers and shows simple breathing tips to company employees. An increase vitality, energy and productivity results from learning how to breath through work challenges and life stressors.

After spending two decades as a traveling physician searching for potent herbs and other forms of traditional and modern medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil finds that the single most potent and practical tool is our breath.

Proper breathing is the KEY to Great Health Proper breathing cures common conditions and more serious diseases.

This is..

●FREE
●NO EQUIPMENT NECESSARY and RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSE

Stress is widely agreed by doctors everywhere to be a the primary or aggravating cause of illness. In Africa, 95% of all doctorʼs visits are peptic ulcers, neck and back pain and headaches which suggest that even in third world countries, lack of proper breathing is also the main cause and source of problems.

Working with the breath changes consciousness.

♥Provides tools and ability to center our mind.

♥We can turn our direction away from the material to the non-material.

♥Working with the breath, we have the chance to change physiology.

A good indication that patients had this imbalance, he would find cold hands. Too much sympathetic means that our system is hardwired for “the fight or flight” response too much of the time.

Some other very serious indications of an over active sympathetic nervous system include:

■high blood pressure
■slow digestion
■increase blood flow to the skin and surface of the body
■constant stimulation
■irregular heartbeat
■body responding to constant threat that never goes away
■drugs suppresses tendency of the body to rebound

Based on expansion and contraction, the stars and the body simultaneously breath. Breath is a concentrated, still essence of being. We are not trying to change the breath, simply observe the breath. Eventually, Dr. Andrew Weil believes you may reach enlightenment.

If you are interested in feeling positive mojo in the workplace again, please contact us! We can be reaching Monday to Friday from 8am-6pm, at 314-630-1677. Namaste.

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.

We Really Are What We Eat. Try These Nutritious Food Ideas for 2014!

This time of the year, it is especially exciting to think about taking supreme care of our bodies. Did you know that one of the main reasons for our growing popularity of onsite yoga wellness classes is the additional support and tips we offer our clients to help them make better lifestyle changes? Our corporate yoga wellness onsite program include interesting research on many subjects including better nutritional support for your body.

Take a look below at this sample blogpost and discover new tips for an even healthier you! Here are Five Great Nutritional Tips to get us on the right road to great health.

TIP ONE

Portion Control. Avoid large dinners. After a long, hard day at the office, it is so very tempting to sit and have a big delicious meal. The problem is that your body will go to sleep soon and convert nutrition to fat. If possible, try to slow down in the middle of your workday and have a nice lunch. It will keep you from craving an enormous dinner. Whether you prefer small breakfasts or large dinners, it really does not matter nearly as much as the size of your meal. Eating small portions allow the food enzymes to get to work and help you to conserve that much needed energy throughout the day!

TIP TWO

Enjoy your healthy fats. We have been taught by many big money companies that the key to staying fit in today’s world is a having a fat free diet. Ingesting chemicals that do not belong in the body instead of enjoying natural healthy selection of fats is never a good idea. On a daily basis, enjoy olive oil, avocado, nuts, and other wonderful foods from nature.

TIP THREE

Diversity or mix up your diet. Eat crisp, fresh, diverse colors, like dark green vegetables, spinach, broccoli or edamame. Also radishes, celery, onions and try sprouts on your plate. Generally the less you cook your food, the more colorful, different and fresh will be the outcome. Try new, colorful and different types of vegetables and for new and added increase of energy, try some sprouts too.

TIP FOUR

Choose Sprouted Breads. You may or may not be allergic to gluten. Many people in today’s world do not agree with flour. Flour of any kind is like glue in the body. Great for hanging art on the wall, but not so wonderful for your digestion. If you do eat flour, look at the ingredients and make sure you have whole wheat for the ingredient, not wheat flour. If you have snack bars, make sure the ingredient is whole grain. When the digestive system is slowed down by too much flour, bacteria start to take over causing you to re-absorb toxins meant for elimination. Reestablish your internal nutritional system by adding wheat bran and looking at your ingredients to make sure it says, whole grain rice, whole grain oats, or whole wheat flour.

TIP FIVE

Keep your food fresh. Our bodies thrive on an alkaline diet. And our body naturally heals itself of illnesses when we eat fresher and we use less energy to digest the food. Processed or long shelf times produce higher acidity levels in the blood. Food with hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are to be avoided completely. These ingredients contain sugar that is manufactured in a building, not grown in nature. This type of sugar enters the bloodstream before the body has a chance to process it. The best solution is use honey, or stevia. Stevia is a natural, pure sweetener that comes from the stevia plan and tastes great!

St. Louis Corporate Yoga offers 3, 6 month and 12 month corporate special packages!

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 yoga program for your organization!

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 .

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/.

How Can Yin Yoga Help Benefit Corporate Yoga Classes?

Yin Yoga is a unique style of yoga that emphasizes relaxation while promoting optimal mind-body functioning. The emphasis is on holding poses for long periods of time while relaxing the muscles of the 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 is comprised of weight bearing postures placed on the joints. This opens the deep connective tissue and strengthens our joints. Yin Yoga postures work the deepest layers of tension often located from the top of the knee to base of rib cage. Movement in upper back or head can be kept relaxed and at ease.

Although traditional western medicine has been skeptical about the existence of energy pathways, according to Chinese medicine there has been a great deal of research proving the beneficial flow of ‘chi‘ or energy throughout our meridians.

The connective tissue of our body throughout our body act as a conduit for the flow of energy through the meridians. By activating the connective tissues it may be possible to directly stimulate the meridians and this can profoundly affect health in a positive way.

Yin Yoga is very similar to acupuncture and works with the meridians or energy lines of our body. Additionally, placing our body into particular postures sends electrical currents back to the internal organs which in turn help to promote overall long term health and healing.

For the self-aware practitioner, this can provide another aspect of practice where by specific postures are selected to support the health of particular organs or to even rebalance disruptive emotional states. For example in traditional Chinese medicine, the health of the liver and gallbladder is associated with emotions such as anger and frustration. By practicing yin yoga poses such as swan and dragonfly the flow of energy through the liver and gallbladder meridians can be enhanced and the practitioner may find relief from these imbalances.

Yin Yoga can also challenge yoga practitioners in a unique way whereby the long hold times can often produce a sense of ease with what is uncomfortable. Yin Yoga can foster an increased awareness of the deeper aspects of our selves as they rise to the surface to be confronted.

Yin Yoga allows us to draw our attention towards the internal phenomenon within us so that we are able to come closer to maintaining awareness of the subtle flow of energy. We may become awakened to the way we store tensions within the body and as we release the physical pressure, we allow and let go of the cellular memories and can gain access to an enhanced sense of clarity.

This facet of the yin practice, is especially useful for those who sit all day at their desk. In addition to the sense of quietude that can be experienced during a Yin Yoga session, these wonderful postures can also result in quite intense and illuminating occurrences that are invaluable for those seeking personal and spiritual growth.

Let’s create a unique yoga program for your company’s individual needs, please contact us at info@claytonyoga.com or 314-630-1677.

Reigniting Balance in Our Work Life With Yoga

Taking time to properly care for the self, helps us rebound more quickly from day to day life’s challenges. In survey after survey, Americans identify stress as their number one health concern today.

More than 50% of adults in the U.S report high stress on a daily basis. Untreated, stress can seriously affect performance. (http://www.mbmi.org). Stress is like an enclosing wall all around us. By training you in the art of single-pointedness, yoga immediately improves mental concentration and focus.

Yogic deep breathing and yoga stretches create a genuine sense of inner and outer space. Tightening deadlines, conflict and other stresses will lose their grip as you learn to breathe and stand your ground.

Yoga physiologically transforms apathy and depression into happiness by oxygenating the brain and increasing the levels of endorphins in the blood.

In everyday work life, there are bound to be difficulties in the road ahead; the real key is how to maintain equanimity in the face of adversity.

In Yoga practice, we learn to develop longer, slower brain waves, which shift us from a sluggish tired state to a more energized, vital and awakened state. There we find hidden reserves of aliveness and experience greater ease throughout the entire workday. We come back to our desk after yoga class ready, alert, and available.

As Sandra, one of my corporate clients likes to say, “I am 57 and have been spending my whole life tying myself into knots, now I want to learn to untie them”.

When we stay calm, we create more balance in our lives, and stay connected to our greater goodwill. There, even in the face of difficulties, we know we are inspiring by our own very example a more compassionate, open, strong and loving stance, ready to tackle any problem, and find just about any solution.