About twelve years ago, I discovered yoga, and it was life changing for me. Tension headaches and chronic pain were becoming more and more debilitating, and the stress and anxiety from my job and grad school were through the roof. Hearing my plight, a co-worker of The Skeptic’s suggested we attend his girlfriend’s yoga class. In just a month I was on a new road, and it’s never been the same.
Trouble is, once you have kids, and especially when you have a lot of kids, getting to a yoga class is not that easy. Most don’t have childcare, and yoga studios have this habit of scheduling classes when I need to be making dinner, or putting someone to bed, or when I’m racing to get people to the bus on time. Plus they can get pricey. Over the years I have tried to keep my yoga practice going by attending the random class here and there, and making myself run through a few sun salutations a few days each week. I even tried some yoga apps. But my attention falters, I get bored, and I can’t just keep going on my own.
Enter Jennifer of Stay at Home Yoga. I came across her site last December and suddenly I feel like I did back when I first discovered yoga. I look forward to practice. I feel motivated. And best of all, I can practice whenever I darn well please!
What I find so brilliant about what Jennifer has done is that she has truly brought all of the benefits of the yoga studio to your own home. She puts together a series of classes and releases a new video each week, and you have access to all the classes for a few months. You can view them as much as you want, and the fee is such a deal. Just $30 for a series subscription (and I believe she has a discount available now as well).
Hew newest series, which I was given the chance to review, is called Yoga for Desk Jockeys. It is designed to help us combat how much time we all spend on our derrieres, which as a knitter and computer user, I’m trying to be more aware of. What do I love about this series?
- Jennifer’s teaching style. She is both gentle and motivating. She gives great cues and many reminders of how to correctly do each pose. I think her teaching style is accessible to those both experienced and new to yoga.
- Each class is more than just the usual asanas. She takes the time to do both restorative poses and Savasana. So important to me that this is included.
- Time. The classes are long enough to make a difference in my health, but not so long that I feel like I can’t fit one into my day. The full classes run 40 minutes, and there are 2 short “yoga break” videos that are easy to use whenever you need them.
- The series itself: Lower body, middle body, spine, upper body, restorative. She has it all covered, and you can do each class as many times as you want.
I could go on and on…..I did the lower body class again tonight. I tend to carry a lot of chronic pain in my upper body and tend to neglect my lower, so it was good to dig out a strap and really work on opening up those hips.
I really hope you give it a try! I told Jennifer how much it meant to me that I am able to access quality yoga instruction again. To be able to have time again to care for my body, mind and spirit when I am so very busy is huge to me. Thank you Jennifer!
Knittymama 