This past Saturday Elevate Community Yoga hosted an additional training for its teachers which was on the softer side of yoga. This included Slow Flow, Gentle, Restorative, Yin, Chair and private sessions. It was a lot of information to pack in one day but I absolutely loved it. I took this training because I enjoy making people feel good. I never thought I would want to do private sessions but it is definitely a way to individualize and help heal one person at a time. Maybe down the road I'll start private session but I am definitely more comfortable in the group setting for now. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Chair Yoga training. I want to take this information and bring it to my workplace. I currently work at a Skilled Nursing Facility. This can be a very stressful environment to work in and my goal is to start hosting 15 minute chair yoga sessions for the employees. This will help with their physical and mental health. I've already announced it to the staff who seem very e

Do you have a favorite yoga mat? Mine (currently) is the 5mm mat from Lululemon. It was a couple year process to discover this mat though. I started out with Gaiam since it was at Target! However, I am one of those individuals who has very sweaty hands and feet so I always had to put a yoga towel down to absorb the sweat. The next mat I tried was a Jade mat but even with this one I had to put a towel down. The towel isn't a big deal but it is just one more thing you have to deal with. I finally found my Lululemon mat when my husband and I were visiting Walnut Creek. I always like to walk into Lululemon but I could never justify spending that much money on their items. However, I had never looked at the prices of their mats until our trip to Walnut Creek. $68!!!! That is the most reasonably priced item in the place! I bought one on the spot! Later I bought another one to travel with and 3 more for friends. Just last weekend I discovered they started making them in orange and I coul

Well it has been a month since my last post! My only excuse is that life happens. Within that month Andrew and I have gone on a couple trips including an awesome 5 days trip to San Luis Obispo for his 32nd birthday. Other things that happened are my mama had to have a biopsy which came back negative for cancer (WAHOO!), at work we had our annual state survey (which was a week from hell but I survived), and last but not least I have now taught 12 yoga classes! This means Tayoga is officially making money! Honestly, the money is not why I do it but it just seems to make things more official. The studio I work at (Elevate Community Yoga) requires you to teach 8 karma classes to give back to the community before you get paid. I had no problem teaching those 8 classes. It was the least I could do for all that the Elevate community has done for me! Well I better get back to work! I promise it won't be another month until the next post! Cheers! P.S. The pictures are from our Madonna M

I am proud to report that as of yesterday I am officially a business owner! Never thought that would happen! I decided to head downtown yesterday afternoon and turn in all the paperwork. I always dread doing that sort of stuff because it seems like it takes forever. I managed to get my business license and fictitious business name (Tayoga) taken care all within in hour. I'm pretty sure that's a good omen for the future of Tayoga (or at least I'm hoping so)! Looking forward to see what the future holds. Maybe the future has you show up at one of my classes?

I experienced my first family reunion on my husband's side this weekend. I have to say it was a very enjoyable experience...Whew! We all met up in Capitola and the weather was amazing. Give me the beach, sunshine, and a good book and I am one happy lady! While we were there I tried out a new yoga studio called Breath + Oneness. The class was not my favorite style of yoga but it was a good experience. Everyone was friendly and the space was light and calming. I want to make it my goal to try and attend a yoga class when my husband and I travel. I did this when we went on our Tennessee/North Carolina trip for my 30th birthday back in April. I like attending new yoga classes because it gives me new ideas for my students. There are endless options when it comes to yoga which is probably one of the reasons I love it so much. Like I always say, a girl's got to have options! Hope to see you Friday at Elevate Community Yoga!

I'm not sure why but I have been stuck on the idea of feeling safe lately. Feeling safe is so important. It helps with the overall outlook on life. I am blessed to be surrounded by people and places that make me feel safe. One of these places is Elevate Community Yoga where I work and attend yoga classes. Lately, I have brought up this idea multiple times while grounding my students at the beginning of my yoga classes. I ask them to think about the first thing that comes to mind when they think of the word "safe". I immediately think of my husband but the idea of feeling safe can be brought on in multiple ways. I want my students to re-create that feeling while attending my classes. I understand yoga can be intimidating, especially for new students. There is no judgement in a completely safe place. If you decide to join me for a class one day I promise to provide a comfortable and safe environment for you to flow and thrive!

It has become more and more apparent to me that I have not been taking the "setting an intention" part of my yoga practice seriously. I find that I get to the end of a class and the teacher says, "come back to your intention." It is then that I think, OOPS! I probably should have done that but I never know what to choose. Since becoming a yoga instructor I find it more difficult to explain to others about setting their intention so I decided to do a little research on the matter. What stood out to me the most was choosing something positive that was important to me not just on my mat but also off my mat. This takes the yoga practice to a whole new level because not only does it help you feel good both physically and mentally after practicing but it can carry over to the whole day, or week, or month! I'm going to try and incorporate this new little bit of information into my practice and see how it goes!