New Class in 2016!

Last week I shared our Winter Class Schedule, which begins January 2nd. Our Winter Schedule includes some brand new class types, and this week's newsletter is dedicated to providing more information about these new classes. Meditation (FREE!) - Tuesdays at 8:00 a.m. Throughout the years people have asked us for a weekly Meditation class, and we hadn't been able to figure out how to make it work. The challenge we've had is - how long do we make the class? Our standard class time is 60 minutes, but that's much too long for most people to meditate. And if we offer a 30 minute or a 20 minute class, what would would we charge for that?

So we came up with the idea of "come anytime within this window to meditate" and we decided to offer it for free. Because everyone should meditate - it would make the world a better place. And since all we're really doing is providing space for people who want to make the world a better place, we want to do it for free.

Here's the official description:

This free Meditation class is for anyone who would like to drop in and start their day with silent meditation. You can arrive and leave at any time, but please be mindful about respecting others' practices. Enter and exit quietly. If you use a meditation timer, please set it as quiet as possible to minimize disturbing others.

I will be present to oversee the practice.

Self-Guided - Thursdays at 8:00 a.m. I've wanted to offer a self-guided class time for a couple of years, and the concept has had multiple inspirations.

This practice is great for people who are working on developing a home practice. If you've ever tried to practice on your own at home, you've probably found that the first few times you rolled out your mat, you sat on it and wondered what to do next. A self-guided class where a teacher is present to help out when you get stuck is a perfect way to figure out your personal practice.

This practice is also great for people who don't have space to practice on their own at home, or who have too many distractions (laundry, dust bunnies, a dog, etc.) at home.

One of my more recent inspirations is that since I offer so much freedom in my classes, so that people can decide what works best for them based on what they've got going on in their bodies, this seems to be a natural progression. Complete freedom of practice. With Cony as a safety net in case you can't figure out what to do next.

And finally, this is one way I personally love to practice. It's a beautiful way to get really familiar with how you're feeling, how your body is feeling, and to figure out what kind of movement feels most beneficial. In my experience, it's the perfect way to minimize thinking and shift my awareness to feeling, which is a very healthy practice.

Here's the official description:

The Self-Guided class is for experienced yoga practitioners who are interested in developing their personal practice. You guide your own practice, while the teacher's role is to help as needed with assists, modifications, and questions. To avoid disrupting the practices of other practitioners, please use a quiet tone of voice, keep conversations to a minimum, arrive early enough to begin your practice at the start of the class time, and stay until the yo.

Cony will be the mentor for the Self-Guided class.

Yoga for Cancer - Sundays at 5:00 p.m. This is another class that we've wanted to do for a long time. We tried it once before, but the class time was not convenient to people who work. We're hoping the class will be better attended this time around.

You might have read my post about my experience at the yoga training hosted by MD Anderson earlier this year. It was actually the second time I attended the training, and this time the learnings really spoke to me. Given our mission of making yoga accessible and therapeutic, I realized we're the perfect studio to offer a class on Yoga for Cancer.

Stacy will be teaching this class, and she already has a few years' experience teaching yoga for breast cancer recovery. The goal of this class is to provide a gentle, nurturing practice that is beneficial for health and healing.

Here's the official description:

This gentle class is designed to help people who are in any stage of cancer diagnosis, treatment, recovery, or survivorship. The practice focuses on customized movement, breathing, and meditation to promote relaxation and healing.

In Summary We're really looking forward to more yoga and more accessible yoga in 2016. As you know, we're serious about our belief in Yoga for EveryBody.

Behind the Scenes: Winter 2016 Class Schedule

Over the past few weeks we’ve been hard at work planning the Class Schedule for the beginning of 2016. You might think planning the Class Schedule is a quick and easy job, but it’s actually very challenging. Every time I update the Class Schedule, I have to take into account a lot of competing priorities.

I need to consider which class types tend to work in which time slots, which actually means two different things: which classes are popular at which times, and which classes are theoretically beneficial at which times. For example, early in the morning and late at night, gentle classes are beneficial because they help us ease into our day and help us wind down so we can sleep well at night.

I also need to consider teacher availability, which means scheduling around the teachers’ full time job work schedules, outside teaching schedules, childcare availability, and rush hour.

One of my personal priorities is to schedule teachers for classes they love to teach. Sure, all of our teachers are great and could probably teach any class type in a pinch, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re confident and enthusiastic in teaching every class type.

I want teachers to be in the zone and the best way to accomplish that is to allow them teach their area of expertise. It’s one way I can help them stoke their enthusiasm and avoid burnout, and give them the opportunity to further refine their teaching. We teachers learn so much from our students.

My other personal priority is to minimize change. I pretty much never do a radical overhaul of the schedule. I try to keep things as consistent as possible so that it’s easy to remember when your favorite teachers teach.

Now that you’ve had a peak behind the scenes, here is our schedule for January 2nd through March 2016. Please note we will have a special schedule for New Year’s Day which we’ll announce next week. Keep reading for a list of the changes as compared to our current schedule.

(Click on the schedule for a printable version.)

Monday 6:45 p.m. changes to Vinyasa Flow with Iyone 7:30 p.m. changes to Gentle with Susan

Tuesday 8:00 a.m. Free Meditation Session with Zelinda (NEW!)

Thursday 8:00 a.m. Self-Guided Practice with Cony (NEW!)

Sunday 9:15 a.m. changes to Vinyasa Flow with Iyone 10:30 a.m. changes to Gentle with Iyone 5:00 p.m. Yoga for Cancer with Stacy (NEW!)

XO, Zelinda

P.S. Do you live or work near Dell in Round Rock? A person with an eye disability (who is unable to drive) reached out to us, wondering if we know of anyone in his area who might be able to give him a ride to and from any Gentle or Restorative classes on weekends, or weekdays after 5PM. Interested in helping out a fellow yogi? Email us at info@rryogaroom.com, and we'll connect you!