Posted by Jennifer Popper on Mon, Sep 06, 2010 @ 12:39 PM
Get to know Grey. Grey Valenti started practicing yoga in 1993, when she was an ocean physicist studying variations in the Indian Monsoon. She didn’t take her practice seriously at the time, but as the years passed she kept finding herself back on the yogic path. In 2001, she fell in love with Mysore-Style Ashtanga Yoga. The daily repletion of postures, the silence, and the rigor of the practice forced her out of her head and helped her begin an inward journey.
Grey received her Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training from David Swenson, which focused primarily on the asana (postures) practice. Eager to learn more about the spiritual side of yoga, she completed her 200-hour teacher certification course and is currently working towards her 500-hour certification with Ranjitha Sandeep and Devi V at the Yoga Sutra for Life yoga school. Her work with Ranjitha & Devi helped her find her inner guide.
Grey’s goal as teacher is to help her students honor the perfection that is already within them. “Let every pose be an expression of your soul.”
Grey will be teaching a Kriya Yoga class at Studio Fitness on Wednesdays at 9:30AM. Her first class will be Wednesday, September 15th. Sign up for her class online.
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Posted by Jennifer Popper on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 @ 02:07 PM
Embrace the change in seasons and in life! As we begin the transition from balmy, Summer days to crisp Autumn evenings, our bodies and our minds tend to shift as well.
Join Doreen Johnson at Studio Fitness for an afternoon of inversions. In this workshop, Doreen will guide you through an asana practice incorporating headstands, handstands and more, and will offer you techniques from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to help guide the mind toward a new perspective during times of change - both on and off the mat.
Doreen will provide guidance on alignment for those new to inversions, but a regular asana practice is recommended.
DATE: Saturday, September 25th
TIME: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
COST: $30.00
SIGN UP ONLINE HERE
For additional information, email Studio Fitness or call 908-647-0300.
Interested in other Studio Fitness workshops? Visit our EVENTS page. Want to join our email list?
MORE ABOUT DOREEN: "I'm a curious, old soul, and a Francophile. I'm a yoga teacher and want to take up fly-fishing. I am still not a morning person. I would like to raise goats and make my own cheese."
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 12:29 PM
Gulsum Lakshmi Om started practicing yoga in 1992 and taught yoga regularly to the guests of The Holiday Club Mega Saray in Belek, Antalya, Turkey in 1993 as a team member of the sports and entertaining department. After moving to the U.S. in 1996, she has practiced yoga personally.
Gulsum attended countless yoga classes with Ranjitha Sandeep, and decided to take her teacher training program. She is certified by Yoga Sutra For Life as a 500 Hour Level II teacher. Her classes are influenced by Master Teacher Ranjitha Sandeep, who is a disciple of Yogi Dharma Mittra from New York. Gulsum also has taken classes with yogi Dharma Mittra. She believes in the healing power of doing yoga with others, and recommends you to participate in group yoga sessions to create energy with other yogis.
The yoga mat has been center for Gulsum for quite some time now where she has found inner peace, strength, compassion and love for self and for others. She has been eager to share that energy with all her students!
Catch Gulsum teaching at Studio Fitness on Thursdays at 7:45PM. Her Power Yoga class is a rigorous one that will challenge and strengthen you. It moves at a fast pace and postures are held longer to improve focus and determination. This class will build your stamina and increase your strength and flexibility.
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 @ 10:02 AM
Lauren Vasquez began practicing yoga in 1998 simply to stretch and relax, and in 2002 she decided to commit herself to the practice and study of yoga on a much deeper level. Lauren's classes focus on the oneness that exists between ourselves and the world around us. Her classes combine asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing), and meditation.
Lauren studied with Ranjitha Sandeep, who is an internationally-acclaimed Ashtanga (Raja) yoga therapist and a disciple of Yogi Dharma Mittra.
Lauren received both her 200 and 500 hours teacher certification from the Yoga Sutra for Life school of yoga, which is registered with the International Yoga Alliance organization. Devi is her given name, an honor that is bestowed upon graduates of the 500 hour certification. In 2008, Lauren co-founded the 3 Times Square Yoga Community at Thomson Reuters, where she works, and designed and implemented a corporate yoga program there as well. She teaches class to the corporate community after work each week, enabling her students to reach into themselves to find peace and calm after their stressful day in the office.
You can catch Lauren at Studio Fitness on Wednesday nights for her Yoga Lounge class, a gentle restorative yoga, with candlelight, relaxing music and essential oils - all designed to feed your soul, align your spine, and provide an end-of-day oasis.
She also teaches a Vinyasa 2 class on Sunday mornings. Building upon the flow of sequential postures mastered in Vinyasa I, this class introduces more intense postures emphasizing strength and flexibility. Open minded beginners are welcome and will be challenged by the depth of the postures that may be held somewhat longer. The flow in Vinyasa II is somewhat quicker than Vinyasa I. Classes may include chanting and/or meditation.
And beginning on Friday, September 17th, Lauren will be introducing a new class that fuses both Yoga Lounge and Vinyasa. Classes will begin with traditional Vinyasa yoga to energize and release toxins, and then wind down with the gentle restorative postures, relaxing music, ambiance and essential oils of Yoga Lounge - a perfect fusion of yoga styles and a sweet way to end your week!
Check out yogini Devi's BLOG!
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Sat, May 01, 2010 @ 05:15 PM
Our Happy Tails Yoga: A Cause for Paws event that took place today was a resounding success! Studio Fitness would like to say thank you to all who participated.
Happy Tails Yoga is a fundraising event for The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA), uniting yoga teachers and students in the battle to stop animal cruelty and neglect. We were able to raise over $500 at our event today!
Thank you to Yoga Jen... you exude positive energy! Jen and I first became friends years ago at Syracuse University. Thanks to Facebook, we've reconnected, and once we realized we are not far from each other, my mind went to work - get Jen to teach our Happy Tails Yoga class!
Jen, your class was fun, you made us laugh, and you played great music! How awesome that your one playlist included music relating to animals. "Rock Lobster" anyone?! And the partner yoga segment really helped deepen the stretch (which I personally enjoyed this day before I run my first half marathon).
Another thank you to Lauren of Body Be Well Therapeutic Massage. Your chair massages were a big hit! If you'd like more info on services, visit her website: http://www.bodybewellmassage.com/
To our current clients, and to those who visited Studio Fitness for the first time, we hope you enjoyed our event, and we thank you for your generosity and support! It is a joy to plan events like this one because of people like you.
Namaste!
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Sat, Apr 24, 2010 @ 03:26 PM
Let the Sunshine In! If you haven't made it to one of Doreen's workshops yet, you will not be disappointed! If you have been to one of the earlier sessions, like Journey into the Pose or Wheels of Light: Exploring the Chakras, then you know you're in for a real treat. You know you'll work hard, and you'll have fun, too!
As we continue to Spring clean from the long Winter months and welcome the abundant sunshine of Summer, Pranayama, Bandhas, Arm Balances and Inversions can prepare us for the transition. Join Doreen in this Spring workshop, where you'll play with balance and form as she guides you into more intermediate asanas like crow, four arm stand, hand stand, and head stand.
Emphasis will be on proper alignment – using the core and the breath to enhance these poses.
A regular home practice is encouraged, but the workshop is open to all.
DATE: May 15th
TIME: 1:00 - 3:00 pm
COST: $30.00
SIGN UP
MORE ABOUT DOREEN: "I'm a curious, old soul, and a Francophile. I'm a yoga teacher and want to take up fly-fishing. I am still not a morning person. I would like to raise goats and make my own cheese."
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 10:19 PM
If you haven't yet heard, Happy Tails Yoga month is held in May of each year. Everyone is welcome to attend any Happy Tails Yoga Class.
Happy Tails Yoga is a fundraising event for The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA), uniting yoga teachers and students in the battle to stop animal cruelty and neglect.
Happy Tails Yoga offers donation-only based classes throughout New Jersey with all proceeds supporting NJSPCA. Yoga teachers and studios donate their time, talent and location while attendees donate money for taking the class. We hold classes at different locations all year long with the majority of our class held during Happy Tails Yoga month in May.
It's a great opportunity to try a new class or take a class with your favorite teacher. Classes are designed for all levels and everyone is welcome to attend.
Donations can be made, in any amount, at a Happy Tails Yoga class or at the NJSPCA website. The more money we raise, the more animals we save!
So join us and experience the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that yoga has to offer. Not only will you be enhancing your own health and well-being, but also the health and well-being of many abandoned and neglected animals in New Jersey.
Studio Fitness will be holding its Cause for Paws class with Yoga Jen on Saturday, May 1st at 1:00. If you want to reserve a spot, sign up here. When you add it to your cart, you will notice that the cost is $0.00. Please make your donation online at NJSPCA or bring a check made out to them. We are asking for a minimum of $20.00. Please note: Yoga Jen will have her therapy dogs in class - they do yoga, too!
Oh, and as a special treat for those of you who participate, you can get a free chair massage from Lauren Curtis, CMT of Body Be Well Therapeutic Massage. She will be there a half hour prior and a half hour after the event giving 5-10 minute complementary chair massages.
You can find our event on Facebook, too... Happy Tails Yoga: A Cause for Paws.
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Sun, Jun 07, 2009 @ 11:34 AM
I recently came across an article online. It appeared in the Daily News, a New York-area newspaper, entitled Making cancer bearable: Yoga group links survivors with free classes to rebuild strength & wellness," written by Sarah Armaghan. I read the article, and then ventured on over to YOGABEAR to learn more.
YOGABEAR, so says its website, "is a community of friends -- cancer survivors, yogis, health professionals, and volunteers -- across the nation." YOGABEAR has created a network through which yoga studios can offer cancer survivors the opportunity to practice yoga... for free.
Some people find that complementary wellness methods such as yoga help control some of their symptoms and improve the quality of their lives after being sidetracked by cancer. YOGABEAR is one resource that helps disseminate information about yoga as a "complementary treatment in cancer recovery."
With cancer touching so many people's lives, whether as someone who has suffered and survived, or as someone who has lost a loved one, it always amazes me when you come across information sources like YOGABEAR. Today, June 7th, is National Cancer Survivors Day, so I wanted to let you know that Studio Fitness has applied to become a participating studio in the YOGABEAR network, already at 140 studios strong. What a great way to give back to the community. YOGABEAR... pass the word!
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Fri, Mar 13, 2009 @ 07:33 PM
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX - Owning a Pilates and yoga studio has helped me embrace this phrase. I try to think outside of the proverbial box when I imagine what else my instructors and I can offer our clients. Enhancing a class schedule without sacrificing the core (pun intended) of what we offer at Studio Fitness is key to keeping our clients engaged and wanting more. Of course, we do not want to sacrifice what they have been coming for in the first place, but we want to keep it interesting.
To that point of offering more, we've added some fun classes to our repetoire, and as such, I've come to realize that we've got a theme night here at Studio Fitness. Our Thursday night classes have a Brazilian flair, with both Zumba®, and then Capoeira on the schedule. Personally, I've taken a few Zumba® classes, and all I can say is that it's a good thing I can laugh at myself. Some people are able to just let loose and let themselves go; they feel the music, they don't care what they look like, and they just have a blast while working up a sweat and working off some calories. One client said, "If I can't shake it here, I can't shake it anywhere!"
Not sure if Zumba® is for you? Well, if you're ready for some fun, check out this Zumba® YouTube video that has been viewed by over 2 million people. Then stop by for a class with Mary Liebau or Tina LeVine. Both of our instructors inspire you to think outside the box, and shake it if you've got it!
Capoeira is new to me, and a new class on our schedule. For me, I am really enjoying it, and I have even convinced my husband to participate. I know it's not supposed to be about me, right? It's about the clients. But I have had so much fun, just two classes in! I've been reading more about Capoeira, hearing more about it, and even saw it mentioned in one of my favorite catalogs, Title Nine. There is usually a tiny blurb about the models who appear in the catalog, and on page 95 of the Summer 2009 issue I just got in the mail, it says, "Yhazi's dream job would be teaching Capoeira in Brazil." I like the dress she is wearing, and am considering purchasing it, but even more impressive are her arms, and if Capoeira can help me get arms as cut as hers, then count me in!
In Capoeira, participants form a roda, or circle, and take turns playing instruments like a berimbau, singing, and sparring with someone else in the center of the roda.
The benefits of playing Capoeira include building confidence, and increased concentration, alertness, and circulation. It's a great stress-reliever, and a full-body workout, and balances both body and mind.
Not sure Capoeira is for women? Traditionally, women were practically absent from the world of Capoeira. Today, they actually
make up the majority of students. Women are attracted by the aspects
of dance, flexibility and physical resistance that the game requires
and develops. Overall, Capoeira is for boys and girls, men and women, basically for all ages. Take a look at the following video, and notice the young girl participating in Capoeira! (Save the Date: experience Capoeira on June 20th at the Montclair Museum, more details to follow.)
Finally, a sorority friend of mine from Syracuse University, who lives in New Jersey and teaches yoga, posted this video after the Syracuse/UConn Big East Tournament game that went to six... yes, count it, six, overtimes last night! Syracuse perservered, with the game finishing at almost 1:30 am, and I am oh, so proud! Yoga Jen's video struck me as also thinking outside the box. Her yoga tweens are rallying around Syracuse, all as they do tree pose, incorporating yoga into everyday life... take a look!
I challenge you to look around, find something that you've always wanted to try, something about which you've always been curious... and join me as you learn to think outside the box.
Posted by Jennifer Popper on Tue, Jan 20, 2009 @ 07:47 AM
Snow. It's only mid-January, with many more Winter days left until the sun shines and we can put those parkas back into the closet. Personally, I've lost patience with it, with icy and slick roads; with snow sneaking in between pants legs and boots, making for some chilly feet; and with the worry that I'll have to reach out to clients to let them know that classes are canceled.
Yes, the snow is beautiful as it comes down, at first a few white spots standing out on the hood of your car, and then the sidewalks are blanketed by whiteness. But I hate to be cold. When I'm cold, I just want to curl up on the couch under a blanket; any motivation to exercise is lost.
However, I recently came across an inspiring list. It's called 10 Things to Love About Yoga in the Winter, which is posted on the Florian Yoga blog. Take a look.
- Not having to wake up quite so early to do your practice while the sun is rising.
- More
time to attend workshops on the weekends when it's not competing with
yard work (understandably, gardening IS yoga for many of us...but not
so much for me)
- How well our twisting postures prepare us for shoveling.
- A warm toasty studio or meditation spot on an icy cold day.
- That
yoga allows us to practice impermanence. That all sensations (in this
case, cold ones) pass (unless you live on the North Pole).
- Snow cancellations give us "extra" time that we can use to practice, read, meditate.
- A meditation walking through a snow storm and listening to the sounds (a kind of buffered quiet I've never heard elsewhere)
- Bundling up in blankets for savasana.
- Heating up your body all on your own through a vigorous practice.
- More opportunities to stay indoors and develop a home practice.
To which of these points can you most relate? What inspires you to emerge from that flannel PJ cocoon we tend to wrap ourselves in when Winter rears its blustery head? Motivate others with your secrets to fitness sucess by leaving a comment below.