3 Week Yoga Retreat

Starting Your Fitness Journey With YOGA

Many of my beginner clients are always saying man I wish there was a program that was SUPER easy and made for beginners. While we do have some programs that are for those beginning their fitness transformation, I will be honest and say we didn't have TONS in the past, but that is something Beachbody has been working hard to improve upon. 

This summer while we were at our coach summit event they announced the new 3 WEEK YOGA RETREAT that is coming out on August 31, 2016. It was designed for those looking to give yoga a try but have been intimidated or not sure where to start with yoga. I get it and agree- all of those poses and names can be intimidating. I remember when I started p90x3 and Tony Horton was calling out yoga positions that I had no clue what they were. It was frustrating at first. 

It will be loaded in the Beachbody On Demand library for you to try. The program willl not be something you have to purchase. It will come with your subscription to On Demand. If you do not currently have Beachbody On Demand you can sign up for the free 30 day trail. This would give you enough time to complete the entire program without having to pay for anything during that period. Obviously something very attractive to many. 

Let me answer some of the questions that you might have so far about it. 

 How long is it? 

There are a total of 21 classes. One for each day of the week. Each one is 30 minutes or less. 

Do I have to be a YOGI to enjoy this one?

HA HA nope - you can be a total newbie. 

Who is the target audience for this one? 

Beginners to yoga and those wanting to build their confidence in yoga terms and positions. Also those looking to improve their flexibility and overall strength as well as reduce stress and find balance in their life. 

Is there a schedule to follow or do you just pick which programs you want to do? 

Yes there is a "class schedule" calendar for you to follow each day. 

Who is the trainer for this program?

There are actually 4 different yoga expert teachers for this one. These are trainers you have not yet worked with if you are familar with the other Beachbody programs. 

What equipment do I need? 

You will need an internet connect and device to stream the workouts from as well as a yoga mat and potentially a yoga block depending on your current flexibility level. 

How much is it? 
The program costs nothing to buy - it is all streamed online from the on demand library. If you are new to on demand you can actually have access for FREE for 30 days. Plenty of time for you to start and FINISH the program.

How do I get started? 
Send me an email letting me know you want to get started with this program - S.Griffith27@gmail.com

Then you can head on over to my site and sign up for a free account - you would click the option to "join" and it will have you sign up for your free account.

Once you are all signed up let me know and I will get you added into a challenge group for support and accountability.

You can take a look at this video to learn more about what this program is all about.

Hope you will consider giving this new program a try. If your anything like me you could always use more ZEN in your life! 

Hope to hear from you soon!

xoxo

-Sarah- 

Overcoming Stress and Anxiety Support Group

While most think of the spring as an exciting time of year. While I would agree that it is, it can also be a time of year that causes stress and extra anxiety for some. We tend to be more busy in the spring as we begin to engage in extra activities and experience the wrap up of the school year. If you have children or if you are a teacher yourself, it tends to be very chaotic. Fun, but chaotic.  The spring actually reminds me of the fall when I think of my schedule. I know working in a school district these two times of year are always the most stressful for me.

When I am under stress or have anxiety about something, I find myself not taking care of my own health needs like I should be. I put off working out. I stall when it comes to meal planning and meal prep. I binge on junk foods late at night, my sleep suffers and just overall I feel like I am in a slump during these times of year. I have been planning and thinking a lot about this spring and how I am going to get thru these next few months WITHOUT this extra anxiety and stress I often feel each year.

I remember in the fall there were mornings where I would wake up feeling like I couldn't face all of the things I had to accomplish in one day knowing that I had so much going on. It was not a good feeling. It paralyzed me some mornings and the stress of knowing about the daily stress caused more stress if that makes any sense. My daily to-do list became overwhelming and I had so much to-do I didn't know where to begin. I spent some time figuring out how to cope with all of it and found out very quickly that taking things one day at a time, one task at a time made all of it more manageable. I focused on taking care of me and getting enough rest and soon I started to feel much less stressed out, much happier and began to take care of myself in a much healthier way.

I began to think about others and realized that surely I am not the only one who struggles to balance it all during this time of year. I thought it would be great to offer a challenge group for those looking for help not just with nutrition and motivation to workout, but also offer coping skills to handle the spring season of chaos with more grace than they typically do.

I am planning to do the PiYo program and will be following that meal plan that comes along with it. In addition, I will continue to drink my daily dose of Shakeology to help me ward off cravings of junk food. It's a time of year for me that I often fall back into bad ways of take out and not so healthy foods. This will help to prevent me from doing that.

I had been doing the Hard Corps program for the last few weeks. While I love it, I think my focus needs to be on mindfulness and peace. I need to slow things down a bit and rebalance. I have noticed that I have been doing a lot of high intensity programs for several months now and my body needs a bit of a break. While I have gained a lot of muscle strength and "leaned out" quite a bit. I have noticed the my balance and flexibility have suffered because of it. It has been months since I have done any form of pilates or yoga. Quite honestly, I am looking forward to this a lot. PiYo is not often my program of choice because I always like to "go go go" but it will be nice slow things down a bit. I think it will help me deal with the stress that I know will be coming my way shortly.

I am really excited to share some of my best tips that I have learned along the way with anyone who would like to be a part.

Some of our weekly topics will include:

*Stress eating
*Mindfullness
*Learning how to stop overcommitting
*Getting enough rest
* Healthy ways to overcome daily stress and anxiety
* Plus much more!

If you would be interested in joining, I would need for you to sign up for a free team Beachbody account so that I can be your coach. You can do this by clicking here and clicking JOIN. Once you sign up for your free account you will need to reach out to me letting me know you would like to be a part of this. I will get you added into the group shortly after that. We will begin on Monday April 18, 2016. While many of the group members will be doing the PiYo program, you would still be welcome to join us in the event that you wanted to use a different Beachbody program instead.

If you would like to learn more about the PiYo program, take some time to watch this quick video explaining what it is all about.

Fill out my online form.

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Aerial Yoga - My Virginia Beach Souvenir

Check That One Off The Bucket List!

This past week we were on vacation in Virigina Beach and as we were driving down I got to thinking about my bucket list and wondered if there was anything I could cross off that week while I had some extra help. (my mom and her husband were with us for the trip). It dawned on me that I had been wanting to try aerial yoga so I quickly checked my phone to see if there were any place locally I could try out. Right away Airotique Studio popped up. I looked at the class schedule and they had an opening for two that Wednesday night we were going to be there. I booked them and talked my mom into coming along. She was not nearly as excited about it as I was but was a good sport anyways! 

Our teacher Nikki! She was a great help! 

When we got there we were told we had to take off all jelwery and needed to be free from any lotions. I read that you should wear long pants so I planned ahead and went with my lulu yoga ones. They had zippers so they actually put some duck tape on me so that I did not harm the silk we would be hanging out in for the next hour. No cameras were allowed back in the studio so I was not able to take as many pictures as I would have liked! 

Can you say excited?? If you look behind me you can see the silk hammoks we got to use

All I can say is while this looks like lots of fun and simple it's actually very challenging and required more upper body strength than I could have guessed. We got to do some pretty crazy poses and hang upside down. My mom was a fan of the full hammok pose where we got to lay in them and rest :) She said she would never go back again and that I tortured her. I should also mention that my mom does not workout like it do. ;) Sorry mom! All in all I really liked it and was glad I went. The next morning  I woke up with sore hands and also felt sore where my "love handles" are. The silk piches you a bit when you hang from it! 

The owner had taken this picture when we were in action learning the basics

I would encourage anyone to give this a try just for something different! While I don't think I want to do it every week I am glad to be able to say I tried it!