Jewelyn Butron

A true yogi knows that the practice is about finding balance and grounding yourself, but it can be really hard to get Zen or master even beginner yoga poses on the floor when you're in pain, amirite? If that's the case, and you're sick of doubling up your regular yoga mat for seated asanas, it may be time to opt for some extra cushioning.

Thick yoga mats are a great option for people with band knees or sensitive wrists. In addition, Candace Moore, an E-RYT500 yoga instructor and owner of Namaslay Studios, says theyre also ideal for seniors or anyone looking to primarily practice hatha (a slow style of stretching) or restorative yoga, as thick yoga mats provide extra layers of support.

To put things into perspective, a standard yoga mat is usually 3mm (1/8 inch) thick, while a thick yoga mat starts at approximately 5mm and goes up from there. The most important thing when picking at your own is personal comfort. That said, if you don't have bad knees or prefer a more dynamic form of yoga, stick to a traditional mat as those provide a more stable surface for your practice, says Moore. "A regular yoga mat, due to its stickiness and thinness, will be better for balancing on, she explains.

On the fence? There are yoga mats that do strike a fair balance between supporting your joints and providing stability. If you think you can benefit from a little extra cushioning, here are the best thick yoga mats you can buy right now. All of the below are best-sellers with A+ reviews from real people who swear by them.

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Best For Yogis Who Still Need Good Grip

Thickness:5 mm

Don't worry about unintentionally losing your balance while trying to master eagle pose. This Manduka matdelivers shock-absorbing cushioning so that it hurts a little less when your joints literally hit the mat.

Rave Review: "Used it about 10 times so far and I couldn't be happier. Strikes the perfect balance between price and quality. The mat is a great thickness and length. Really grippy and kinda heavy but not terrible."

Best Foam Thick Yoga Mat

Thickness:15 mm

Want extra, extra cushioning? You got it. This mat delivers 3/4 inches of high-density, non-stick foam. It's also made with a non-slip bottom to keep the mat in place and prevent injuries as you work out.

Rave Review:"This is the thickest yoga map I've ever seen. It's greatvery comfortable for knees and lying postures."

Best Sustainable Thick Yoga Mat

Thickness:6 mm

Perfect for those who like to sweat it out during hot yoga sessions, this yoga mat is made with a charcoal-infused natural rubber that absorbs sweat and eliminates odor. The material is also anti-slip, so that means more protection for your joints.

Rave Review: "I practice six days a week and sometimes twice a day. I was using a towel but after practicing on the GRP, I do not need a towel and the grip is outstanding. Ive been recommending it to fellow practitioners. The only issue I have: I wish I purchased it months ago."

Most Stylish Thick Yoga Mat

Thickness:6mm

This mat is as beautiful as it is durable. It doesn't sacrifice design for comfort and durability, but it still checks out all three. The cushioning is made with a slip-resistant texture to support your balance as you go.

Rave Review: "For about a year, Ive been doubling my mat for some poses. I decided to admit Im not as young as I used to be and bought the 6mm mat. Its very comfortable and just what my old boney knees were asking for."

Best Extra-Long Thick Yoga Mat

$39.99

Thickness:6 mm

Ever feel like you're only working out on half a mat? This Merrithew mat was specifically made for those with long limbs, akataller people, and keeps comfort and stability in mind.

Rave Review: "As a tall person, I needed a little bigger mat. This was just right. In addition, the thickness was comfortable."

Best Budget-Friendly Thick Yoga Mat

$19.99

Thickness:5 mm

If you want an inexpensive buy that's worth it, try this yoga mat, which can seamlessly take you through your yoga sessions, but can also be used for other kinds of mat-based exercises. Two other perks: it's non-slip and easy to clean.

Rave Review:"Just started yoga classes and didn't want to spend a fortune on a mat. This does everything I needed. Thick enough to protect knees, but thin enough for good stability."

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6 Best Thick Yoga Mats For Joint Support - Women's Health

Since going into quarantine, I've seen two of my budgets skyrocket: my coffee spending, and the money I put into fitness. With studios in my neighborhood and across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions, I didn't exactly see that second one coming (admittedly, I could have predicted the caffeine spike). Yet now that I don't go anywhere, I've had far more time and energy to work out and with all of my regular studios having moved to virtual sessions, I'm burning through my class cards so fast that I'm on the verge of investing in multiple memberships, just to save money.

Of course, what would really be the frugal choice would be for me to not attend my virtual classes at all. Not to drop fitness entirely working out is, with no exaggeration, all that is keeping me sane at this point but to switch to the plentiful, easily-accessed free workout videos that are offered online. Since the outbreak, many major studios and gyms, including Barry's Bootcamp, Orangetheory, CorePower Yoga, Rumble boxing, Blink Fitness, Planet Fitness, and more, have started offering free daily workout routines on their websites and social media. You could, with not very much trouble, stitch together an entire week of free workouts that would have cost hundreds of dollars before the outbreak.

But the real question is: Should you?

The fitness industry right now is hemorrhaging money. Last summer, months before anyone had ever heard the word "COVID-19," experts were already warning that despite "a record 71.5 million consumers" who attended health clubs in 2018, the fitness industry could be devastated by a recession. "Consumers are going to be dropping [boutique fitness] from their budget," Kristen Geil, the editor-in-chief of aSweatLife, told NBC News, explaining that such costs are "the easiest thing to cut." And, well, the rest is history. As coronavirus broke out, it left in its wake hundreds of empty gyms and studios; the subscription fitness app ClassPass reports that 90 percent of its 30,000 gym, studio, and wellness partners worldwide have "indefinitely closed their physical locations." For some, it's even more dire: In April, YogaWorks announced it'd be permanently closing its last four New York City locations due to the blow dealt by the pandemic. Gold's Gym, meanwhile, has filed for bankruptcy.

Small, independent studios have had to swiftly adapt in order to stay afloat. Blue Lotus Yoga and Barre Studio in Annapolis, Maryland, might be taken as a model for how to successfully transition; the studio closed its doors on March 16 and now streams between 15 and 20 live virtual classes a week in addition to offering an impressive library of yoga and barre videos that you can purchase for $8 each. "It was a complete overhaul of our business model," Blue Lotus co-founder Duffy Perkins told The Week. "Within days, within 48 hours we moved my entire business online."

Yoga is a particularly tricky space for the debate about free classes, in part because many operators consider it a spiritual practice in addition to being a fitness business. Ingrained in yoga are philosophies like seva, which promotes the generous and selfless teaching of yoga, as well as the concept of "karma yoga," when teachers, for any number of reasons, donate their services for free. Many socially-conscious studios, aware of the criticisms of yoga in the United States as being too exclusive, have long sought to make classes accessible for people who don't fit the stereotypical yogi image (thin, white, in possession of a Peloton or Equinox membership) by offering donation-based or free community classes.

Advocates, though, have sought to highlight the potential for the exploitation of yoga instructors in the studio space, where there can also be an expectation that teachers offer classes, or out-of-classroom assistance, for no pay. "[I]f anyone asks you to teach yoga for free, the answer is: No," writes New York-based instructor Tara Purswani in a Medium post that predated the pandemic, titled "Teaching Yoga Is a Real Job and You Should Be Paid for It."

"My concern with yoga teachers going drastically underpaid is that it keeps our industry and it's teachings small," wrote Francesca Cervero, a private yoga instructor, in a somewhat controversial post that also predates the outbreak. Importantly, she adds that "arbitrarily reducing the price of yoga classes can drive down the value people place on yoga instruction."

The belief that yoga teachers are performing a valuable service is part of why Perkins and her team decided against offering free classes at Blue Lotus. "The motto we have stuck to throughout this is that once you know your worth, you will stop discounting your time," Perkins said. She and her partner, Julie Nogueira, try to impress that message on their students in their teacher training courses, and it is also what has propelled them away from posting their workouts for free on Facebook or Instagram during the pandemic. "The problem with the free classes is, that basically undercuts your entire business model," Perkins explained. "Once you train your clients to think that everything is free, then it's hard to get them back to paying for anything."

And yet, many studios have made the decision to not charge for their classes. Yoga Home, in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, is airing free classes "as an offering of community care as we move through these challenging times together," according to their website. Small World Yoga, in Nashville, likewise explains that its Zoom classes are free because "we are committed to our mission [to connect people and create community by increasing access to yoga] even during this pandemic." Or as Rachel Goodale, the owner of Long Island's Stroller Strong Mamas, told Northforker: "The money is not what's important to me at the moment. I just want everyone to feel like we're not in complete isolation and that we can still kind of come together. Everyone has been so supportive of my classes, so this is my way of giving back."

Free classes aren't entirely without potential business upsides, either. Perkins, for example, told me that she doesn't see the wildly popular and free "Yoga with Adriene" YouTube videos as being competition for her own library of yoga videos. After all, "Yoga with Adriene" existed long before the pandemic, and has likely brought many newcomers to yoga, including, perhaps, any number of future Blue Lotus members. Similarly, prior to the outbreak I'd been eyeing 305 Fitness' dance workout classes, but a crippling terror of breaching a new studio (much less dancing in front of strangers with my two left feet) kept me from showing up. After having popped into a handful of 305's free YouTube workouts, I've become hooked and will almost certainly visit one of their New York studios once they reopen.

Still other studios have sought to navigate the new terrain with a sort of middle ground, offering free or steeply discounted classes to essential workers, or to people who've lost their jobs. Shaktibarre, in New York, for example, already had a radical sliding-scale membership plan prior to the pandemic, and now offers an even more steeply discounted option for those unemployed due to COVID-19.

Ultimately, the circumstances behind every practitioner and studio are different. Free classes might be what are available to you right now, or perhaps shelling out $8 to tap into your local studio's live streams, even when tempting no-cost options abound, is reasonably within your means. "Everybody is doing things differently," Perkins said. "We're all trying to figure this out. There's no right or wrong."

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Original post:
Your free workouts have a cost - The Week

Dr Charu Arora, 34, lives and works in Mumbai as a director with a health tech company. In early March, she decided to quit her job and move to Goa to teach yoga, hoping to tie up with hotels and independent yoga studios. I knew I was not going to make a lot of money, but I dont need a lot, and I was happy if I could sustain myself, she says. When the coronavirus lockdown struck, Arora took back her resignation, and has now begun to look at plan B with yoga.

Her first move was to go online, to YouTube (Yoga Heals), Instagram (@yogaheals2020), and Facebook (Facebook.com/YogaHealswithDoctor) where she has begun to teach people the basics of yoga: how to eat mindfully, how a daily practice can help with anxiety, even asanas for high blood pressure. As a doctor, people are more inclined to trust her with serious medical conditions, she says.

She found this especially with her first job that was with Myyogateacher.com, a website and app started by an IIT Kanpur graduate, to link Indian teachers with international students. My yoga teacher, Rohan Shroff, had suggested that I apply even though I was not very confident because I had just completed my training. But, she says, as she began to work with people who had an injury or health condition, developing a practice for them was intuitive, because she understood anatomy and physiology. Some of the students told me me theyd selected me because I was a doctor.

Arora began practising yoga about five years ago, after a personal setback that led to a stress build-up and serious GI tract issues. At first, she dabbled in it when in Bengaluru, during her years in med tech there, but when she moved to Mumbai, she slowly began to explore its deeper aspects to help her out of a dark place. After some time, It drew me inwards and my dependence on people came down, she says.

Last year, she was diagnosed with a few more health problems, and decided to take a deep dive by enrolling in a 200-hour (the minimum, usually covered in about 26 days) teachers training programme at The Yoga Institutes Goa chapter, at Chorao. We learnt asana, pranayama, and meditation of course, but also anatomy, yogic philosophy, and other yogic practices such as reflection and gratitude, she says, adding that a sattvik diet changed her lifestyle when she came back to the city.

Taking her background in Medicine and her yoga practice a step further, she recently co-authored a proposal with a classmate, Dr Saswati Das, in answer to the Government of Indias Department of Science and Technologys call for a yoga and meditation intervention suitable to fight COVID-19. The purpose is to improve immunity, lung function, and mental health; develop a protocol, and conduct a pilot study of 100 COVID-19 patients, she says, adding that she is keeping her fingers crossed about getting the project.

Irrespective, Charus idea is, to share my experience of yoga with as many as possible, and help people benefit in the same way I have. I feel yoga healed me to the point that I feel stronger, happier, and more in control of my life.

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AMD Ryzen 7 4800U in Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 surpasses Intel Core i7-10750H in Geekbench; puts Core i7-10710U and Core i7-1065G7 to the sword too -...

SUNRISE, Fla. When the NHL season was put on hold back in March, Chris Driedger and the rest of his Florida Panthers teammates were in Dallas preparing for a game they would not end up playing.

As the days off turned into weeks, Driedger decided to go back to the minors.

Sort of.

Driedger still had an apartment under lease in Springfield, Mass., where he had started this season with the Panthers AHL affiliate.

Instead of staying in a mostly empty hotel in Fort Lauderdale one without a kitchen or his girlfriend Driedger packed up what little he had and headed north.

So, Driedger has been spending his quarantine time in western Massachusetts, doing online yoga classes and heading outdoors for hikes when the weather is nice enough to do so.

If the Panthers are allowed back into the team training facility in Coral Springs in the coming weeks, Driedger says he will waste no time getting...

Excerpt from:
Chris Driedger preps for a return to Panthers with yoga and old Disney movies - The Athletic

In 2018, the market size of Pilates and Yoga Studios Market is million US$ and it will reach million US$ in 2025, growing at a CAGR of from 2018; while in China, the market size is valued at xx million US$ and will increase to xx million US$ in 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during forecast period.

The report on the Pilates and Yoga Studios market provides a birds eye view of the current proceeding within the Pilates and Yoga Studios market. Further, the report also takes into account the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the Pilates and Yoga Studios market and offers a clear assessment of the projected market fluctuations during the forecast period. The different factors that are likely to impact the overall dynamics of the Pilates and Yoga Studios market over the forecast period (2019-2029) including the current trends, growth opportunities, restraining factors, and more are discussed in detail in the market study.

Get Free Sample PDF (including COVID19 Impact Analysis, full TOC, Tables and Figures) of Market Report @ https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2601797&source=atm

This study presents the Pilates and Yoga Studios Market production, revenue, market share and growth rate for each key company, and also covers the breakdown data (production, consumption, revenue and market share) by regions, type and applications. Pilates and Yoga Studios history breakdown data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.

For top companies in United States, European Union and China, this report investigates and analyzes the production, value, price, market share and growth rate for the top manufacturers, key data from 2014 to 2018.

In global Pilates and Yoga Studios market, the following companies are covered:

The key players covered in this study Alona Pilates Authentic Pilates Body&Soul yoga club(china) CORE PILATES Fitness Firm Yoga and Pilates Studio Fitness Unlimited Flex Studio M Pilates+Yoga Pilates Plus Studio Pilates & Yoga

Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Yoga Classes Pilates Classes Pilates & Yoga Accreditation Training Merchandise Sales Market segment by Application, split into Private Group

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America

The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global Pilates and Yoga Studios status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the Pilates and Yoga Studios development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Pilates and Yoga Studios are as follows: History Year: 2015-2019 Base Year: 2019 Estimated Year: 2020 Forecast Year 2020 to 2026 For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2019 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

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The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:

Chapter 1, to describe Pilates and Yoga Studios product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.

Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Pilates and Yoga Studios , with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Pilates and Yoga Studios in 2017 and 2018.

Chapter 3, the Pilates and Yoga Studios competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.

Chapter 4, the Pilates and Yoga Studios breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2018.

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Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 12, Pilates and Yoga Studios market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2024.

Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Pilates and Yoga Studios sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.

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Globally Leading Manufacturers of Pilates and Yoga Studios product Scale up Production to Meet Sharp Spike in Demand Fueled by COVID-320 - 3rd Watch...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. Crissy Jory is a holistic health specialist who offers custom movement treatments and personal care to her clients, so not being able to see them right now is difficult.

We closed pretty early on because a lot of my clientele is over 65 years old and as an everyday ayurvedic practitioner I do a lot of 1-on-1 work, Jory says.

When COVID-19 happened, Jory spent days trying to figure out how to continue helping her clients and keep that close connection since so much of what she does is individual bodywork.

I became a tech wizard. Im so used to being with people 1-on-1 and a lot of them are not too computer savvy, Jory said. They want to be in the community and see each other in person.

On top of that, internet connections would cut out and live Zoom classes would become disrupted, which would make the distance communication even more frustrating.

So, I started pre recording classes that people can watch and I use a live chat box to interact with them as they watch the videos, she added. Im lucky that my husband is a videographer and can help me, but its tough being at the mercy of Zoom and its glitches. Im trying to get my classes to work online and hopefully it happens for them when they hit play, but were such a personable studio that its been challenging. Ive been spending a lot of time talking clients through on how to get them online and some just arent that interested and give up. So, since I know all of our clients personally, Ive been doing a lot of phone conversations with them. Some have been empowered and others have gotten further away from it, they dont want to use their phone, computer, or anything.

Her younger clientele has been a bit easier to work with, though. She said they havent missed a beat and they show up for their online appointments with no trouble.

About a year ago, I was lucky to work with college students who helped me put together an online HIPAA-compliant platform and its really helping out that side of the business right now, Jory said. Im also lucky to have a 10-year-old who kind of gets it and a husband whos super techy. The hours spent educating some about how to access online sessions are grueling but then some others have embraced it. Its like they have been exposed to a new world and its boosted their confidence.

Like many other health studios trying to keep her businesses alive while being apart, The Studio Lake Tahoes offerings are all donation-based right now so that the community doesnt have to become even more stressed in their transition to an online platform but Jory appreciates seeing people step up and pay for classes that in turn allows others to try it out.

Its great seeing the community take care of each other because it helps everyone else have the tools to cope with stress, the isolation and changing lifestyle, she said.

All of The Studios classes have downsized 80% due to moving everything online, but luckily Jory still has a little savings to get by on and help from the Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community until hopefully she receives some assistance through the SBA loan programs.

She says that shes never been this busy in her life working through this abrupt business model change with less money coming in, but she trusts that if she can do whatever she can to give back to the community that it will in turn support her.

Ive been writing little notes, sending birthday cards, and pictures of stretches to send in the mail to my clients, Jory said/ Im doing a lot more with that side of it, going back to the traditional way of doing things with handwritten notes and phone calls, connecting with people that way. Because were a community studio and its all about walking the talk and supporting them in a way that goes beyond business.

I cant wait to get back to my classes since most of our clientele works with us in private 1-on-1 sessions, but I can see the silver lining in the way that the community is coming together, she added. Well all make it; well all be okay, and this is proving that were all here for each other. Trying to keep The Studio open is really scary and hard, but these are our people and we have to take care of each other. And it helps knowing that Im not in this alone.

Link:
From my computer to yours: Yoga with The Studio Lake Tahoe - Tahoe Daily Tribune

Hop into something comfy and lets get started! This is how Adriene Mishler, YouTubes biggest yoga guru, begins many of her videos. For those of us who are not spending our quarantine days writing an update of King Lear or attempting to follow along with Barrys Bootcamp on Instagram, Mishlers just-show-up approach to yoga is a comfort and a welcome distraction. In recent months, she has been described as the patron saint of quarantine (Paper magazine), the most influential yoga teacher on the planet (Refinery29), and Our saviour (a fan on Twitter).

Mishler was already huge before the pandemic her channel, which has more than 7 million subscribers, is the first to pop up when you search for yoga on YouTube but the lockdown has catapulted her to a new level of fame. Fans on social media recommend their favourite videos, post charcoal drawings of her and express their undying devotion to her for keeping them sane. One devotee even built a digital replica of her home studio in the video game Animal Crossing. There are countless memes about her, as well as ones about her dog, a blue heeler, or Australian cattle dog, named Benji, who frequently makes cameo appearances lounging beside the mat, or wandering into shot.

Working out at home in the time of coronavirus is fraught. Most of us dont have much space to spare, let alone weights or props to replicate the gym (or a steam room or a woman arguing on her phone while jogging on a treadmill next to you). But even for those of us committed to being deeply unambitious during this period, exercise does eventually seem like a good idea, if not just to make up for all the pasta dinners and handfuls of milk chocolate also to alleviate boredom, or sore backs from sitting cross-legged on the couch all day, or to introduce some movement beyond padding in slippers a few feet from the bedroom to a makeshift standing desk (a laptop propped up on a cupboard), or to give the illusion of some form of routine.

Even though every form of exercise, from pilates to ecstatic dance, is being offered in online workouts, and in many cases for free, yoga seems to have risen to the top. It doesnt require any fancy accessories you dont even need a mat and theres a meditative aspect that helps with all of our extremely warranted anxiety.

Mishler has pitched herself as the perfect first step for yoga novices. Whatever ails you, Mishler seems to have a class for it. She has videos for back pain, vulnerability (an entirely seated practice with a lot of lying in the foetal position), anger (a lot of breathing exercises and childs pose to calm down) and self-care (literally hugging yourself). There is yoga for runners (a seven-minute full body stretch for before or after a jog) and for those in the service industry (relief from being on ones feet all day), and even yoga for writers (focus the brain and body inward so you can perform, create and be your best). Some of the classes can be done in bed.

Maybe what attracts so many people to Mishler is what shes not: she isnt threatening, has none of the holier-than-thou quality of someone who just came back from rigorous spiritual training, and nor is she stone-faced or humourless. On screen, Mishler, who is 35, comes across as sweet and wholesome, like the one popular girl in school who was actually kind. Her classes tend to be slow-placed, with clear instructions for absolute beginners and insight for more experienced students. Shes good at telling you how to avoid injury, which is important when theres no teacher in the room to correct or guide you deeper into a pose. She can occasionally seem a little homespun with her Texan howdy or get a little spiritual and write on her website that Yoga is really the art of waking up.

Right now, while we are stuck in our cramped apartments, our crowded living rooms, our sunless basement flats, our solitary terraces yoga offers us a solution, an escape, a way to unwind. It doesnt come larded with the kind of ambition that drives people to train for marathons or visit the gym several times a week to lose weight. Yoga is only interested in the present, an apt philosophy at a moment when the future is so uncertain. As a teacher, Mishler is not doing anything revolutionary, but she has struck a chord in these anxious times. By not doing too much, and not asking us to do too much, shes become the woman of the hour.

These days Mishler receives so many requests that her press office sends automated emails apologising in advance if it takes a while to respond. But after I got through to her voicemail which features her singing a song about leaving a message to the tune of the Chilis baby back ribs jingle Mishler called me back about a minute later, apologising for missing the call.

On the phone from her home in Austin, Texas, Mishler sounded exactly like she does in her videos: extremely friendly, sincere and polite. She thanked me for asking how her quarantine is going. Its best-case scenario, she said. My boyfriend lives eight minutes away. Hes the only person that I see, and he can work at his home and I can work here. A lot of people assume I must be golden Oh come on, buddy! she broke off to yell at Benji the dog, who was barking in the background. Others are having a much harder time of it, she said, such as her friends who have kids, but she admitted to having occasional wobbles. You have your own discombobulated moment each day where you feel like youre in the Groundhog Day movie.

Mishler grew up in an arty family in Austin. As a teenager, she took acting classes, in which she learned about mind-body practices such as yoga. Later, while trying to make it as a professional actor among her early roles was a cameo as cute female student in an episode of the TV show Friday Night Lights she qualified as a yoga teacher and taught some classes. Her main frame of reference for exercising at home was Jane Fondas classic 1980s do-it-for-the-burn aerobics videos, along with Rodney Yees yoga DVDs, which featured a lot of instruction but not much fun.

The origins of Yoga With Adriene go back to the set of a horror movie, where she met an independent film-maker called Christopher Sharpe, who had helped create a popular YouTube channel starring his wife, the chef Hilah Johnson. Afterwards, Sharpe and Mishler stayed in touch, and in 2012, when Sharpe was looking for new YouTube projects, he asked Mishler if she wanted to start a yoga channel. In September that year, they began uploading videos.

I had this inkling, if we all had an at-home yoga practice, it would change everything it could become like a normal hygiene practice, or saying a prayer if youre a spiritual person, Mishler told me. A daily practice that can be medicinal you could roll out the mat if youre stressed. That was a huge stretch in 2012, but I was so broke that I thought it was worth a try.

Yoga studios and, really, gyms in general, can be intimidating places. Theres the fear of looking as if you dont know what youre doing. Its easy to stand out by being the largest person in the room, or the only man in the yoga class, or the only woman lifting free weights, or the only person of colour, full stop. Plus, theyre expensive and they require commitment.

Mishlers channel aimed to remove these stresses. One thing that made her videos appealing was that they werent filmed in a professional studio or in a fancy home, settings that were popular in older workout videos. By filming in a private space Mishler did her workout in a living room the videos felt more intimate and personal, tapping into the same qualities that were becoming popular in other YouTube genres, from singing covers of a song in a bedroom to cooking in regular home kitchens.

While the setting was clean and bright, it wasnt aspirational, unlike the Rodney Yee videos, filmed on beaches with spectacular views or at the foot of snow-capped mountains. Mishler was just a nice-looking woman in a nice-enough room wearing a tank top and leggings that didnt even match. It suited her, but it was also a deliberate decision a strategy, even though she hates that word to make her the yoga girl next door.

In this, Benji is a useful ally. He serves not just as a beloved pet, but as a muse and a beacon of calm as he sleeps on the sidelines. He is a great tool for the storytelling. His presence just lends itself so well to not feeling like its a super-produced video, she said, and as if he knew he was being referenced, Benji barked several times in the background. Benji is a way to tear down the fourth wall without being pretentious. Maybe thats too heavy of a word. Were here together and he helps set the tone.

As Mishler was crafting the channels tone, Sharpe was carefully studying how YouTube users search for yoga and other workouts, compiling lists of key terms and optimising the titles of the videos. Instead of just creating classes that might suit potential needs, they looked at Sharpes studies and tailored classes according to what people were searching for. This is why Mishlers classes include Yoga for Back Pain, Yoga for Lower Back Pain, Yoga for Upper Back Pain, as well as Upper Back Love, and, of course, Lower Back Love.

The YouTube channel wasnt an overnight hit. It took about two years of posting a new video each week to reach 200,000 subscribers, and that was the point at which it started to become commercially successful. Mishlers videos arent heavily branded, but the website Social Blade, which tracks growth on YouTube, estimates that the channel could make as much as $188,500 per month on advertising revenue alone.

For hardcore fans looking to venture further into the Mishler universe, there is also a subscription service ($9.99 per month) called Find What Feels Good, in which the best-friend vibe is amped up even more, via exclusive classes, vlogs, meditations and blog posts. She also leads retreats, and holds large events for International Yoga Day each June. But this year, a retreat in Mexico City combining Spanish lessons and yoga Mishlers mother is Mexican scheduled for May had to be cancelled, as did an upcoming event at the United Nations.

On 12 April, Mishler began her email newsletter with the following: I am sending you some loving energy from my humble abode. It is Sunday. Just in case you need a reminder. And then she included a poem, which, depending on your perspective, will be either painfully twee or gently comforting:

Today is another day in which we are blessed with the opportunity to rise, To continue, and awaken. To slowly nod with forgiveness, Squint the eyes Just a bit, And whisper, I got this.

I attended a Californian high school that offered yoga as part of its physical education programme. At 16 I signed up for it along with all the other misfits who werent enrolled in typical private-school sports such as lacrosse or field hockey and learned crow pose and breathing techniques from a long-haired ageing hippie with a gentle demeanour. I liked it enough, but didnt take yoga classes again until after university, when I found myself living down the street from a yoga studio.

In 2015, after I joined a studio in Manhattan, I would go to a yoga class every couple of days. This year I took the plunge, going from being a yoga student who attended class a few times a week to teaching a restorative yoga class once a week at a downtown studio called Sky Ting. I have never thought of myself as a natural teacher, but I loved it. Teaching was, frankly, kind of a power trip. I like being in charge, putting together a playlist, watching students tumble out of class in a relaxed afterglow. My classes were in the late afternoon on Thursdays. Friends came by, but so did people I didnt know, and they started to come every week, which was thrilling: I knew what I was doing enough that people wanted more. I started in the second week of January, but was only able to teach for two months before business was suspended.

On a recent Sunday evening, I taught one class via Instagram from my sitting room. My yoga studio provided its teachers with notes on setting up, from how to best position our phones to tips on creating as inviting a space as possible in a tiny New York apartment (plants and natural light are good, dirty floors and clutter are best avoided). I tend not to speak a lot during my classes. Its a conscious choice based on years of wishing that I could zone out and not have to hear a teacher chattering along. But a lot of silence while demonstrating poses alone in front of a screen just translates to dead air, which feels awkward, so I found myself making commentary to fill up the silence. My class, like Mishlers, was treated to a spontaneous appearance by my bulldog, Joan, when she wandered over to investigate what I was doing. I missed touching my students, running a hand down their spine to encourage deeper relaxation or massaging their foreheads to relieve tension. But I also loved that anyone could join, and students could say hello or send a comment through the app. (That said, I could have done without the person who kept messaging me to say I should change my music.)

Because so many studios have taken their classes online, Ive also got to tune into some of my favourite far-flung teachers and friends, from Portugal to Los Angeles. When I spoke to one of these teachers, Kyle Miller, about her experience of teaching on Zoom, she was near-rapturous. Getting to see everyone, talk and hang out in the moments before and after class, getting to watch the students as they practise and teach right to them, its been incredible and unexpected, she said. It honestly feels like Ive socialised. I ride a high after my streams! Yoga teachers, it seems, are perhaps the worlds most gifted people when it comes to putting a positive spin on things.

Mishler is not really a superstar teacher like the types who headline Wanderlust the global travelling yoga festival that is sort of like Coachella for the spiritually inclined, at which fans shell out around $200 to take massive yoga classes led by teachers talking rapturously about the need to be humble. Nor is Mishler an influencer in the current sense, posing for highly branded and sponsored photos with perfect hair. Her own Instagram is simple and relatively unflashy, featuring photos of the sky, grocery store flowers and, of course, Benji. She is careful not to sound too out-there or new age, and will often poke fun at something she says by using an exaggeratedly calm, smug-yoga-lady voice. Her online persona recalls a time when normal people could become famous on the internet for being good at being themselves Justin Bieber before he became Justin Bieber.

Mishler acknowledges that she has made compromises to broaden her reach. She understands that she grew her audience based on a canny understanding of how to target her videos, but there is an awkward disconnect between the kind of yoga she wants to teach and what is most sought after on YouTube. Her most popular videos are, she said, a tight race between anything that has anxiety in the title and also the yoga for weight loss. She feels weird about that, she says. I do not teach yoga for weight loss, thats not my end goal, but, you know, when that is in the title in the SEO, it attracts a lot more people than it would have otherwise, she said, sounding a little defensive. I know there is integrity in the content, she said.

While the coronavirus pandemic has brought legions of new fans, it might also mean that, for the first time, Yoga With Adriene could have some real competition. Every yoga brand is trying to ride out this wave of isolation and come out with more followers at the other end. Local studios from all over the world are live-streaming from home so students can take classes with their favourite teachers, not just whats free on YouTube. Big brands are also pushing their online classes, including Nike, Alo, Gaia, Sweaty Betty, CorePower, Lululemon and Yoga Journal. Meanwhile, on YouTube, there are now numerous videos that seem to borrow heavily from Yoga With Adrienes formula: accessible classes performed in homey environments. New competitors include Yoga By Candace and Yoga With Tim. They both include their dogs.

Whenever we are let out of our homes, my guess would be that yoga studios will have waiting lists. Theyll likely be different from before, operating at no more than a quarter of their usual capacity allowing students (wholl bring their own mats) to keep two metres apart. But even with those compromises, it will probably feel better than practising one more day in front of a screen.

What seemed reassuring in quarantine might feel claustrophobic when were let out, and for Mishler, its possible that there might be a downside to being so closely associated with a strange and miserable time. While we all troop gratefully back to class, Mishler will still be taping herself at home, doing yoga to a camera in her sitting room, Benji by her side. But worrying too much about the future is not quite in the spirit of Yoga With Adriene, which is all about the here and now. As she writes on her website: The process is the candy. Enjoy!

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Link:
Yoga With Adriene: how the YouTube star won lockdown - The Guardian

The report on Yoga Studio Software, gives an in-depth analysis of Global Yoga Studio Software Market based on aspects that are very important for the market study. Factors like production, market share, revenue rate, regions and key players define a market study start to end. Yoga Studio Software report gives an overview of market valued in the year 2020 and its growth in the coming years till 2024. It also predicts the CAGR.

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Glofox Mindbody SimplyBook.me GymMaster Bitrix24 Acuity Scheduling Bookinglayer BookSteam Skedda Gymcatch Karmasoft Retreat Guru Zen Planner

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Cloud-based On-premises

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Yoga Studio GYM

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Yoga Studio Software Market 2020 by Company, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024 - Cole of Duty

According to a new study at SMS Medical College, Jaipur, regular practice of Jal Neti may help you fight off the COVID-19 infection. Read on to know more.

Experts say that doing salt-based water gargles and nasal wash (Jal Neti) on a regular basis can prove helpful to the patients in the early stages of the suspected contraction of this deadly virus. @Shutterstock

India has now entered the third phase of lockdown but the surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases show no signs of abating. This highly contagious disease has taken a heavy toll on countries across the world and the situation in India is no different. The entire medical community is today trying desperately to find a solution to this global pandemic. Scientists are working against time to find a cure even as new symptoms appear almost every day to confound experts. In the face of all this, a new study says that yoga may help people fight the infection in the early stages. Also Read - COVID-19 may be sexually transmitted: Scientists find traces of virus in semen of infected men

According to a new study at SMS Medical College, Jaipur, regular practice of Jal Neti may help you fight off the COVID-19 infection. Researchers say that this yoga therapy may help patients fight against the current pandemic. According to them, doing salt-based water gargles and nasal wash (Jal Neti) on a regular basis can prove helpful to the patients in the early stages of the suspected contraction of this deadly virus. The International journal, Lung India, published this study. But, at the same time, they caution that you must first learn the proper nasal wash technique under excerpt supervision. Also Read - COVID-19 Live Updates: Cases in India surge to 56,342 as death toll reaches 1,886

Researchers of this study say that just like regular washing of hands, the practice of nose and throat wash may also help in removing or reducing viral load. The cells in throat and mucus in your nasal cavity can convert chloride ion of hypertonic saline to hypochlorous acid (HOCL). This has a potent anti-viral effect. Nasal wash and gargles can also reduce the time length of many illness and also reduce the severity of symptoms of viral diseases as well the amount of viral shedding. And, if the amount of viral shedding comes down, it will automatically reduce the risk of spread of infection. Also Read - Can you use N95 respirators after disinfection? Experts list ways to do so

According to researchers, the medical community is now coming around to using a modified version of Jal Neti to fight the COVID-19 infection. But they concede that further study needs to be done before anything can be said conclusively.

Researchers of the aforementioned study say that even Japan has included gargles alongside facemask and hand washing in the national guidelines for preventive therapy on influenza control. They say that the same can be tried in India to deal with the COVID pandemic.

Experts recommend that you can gargle three times a day, especially after meeting people. As for nasal wash, you must ideally do this on an empty stomach in the morning, according to yoga. But in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can also do this after returning home from outside. This is a good and effective preventive measure. But you must first learn the Jal Neti procedure from a certified yoga instructor. Wrong application of the technique may be dangerous and it ca also have adverse repercussions.

Published : May 8, 2020 12:26 pm | Updated:May 8, 2020 4:17 pm

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Yoga's Jal Neti may help you fight the COVID-19 pandemic effectively - TheHealthSite