1. Overcoming The Hidden Crutch!
Studio classes are fantastic, and there’s certainly a lot to be said for the collective energy in a room full of dedicated peers, working toward the same goals together…
However we talk about your “personal” practice for a reason. Your deepest breakthroughs in life always come when you truly let go of everything around you, and focus inwardly on yourself.
This is especially true in yoga, but have you ever considered that the benefits of the studio and social network there, may be holding you back from reaching your full personal potential?
Could the studio environment and the energy you draw on from your yoga family, actually be acting as a crutch that’s holding you back from developing your ‘personal’ practice to the levels it deserves?
As with all things in yoga, a healthy balance needs to be your focus, if you want to master your true potential. Many students are finding that a major benefit to The Ivy Standard Yoga Institute’s, live online class, is that they experience a new challenge and personal focus that unlocks awareness and potential they never would have noticed in studio classes alone.
Here’s one review that was recently left for an instructor at Ivy Standard Yoga:
“I’m sure teaching a virtual yoga class is difficult, but Rebecca was up for the challenge. She is still able to bring her positive attributes and encouragement even thru Zoom. I think it takes all my focus to not be distracted trying to do yoga in my own home. The studio mirror definitely helps, but it’s training my mind and body to come together by feeling the move instead solely relying on a mirror. And Rebecca is quick to catch and give corrections as needed as she scans thru the screen during each pose.
THANKS Rebecca for keeping me motivated to push on no matter what obstacle stands in our way!”
Is it a new challenge? Certainly! And that’s exactly what we love about it and why we think you should always include a mix of studio and virtual yoga classes in your return, to master your practice in any environment or situation!
2. It’s better for the environment!
Bet you didn’t expect that to be a benefit, but think about it…
If on average, you drive just 10 miles to get to your yoga studio, and you practice 5 times a week (not unusual for many), then that’s a total of 100 miles a week getting to and from studio yoga. If you only did two virtual yoga classes a week, you’d save 40 miles a week or 2,080 miles a year in carbon emotions.
So who’s ready to dawn their ‘Nama-STAY-At-Home-&-Yoga-On’ tank top for Mother Earth, and enjoy a world class yoga or Pilates session from the comfort of your own living room?
3. Access to world class instructors you can’t travel for all the time!
The Ivy Standard Yoga Institute has carefully selected amazing instructors, whose students have literally traveled from around the country and around the world to learn from, but now you don’t have too!
You can literally tune into a live class from the other side of the world, and get the same personalized attention (or better) than you could get in a crowded studio.
Take Brandy Lyn’s class “The 108” for example. Brandy is the only instructor in the world teaching this particular advanced class and the only way you can join this class is to travel to Utah and hope you can get into one of her limited room studio classes, or travel to one of her once a year yoga retreats… Or, you can pay-what-you-can, and join an intimate class online, twice a week without even leaving your own home!
4. Saves you time!
Two things worth saving are time, and money, right? The difference is that money replenishes. You spend some, you earn some and the cycle continues. But time is different. You can never get it back!
Be honest, how much time do you personally spend getting ready for, and getting to and from yoga class? If you’re like most people, getting ready for and getting to yoga, can easily take an hour of your day. Getting put back together and back home or off to work afterwards can easily take just as long or longer, especially if you’re doing a hot yoga session and had to shawer before showing up in public, and then again after a good, sweaty session.
If you take just two of those classes from home each week, you can get up in the morning, join a session without showering, doing hair or make up, or getting in the car and on the road, and then get ready just once afterwards, from your own bathroom, rather than a public locker room…
This can easily save you 4 hours+ per week, or 208 hours/year. That’s the equivalent of being given 26 extra vacation days off work each year! Imagine what you could do with an extra 208 hours that would have been spent on needless travel and getting ready!
5. Saves you money!
We just made a great argument that time is more important than money, but any adult with even minimal responsibilities knows that “time-is-money!” So let’s address the financial benefit of staying home for just two classes each week.
If your car is average, it gets around 28 miles to the gallen, right? If your studio commute is average, then two classes a week amount to around 2,080 miles of commute every year. That’s over 74 gallons of gas, at an average cost of around $185.00, plus wear and tear and depreciation on your vehicle.
If you consider the IRS tax deduction of $0.20 per mile, then the expected cost of those miles is $416/year. That may not sound like a ton, but just imagine… You could buy a whole new lulu lemon set for that! 😉
6. And this is a big one! Your mental health…
For real! Haven’t you ever fought traffic, been cut off and felt like you almost died, only to arrive late and feel embarrassed or awkward about getting into class late and missing the first few postures?
It can literally rob you of the entire benefit and purpose of going to yoga in the first place, right? If your commute to yoga is just down right stressful, like it is for our dear friend Sara F. then give yourself a break a couple days a week, and avoid 4 sessions of highway hell. You’ll still get all the benefits of your yoga session, plus you’ll be able to hang onto those benefits without worrying that they might fly out the window on the tip of your finger as you try to merge into construction traffic from the freeway on-ramp after class.
7. And finally, it benefits the community!
Your teachers face all these same challenges. The Ivy Standard Yoga online class program was designed to support teachers who were out of work due to studio closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, AND support students who were facing extra stress and financial challenges themselves.
Because these teachers still had bills to pay and mouths to feed, we created a program that pays them an unprecedented 70% of what their classes bring in, and built that around a generous “Pay-What-You-Can” structure, designed to make sure that NO ONE who needs these classes is denied due to financial difficulties that everyone is facing at this time.
So our students get to pay whatever they can, our teachers finally get paid what they’re really worth, ISYI’s low digital overhead is covered, and in addition to everyone winning financially, we all earn a little extra karma, while supporting and growing a healthy, global community, that’s making the world a better place from inside each one of us, and outwards from there.
If you can think of any other benefits we may have missed, please comment below. As always, your feedback helps us improve and mold our services into the best realization possible for both our students and our teachers.
Namaste!
love this blog so much! Thank you for posting it x
This is a great article. I agree with many of the points that were made regarding the benefits of this At-Home practice. I am so grateful to connect with Brandy Lyn’s Ivy Standard Yoga Studio virtually through the referral of a fellow yogini. Thank you Brandy Lyn for all you & your studio teachers are doing to help me grow in my home practice just with the 2 classes I have taken with you this week. 🙏🏼
I just took Brandy class on line….and true to Brandy form she’s off the charts in every way imaginable!! How she leads, instructs, corrects both online and in studio is amazing!! I haven’t practiced this style yoga fir over two years with the exception of a class I took a few weeks ago and again she was amazing…I highly recommend her to anyone who wants to experience the top level performance of a true champion on and off the mat…=)