Hello friends!

Here are the changes to the schedule for the holidays. You can always view the current schedule here or at https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/admhome?studioid=29064

Thursday, December 24th: Slow Flow/Yin Higgins Lake – Cancelled
Friday, December 25th: Empower Grayling – Cancelled
Friday, December 25th: Hatha Higgins Lake – Cancelled
Thursday, December 31st: Slow Flow/Yin Higgins Lake – Cancelled
Friday, January 1st: Empower Grayling – Cancelled

We WILL have a New Year’s Day Hatha Yoga class in Higgins Lake on Friday, January 1st at 10:30am!!

We are SO excited to have a couple returning guest teachers over the holiday this year. Nora Seilheimer and Bridgett Blough will be sharing their teaching with us between Christmas and New Years. Here’s what they’re teaching:

Monday, December 28th, 9:00am – Core Yoga in Grayling – Nora Seilheimer
Tuesday, December 29th, 5:30pm – Hatha Yoga in Higgins Lake – Bridgett Blough
Wednesday, December 30th, 9:00am – Hatha Yoga in Grayling – Nora Seilheimer

Here are their bio’s. Let’s give them a warm welcome (back)!

Bridgett Blough:

Bridgett started her journey with the body as a collegiate volleyball player and went on to pursue a career in the health and wellness industry as a personal trainer, boot camp coach, Pilates instructor, yoga instructor, and personal chef.  Bridgett studied yoga under Larry Schultz- a direct student of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, yoga instructor to the Grateful Dead, and founder of It’s Yoga in San Francisco, CA- where she completed her 200 hour teacher training in 2009. Bridgett believes in the importance of listening to your body and staying connected to the breath, the giver of all life. Bridgett is also a Certified Natural Chef and owns a food truck in Kalamazoo called The Organic Gypsy.  Visit The Organic Gypsy’s website

Nora Seilheimer:

Yoga came into my life when I was training for the 2009 Chicago marathon. Primarily a runner at the time, I sought out yoga as a way to relieve my body of the enormous amount of stress I was enduring willingly through my training program. However, the deeper I got into my practice, the more I started to realize that I was not only making time for yoga because I needed to loosen my dreadfully tight hips; I was prioritizing yoga because of the unexpected impact it had on my self and, in turn, the youth I serve on the west side as Chicago Public Schools teacher.

I started my practice studying primarily under Rich Gonshak who continues to work very hard with me to undo the pointed toes and hyper-arched back I had mastered during my figure skating days. “So much of figure skating is about going outward,” he said to me once, imitating my arched back. “Yoga is about going inward,” he finished, rounding his back into cat-position. My entire practice completely changed when I finally started to understand what Rich meant by “going inward”.

This is the idea that I aim to bring with me not only to my own mat, but into my yoga classroom, wherever that might be at any given time. I hope to encourage my students, all of whom have an infinite amount of untold stories and ideas underneath all of the giving they do all day, to take a moment to pursue a journey from the inside out and discover themselves just as they are in the present moment.

Bridgett and Nora

Hope to see you over the holidays! Be well, and remember that the best present you can give anyone is your presence. 🙂

Namaste,

Mariah, Lexi & Amy

We are so happy to welcome guest teachers for this Tuesday’s Higgins Lake Yoga Classes!

Amy Mertz, who teaches Hatha Yoga at our Grayling studio on Wednesday mornings, will be subbing for Lexi at 10:00am this Tuesday, December 1st in Higgins Lake. She will be teaching a Hatha Yoga class (not Core), and we hope to see you there!.

We will also have a new guest teacher subbing for Mariah at the 5:30pm Hatha Yoga class this Tuesday, December 1st. Gwen Hills, long time Stone Turtle Yoga student-turned-yoga-teacher, will be teaching Tuesday evening’s class.

Gwen has been practicing Yoga for almost half of her life on and off, and has always recognized it as a very beneficial way to cope with anxiety, a sedentary job, and recovery from exercise.  After a career shift from truck driving in 2013, she decided to learn the art of Yoga instruction.  In June 2014, she completed her RYT-200 at Yen Yoga and Fitness of Traverse City, Michigan under Jenny Lintvedt and Heidi Dietrich.  She also completed her WPA (World Paddle Association) Level I Instructor Certification and Stand Up Paddle Yoga Certification in June 2014 under Tara McCabe of Lazy Dog Paddle Yoga of Key West, Florida.  Gwen’s teaching style connects students with Universal elements, and typically follows a restorative and/or detoxifying experience, influenced by the Hot Yoga series and Yin. She encourages students to find their expression of each asana, emphasizing that everyBODY and every practice is unique. Read her full bio here. 

Please join us in welcoming Gwen to the Stone Turtle Yoga community this Tuesday evening at 5:30pm!

Much love and gratitude to all. Namaste!

– Mariah, Lexi & Amy