Stretch & Slide: Yoga and Cross Country Skiing on January 30th!

Join us for Stretch & Slide, a day of Yoga and Cross Country Skiing on Saturday, January 30th!

Embrace the beauty of winter with a blissful day of yoga, cross country skiing/snowshoeing, and delicious, healthy food!

Stretch and Slide begins at 10:00am with a Hatha yoga class at our Higgins Lake (Gerrish) location, and continues with a full day ski/snowshoe rental, group lesson, Facilities Pass, and homemade chili lunch (classic or vegetarian) at Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Higgins Lake. Spend the rest of the day enjoying the serenity of the beautiful Michigan winter forests on the pristinely groomed Headquarters ski trails, or relaxing with a mug of hot cocoa by the Stone Turtle Day Lodge fireplace! All are invited to participate, including novices to yoga, skiing or both. Over a $65 value for $35 ($25 if you have your own equipment). There will be an opportunity to change from yoga clothes into ski clothes before the ski lesson, and XC Ski Headquarters has a great selection of ski clothing if you need to get outfitted before the lesson! 🙂

cross country skiing northern michigan

Yoga + Skiing in Northern Michigan forests = a perfect day!

Signing up for this event in advance is recommended but not required. Email mariahfrye@gmail.com, call 989-302-7928, or let Mariah, Lexi or Amy know in class that you will be attending.

See you there!

Holiday Schedule + Guest Teachers!

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

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

 

Being Present and Giving the Gift of Yoga

Hello, friends!

As the holidays approach, it is very easy to get wrapped up and too busy. For myself, with work and personal life seeming to come to a peak during this time of year, too often I’ll find myself completely buried in plan-making, to the point that I’m not even really experiencing the beauty and company around me. I came across this blog post recently that really hit home, as it offers some great tips for staying present this time of year. My favorite is the first one:

Live simply and live deliberately. By choosing not to get caught up in the details of this fast-paced world, you are doing your part to slow down the rat race and quell consumerism. You will also discover that you have more time to enjoy being alive.

I thought the whole post was really succinct and on-point. If you care to read the rest, click here: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2015/50604.html

And with Christmas in mind, are you wondering what to get that special person this Christmas? How about the gift of sustainable self care, increased energy, and a calmer state of being? How about a…

Stone Turtle Yoga Gift Certificate!

This year, if you give the gift go yoga, YOU get a gift too.  From now until December 31st, for every gift certificate you buy for someone else, you will get 10% off your next purchase for yourself!

How to do it? Just call or email Mariah (mariahfrye<at>gmail.com or 989-302-7928) to set it up. It only takes a couple minutes, after which we will create a custom gift certificate for your recipient, and mail it to you or them. We will also send you a coupon for 10% off your next membership, package, or drop-in!

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks to all of you, and may we all finish 2015 with presence and grace.

Namaste!

Mariah