Studio Update + Some Inspiration

Dear friends,

In accordance with Governor Whitmer’s most recent Executive Order, we will be extending the closing of the studio until Tuesday, April 14th. All active class packages and memberships will continue to be frozen until that date.

Until then, join us for Stone Turtle Yoga classes online! Keep in touch on Facebook, and make sure to do what you can to stay healthy. Eat fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, and get fresh air and exercise every day, if you can safely.

Food for thought: It is so easy to numb yourself with news and Netflix right now. Never before have I felt so compelled to look at my phone and scroll for updates. But you know, it never makes me feel that good. Instead, how about checking the news just enough to stay informed, and instead use this time to reconnect to creativity and simplicity?

In the Colie household, after our baby goes to bed, I’ve been having a great time experimenting with cacao recipes, writing letters by candlelight, staring out at the darkening landscape as night trickles in (what’s the rush?), and going deep into conversation-land with my partner. What are our values? What kind of world do we want to live in? How do we want to be with each other, in our home and out in the world?

By using this time to our advantage and learning more about ourselves and those we love, I do not mean to minimize the very real trauma that is and will be experienced by so many right now. Coronavirus is causing all kinds of pain, on a physical, psychological, and financial level, for all kinds of people everywhere. My intention is that this suffering not be in vain, and that we use this “shut down” time to stop and think and feel, to strip away the distractions and get back to the basics, so that when this is over, we can move forward much wiser and more connected to our earth and our humanity.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a reading that I’ve found beautiful and comforting. Love to all. -Mariah

Message from the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers:

“As you move through these changing times… be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.

You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.

Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother’s grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle… and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.

Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings.”

New Online Yoga Class: Vinyasa!

Check out our latest online yoga class: Vinyasa Yoga with Mariah!

This Vinyasa class is all about FUN, because we could all use a little more of it right about now. Get ready to fly like a bird with creative flows, sun salutations, and balancing poses, all while feeling steady and un-rushed. Finish with grounding seated poses and a well-deserved savasana. There are plenty of options to modify, so all levels are encouraged to try this one!

Get ready to spread your wings in this light-hearted, movement-based class!

We hear your requests for more classes, and we thank you! More shorter classes, plus Hatha classes coming up. If you haven’t yet, check out our entire online class library here. Love to all, stay well and take care.

Mariah & the crew

Join us for FREE online yoga classes with Mariah and Amy!

Just because our public classes are temporarily postponed doesn’t mean your yoga practice has to stop!

Yesterday morning, in an effort to counter the feelings of isolation during this time, we rolled out our mats at the Grayling Stone Turtle Yoga studio and did something we’ve never done before… We filmed two yoga classes!

For the first time ever, you can now take a Core Yoga class with Mariah online, and very soon, a Gentle Hatha Yoga class with Amy Bowman. We admit that the experience was kind of strange without our awesome students there, but we felt connected to you nonetheless! We hope that you find these free online classes useful, and that they help you strip away the noise and focus on what really matters for a few precious minutes.

This Core Yoga class includes sun salutations, standing balancing flows, and side plank variations too leave you feeling strong, open, and light. Click here to take the class!

We also hope that you’ll share these classes with anyone who might benefit from some yoga in these unpredictable times, when feelings of peace, grounding, inner strength, and connection that yoga brings are needed more than ever.

If you find the videos useful, let us know! Leave a comment, start a conversation… let’s keep the community pumping with as much non-face-to-face communication as possible. We plan on posting classes of varying lengths and levels of difficulty as the days go by, and some plans are in the works for a Facebook livestream a couple times a week to practice together. Stay tuned!

Online Stone Turtle Yoga Classes

Click here to take online yoga with Mariah and Amy!

Side note about music: To cut down on ambient noise during recording, we did not play music during these classes… so, feel free to add your own music, click here to use Mariah’s Core Yoga 2020 playlist, or click here to use Amy Bowman’s lovely mellow playlist while you practice!