Hi all,
last Thursday was the day! The day I finally met one of my favorite yoga instructors and bloggers CANDACE of YogaByCandace at my workplace for an OFFICE CHAIR YOGA CLASS that I organized for my colleagues and myself.
I’ve been coordinating and planning this class with Candace for a few months and it has now finally happened! She made an extra stop for us during her Europe tour and luckily, I’ve got plenty of sign-ups from my colleagues who were quite happy and thankful for having such a great opportunity to take a class with her, as well.
Especially in a job like ours, where we spend a large part of our day sitting in front of a computer, our body might respond with tensions and pain. So, Candace showed us very helpful exercises that we can easily do at our desk every day to alleviate current pain and prevent future pain from happening.
It was a playful, educating, and stress-releasing office chair yoga class, and so simple because all we needed was an office chair and a yoga mat. All levels were welcome and there was absolutely no yoga knowledge or flexibility required.
For anyone who doesn’t know Candace: She is an internationally well-known yoga instructor, retreat leader, and owner of YogaByCandace.
Candace is a certified yoga instructor and retreat leader through Tribe, a registered member of the European Yoga Alliance, the Yoga Alliance and The Yoga Register. She specializes in stress management techniques and has worked with corporate businesses as well as professional athletes.
Our one hour class was scheduled for 4pm in the afternoon, so towards the end of a long work day. Comfortable clothes were suggested but, as we all know, “life happens when you’re busy making other plans,” so some of my colleagues forgot other pants or perhaps simply didn’t have time to change because they just came out of a meeting etc. However, this wasn’t a problem at all. There was absolutely NO judgement, no looks, no comments from Candace or other participants. I really liked that.
I also liked how Candace explained each position in a very easy-to-understand way and even showed the positions in different variations (more challenging, less challenging) and kept reminding us to breathe, pay attention to our bodies, and see where we’re at, and most importantly: to be okay with that.
This was the part that was the biggest challenge for me: now, as I said, I’ve been planning and organizing this event for a few months, and exactly that day of the class, I didn’t feel well at all. So, listening to my body and just doing the stretches that felt good instead of doing each pose, was VERY hard for me. Part of my disappointment was that I’m saving up money to be able to do a retreat with her one day, and now she was there, right in front of me, that was MY chance to finally ask her all the questions about crow pose, Chaturanga, and yoga in general, but I simply wasn’t able to physically do the poses and ask her what I could improve. Well, I know the day will come that I’ll take a yoga class with her again, but it simply was a “hard cookie to chew.”
At the end of the class, during Shavasana, Candace came around with a cotton pad with a few drops of “Sweet Orange” scent and gave it to everyone who wanted it. The smell reminded me of Christmas and playful times, so this alone helped me relax, zoom out, and to be far away from every-day stressors. Again, I liked how she made it totally optional, so if anyone isn’t too much into scents or the smell of sweet orange, then be it. Nobody HAD TO take it.
The finish of the class was a last breathing exercise which she introduced with a great “I know this might look weird, but please stay with me, it will feel good!” comment, which seemed to relax and convince even the last reluctant and skeptical people in the room 🙂 And yes, the breathing exercise did feel good, for sure!
In sum, I can recommend every company or business to arrange an Office Chair Yoga class with Candace. She is professional, reliable, easy to communicate with, flexible, and absolutely competent! With her charming appearance, calming voice, and uncomplicated way of explaining and showing yoga poses, even your most skeptical co-worker will be convinced and interested to try yoga again.
Here is my article on GaiamTV / MyYoga Online on reasons why you should have a weekly yoga class at your workplace and HERE is a 10-minute office chair yoga sequence by Candace.
Get and stay yogilated 🙂