RYT-200
Mandy and I recently achieved our RYT-200 from YogaFIT. So, what is a RYT-200 you may ask? It is 200 hours of yoga training. We started this adventure in 2017 after we had been practicing yoga together on Friday mornings for several months. Mandy and I play soccer, spin, and workout together. We both love anything that gets our blood pumping and allows us to eat and drink whatever we want 😉.
Mandy was really enjoying yoga and decided she wanted to add yoga to her spin and water aerobics instructing. So, she asked me if I would like to take the Level 1 Yoga teacher training with her. I figured it would help me expand my own practice and would be fun to spend the weekend with my friend taking a class.
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Starbucks? Who needs Starbucks? …said no one ever.
Okay, so Kristi and I loooove ‘The Bucks,’ aka ‘Green Goddess,’ otherwise known as Starbucks. Their warm beverages keep us going and the tables with accessible power offer us a place to spend our Wednesday workdays. We even have our code names (for no reason other than pure entertainment) when we order.
Kristi is Pearl and I’m Mindy, nice to meet you.
So I’m excited to share this recipe with you! Pair it with a great cup of your at-home coffee and you’ve got your very own Starbucks breakfast experience.
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Kids Yoga ‘What makes you happy’
We have been teaching kids for the past two years and every day is different with kids. I really love doing yoga with the littles. Kids classes are not the easiest or the most relaxing, but what I love about teaching kids’ yoga is putting a fun spin on yoga and bringing it into their lives at such a young age. Yoga teaches them how to breathe and deal with stressors in a healthy way.
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Sole Bootcamp…and don’t let the ‘Bootcamp’ part scare ya!
Our goal with Sole Bootcamp, is combining that intensity with control (safe movements with modification options) and the amazing flow of yoga! Well, this Sole Bootcamp class gives you the opportunity to connect with yourself and your friends! Following a 10 minute warm up as a group, you choose one of four stations to begin with. Each of the four stations are 4 minutes each. They allow you to work each station three times for one minute on with a 30 second break. This gives you an opportunity to laugh, work and support each other! The four minute station is broken up with a 2 minute yoga flow. For this, we all come back to our mats to either continue creating heat and flowing through Sun Salutations or maybe you’d prefer 2 minutes in Child’s pose to rest and refocus yourself. Either way, you workout the way your body feels that day.
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Yoga and wine at Windy Hills Winery
Happy New Year!!
We hope you had an awesome Holiday and created countless memories with your family and friends! There is just no better time than the Holiday Season for that! This is an amazing time of year when we are able to put a spotlight on family, friends and what’s truly important in our lives.
This feeling is what we love about most about our events at Windy Hills. Watching people reconnect with themselves during class and then with friends (old and new) after class is a beautiful thing to be a part of. The joyful ‘clink’ of wine glasses, relaxed bodies and smiling faces will continue into the new year and help everyone hang onto that Holiday feeling.
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Yoga for EveryBody!
What images come to mind when you think about Yoga?
Those of you who have started your practice with us, we hope you see yourself, your friends, and your mat practicing in a space that rings true to who you are.
For those who have not practiced yoga you may see something different. Images of acrobatic poses in fancy top-of-the-line leggings and crop tops. Images like these flood the internet and ads everywhere. THIS is not yoga. Kristi and I are here to change that. Yoga is for everyone at any age or season of life, and can overcome many limitations.
Coming back in 2020, I was especially proud of our beginning yoga class as they celebrated one year of Yoga. I am pretty attached to them; They began yoga with me after years of aqua aerobics together. After a little bit of convincing there they were at their first Yoga class. I applaud their perseverance and bravery!
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Restorative yoga
Do you know what restorative yoga is? If you are a workout junkie I doubt it. We had an idea, through our training what it entailed, but to be honest it wasn’t something we thought we would do or considered the benefits it could bring to us.
Let’s start with a simple definition. Restorative yoga is a practice that is all about slowing down and opening your body through passive stretching. During the long holds of restorative yoga your muscles can relax deeply. It is a unique feeling because props instead of just your muscles, are used to support your body. Restorative yoga is especially good for those people who have a hard time slowing down mentally and physically. Restorative is helpful for people who struggle with anxiety and insomnia.
This past Friday we hosted a free restorative class at Tailored Fitness in downtown Ridgefield. It was a huge success. The lights were dim, the blankets were supportive, the music was playing the soft sounds of Christmas while we gave our mind and body permission to relax.
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MKsoiree
Tupperware parties started in the 50’s and 60’s. The iconic get together of friends and neighbors has evolved to parties for storage, cleaning, cooking, or really anything you could possibly think of. All these items can be useful and even make your life easier, but the whole point of the party is to gather with your friends. The latest and greatest evolution of the Tupperware get-togethers are now on-line. We interact with the host and others thru a device in our PJ’s in the comfort of our home, maybe while we are trying to squeeze in a little more work for the day, or while we are on the go. We have figured out how to be so productive it can be stifling.
Mandy and I wanted to think of something that would bring friends together and allow them to bond. Our idea behind the MKsoiree was to give people the opportunity to connect with a common theme and to know exactly what they are getting. Amazing time with friends and a tailored yoga class for their crew.
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Yoga love
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.I wanted to write a little bit about that this week! - Buddah
I wanted to write a little bit about that this week!
First of all, yoga is a practice. It is always moving and evolving, just like we are. When we come to class we strive to come with no expectations or judgement on the way we move, or our thoughts, feelings and what our body decides it wants.
I love this! Everyday is a new day, and without expectations there are no negative feelings pertaining to what we think we did or did not accomplish at class.
No judgements can be a little more challenging. One might think, “Oh look at her in that perfect plank, I’ll never get there.” Or, “I’m the only one in child’s pose, I better get back up and move even though I’m just not feeling it today.” Even during balancing exercises, “I have to get my leg up higher. I’m shaking so much and it feels like everyone is looking at me.”
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Survey Says...
About a month ago we sent out a survey to all of you – our valued clients! We wanted to fine tune our ideas for an early morning class in Ridgefield. We are so grateful to you for taking the time out of your day to share your thoughts with us.
We wanted to share the results with you! We realize these early am classes are not for everyone and made sure to call this survey, Ridgefield Early Birds.
You early birds know what you want, and we want to make sure we are giving that to you. First, nailing down the time was important. As we all know, every minute counts in those early morning hours when you are adding a workout into the mix. You will see from our first question:
What time would you like class to start?
Fifty percent of you chose 5:30. We get it! Let’s get this workout started!!
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Be Well and do Yoga
Where should we go to lunch?
Sounds like a simple question.
There are so many choices, why is it so hard? With all of these options, it’s still easy to get into the habit of visiting the same places. On the other hand, there are also those places you crave and don’t care how many times you visit - every time brings a smile to your face and a happy tummy!
We would like to share with you one of our favorite lunch spots! It’s a lovely place to meet up with a friend, grab a bite and go, or even for us, a little MKwork time as well.
Welcome to Be Well Juice bar!!
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How I began my meditation practice
Being a yoga teacher comes with a lot of preconceived notions. One must meditate, be super bendy and drink green tea. I do love me some green tea, but I work hard at the flexibility aspect of yoga and prior to last April I had no meditation routine.
I began with an idea that setting an intention for my day would be a good idea, I had just finished reading the Miracle Morning and wanted to try something new. I am a so-called morning person but like 90% of the population getting out of bed it where the struggle is REAL. Once I am up my mind begins to start working and this is the time of day that I feel like I can conquer the world. (Well at least the dishes from last night, gasp… Yes, I hate leaving them there, but I am no good after 8pm. I put my boys to bed and my will to do anything useful goes to bed too.)
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Need a little snacky snack?
Homemade Granola. You know that feeling. When you just need a little snack. Maybe it’s an afternoon lull, a grumbling tummy or quick snack to grab on the go for you or the kiddos.
This granola is so easy to make. I love how it satisfies the salty and the sweet with a lot of texture as well!
Now, this is my kind of ‘cooking’. We had so much fun making this and hope you enjoy it too!
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Gazpacho making 101 with MKelevate
We LOVE Gazpacho, and our favorite is made by our friend Mar at Emanar Cellars in Battle Ground, WA. We try to make it over there as often as possible in the summer to get our fix and to have some of their amazing wine. We also always get an order of Gazpacho ‘to go’ so we can have that amazingly healthy and delicious soup at home the next day….if it makes it that long.
We decided that it was time for us to try our hand at the soup. It is that time of year when tomatoes are plentiful, so we decided to give it a whirl. Also, if we could make our soup half as good as Mar’s, it would be a success.
There is a lot of vegetable chopping that is required in making Gazpacho. All those chaturangas sure came in handy!! We chopped! We seeded! We peeled! …and the onions made us laugh and cry.
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Why Yoga?
Yoga enhances life, it makes you more flexible physically and mentally. One of my favorite things is how easily you can be present for the 60-90 minutes of practice. The time just flies by and at the end of the practice you just feel so much lighter and happier. One of the other amazing things about yoga is the word practice. Every day we participate in yoga we are practicing, not competing. Letting go and understanding this can be hard, but once you realize that each class is enhancing your life mentally, physically, and spiritually you will be glad you came.
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Change of pace
Taking a sabbatical from my engineering job was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have been working as an engineer and/or going to school since I was 5 years old. I worked every summer starting in high school - working is what I do.
Last September I decided that I wanted more time with my family, and I told my boss I wanted to take the summer off. In March, my business partner Mandy (the M in MKelevate) suggested that I set a date for my sabbatical. She thought that might help make it real and allow me to take the step I needed to remove myself from the company at which I had worked for over 11.5 years. I set May 23rd as my last day. It was the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend just before our twins 8th birthday. The closer the date came to my summer off, the more I felt like maybe just summer wasn’t going to be enough time for me for me to decompress and figure out what the next chapter in my life is going to hold.
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