May Student of the Month: Amanda Clark

Congratulations to Amanda Clark on becoming our May Student of the Month! We’ve known Amanda for close to the whole time we’ve been in business and her positive attitude, down to earth nature, and willingness to try new things makes her an amazing yogi and friend. Amanda’s typically the girl hanging out after class catching up with everyone or asking questions about alignment. Keep up the hard work Amanda and congrats!

AMANDA’S STORY

“I fell into yoga as a way to relax and refocus after work. My job requires long hours and I needed energy to have a work/life balance. Yoga has helped me both mentally and physically. Learning to calm my mind and focus on my practice has increased my energy and my mood.

Yoga has really helped me listen to my body and helped me bring my health back into focus after years of working hard and rewarding myself with happy hours and unhealthy food, I realized that I felt better and had more energy to do what I loved when I treated my body better.

Earlier this year I embarked on my new journey of health by signing up for the 30 day yoga challenge at The Yoga Mat (30 yoga classes in 30 days) and I joined the SexyFit Nutrition Challenge and had amazing results. My yoga practice progressed significantly and I have shifted my focus to making healthy choices that help me feel my best. I personally lost weight, but more importantly I noticed how much better I sleep, my productivity throughout the day has improved and my mood and energy are through the roof! I feel so amazing that I signed on to be a mentor for the SexyFit Nutrition program so I can help others!

I regularly bring friends to classes and workshops at The Yoga Mat and at the end of every class I have taken, I feel amazing and I am always glad I made it to my mat! I am so glad that I found yoga at The Yoga Mat nearly two years ago; I am still learning and growing in my practice and have not looked back since!”

– Amanda Clark

Want to become our next student of the month?

To be in the running we have to see you in class 10+ times the month before. You receive your photo and yoga quote on our blog and Facebook pages, $5 off the next yoga package of your choice and your yoga practice will improve by showing up on your mat!

April Student of the Month: Ginevra Figg

Congratulations to Ginevra for becoming The Yoga Mat’s April Student of the Month. Ginevra’s unbelievable dedication to her practice (she recently completed our 30 day yoga challenge) along with staying after class to work diligently on her handstand has made her an obvious pick. Her determination is amazing to watch, she’s always challenging herself to go deeper into each pose than the time before while she encourages others to try our studio. Her wit and sarcasm are spot on and her love of yoga is infectious. Happy to say she’s an amazing yogi and friend. Congrats and keep up the great work!

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Ginevra’s Story

” Let’s start off by making it very clear that I spent the majority of my life before yoga avoiding exercise at all costs. I was not the work out type and I’m probably still not.

I fell into yoga a couple years out of college. I was in an incredibly toxic work environment at the time and it happened to be the perfect escape. Courtney, another Yoga Mat vet, brought me to a class kicking and screaming and to this day, I can’t thank her enough. In that first class I realized yoga was a place I could disappear for an hour, unglue my hand from my phone and clear my head of the thoughts that were otherwise circling it like it was the freaking Kentucky derby! I wasn’t focused on competing with myself or people around me. I was encouraged to try it my way, at my pace and assured I would ease into my practice if I stuck with it. And, surprisingly enough, I did. For what was probably the first time in my life, I really stuck with it. I found free classes around town (because I was not yet over the fact that people actually PAYED to work out) and I started to crave it on days that I couldn’t go. The escape became addicting and my competitive side loved watching myself get better and better every week.

Getting into my practice was a completely organic experience. I didn’t get into it to lose weight. For me, it wasn’t the next crazy workout phase. It just felt good – in and out of class – so I naturally wanted to keep going and in about a year’s time I lost over 30 pounds. While this may sound like an infomercial for diet pills, I will say I lost the weight without trying. It quite literally fell off as I was doing something I enjoyed and 2 years later, it’s still off.

I think the best part about yoga is that as you get more comfortable, it teaches you to behave like a kid again — to take risks again. Time spent working your body into weird shapes and getting upside down for a bit is shockingly refreshing. Yoga is not as serious as it looks. It’s not all about smooth transitions and insane upper arm strength. Sometimes it’s about getting out of your comfort zone, falling, laughing about it and then trying something else that in your adult life you’ve unknowingly become scared of. It took me over a month of at least one handstand a day to get out of my own head and the fear of having my feet in the air to come close to holding this pose! Now, it’s probably the most invigorating part of my day.

Yoga keeps me healthy but more importantly, it keeps me sane.

And yes, somewhere in there I got comfortable paying for classes and it’s the best money I’ve ever spent!

Big thanks to Erin and The Yoga Mat for fueling my addiction!”
- Ginevra Figg

Want to become our next student of the month?

To be in the running we have to see you in class 10+ times the month before. You receive your photo and yoga quote on our blog and Facebook pages, $5 off the next yoga package of your choice and your yoga practice will improve by showing up on your mat!