Dear Friends,
Where are my yoga and fitness people at??
I am SO excited to announce that starting the week of July 6th, I will be testing out some more hybrid IN-PERSON and live zoom classes on our schedule - specifically YogaBurn, HIIT Camp 30/30, and Gentle Vinyasa Yoga. Depending on how attendance goes, I will determine whether to continue teaching them in the Fall.
Please save the dates, mark your calendars, and come see me if you would like it to become a regular class!!!
Thank you SO much to everyone who sent me potential venues over the past month during my search for a new weekday location. It has been extremely stressful and challenging to find a place that has acceptable wifi, space, parking, sound, time slots, and of course price. I am so relieved and thankful that yesterday, I picked up the keys to our new venue:
We are moving our WEEKDAY classes into the beautiful Fellowship Hall at UU Marin (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin) at 240 Channing Way in San Rafael. Saturdays will continue to be at "The Garage" at 1 Thorndale Drive!
NO LIVE CLASSES Next Week (6/28-7/4)!
We're going to Disneyland and Legoland!
Yes, my family is braving the crowds and long lines this upcoming week, but we are so excited to be on vacation and go to "The Happiest Place on Earth!" There will be no live Zoom or in-person classes until Tuesday, July 6th, but in the meantime, we have some new classes on-demand for you!
4 New YOGA Classes ON-DEMAND!
* 60 Minute Gentle Vinyasa Yoga - Straps
60 minutes of relaxing, moving meditation. While staying connected to our breath, we flow slowly through poses for the whole body, but at a more relaxing pace than our Power Vinyasa class. Gain strength, increase flexibility, and practice quieting your mind from everyday distractions.
* 60 Minute Power Yoga - Straps
A 60 minute, invigorating and energizing yoga class that challenges you physically and mentally. Let your body flow with your breath, as we move through heat-building sun salutations, fiery standing poses, and delicious floor stretches. Listen to your body and modify poses up or down, depending on how you feel. Finish feeling stronger both physically and mentally!
* 60 Minute Yin Yoga - Straps
Our yummiest yoga class for deep stretching. We hold poses for 3-5 minutes and stay completely on the floor for 60 minutes. A yoga mat is required and there are optional props such as sandbags, straps, blocks, or blankets. This is the ultimate practice in breathwork and quieting the mind!
* 60 Minute YogaBURN - "All Angles"
Blend together a traditional Power Yoga class with Bootcamp bursts of cardio and strength and you get one hour of YogaBurn! This class is done barefoot on a yoga mat and will leave you feeling sweaty, strong, and stretched out. Always feel free to skip or modify bootcamp bursts by going to a child's pose.
REPLAY This Week's Stop Drop And Dance + HIIT Camp 30/30 ON-DEMAND all week!
* Tuesday, 6/22 - 75 Minutes Stop Drop and Dance
Happy Birthday to Erica Phillipson, who picked her favorite songs AND put them in the perfect order! She celebrated on Zoom with over 15 friends and family joining in from South Africa!!! It was 6pm over there for them, and sadly, they have been having another spike of Covid cases. But even friends who had Covid still joined on to support Erica, sitting on their couches and watching =) That's love.
* Wednesday, 6/23 - 60 Minutes HIIT Camp 30/30
This is one of the new classes we will be adding IN-PERSON starting in July! Use a pair of dumbbells (ideally two sets - heavy and light), as well as a yoga mat, to complete as many repetitions as you can in 30 seconds. No dancing or choreography required! Just pure strength mixed with high-intensity cardio intervals, and a whole lot of sweat.
* Thursday, 6/24 - 75 Minutes Stop Drop And Dance
Goodbye PELO! Thank you to all the dancers who came to dance at PELO Fitness for the last time. From 8 months ago, socially distanced and wearing masks, to now, vaccinated and hugging... PELO helped us physically and mentally get through the worst of the pandemic! This playlist is made up of all the new songs we've learned during our time at PELO!
* Saturday, 6/26 - 75 Minutes Stop Drop And Dance
The Garage is here to stay (fingers crossed!). Dance to a playlist filled with all the songs we learned on ZOOM during the pandemic, pre-Pelo! From TikTok songs to Black Lives Matter, from Zoom in my living room to our first in-person classes on my deck, these songs bring back memories of what we have overcome since March 2020.
Thank you, Alan.
This is the face of someone who believes in community and collaboration.
When I had zoom problems early in March 2020 of the pandemic, @amyksfbay connected me with @alanroberts.sf because he had figured out an amazing sound system for his classes at @pelofitness. He didn’t know me, but he was willing to talk on the phone with a stranger for 30 minutes to help me figure out solutions to teach better online.
6 months later, I started teaching in-person classes on my deck, and after a neighbor complained about my music, I went searching for an outdoor spot. Alan had set up amazing tents outside in the parking lot, and coincidentally didn’t teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I wrote a long email asking him if I could rent his space and why, and he simply gave me a one word answer, “Yes.”
While testing out my poor-quality equipment at Pelo, Alan helped to find a hodgepodge of extra supplies to help improve my sound, including Ethernet connectors, mixers, cords, cords, and more cords. We spent hours after each class tweaking the equipment, with my dad on the other end of zoom listening in, until we finally found the perfect set up.
I’ve been teaching at Pelo for 8 months now and I can’t say enough how healing and joyous it has been to teach @stopdropanddanceofficial at Pelo, from masked up and social distancing, to now unmasked and hugging one another!!!
Thursday was the last day 😭
In searching for a new spot, I am reminded how rare it is to find someone like Alan, who actually cares about small people like me. It’s not always about money, people!!! But it sadly is in the rest of the world. Alan went over and beyond to help me keep teaching during the pandemic, and I am so grateful.
Thank you, Alan. You are an inspiration and I know you will find something amazing very soon. One door closes, another one opens…❤️
Go Lizzy, GO!!!
This photo was from 2 years ago, when Lizzy Poppe and I completed the Santa Rosa 70.3 Ironman together. We trained together, we cried together, we stumbled together, and we did it, together. It took 6 hours of 100% effort to finish that crossing line.
But tomorrow, Sunday June 27th, Lizzy is going on to complete the FULL 140.6 miles (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run) at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho!!! Double the length, double the time… the FULL IRONMAN.
A dream very few achieve.
Lizzy is by far the strongest, most determined, focused, hard-working, bada$$ woman I know, and she has put in the WORK to train before the pandemic (but that race got cancelled), and then train AGAIN during the pandemic, for this weekend’s epic event.
I can feel her excitement, nervousness, and anticipation, even from afar. I might even start crying right now as I type this because I care so much about Lizzy and I know how much this race means to her.
Lizzy, you will crush it. No question. No doubt. I may not be physically next to you this time around, Lizzy, but you know I am SO WITH YOU every step of the way. We all believe in you and we are so so so proud of you!!!!!
Go Lizzy GO!!!!! 😭😭😭
"Faith is unseen but felt.
Faith is strength when we feel we have none.
Faith is hope when all seems lost."
- Catherine Pulsifer
From 6 months of really poor quality zooms in my living room,
To 1 month of teaching on my deck until a neighbor complained about the sound,
To a successful 3-hour-danceathon at the Elks Lodge that led to an unintentional "75 crop circles on the grass" accident,
To 8 months at Pelo and the Garage - covered outdoors and socially distanced,
And now beginning indoors at UU Marin in July with not just Stop Drop And Dance, but fitness and yoga in-person too...
Another new chapter begins...
with a whole lot of FAITH.
Love,
Grace
