By Carley Brunner Alves
J Trainer Carley, Assistant Fitness Manager at the Marilyn Fox Building in Chesterfield, believes practicing yoga is one of the best ways to start your day. Practicing yoga early in the morning, right after you wake up, stretches and warms up your muscles from a night of sleep. Morning yoga also gives you a moment of personal time where you can begin to prepare yourself for the coming day by bringing clarity, peace and calmness to your mindset.
This summer, Carley is bringing Sunrise Yoga to the outdoor pool at the Marilyn Fox Building (additional options available at the Staenberg Family Complex). These classes will be gentle and restorative – focusing on strengthening and improving balance, reducing aches and pains, and creating a time to meditate and focus inward.
Sunrise classes begin with vinyasas to warm up the body for additional poses and stretches. Classes feature balance and stretching poses and end with Shavasana, a time to reflect and enjoy the sounds and sights that are you unique to poolside yoga. Sunrise Yoga will get your heart, lunch and muscles working early in the morning – and start your day off on the right foot!
Sunrise Yoga is available:
Marilyn Fox Building/Chesterfield: Sundays at 8am with Carley (beginning June 2)
Staenberg Family Complex/Creve Coeur: Sundays at 8:30am with MK (beginning June 2)
Yoga group exercise classes are included in your J membership. Yoga is a great complement to your aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise benefits the heart and lungs, while burning body fat, but your muscles can shorten and tighten from aerobic exercise alone. Yoga helps correct any muscle imbalances you may have and stretches muscles that are tight from exercise.
Carley has been avidly practicing yoga since 1994. She began as a certified Prenatal Yoga instructor, helping women have easier and smoother pregnancies, labors and deliveries (including her own). She has a 200-hour yoga certification from Yoga Alliance and teaches Gentle and Restorative Yoga regularly – find her on our group exercise schedule at our Chesterfield location! She adds a five-minute meditation and Shavasana to the end of each of her classes.