C2GO Newsletter 1/2/18 all the way from Latvia

 

I am writing todays newsletter from stunning Latvia where we are doing the very first YogaFit retreat. WOW, What an experience. I’m here with my little man Logan who is loving being togged up in his ski suit for chilly beach walks, breathing in the beautiful pure air, breathtaking scenery and frozen sea. I’ve been teaching Fitness Pilates, Brainfit and Holistic HIIT and taking part iYoga, Breathing and meditation classes it really is a remarkable experience.•Here is a link to the Yogafit Retreats click here •20 Resistance Band Exercises To Use In Class click here   •Creative Retro HiLo 20 Click here Updates and News from Joanne Procter I’m Joanne and I teach yoga classes for children up here in County Durham. I’ve also just completed my Fitness Pilates for mums and Tots with Rachel. About 4 years ago, having been teaching adult fitness classes for about 3 years, I decided to do my Kids Fitness course. A local training provider was running the course and so I signed up, thinking that maybe I could offer family classes over school holidays etc. I did the course and it was a lot of fun – though I would come home covered in bruises from throwing ourselves around on the floor ! It really was like being a kid again . I got some work through a local school from it aswell for a  term, teaching an after school class. I did enjoy it but to be honest, it kind of went on the back burner a little after that.  I knew I wanted to do something with it, but didn’t really know what at that point. However a few months later  I then noticed Jayne Nicholls from GXT was running an online Kids Yoga course and it caught my interest straight away. So I took the course (bonus – no bruises! ) and then set about offering an after school class at a local studio, I packaged it up and sold it as a 4 week programme.  I got 3 sign ups, but I decided as I had a good rate on the room hire , to still run it and get some experience teaching it. I got really good feedback from it but by that point it was coming up to Christmas and the kids had so much going  on so I didn’t run another one until January. I changed venue and got a couple more sign ups but certainly not as busy as I had been hoping for. For the next couple years, I plodded along with it. I did bits of work in schools with it here and there, which I really enjoyed and I also ran classes over the summer holidays. Slowly I started to build up interest locally. I knew it was something I loved teaching and felt really passionate about . I just needed to persevere with it. Fast forward to last summer , a little Role play centre for kids  had opened up in a nearby town a few months earlier  and was an instant success with the little ones and their mam’s! .  It is ran by two local girls, so I emailed and asked them , would they be interested in having kids yoga sessions there.  They invited me along for a chat and  to have a look at the space I could use to hold the sessions and so I decided to give it a whirl. I put a post out on Facebook , as did the girls at the centre . I packaged it up as a 6 week programme this time and within a day , it was sold out!.  I couldn’t believe it, I was over the moon. That was last September and since then I have changed it to a 4 week programme as I actually find that works better. I have also ended up adding a second class in the week as its so popular!. The kids love it and I love teaching it. From being little, I’ve also loved books and as a child loved the magic of visiting different adventures through story books , so I decided to use books in my kids Yoga sessions –  and we do poses based on the stories we read, it really helps keep the kids engaged.  Now my adult Pilates classes want to know why they don’t get story time and get to sing silly songs as we do our various poses Ha Ha.  My school work as well has just exploded the past few months !. A local school approached me over the summer holidays, when the PE coordinator had noticed some of my Facebook posts on our Summer Yoga sessions  and all the fun we were having – the power of social media eh!! . She  asked me if I could run an after school session for the full term, I said yes and we did that until Christmas, when the school then asked me back this term to deliver2  PE sessions a week !. I had also sent an email around some other local schools and from that, got another after school class.   A teacher friend from a third school also asked me if I could deliver  some Breakfast club yoga classes for them .   Last summer I also got my mammy and Baby Yoga qualification, and again those are doing really well, I now have two classes up and running in the community.  Our local Sure start centres up here in the North East used to offer so much for new mams , but they no longer have the budget to do so, so there really was a gap in the market for community classes mam’s could bring their little ones along to  . I’m so excited as I have just passed my Fitness Pilates for mums and tots, with Rachel too , which will help bridge the gap between my baby yoga and Kid yoga sessions so I can’t wait to get those added to the timetable too! .  Having followed Rachel for years and reading the Choreography to go Newsletter , she always recommends finding your Niche and by some  Serendipity ,I found mine in teaching yoga to kids!, not at all what I ever thought, when I first qualified in exercise to music 8 years ago, but I honestly love it.!. I love the imagination and enthusiasm of the kids and they always make me smile. I love when their mams tag me or speak to me and tell they have been practicing poses at home.  So honestly if you have a class / project you feel really passionate about, sometimes all it takes is a little patience and perseverance and finding the window of opportunity to get it off and flying!.  If you are sat there  thinking about doing the mums and Tots Pilates – go for it. Have a wonderful Thursday Love Rachel xxx