Meditating during Quarantine
Learn about meditation’s benefits and easy ways to start a practice during quarantine!
Meditation is a healthy and beneficial habit accessible to almost anyone. It is prevalent across yoga studios, many workplaces, and all kinds of lifestyles. There are even apps and video channels dedicated to guiding folks through the practice.
The benefits of meditation are wide-ranging. They include: improved sleep, lower anxiety, lower blood pressure, and reduced stress-induced inflammation (1).
Whether you have a steady practice, want to revisit it, or are curious about starting meditation, there is something for everyone. Find out which meditation practice(s) are best for you!
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Artist Feature: Meet Ellie!
Yoga = Art
Artist Feature: Ellie Yanagisawa
Although meditation isn’t always easy, explains local cosmic artist and yogi Ellie Yanagisawa, it has become essential to her creative process. Read on to learn about what inspires Ellie and her reflections on being an artist during a pandemic in the full interview.
“I always try to open my studio time with meditation and movement to release my mind and body of any tension and realign them. Sometimes I can slip into this state seamlessly; other times I end up staring at my canvas for hours. The key is remain consistent to keep returning to the practice of realigning mind, body and spirit. When these three are synced, anything is possible.”
Cut Your Carbon Footprint: Environmentalism as a Yoga Practice
Hailey, a member of our Yoga District Community, will explore how to live a more sustainable life. Her environmental blog series will introduce various ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Find out how to reduce your carbon footprint while being homebound. During these unusual times, why not try to develop some new environmentally beneficial habits? Read more >>
Artist Feature: Meet Nicole!
Yoga = Art
Artist Feature: Nicole Wandera
To local artist, mom, activist and yogi Nicole Wandera, the breath and body are an integral part of the creative process. Nicole’s work is a representation of her experiences, community and social justice issues that are most important to her, most recently creating illustrations for the National Network to Ending Domestic Violence, which brings awareness to victims of domestic abuse. Learn more about Nicole how yoga and meditation has influenced her creative process in the full interview.
“(Art) is essentially mediation. There is this sacred place I go to when I’m really in the zone, everything around me disappears and my body takes over. I can get to this place by opening my heart and mind .”
Artist Feature: Meet Rebeka!
Yoga = Art
Artist Feature: Rebeka Ryvola
Meet Rebeka Ryvola, local artist and yogi. Rebeka designed the Yoga District logo in the story and her murals can be found throughout Southeast D.C. Support Rebeka and other featured artists by checking out the full interview and her work.
“It’s so simple: when I have a practice of meditation of some kind and yoga I feel so much more creatively competent and curious, and am able to drift into that flow where deeper expression can start to happen.”
Teacher Feature: Meet Camryn!
Meet Camryn, one of our teachers at Yoga District. Learn about how her search for healing led her to yoga and her approach to tackling challenging asanas.
“Yoga has taught me how to be so much more compassionate and loving to others, as well as myself.”
Check out Camryn’s current class offerings below and sign up here!
- Tuesday, 7:15PM: Candlelight Flow for All Levels @ Online
- Friday, 4:15PM: All Levels Flow @ Online
Red Lentil Pumpkin Dal
In these trying times, it’s recommended we don’t go to the grocery store often. Instead, let’s be mindful and use the items we have on hand at home.
Give our grocery store workers a little break from the crowds. It’s more sustainable, budget friendly, efficient for our wallets and world.
Here is a recipe that will hopefully use up some dribs and drabs you might already have in your pantry.
This gem of a recipe uses a can of pumpkin left over from fall and some red lentils begging for attention.
Artist Feature: Meet Rose!
Yoga = Art
Artist Feature: Rose Jaffe
Meet Rose Jaffe, local artist and yogi. Rose who created the version of the Yoga District logo above and her artwork is featured at Yoga District Bloomingdale and 14th Street store fronts. Learn more about Rose and yoga’s intersection with art in the full interview.
“Yoga and meditation are an essential part of my create practice… The more spiritual I have become over the past few years the more art I create that is focused around being centered in self, grounding into Mother Earth, third eye consciousness…”
Yoga District- Online Classes
With everything going on now, this might be when you need yoga the most! Yoga District is offering several daily online yoga classes through Zoom. Connect with your community through a virtual practice and enjoy yoga together!
We understand that sometimes you decide to take a class last minute. Good news, last minute yoga is a real option! We have an automated service that sends the link to join your online class within moments of making a reservation. Read on to find out more.
Teacher Feature: Meet Toni!
Meet Toni, one of our teachers at Yoga District. Find out how her practice as a yogi emphasizes welcoming, accessibility, and connection. Learn what motivated her to become an instructor and how she shares yoga with the community.
“I consider the students in my class to be friends, including the ones who come for the first time.’”
Check out Toni’s current class offerings below and sign up here.
- Saturday, 12:30PM: Talking Pilates: Pilates and Conversation @ Online
The Teachers
The diverse family of DC yoga teachers at Yoga District are dedicated to making yoga accessible to everyone through a huge variety of yoga class types, from vinyasa flow to restorative and beyond. Most Yoga District teachers are graduates of Yoga District’s nationally-attended 200 hour teacher training program. All Yoga District classes focus on coordinating breath with body movement to promote flexibility, strength, and peace of mind. We strongly believe in yoga as therapy, so catch one of our classes whenever you need a healthy dose of self-care.
See all yoga teachers »
The Next Step
The Yoga District 200 and 500 hour teacher training certification programs, registered by the Yoga Alliance are unique in their emphasis on diversity of teaching styles studied, personal attention, and trauma sensitive yoga. It's no coincidence that Yoga District is regularly voted the leading studio in the nation's capital, and that most of its classes are taught by graduates of its training program. As a full time yoga school, small group trainings are led up to eight times a year by a dedicated faculty including Jasmine Chehrazi, contributor to the Harvard Karma Yoga Project teacher training, teacher training faculty at George Washington University, Yoga Alliance Standards Committee Advisory Board Member, Yoga Activist Founder, and Yoga Service Council Advisory Board Member. So take your practice and community involvement to the next level by joining a training. There's a reason why our graduates call the training "transformative."
Check out the yoga teacher training »