Arlene Thayer, RYT 500, AWC

September 21, 2023

A New Offering: Introducing Elemental Yoga

I had some time to reflect this summer on how and what I teach yoga. It felt like time to change things up. During this time, I was watching a lot of online classes that were not yoga related and fresh ideas naturally came to the surface of my mind. Little flashes of inspiration kept darting in and out of my consciousness until about a month ago, when I created a new system of sequencing a yoga class which I’m calling Elemental Yoga.

I’m currently teaching it to my private clients as well as a gentle version at home studio, Life in Balance (Hanover, PA). The studio class is described as: ” Gentle Elemental Yoga is a system of yoga practices that rotates its focus each week over 4 element aspects of nature. Each practice embodies aspects inspired by the natural world to help harmonize and synthesize the practice theme. Each session incorporates pranayama (breath work) and working all directions of the spine. The Gentle Elemental system of practices includes Grounding, Flowing, Contemplative, and Restorative practices. Each of these themes combines principles from Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative yoga. This class is excellent for both new and experienced practitioners who enjoy a gentle class that allows them to truly explore the integration of body, mind, and breath.”

The approach I’ve developed represents the best of all of my past class teachings, my own somatic experiences, and a way of practicing that is designed to deliver deep, meaningful experience to the practitioner on a physical and emotional level. Classes are infused with inspirations drawn from the yoga sutras, concepts involving the subtle body energetic centers, and ayurveda. This system represents the thousands of hours I have devoted to learning about, teaching and practicing yoga. It’s exciting to bring them forth into the world.

Namaste, Arlene

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023

Are We Facebook Friends?

Last month, I started posting quick videos on my Facebook page on Tuesdays. It is a good place for me to get the word out about what my class theme of the week is, talk about upcoming events and offer helpful Ayurveda and yoga lifestyle tips.

Last week, I covered some easy ideas on how to prepare Ayurvedically for spring. The video got a great response! And, several people commented to me on how these videos are giving them useful information and how to’s.

But, right now, the videos are only available to my Facebook friends. And, I like it that way. It’s more personal that way — I’m not looking to launch a big social media marketing campaign.

If we aren’t Facebook friends and you are interested in seeing the videos, send me a friend request so you can get included in being able to access the content. The videos are usually about four minutes and you never know whether our three year old rag doll mix, Roxy is going to interrupt or not. See, there’s even some suspense involved!

Namaste, Arlene

August 19, 2022

I’m late in telling you this…

I’m very proud to announce that I’m launching my Ayurveda practice!!! This has been awhile in the making. I just finished building out the new page here on the website and updating my bio, etc. As I’m winding down my day job, I’m now able to more fully expand upon my yoga teaching and open the doors to my ayurvedic counseling services.

To kick things off, for my local friends, I will be doing a series of workshops this fall/winter at Life in Balance Yoga in Hanover, PA. Right now, the plan is to begin with a session about Ayurvedic Best Practices for Managing Stress and Anxiety — just in time for the holidays. The following session will focus on Self Care for the Winter months and then early next year, there will be a session on Ayurveda and Yoga and how they relate to one another. For those of you who are not local but are interested in these offerings, we should be able to livestream them.

If you’ve wondered about Ayurveda and how it might fit into your life, please reach out to me at arlenethayeryoga@gmail.com. Reading about Ayurveda in books and websites will only take you so far. It is really helpful to work with someone to help you adapt things to suit your needs and lifestyle — very much like yoga in this respect! I would be delighted to work with you. Namaste, Arlene

June 26, 2021June 26, 2021

Ain’t No Shame in the Prop Game – Props in Gentle Yoga

I’m getting ready to start teaching live at the yoga studio again. I am also happy to report that the classes will continue to be livestreamed. Over the past year, a good group has been coming for the livestreamed classes. Some of my regular students live out of town and I’m glad that they will be able to continue.

As a teacher, one of the biggest differences between teaching online versus in person has been designing classes that do not include props. In using the term “props”, I am referring to such things as blocks, bolsters, straps and blankets. Once I started teaching online, I let go of using them. I didn’t want to put participants in the position of having to scramble around to find something to use or be left out because of not having something.

March 7, 2021

Spring is When You Feel Like Whistling

…even with a shoe full of slush — Don Larson

Isn’t that the truth? And, we sure have had a shoe full of slush, haven’t we?

Given the pandemic, this winter was a real hibernation for yours truly. But, ah, spring is coming! Spring is a time for delicious, upward energy and never more so this this year. Traditionally, I do plan a special yoga class aimed centered around a gentle detox for this time of transition, but this year calls for more than that.

January 31, 2021January 31, 2021

Forging a New Normalcy

I’m still teaching yoga online as I have been doing since last March. This past week, on Tuesday, at lunchtime, I checked my class roster and to my delight, I saw one of my pre-pandemic regulars! We didn’t have a chance to connect immediately after class so I reached out by email to let her know how happy I was to have her in class again. Her response really hit home: it felt like a little bit of normalcy for her. It was also a little bit of my old normalcy for me, too.

December 8, 2020

Plans!!!

It’s that time of year when I love to make plans. Part of my process is laying out my teaching plans for the year. This is one of the exercises that helps me to see my deepening understanding as a yogi and growth as a teacher. I’ve wrapped up my planning for my classes and I’m very excited at the curriculum I’ve constructed.

November 16, 2020

Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart – Inspired by “Unlocking Us”

I’m blessed to be part of a “power trio” discussion group that meets by phone each week. For the past four or five months, we have used Brene Brown’s “Unlocking Us” as the jump off point for our conversation. We take turns leading and the leader picks which episode we are going to discuss. The discussions are lively, loving, and much looked forward to each week.

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020

Slowly Flowing with Intention

I’ve been meaning to write a blog post for over a month. Truth be told, I’ve put “pen to paper” a few times, wrote out a few lines and didn’t feel the grab that usually takes hold of me to keep writing until completion. More truth be told, because of the state of the world, I’m moving in a different way then I normally do when it comes to going about the business of life.

August 21, 2020

Searching for Yoga

Most of us, if not all, have experienced desire in our lives that led us on a quest. We feel strongly drawn to something so much so that we look for traces and clues that will lead us along to the next step in our journey. Maybe we have an endpoint in mind that marks having fulfilled that desire such as wanting to become and then becoming, a yoga teacher. Maybe we just want to immerse ourselves in the world of that particular desire.