Announcing… Our App!
If you haven’t heard already, Charm City Yoga now has an app! It’s FREE and available for both iPhone and Andoid. You can either search for it in your phone’s app store or go to our website here where we have handy QR codes that will take you where you need to go to get the app when you scan the code with your phone. Sign up for classes right from your phone and plan out your entire yoga week! Need to get in touch with us? Get all the contact info for each studio! Change of plans? Cancel a reservation and reschedule on the go! We’re also brewing up some special promotions that will only be available if you have the app — so download today! Here’s what people have said about the app already: Read More…
Guest Post from Heather Brown: Having a Home Practice Post-Baby
You can find Heather Brown’s blog at teenyyogini.blogspot.com. Heather teaches a Pregnancy Yoga classes at Fells Point, Thursdays at 5:45pm and at Pikesville, Fridays at 6:15pm. She also teaches a Beginner Yoga class at Pikesville, Fridays at 4:30pm. If you’re interested in becoming a Pre-natal yoga teacher, check out Heather’s Pre-natal Teacher Training program.
If it is important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.
I’m not sure who said this gem that I saw on Facebook this week, but it rings true for me in my efforts to find space in my life for my yoga practice. After welcoming my third daughter in December, I’ve found it challenging to find a consistent, dedicated time to devote to my practice. Establishing a consistent home practice in general is something I’ve always wrestled with – wanting to do it, but somehow mostly making excuses or thinking that somehow it doesn’t count if it doesn’t resemble the 90-minute Ashtanga practice I’m used to in a studio setting. In fact, after the birth of each of my daughters, there has been an adjustment period where I am figuring out the new normal of my life and how my yoga practice fits into that new landscape. Read More…
A Transformative Practice & Our Thriving Community!
The other day we received a letter from a committed yogi who wanted to share his story with us. It’s amazing the impact that yoga can have not only on your physical fitness, but your entire wellbeing. We love hearing from our students and seeing how yoga can transform lives. If you have a story to share please email amanda.charmcityyoga@gmail.com and we’ll feature it on our blog!
Dear Kim Manfredi and the Staff at the Towson Charm City Yoga,
Thank you for the blessing that Charm City Yoga brings to my life! The instructors are well-trained, the schedule is flexible and accessible for me, and te benefits I receive from a regular yoga practice are positive, healthful, and spiritually meaningful. Read More…
Yoga After Dark This Friday!
What would it be like to do yoga and meditation by candlelight, accompanied by live music? Well, you can find out this Friday at Midtown from 8-10pm with Camille! Join us for a playful, serene evening of yoga, movement, and stillness, accompanied by two wonderful musicians from SoilSound, Toao and Iguassu. We’ll create a sensory elixir, interweaving our practice with their improvised world melodies, percussion and nature sounds, produced in Dolby Digital surround sound. Afterwards, stay for tea, light refreshments and conversation. It’s a magical scene as the yoga studio meets the chillout lounge. Click through to see a video about SoilSound & Yoga After Dark… Read More…
Who’s Your Farmer?
It’s that time of year to start thinking about where your produce comes from and how you can get your hands on the freshest veggies and fruits warm weather has to offer.
Worry no more, because Baltimorganic makes it easy to know exactly where your food comes from, so you know it’s the freshest.
Run by members of the CCY family, BaltimOrganic is community supported agriculture. Together, we can support the BaltimOrganic farm in Monkton, MD, and in return receive an 8 pound bag of fresh, seasonal, local produce every week available for pick-up at either our Midtown, Pikesville, Fells Point, or Towson studios.
Think about it: get in a yoga class and pick up your produce (which you already paid for months ago) all in one place. Read More…
Aromatherapy for the Soul
Our very own Jill Sanchioni is the spirit behind Pure Spirit Potions, a line of essential oils that can help yogis and yoginis focus, be grounded, and relax, in addition to smelling good. (Especially after a sweaty class!) Jill has been a part of the CCY community since completing our 200-hour teacher training with Kim. She teaches at our Midtown and Pikesville locations and her “Potions” can be found at our Midtown, Severna Park and Towson studios. We caught up with Jill to find out the story behind her natural healing remedies and how they can help us in our practice, both on and off the mat. Read More…
Our Tweet-fest Contest Winners!
We got so many great tweets through our Tweetfest Contest that we couldn’t pick just one! So we picked 3! We asked our community to tweet the reasons why they love CCY with the hashtag #love, and these are our favorite responses:
@grl_come_undone – “on @CharmCityYoga. Everyone here makes yoga so accessible and not at all intimidating. #love”
@grl_come_undone was chosen for her sheer persistence. We loved getting so many tweets from her, we just had to give her something!
@dancingwaves – “@CharmCityYoga – #love you guys because when I leave the studio, I feel better able to live in this world fully and with a tender heart.”
@Dancingwaves won us over with their beautifully sentimental tweet. Ultimately, we home everyone leaves the mat feeling like a better person.
@katytroe – “#love that @CharmCityYoga begin. series gave me a foundation 4 a rockin home practice & classes still continue to challenge me today.”
@katytroe’s tweet impressed us because it encompasses all facets on the journey to a fulfilling yoga practice: from starting with our Beginner Series to developing a home practice to maintaining a practice through classes at our studio.
We also chose an Honorable Mention because this tweet was too good not to recognize. However, she forgot the #love hashtag, so we couldn’t award her a prize:
@citysparrowsews – “@CharmCityYoga I <3 yoga bc after just 1 month of practice now when i go dancing i can drop my booty to the floor AND get it back up again!” Read More…
A Multifaceted Yogi
Even yogis need a little extra help sometimes. Todd Bauer is Charm City Yoga owners, Chris and Kim’s personal trainer. On these winter days when the weather doesn’t always cooperate, Kim isn’t able to ride her bike to the studio. Of course, Kim credits her physique to her vigorous yoga practice, but in order to stay strong as a cyclist, Kim turns to Todd. Todd is also a yogi and understands the benefits of adding a yoga practice to your fitness regimen. We asked Todd to tell us a little about how he uses yoga to find balance in his life, and in the lives of his clients. Read More…
Cultivate Generosity Through the Practice
“The path for those who are climbing to spiritual heights is selfless action (that’s Karma yoga).” -Bhagavad Gita
Suzanne Cary, who graduated from our teacher training in 2009, has committed her practice to bringing yoga to underserved communities. In 2009, she went to Cambodia with Seane Corn and her “Off the Mat, Into the World” program, and raised $24,000 for that organization. Now, Suzanne is committed to being an ambassador for the Africa Yoga Project. AYP offers daily free Baptiste yoga classes for the slums of Nairobi to over 4000 students every week, and trains the locals to be yoga teachers, enabling them to not only keep the yoga spirit alive in their community, but also giving them a career. AYP also brings fresh water and food to those communities, feeding their bodies as well as their souls. Read More…
Our Response to NYT
Last week, the New York Times posted an article entitled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” Not surprisingly, this article has raised some eyebrows, not just in the CCY community, but throughout the yoga world in general. Kim penned a response to set yogis’ minds at ease.
Dear Teachers and Students,
I wanted to write a response to the NYT article featuring yoga teacher Glenn Black. Although, at the end of the article he blames his stenosis on “40 years of extreme backbends and twists” I would contend, and I am sure he would agree, that during that time of grasping and achieving, he was not practicing yoga. Read More…
