Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike and Heather Medina.
Mike found yoga at age 25 when both of his knees were stricken by Tendonitis. The Tendonitis was so bad that it sidelined Mike from doing any physical activities. As a result, Mike was prescribed physical therapy by his doctor, but to no avail. Thanks to the recommendation of some people to try yoga as a means to rehabilitate his knees, he gave it a go. Several months of practicing yoga a few days a week, he realized he didn’t have pain in his knees and was then able to resume doing his beloved activities again.
Heather, with a similar injury in her knee, toyed around with a few different workouts, but never quite found what was right for her. Thanks to the convincing by Mike to give yoga a try she also became hooked! Heather found that the practice of yoga helped her to deal with the pain and discomfort she endures on a daily basis.
Mike then started to teach yoga to help others see the same light he did. Mike and Heather fell in love with the journey of where yoga had brought them so much that they wanted to do more with spreading the benefits of the yoga practice with youth! Having three kids together, along with working in education, they observed the need for the practice to be instilled and taught to younger students. They felt that if our youth were to have the practice of yoga instilled within them at a young age, they’d have many productive tools to help them navigate through life. Combining their own personal journeys with yoga, along with their experience working in education, combined with their years of parenting, they formed YOGA MOTION.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been a smooth road for the most part thus far. We’ve followed our intuition, our experiences in life, along with our knowledge of child development, business, education, as yogis, and as parents to create an effective plan of action that has helped us to get us where we are.
Although, no road is entirely smooth. Some of our challenges along the way consist of dealing with rejection, breaking down barriers, negative connotations, and false generalizations regarding the practice of yoga. Yoga in schools and/or educational settings is a fairly a new concept. So… educating stakeholders, directors, principals, and parents about the benefits of yoga and what the practice can do for students and the school environment can be a challenging task at times.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Yoga Motion story. Tell us more about the business.
We created Yoga Motion with the mission to educate children about the practice of yoga and how to use yoga to inspire positive change in themselves and those around them.
We decided to accomplish this by offering educational, fun, and engaging yoga classes that have been designed with children, parents, and schools in mind. We believe the best way to share the benefits of yoga with children, parents, and schools is to bring our classes to them.
With us being first and foremost PARENTS, then EDUCATORS, then YOGIS. (Heather is a Preschool Director and Mike is a School Counselor).
This is the story of how YOGA MOTION came to fruition…
-We specialize in going into our communities to provide yoga for youth in schools.
-Our curriculum has been designed to go hand-in-hand with what they’re learning in class.
-We hire teachers and train them within our curriculum that we’ve developed to meet the educational and physicals needs of each age group.
-Our classes are typically taught once a week in a designated area (classroom, playground, etc) at a school.
-We teach students physical poses, breathing techniques, mindfulness, respect, how to use their imagination, how to build strength, will power, endurance, and a better sense of self (just to name a few).
-We offer job growth opportunities for teachers and consultants within our company.
-We are known as a family run business that goes into our communities to offer school based yoga classes for youth, parents, and schools.
-We are most proud of the opportunity we get to make a positive change/impact within our youth in society by helping them build strength, confidence, respect, flexibility, sense of self, and mindfulness.
Helping them with understanding their body and teaching them breathing techniques to help with concentration in the classroom; coping strategies for when times get tough; giving tools to schools to assist them with the various challenges they encounter with students in the classroom; and helping students to build self-control physically and mentally through the practice of yoga.
-What sets us apart from others. Most kid’s yoga classes are offered in yoga studios. We, on the other hand, bring yoga to schools. (There aren’t many school based yoga programs out there).
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Hard work, dedication, consistency, and faith in our company has gotten us where we are.
A bit of luck has helped us to surround our company with great students, teachers, parents, schools, and communities.
Contact Info:
- Website: yogamotionclasses.com
- Phone: 5627580823
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/yogamotionclasses
- Facebook: facebook.com/yogamotionclasses
- Yelp: Yoga Motion
Image Credit:
Mark Ocampo
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