Category: yoga

career, creativity, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, product, product development, yoga

Beautiful: One Fine Yogi, My Latest Creation, Is Starting Up to Support Compass Yoga

Christa Avampato

“Yoga is skill in action.” ~ Bhagavad Gita

As a way to build a sustainable revenue source for Compass Yoga, I’m creating a line of yoga-inspired fashions for you and your home as well as personal care products under the brand One Fine Yogi. Proceeds from this line of products will support Compass’s work to get more yoga to more people in more places. If you want to be notified about the launch this summer, please visit http://onefineyogi.com and add your name to the mailing list.

Right now I am in the midst of the design / test phase. The launch timeline is as follows:

Late June: I’ll launch the first t-shirt design. I’m working with Teespring, a start-up based in Rhode Island, to create an exclusive line of original short sale t-shirts. T-shirts will be ladies cut and made from super soft material. Short sale designs are limited editions sold for a limited amount of time. Designs will be available for 3 weeks starting in late June and you place your orders for that design during that window of time. Every 3 weeks a new design will launch. Once each design session closes, the t-shirts ordered during that window will be created as limited editions and sent directly to your mailing address. Pretty cool, eh?

Late Summer: To kick off the home fashion line, I’m creating a line of limited edition yoga-inspired wall decals and prints.

Fall: We encounter a lot of stressors in our lives so we could all use a little more pampering, right? One Fine Yogi has you covered with a line of heavenly scented bath salts and sugar scrubs to ease tension, calm the mind, and lift your spirits. Our therapeutic blends of herbs, spices, and oils infuse the highest quality salts and sugars to help bring out your glow, inside and out. Also, if you have a specific fragrance or benefit you’d like to receive from our bath salts and sugar scrubs, we can create a custom blend just for you.

I’m tremendously excited to create and share my first line of original products and to build out this brand with a mission that takes its inspiration from a practice that has brought me so many gifts. I hope you’ll share in the journey!

beauty, stress, yoga

Beautiful: Yoga is for Everyone – Sarah Shaffer’s Story on Yoga with Down Syndrome

Christa Avampato
Sarah Shaffer practicing yoga

Too much of the media circus around yoga leads people to believe that it is a practice exclusively for super models and contortionists. Nothing could be further from the truth. U.S. News & World Report ran a story about Sarah Shaffer, a high school student who practices yoga to relax and improve her running.

The full story is below but the last line is the one that got me choked up. It perfectly illustrates why we focus Compass Yoga‘s mission on getting yoga to people who wouldn’t otherwise practice it. The reporter asked her if she had any advice for people new to yoga. Sarah says, “Keep doing yoga, even if it’s hard. It gets better the more you work at it. And you will feel so good after you’re done.”

Now that is beautiful.

Full article by Laura McMullen

Have you ever tried yoga? It’s not just for the thin, fit and athletically-built. Just about anyone who can breathe can practice yoga to some extent and reap its many benefits. We’ll prove it. In this series, U.S. News talks with people who are changing the face of yoga.

Sarah Schaffer is a senior at Free State High School in Lawrence, Kan. When she’s not playing the cymbals and triangle in the concert band, she’s sprinting and shot-putting on the school’s green and silver Firebirds track team. Sarah is a fan of country music – especially songs by Blake Shelton – and she also has Down syndrome.

Sarah is one of more than 400,000 people in the United States living with Down syndrome, according to the National Down Syndrome Society. Individuals with the condition have an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21, which alters development and can result in mild to moderate cognitive delays. While every person with Down syndrome has unique traits and degrees of abilities, a few of the condition’s common physical characteristics include smaller stature, slightly upward-slanting eyes and low muscle tone, according to NDSS.

This low muscle tone is part of what prompted Sarah’s mom, Rose, a nurse with a degree in exercise science, to introduce her daughter to yoga. Rose felt yoga would help develop core strength, which would in turn boost Sarah’s coordination and ability to breathe deeply – a practice that would circulate more oxygen to her brain, Rose says. She soon discovered that yoga before bedtime also helped Sarah relax and sleep better.

Now, Sarah practices yoga regularly – even the “sculpting” variety with hand weights. She practices at after-school classes and at home with DVDs. (Her favorite DVDs are those hosted by fitness instructor Denise Austin because they’re fun, calm and relaxing, her mother says.) Sarah tells U.S. News more about her yoga practice. Her responses have been edited.

What’s your favorite part about yoga?

I like the music in the background, and I like the stretching because it’s fun, and it feels relaxing. The stretching helps with my running because I’m more stretched out.

Do you have a favorite stretch?

I like the bridge, and I like doing child’s pose at the end.

What’s been your biggest challenge with yoga?

I have a hard time balancing on one leg sometimes, but I’ve gotten better.

Do you have any advice for people new to yoga?

Do the same video every day until you get good at it. Keep doing yoga, even if it’s hard. It gets better the more you work at it. And you will feel so good after you’re done.

creativity, happiness, work, yoga, youth

Beautiful: Interesting Work is the Fountain of Youth

Christa Avampato

“Find something you‘re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.“ ~ Julia Child

There is no better feeling than being fully engaged. Energy zings right through your veins. Your heart, mind, and spirit are perfectly aligned in your pursuit. It keeps us young, active, and curious.

That’s exactly how I felt as I started working on designs for a personal and home fashion line that will benefit Compass Yoga. The first campaign will begin at the end of June. As I was working on the designs this weekend, I felt all of my skills snyc together in pursuit of this larger goal to build a self-sustaining organization that gets more yoga to more people in more places.

I’m with you, Julia. This is all it takes to generate a joyful life – do work you love that holds your interest and then find a way to do this work as often as possible.

business, corporation, philanthropy, yoga

Beautiful: Compass Yoga Begins a Corporate Yoga and Meditation Program To Further Our Mission

Christa Avampato

Compass Yoga is working hard to get more yoga to more people in more places. We now teach well over 200 people per week in a dozen classes with a team of a dozen tremendously talented teachers. We’ve been applying for grant funding so that we can expand our reach online and off.

In addition to philanthropic funds, we have also started to reach out to companies to establish corporate yoga programs that will generate a new revenue stream to support our work in the community.

Why companies should partner with Compass:
It is daunting for a company to construct, manage, and assess a yoga program. I have worked for the Walt Disney Company, The Home Depot, Toys R Us, and American Express as a product developer. I know first-hand that corporate employess are increasingly being asked to do more with less, and that is particularly true for human resource professionals inside these companies.

Enter Compass Yoga, a New York City-based nonprofit that focuses on improving the health of all people by teaching therapeutic yoga and meditation classes. For two years, we have partnered with the New York Public Library to bring over a dozen weekly classes to communities in Manhattan. Our incredibly talented and dedicated group of teachers provides open level classes that are suitable for all levels from beginner to advanced.

What companies get by partnering with Compass:
– Receive open-level yoga and meditation classes, pre- and post-natal, and therapeutics for those who have health challenges.

– Support a nonprofit that is helping underserved communities where your employees live and work. Currently we teach open level classes, senior chair yoga classes, and we are putting together the city’s first free pre- and post-natal evening yoga program through the New York Public Library.

– Benefit from the highest levels of professionalism and customer service in the yoga industry as well as regular qualitative and quantitative assessments of the program to help us craft a customized program that perfectly suits your company.

Why companies need corporate yoga:
On Tuesday, March 19th, Arianna Huffington co-hosted Squawk Box. Her guest that day was Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna. To increase both the quality of life for its employees and its bottom line, Aetna has invested in a corporate yoga program for all of its 30,000 employees to help them decreased stress levels and health care costs while increasing creativity, productivity, and performance.

The research
A quick snapshot of the costs of chronic stress are astonishing and explains why Mr. Bertolini has placed wellness at the forefront of his human resources strategy:

– The World Health Organization puts the cost of stress to American businesses is as high as $300 billion per year.

– The CDC estimates that 75% of all health care spending goes toward preventable chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure. High blood pressure alone costs $130 billion per year to treat. 

– The American Academy of Family Physicians found that 2/3 of doctor visits are for preventable stress-related conditions.

Additionally, Michael Porter, Elizabeth Teisberg, and Scott Wallace recently published research findings in HBS Working Knowledge, that showed that U.S employers spend 200 – 300% more for the indirect costs of health care — in the form of absenteeism, sick days, and lower productivity — than they do on actual health care payments. Their main recommendation to employers is to “mount an aggressive approach to wellness, prevention, screening and active management of chronic conditions.”

If your company would like to find out more, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us. 

beauty, nature, yoga

Beautiful: How Compass Yoga Is Like a River

Christa Avampato

“We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” ~ David Brower

After a long day of cleaning my apartment and packing up the last of my boxes, Phin and I took advantage of the late afternoon sunshine to stroll along the banks of the Hudson River. I was reminded of this quote by David Brower as I took in the scene. Rivers welcome everyone to relax and enjoy the view. They offer time for reflection. They give us the opportunity to take a deep breath, and then let it go.

That’s what we’re attempting to do with Compass Yoga. We are an organization that builds space for everyone to just be, a place where people can sit with their joy and their sorrow and recognize the wonder and beauty in all of it. We will hold a space for them to be safe, to let their minds power down for a while so that they can step out into the world fully revived. Like a river that flows and flows, we will be here for our students no matter what life has in store for them.

strengths, teaching, yoga

Beautiful: A Yoga Practice Saves and Serves

Christa Avampato

“It’s amazing how strong we are. Just when we think we can’t do anymore, when we can’t try any harder. When life is really tough, somehow within us we find this extra reserve of strength. It’s the beauty of this yoga practice. It both saves and serves.” ~ Douglass Stewart, Yoga Teacher

“Well, there you are!” Douglass said to me in class yesterday. “I’ve been telepathing you. I was worried I hadn’t seen you and hoped you were okay. Actually, I hoped you were in some exotic location teaching your fabulous yoga, but I am so glad to see you.”

Douglass is one of the greatest treasures of my life. He is the first person I ever considered to be my yoga teacher and just being in his presence is a salve for any injury and illness I have. He is my example, my hero, and my inspiration.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. I came back from a trip and jumped right into a busy work schedule, promptly got the stomach flu, and looked for, found, almost lost, and then secured a new apartment. Now I’m packing. All this lead me to skip Douglass’s class for a few weeks. I was feeling a little low yesterday and wondered if I should just head home, but something told me I needed to be in Douglass’s class. So, I steeled myself up with a Ben & Jerry’s free cone day ice cream cone, grabbed my mat, and headed for the studio.

The moment I saw him and hugged him, I knew this was where I needed to be. Though the class was a bit tough for me – I’ve been practicing restorative yoga almost exclusively the past few weeks – I could feel every cell of my body shouting “thank you!” My mind cleared, my heart opened, and off I went out into the world, renewed.

Douglass is right. This practice does save and serve, every single time. What a gift. What would we do with out it?

community, teaching, yoga

Beautiful: The Power of a Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens

Christa Avampato

8932358bdef464c26569664a77fa7917Two years ago this week Compass Yoga began offering free classes through the New York Public Library. This is some of the best feel-good work around and it happens because a small group of people huddle together, committed to helping the people in our community live happier, healthier lives. We give what we have to people who need it. It’s really that simple. And that powerful.

Thanks to so many of you have shared this journey with us and cheered us on right from the start. We’ll keep going until every person has the ability to access the benefits of this beautiful practice.

A huge thank you to our friend and supporter, Rebecca Donsky, who two years ago saw the good we could do at the Bloomingdale Library. Then she helped us expand to new branches so that we could bring the healing of yoga and meditation to more people. In that time, we’ve grown to a dozen weekly classes at partner sites that help over 200 people every week. Our incredible teachers make it possible. Namaste to all of them!

determination, passion, success, work, writing, yoga

Beautiful: How to Be Successful

Christa Avampato

20700_446525692062402_1595450150_n“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

Above anything, success requires dedication. You must give you heart, body, and soul over to it. It’s the drumbeat that never stops ringing in your ears. The masterpiece that is never quite finished by your hand. You have to care so much that you are willing to tinker with it over and over and over again.  And for its own sake, you let others play a part in it to share its goodness. It’s bigger than you.

My passion projects – writing, Compass Yoga, fundraising for good causes – are never far from my mind. And they never feel burdensome. They never feel like work. They’re more an elixir, a balm that makes all the rough patches of life a little easier to bear. They do more than sustain me; they raise me up.

This feeling is all the success I’ll ever need.

action, beauty, choices, yoga

Beautiful: The Heart as Leader

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“Well done is better than well said.” ~ Benjamin Franklin, American inventor and statesman

Since the start of the new year, I’ve been speaking to a lot of yoga teachers who want to join Compass Yoga. They are passionate about their craft and have a strong desire to help others so I’m searching for opportunities for all of them. One of them recently said to me that so many people put together community efforts and half-ass them. She loves Compass because of the commitment that I and so many others have to it.

When I decide to do something, I just do it. Everywhere I go, I go with my whole heart. And if my heart goes somewhere, I know the rest of me is soon to follow. That string can’t be broken; it’s the true mind-body connection. Once my heart wishes for something, I have to act. And that is its own kind of gift.

teaching, yoga

Beautiful: My New Yoga Class at ISHTA Yoga Downtown Starts This Tuesday, January 8th at 3:00pm

Christa Avampato

ishta 260-1It’s with great excitement that this week I will begin teaching at ISHTA Yoga‘s downtown studio located at 56 East 11th Street between University and Broadway just south of Union Square. The class is $10 (or can be taken as part of any class package from ISHTA) and will be held every Tuesday from 3:00pm – 4:00pm starting on January 8th and continuing through May 21st. (This week only I am also subbing on Friday the 11th at 3pm.)

I received my 300-hour training from ISHTA in July and saw my own practice and teaching grow by leaps and bounds as a result. I’m honored to be able to now teach there and share what I’ve learned with others. Come on by for a healthy dose of goodness, relaxation, and joy. I’ve got plenty to share. See you in the studio!