Photo by Lyndsey Taylor[/caption]Instead of going out for cocktails after work, Flow Yoga co-owner Kat McCool encourages everyone to unwind from their day with yoga happy hour.
Flow Yoga, owned by McCool and Kerry Carter, celebrated its two-year anniversary in late October. The business offers heated happy hour classes in conjunction with YogiKids classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:45 p.m. The Cedar Park studio's variety of daily yoga classes include heated Vinyasa, Hatha and children's yoga for beginners and advanced students.
McCool, a former bodybuilder and martial arts athlete, said many class rooms are kept at no less than 78 degrees because it allows a deeper stretch for participants. Heated Vinyasa classes, she said, are about 90 degrees on average, with about 40 to 65 percent humidity, depending on the time of year. Vinyasa is a type of yoga class involving repeated poses at a moderate pace. After heated classes, students are offered cold lavender-and lemon- scented washcloths. Heated happy hour, taught by a different teacher each day, is for participants of all experience levels, she said.
"If you think about muscle like rubber, like silly putty, the more you warm up the silly putty, the more pliable it gets," she said. "The more warm it is it can give you a deeper stretch."
Flow Yoga's children's classes are for anyone ages 5–11 and teach postures, meditation and breathing techniques. The class focuses on calming fears and often involves activities such as obstacle courses, she said.
On weekends the studio frequently offers workshops, with topics including nutrition; anxiety and depression management; and introduction to inversions, yoga poses that require the student to be upside-down.
McCool, a Leander resident and practicing yogi of 16 years, owned Body Yoga and Wellness studio in Cedar Park for four years prior to opening Flow Yoga and has taught nearly 400 students.
Flow Yoga began offering a 12-week yoga teacher training program Sept. 20 and will offer another session in the spring. Shannon Dzikas, a former children's day care instructor, is training to be a children's yoga teacher through the program at the studio and needs to complete nearly 300 hours of yoga before she can become certified. Through teaching yoga, she said she hopes children will develop positive self-images.
Samara Keller said she has been a Flow Yoga student for about a month and takes three to four classes on average per week. Keller, an Austin resident, said she comes to the studio because of the friendly staff and the heated classes.
"It's a pleasure to come in and let everything go," she said. "I feel like [yoga] creates space inside my head."
Next year McCool said she hopes to get more involved in Cedar Park community outreach, such as green living and recycling advocacy.
"We try to embody what yoga is all about," she said. "It's not just about the poses. We try to embody the heart and soul of the practice. We just provide a real community feel here, and most people feel at home when they come here."
Tips for beginner yogis
Flow Yoga co-owner Kat McCool offers several tips for beginning yoga students.
1.Do not eat a heavy meal before class. It is best to wait two hours after eating before you practice yoga.
2.Take breaks if you need them. You do not have to do every activity in the class.
3.Remember your practice is an individual process. Defer to your own judgment about what you can and cannot do. Listen to your body and respect what it tells you about how to practice.
4.Relax and enjoy the experience. This is your time and should be fun.
5.If you do not "groove" with your teacher, do not give up. Flow Yoga has plenty of instructors to choose from.
