Why Barre and Yoga are the Perfect Blend
Barre and yoga are my favorite forms of movement. They shine so bright individually, but when these two are blended up in a full body workout, magic happens.
There is this interconnectedness between brain and body. Your brain hears the functionality in the anatomical cueing, it sees the functionality in the body’s alignment, the body feels it and begins to trust you. This reliance on trust between you and yourself is a beautiful dance to witness. At first it can feel awkward, and it’s normal to feel lost. The key to the magic is to keep showing up.
You may not experience any strong feelings toward the practice until halfway through the first class or maybe not until your third or fourth class. It all depends on how fast you can get your body to relax in this new and unfamiliar environment. The timing here can be different for everyone based on previous life experiences.
CLASS BREAKDOWN: WHAT TO EXPECT
During the first few poses or movements, we invite you to set an intention for your workout. I find it’s best when you relate it to what you are currently walking through in life. For example, if it’s a season of busy-ness and you just wish you could grab a moment or two extra for yourself, maybe you could state your intention as, I honor the call of my body or Blissful moments of space show up in my life effortlessly.
Everything in class is an invitation. A pose or movement may not be feeling too hot on any given day and if your body is sending you signs to take it down a notch or even pause, the best thing you can do is listen. In fact, this is the true essence of yoga. Yoga means to yoke. Yoke the mind, body, and spirit. That means they move as a team. The mind listens to the body and the body to the mind as if they were best friends … both being led by the spirit, You! Take the pause when you need it and jump back in when you can. Unsure if you should continue? Stop and talk with your doctor first. We will cheer the loudest when you listen to your body. We want that safety, that trust, self-soothing, and self-empowerment for you! That is living in harmony.
Next, we warm up the muscles with active movement. We will invite you to move with the pace of your breath. This is where barre and yoga differ. Barre asks us to move in tandem with the beat of the music. I love this! In yoga, sometimes there’s music and sometimes there’s not. Meaning, your breath is your pace. You let You lead. With these differences in mind, our class style honors both. During a blended class of yoga and barre, you can move with the pace of your breath during the yoga flows or postures and when we head into our barre sequences we will move back to the beat. Rest assured, your instructor will cue you all the way through. No need to worry about anything here.
After our warmup, we head into our blocks. Blocks can be about 10-15 minutes long, but the timing is dependent on the instructor’s preference and what the focus of the class is. In any class there can be an arms block, a core block, a leg block, a back block, a band sequence, a mat series, a flow, etc. These blocks are puzzle pieced together by our instructors to create one of kind classes that serve our people in all moods and moments. During these blocks you can experience your practice from a lens on healing, a lens of functional movement, a metaphoric lens of spiritual growth, a lens of curiosity or even a lens of doubt. The lens’ are endless, and no matter which lens you choose to look through you will find something on the mat.
Usually, it’s a strong emotion over a particular situation but sometimes it can be a true topic of contemplation that’s overstayed its welcome in your mind. Whenever and however the something shows up, we ask that you come back to your intention and repeat it to yourself. This is where your will and your why come in. This is a moment to face what comes up, face what you asked to move through, and face how this “thing” presents in full form with courage and conviction! Your intention and the flow of your physical body during this mental release is what carries you toward the light at the end of the tunnel (at least in my experience as a student and as an instructor).
The beauty of this blend of yoga and barre is this duality of strength and flexibility not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. It’s about agency and the power to choose. It’s about resilience and mental health. It’s about learning to move through situations and poses with real feelings, real support, a safe space, a community, and a purpose. The blend of yoga and barre represents the clean edges and the rough edits of us as human beings. It offers an opportunity to see ourselves as whole. It offers a true space of vulnerability and clear communication from one side of our brain to the other, an integration, a yoking of mind, body, and spirt or brain, breath, and body.
When we’ve made it through most of class, we begin the cool down process. We start to slow down the speed of the movements, the pace of the breath, and begin making our way to the floor. At this time, the body is (for most people) more than warm giving us the perfect opportunity to sneak in a gentle stretch through restorative yoga poses. It’s in these final moments we will ask you to revisit the intention you set for class as you move into our final resting pose or what we call in yoga, savasana. As you bring your awareness to the breath and begin to soften the body, we will ask you to repeat your intention to yourself a few more times with courage and conviction. We will ask that you envision it, watch it play out in your head, feel it in your body as you turn on all five senses, and believe it.
There have been studies that show the body does not know if the experience you’re playing out in your head is really happening or if it is just imaginary. It cannot tell the difference. This means by imagining your intention fulfilled and completely integrated into your life, the body reaps the same benefits it would as if what you see in your mind is playing out in your daily life. With this information who doesn’t try to consciously create the life they truly desire?
After our cool down, we will close our practice together with one more breath and a gratitude bow as we say “namaste” meaning the light in me sees and honors the light in you. When you finish, we encourage you to take your time and ease back into your day or evening slowly. You have just been through a good workout and a great reset! No need to rush back into the hustle so quick. Give yourself a few minutes to digest your class and then mentally prepare for your next move. At the end of (almost) every class I will tell you, you should be so proud of yourself, because you should be! It may get old, but this is a point worth driving home. You should definitely be proud of yourself, and please know that I am proud of you, too.
To wrap it up here, the blend of yoga and barre is a beautiful dance that showcases the whole you to you. It builds a bridge of communication and trust between brain and body. The practice brings you to a community where freedom of the self is encouraged and honored. You are asked to experience, feel, work through life and grow in a supported environment.
We would love for you to experience the duality of one of our blended yoga and barre classes. Visit our Virtual Barre + Wellness Studio here to schedule your first class with us. Use code BEOURGUEST at checkout for your first class free or take the plunge and sign up for our 7 Day Free Trial.
We hope to see you inside. 💛
P.S. Need a little help deciding where to start?
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