The MLP’s “Mindful Sweat” Classes

By Sarah Millman

Photos of Alex McRobs

Have you tried the Mindful Life Practice’s “Mindful Sweat” classes yet? As a unique yogabarre fusion, these classes not only offer practitioners with all of the traditional benefits of yoga, but they also allow students to build strength, tone muscles and most importantly, have fun!

As the “Mindful Sweat” class description explains, each class will begin with a “ yogainspired warm-up. ” From there, students “will move into power mode - toning and strengthening the body with functional movement exercises set to upbeat music Depending on the theme, there may be a focus on core, arms, legs, or cardio: with low impact options offered ” The class will then “seamlessly transition into a mindful stretch at the end, followed by savasana You'll leave having strengthened and stretched your body, and centered your mind.”

When speaking with Alex McRobert about how this unique class was created, she shared the following:

“When I did my Barre training in 2019, I struggled a lot with making my teaching similar to how my teachers led the class. They were former ballerinas, so their choreography felt much more graceful than mine! My teacher kept encouraging me to make it more ‘ me, ’ but I didn’t know exactly how to do this. Shortly after I started teaching, I offered a Barre Yoga ‘ pop up ’ class at my gym. It was popular and got really good feedback, so I transitioned to offering Yoga Barre every week, once a week on Thursdays. Now, I love doing this!”

Did you know that you can access hundreds of on-demand classes - including “Mindful Sweat”--on the Mindful Life app?

A monthly membership to the MLP is only $19.99, and you can even choose the length of class that works best for amount of time that you have available in your schedule!

A seated side bend (pictured left) is one of many ways to warm-up the spine and prepare the body for movement at the beginning of a “Mindful Sweat” class!

For classes where core work is the focus, engaging in side plank (pictured above), with the option to add dynamic arm scoops, is a great way to strengthen the abdominals and shoulders whilst stretching the lower back.

Boat pose (pictured left) with the option to add crunches, is another asana (posture) that works to engage the core muscles!

In “Mindful Sweat” classes, there are a variety of exercises and yoga poses, which allow students to use free weights to strengthen and tone. All of these exercises can also be performed without the use of free weights, and you can decide what feels best for you in your body!

DidyouKnow?

Savasana (pictured right) has a myriad of benefits for both mental and physical health? For example, savasana works to boost our digestive and immune systems can help to improve our mood by increasing mindfulness helps to decrease stress and anxiety can improve the quality of our sleep

Goddess pose (Utkata Konasana) with free weights