Bulldog Yoga

 

 Alumni Spotlight: Emily Maehler

 By: Jenny Griffith

           

             Yoga is for everyone and everybody, at least that is what Emily Maehler is preaching. Emily took her first yoga class in 1998 as an undergrad at the University of Utah. Fifteen years later she enrolled in the 200-Hour Summer Intensive Teacher Training at Prana Yoga Center. She is a full time English teacher at Ramona High School, as well as a wife and Mom of two kids! But within this past year she began to find her niche in the yoga world.

She also teaches the Ramona High School Football team’s yoga class. She leads the Bulldogs in a morning yoga class that is a new element to their training regimen. Emily presented the idea of a yoga class to the head coach, Damon Baldwin. He was all for it when Emily explained that his athletes will improve strength, flexibility, and help prevent injuries.

    She teaches the classes one day a week during the summer training. She leads the varsity, junior varsity, and coaches in a one-hour class every Thursday morning.

    The players claim that the yoga leaves them energized and feeling really good. The players quickly realized that yoga was a lot harder than they thought. They came to appreciate the practice and found how amazing it was for their tight bodies.

    The program became so successful that they asked Emily to become an official member of the football training program and asked her to teach a class every Saturday morning during the season as well. The team replaces the regular lifting class with yoga to help their muscles recover after games. Emily wants the players to get a handle on the poses and then start to work in the mental and spiritual benefits of the practice as well.

Her next goal is to add some prana to her regular school day in a PE yoga class! Emily will continue teaching the football teams post-game recovery classes on Saturdays. She also teaches a class that is open to the public Thursday evenings at 6:15 at Crossfit Brand X in Ramona as well. We are happy to showcase Emily as one of our students and her success in her yoga career.