Parker Denny

SER 200 01 Exercise Leadership

Mrs. Bowman

September 5, 2017

Out of Class Group Exercise Reflection

For my out of class group exercise class I took a yoga class at Moonglow Yoga

near the Westmoreland Mall. I went to the class at 6:30pm yesterday (Tuesday) with

Dylan. This was not my first time going to a group exercise class. In high school, the

morning after a football game, the whole team did a pilates class after we watched the

game film. The yoga class I participated in was a “warm yoga” class and was

considered to be for all levels. When I walked into the studio the instructor was sitting at

the front desk and when we said, “hello” she wasn’t overly welcoming, but nothing stood

out as a negative either so overall I felt like I was welcomed. The warm up and cool

down for yoga is different for that of a strength training class or something a little more

strenuous. The warmup and cooldown are more of an internal focus with deep

breathing and relaxation. The instructor encouraged us to have intent behind our

breaths and think about something that we want to do better in the month of September.

The warm up also had a few light stretches for the hips and back. The warm up was

about 7 minutes long and the cool down was about 10 minutes long. The instructor

didn’t specifically ask us to monitor our heart rate, however, I can assume that through

some of the language she used she was able to more or less control our heart rate.

Once the most rigorous part of the yoga was over, she prompted us to slow our
breathing and breathe more deeply. This is an effective technique to slow the heart

rate. Throughout the class the instructor offered modifications for people who aren’t as

flexible or are beginners. A lot of yoga is shoulder intensive which can be hard for

people that have not done much yoga or resistance training so some exercises were

able to be modified by putting your knees on the ground to relieve some of the pressure

on the shoulders. Also, the instructor gave lots of modifications for people with very

tight hamstrings, such as a slight knee bent to remove some tension on the hamstring.

On the other hand, there are also lots of modifications for people who are very flexible,

extra movements or positions to give the muscles more of a stretch. When I did the

reverse warrior two pose, the instructor suggested to put my back hand behind my back

to achieve more of a stretch. The music that was playing during the class was very

relaxing. It was mostly acoustic covers and very soothing singer-songwriter music.

What I liked the best about the class was how relaxing the environment was while

maintaining a level of difficulty. I also really liked the way I felt after the class was over.

I felt so much looser and relaxed it was great! The instructor walked the class through

all the exercises by explaining them using her voice and by doing them with us. Since I

didn’t know a lot of the stuff we were doing she commanded my attention by explaining

the exercises. The equipment that we used was yoga mats and foam pads. Some

people also used towels to extend their mat. There were no real ground rules that the

instructor laid out for us. The only thing she said was that if we can do something then

just listen to the modifications and do what you can because everyone is able to do

some things better than others. Overall I really liked the experience.