As we all know (unless you've been living in an cave in which you have some catching up to do), the Coronavirus is presenting a large challenge to public health.
We're lucky so far here, in Toronto, that we are not yet a hotspot for the virus. That said, we are doing our part to maintain a healthy place for you to get your movement.
Here's what we're doing at the studio:
We're cleaning the light switches, studio door knobs and frames, storage cupboard doors, edges and handles and the edges of the storages baskets where hands are most likely to touch.
We're cleaning the small props and all equipment before and after each private session and as often as possible between classes.
We're waiving the class late-cancel policy so you can cancel up to the last minute if you start to feel unwell with no penalty.
We've provided Lysol wipes and spray and disposable paper towel at the front of the studio for your use on small props (not including Yoga Tune Up balls please. It will rot them! We're on that part).
Here's what you're welcome to do:
Wash your hands before and after class, singing whatever song gets you that crucial 30 seconds.
Bring a towel to place over your mat or bring your own mat.
Use the wipes provided to clean your small props before and after each class.
Choose not to use the small props if that is your preference. We'll modify for you!
Here's what we're respectfully asking of you:
Please DO NOT come to class or to your session if you're feeling unwell or if you've been in direct contact with someone else who is unwell.
If you do have a perfectly harmless sneeze or cough, please cover your face and let us know if you had an uncovered mat. We'll take that one out of circulation for 24 hours and make sure it's been thoroughly cleaned before it goes back in the bin.
If you need to blow your nose (and it happens to all of us with no germs involved), please take a minute to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.
Forward planning
If worst comes to worst and there is a general quarantine, we will offer virtual classes, probably through Zoom. Alison is figuring that out as we speak!
And you have a powerful tool for health!
And through all of this, don't forget to keep moving. Movement is good for both your immune system and your state of mind. Anxiety during uncertain times is entirely natural, and continuing your movement practice is a good way to help manage that, no matter where or how you move.
Below is a fascinating read about how the developing work of Joseph Pilates helped support the inmates of an Isle of Man internment camp when the Spanish Flu ravaged the world during WW 1.
"The full principles of Contrology were revealed to him during World War I. His circus was caught traveling in England when the war broke out in 1914, and Joe and all the others were interned ……….. on the Isle of Man. Here, as weeks lengthened into months and years, he watched his fellow-prisoners sink into apathy and despair, with nothing to do but stare at the bare crumbling walls of their prison, nothing to break the daily monotony but the inadequate meals (for the German submarine blockade was slowly starving England) and an occasional walk around the bare courtyard with nothing to look at but an occasional starveling cat streaking after a mouse or a bird.
It was the cats which did it. For though they were nothing but skin and bones - even the most animal-loving prisoners could hardly spare them anything from their own pitiful rations when their own children were begging to be fed - they were lithe and springy and terribly efficient as they aimed for their prey. Why were the cats in such good shape, so bright-eyed, while the humans were growing every day paler, weaker, apathetic creatures ready to give up if they caught a cold or fell down and sprained an ankle? The answer came to Joe when he began carefully observing the cats and analyzing their motions for hours at a time. He saw them, when they had nothing else to do, stretching their legs out, stretching, stretching, keeping their muscles limber, alive. He began working out an orderly series of exercises to stretch the human muscles, all the human muscles. He began demonstrating these exercises to the dejected figures around him, and since they had nothing else to do, they began to do the exercises too. Awkwardly and timorously at first, but under his firm supervision they became more and more confident, more and more bouncy, like cats. They ended the war in better shape than when it started, and when the great influenza epidemic came sweeping over all the countries that had fought in the war, not one of them came down with it."
Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions for how else we can support your health and well-being. We're open to everything!
xo
Team B
