Image credit: Jack Kirwin. No edits or changes have been made.
Carly Tong’s 10 day online yoga and meditation courses have taken Salford by storm, starting the morning off with 10 minutes of meditation, and winding down at the end of the day with half an hour of yoga.
Before the second lockdown, Carly was holding socially distanced classes in the MediaCity square: “I would walk past the square every morning on my way to work and I just thought it was such a great space and I just had the idea of teaching outdoors in that space. It’s good for socially distancing, doing yoga outdoors and getting the fresh air and everything so I thought it would be nice” Said Carly.
“I had 3 sessions and I got a lot of messages afterwards asking when’s the next one” she added.
However, since the announcement of the second lockdown, Carly has been hosting classes on Zoom, giving people the chance to enjoy a sense of normality or even to try something new from the comfort of their own homes.
“I was teaching once a week and then afterwards, when the lockdown happened, I really missed teaching so I thought to start the virtual class and see how it’s like. It’s so nice seeing the members again and the people that I taught yoga with and I got a lot of good feedback so I just continued it from then” says Carly.
Hosting the classes online has even attracted more people to give yoga a try. “It’s nice to even just have that thing booked in and also having a bit of space just for yourself” says Crystal Atkins, who takes part in Carly’s classes twice a week.
She added, “I think I would stick to them being virtually though. I think I really enjoy it being like that. It’s actually really nice, especially at the end when you’ve done your 5 minute cool down. It’s so nice to just turn off the computer and you’re already relaxed at home”.
“I think it’s a positive that’s come out of lockdown because online I can just log off work, come upstairs for half an hour, get my yoga matt out and do my yoga from home, in my own space, in my own time and with my own equipment” says Miranda Foy.
“This has forced me to log off at a certain time and have half an hour just to myself” she added.
The Green Rooms residential building in MediaCity have even covered the costs for all their residents to take part in the 10 day course.
“So we thought that obviously it can be a difficult time for everybody in terms of mental health and feeling lonely so we thought it gives people something to do and something to try as well as a lot of people haven’t tried yoga. I know that since we’ve said that we’re going to do it people have said that they’ll try it since it’s free for them” said Jess Pilkington, a member of staff at The Green Rooms.
Even though she plans on returning to doing her classes in person after lockdown, her online classes are here to stay too as Carly plans to still hold two session a week via Zoom.
If you’d like to get in touch with Carly about a session, message her on her Instagram page to let her know you’re interested @yogawithcarlytong
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