meet yoga instructor erica garland!
Meet Erica Garland, Sweat Fixx Yoga Instructor!
While our sister studio, Sweat Fixx, is famous for its high-intensity, high-energy classes such as Row Fixx and Sculpt Fixx, there are other ways to get your heartrate up and your body moving! Erica Garland teaches yoga at Sweat Fixx in Wakefield on Fridays at 1:30pm and in Arlington on Sundays at 11am, and while there are no rowing machines in a Sweat Fixx Yoga class, you may practice boat pose, as well as experience a mix of slow and fast flowing asanas to keep you focused on your body in the present moment. Erica has been teaching since 2017, and encourages her students to personalize their practice by taking modifications and rest breaks as they see fit.
Erica’s favorite pose is Savasana, the final resting pose at the end of each yoga session, and starting in January, Savasana is getting even sweeter: we will be offering complimentary cupping during Savasana to anyone attending her Wakefield classes on the first Friday of each month! Start your month off right with some added recovery after your yoga and experience the benefits of cupping - a decompression technique that utilizes cups to release tender trigger points and reset tense muscles. We encourage you to sign up for these First Friday classes early - they will sell out!
To learn more about Erica, check out our interview with her below, and sign up for one of her classes to experience her flows in person!
For questions about First Fridays or cupping, email kristina@fixxedstudios.com
What inspired you to start taking yoga?
I was going through a challenging time in my personal life, and my default response to any sort of stress was always to ignore it and keep pushing, sometimes to my own detriment. Friends kindly suggested that I might need to learn to slow down (they were right), and that deepening my very irregular yoga practice could be a place to start.
What inspired you to want to teach yoga?
Once yoga became a regular part of my life, I started to see all the ways that it mentally and physically benefited me. I wanted to share that benefit with others.
What is your favorite recovery service you've experienced at FIXXED?
Definitely cupping! I love how relaxed I feel afterwards, and how much less tension I can feel in my back!
What other types of movement/activities/hobbies do you enjoy doing?
Unless it's winter, you can find me in the mountains! I love hiking and have been chipping away at my NH 48 4000 footers and hope to finish them next year! I'm also a runner. Love anything that gets me outside!
How do you relax/recover on your days off?
Does hiking count as recovery ? Ok, ok, so I may not have FULLY mastered the art of slowing down! My favorite rest day activity is definitely getting absolutely lost in a good book.
Any advice to students new to yoga?
Just start. It's okay if you feel like you don't know what you're doing, and it's okay to adjust things to fit your needs. Meet yourself where you are, don't worry about what anyone else is doing. It's your practice, it's your time. No one else's.
Any podcast/book/movie/TV show recommendations?
Yes! I'm an avid listener of Armchair Expert & Sounds Like A Search and Rescue podcasts. Armchair Expert has a variety of weekly shows ranging from interviews with pop culture icons to experts in their field. It always keeps me entertained on my daily commutes from studio to studio! Sounds Like A Search and Rescue is a podcast about hiking NH's White Mountains featuring trip reports, search & rescue news, and more. It's my go to choice for listening to on my drive up to a trailhead.
