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Date: 11/12/2020
GRANBY – A yoga and pilates studio in Granby is offering residents a chance to give back to their community while embarking on a health journey of their own.
Heidi MacEwen opened Total Body Yoga and Pilates (TBYP) on 185 West State St. a little over eight years ago in July of 2012. She said for as long as the barefoot studio has been open she’s made an effort to give back to the community that supports her.
“When we opened up, I knew I wanted to give back,” she said.
One of the ways she’s given back over the years, she said, has been by hosting community yoga classes. “I’ve been doing community yoga classes once a month, depending on how time was, at least quarterly though. I’d go and offer a free yoga class,” she said. “They could come for free if they brought canned goods for Neighbors Helping Neighbors in South Hadley.”
She said when the pandemic hit, she was forced to close her doors and transition her classes online. This, McEwan said, prevented her from hosting the community classes she used to provide support for the food pantry.
“When COVID hit, that kind of put a little crimp on a gathering, a way to raise funds for the food pantry. I think I shut the doors on March 19 or 20, which was a Friday, and Saturday I did my first Zoom class,” she said. “I just shifted to stay connected. [But] that didn’t give us the ability to gather or support or do something for the community.”
She said as Thanksgiving approached she found herself thinking of a way to still give back and continue to help people along their health journey. She said this is how the TBYP Turkey Trot Challenge began. She said soon after partnering with a company following a switch to online classes to help accommodate people’s schedules, the company came out with a brand new running program.
“This company came out with this brand new running program. As a barefoot studio and yoga instructor I had to go out and buy a pair of running sneakers,” she said, laughing. “As a group, we’re following a program. It’s a 30-day training program, and staying connected virtually.”
She said the program consists of “strength training our body, stretching our core and learning how to run safely and move and step away from our computers.”
However, she said working out was only half the balance, and she wanted to incorporate nutrition into the challenge as well.
“I knew that fitness was only one piece of the whole health and wellness. I really wanted the nutrition component to this, making sure people are eating healthy and fueling their body in a positive way,” she said.
MacEwen said for a few years she’s run an accountability group for nutrition that meets once a week. “It’s called Transform my Mind Plate and Body. It’s a way to stay positive and have a healthy relationship with food, to fuel the body and to stay healthy,” she said. This group, she said, also transitioned to meeting virtually when the coronavirus hit.
MacEwen said when she partnered with the company that created the running program, she also became certified through their nutrition program. “The company is amazing, they have a strong nutrition component. I’ve been certified as a mentor and master coach for nutrition,” she said.
She said each person participating in the challenge has been following the 30-day running program, which they began on Oct. 26, and anyone over the age of 18 can also sign up for the program to participate in the challenge. When asked about the cost of the program, MacEwen said she couldn’t give an approximate cost as it varied.
“There are different levels, there are different kind of ways to do it, so there’s not a base cost. If you can bundle the services you get the best deal, but I don’t want to put a cost on health and wellness,” she said. She said those participating in the groups plan to finish the program during the week of Thanksgiving and celebrate by participating in a virtual 5K.
MacEwen said for each person that signs up for the program and joins, the studio will donate $10 to Neighbors Helping Neighbors. She said at the time of press, about $150 had been raised to donate to the food pantry. This, she said, would help the pantry as Neighbors Helping Neighbors had the ability to turn a little bit of money into a significant amount of food.
“The other thing is, canned goods are wonderful, but the pantry has the ability – they can switch $1 over to 14 pounds of food,” she said.
MacEwen added that while she didn’t currently have a collection box out for canned food donations, she was willing to put one out in the studio if people were interested in dropping off donations for the pantry. However, she added that people were also welcome to take their food donations directly to the food pantry located at 30 Carew St. in South Hadley.
She said while she would host the run annually, she thinks in the future spring may be a better time of year to host the virtual challenge. “With this weather, I like the spring better,” she said, laughing. “It’s been fun, and it’s something we’ve not done before.”
More information about the program and the virtual challenge can be found online at https://mailchi.mp/2495e797c90f/youre-invited-to-join-the-tbyp-turkey-trot?fbclid=IwAR0gk4Iego1QKjn6XRU4cOQzTvMdc9ivBdlrjKh4R1E1SnyIOhTF10M_9VA. Those interested in joining the challenge should email McEwan at Heidi@TBYPFitness.com.