County Expands Free Yoga, Zumba Classes for Employees
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An instructor leads County employees at the first free yoga class offered at the County Administration Center this week.Like so many people, Denisse Macias struggled to carve time out of her busy schedule for exercise.
An imaging technician in the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s office, she stopped going to yoga classes and the gym.
“I’ve always had an excuse to not go,” she said. “I have so many things to do after work.”
Macias said she’s run out of excuses, and she’s glad. The County has made it too easy to fit in exercise now. This week, a series of free yoga and Zumba classes began at her office building—the County Administration Center. She attended the first yoga session on Tuesday night and said she loved it.
“I just thought it was great,” she said. “It’s right there. It’s free. Just change one thing on your schedule and you can make it.”
In the coming weeks, the popular, 60 minute classes will launch at four more County locations: Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility in Santee (655 Park Center Dr.), HHSA’s North Inland Regional Center in Escondido (600 East Valley Pkwy.), HHSA’s South Region Center in Chula Vista (690 Oxford St.) and the El Cajon Public Library (201 E. Douglas). To sign up, visit LMS.
The classes began in mid-January as a pilot project at HHSA’s Health Services Complex on Rosecrans (3851 Rosecrans St.) and the County Operations Center (5520 Overland Ave., SD). They will run until Feb. 22 and March 19 respectively.
Classes are taught by professional instructors arranged through health insurance carrier Anthem Blue Cross.
At the first session at the CAC this week, instructor Tara Eby asked the nearly 40 participants if any had tried yoga before, and only a few hands rose. She encouraged participants to move at a pace they were comfortable with and to pay attention to their bodies. She led the group in a lot of stretching moves, breathing and taught basic poses such as downward dog, bridge and warrior.
Turnout has been good at the classes, averaging around 40 employees per class at the COC and 20-25 at Rosecrans, said William Erese, the County’s Wellness Coordinator. A waiting list was set up for every COC class, he said.
Erese said interest was so strong in the new set of classes that within a half an hour of letting employees know, 30 people had already signed up for every class at the CAC.
Some employees want to exercise but by the time they get home, their motivation levels have waned, Erese said.
“That obstacle is gone,” he said. “They don’t need to leave the premises now. They can just go change, and the class is three or four minutes away from their workstation.”
Other employees haven’t ever exercised regularly and are drawn by the camaraderie with co-workers. Still others already work out regularly and see the classes as a convenient way to fit in exercise.
After the initial pilot program ends in March, Human Resources staff will reassess how it went. They will look at which locations to continue to offer the classes, and whether to tweak class subjects. Boot camp or meditation classes could be possibilities, Erese said.
Macias said she already had her own gear for yoga, including a mat. She just had to “shake the dust off of it” after two years of no use. But it all came back, just like riding a bike, she said.
An unexpected benefit Macias discovered? When she left work after class the other night at 6:15 p.m., there was no traffic.
“I only got home a half hour later” than I normally do, she said.
