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Editor’s Note: “Shaped By COVID-19” is a weekly series designed to help you stay active while you’re homebound with workouts from some of Denver’s leading fitness and wellness professionals. Got a fitness tip or favorite studio? Email us at digital@5280.com.
The gym: Ohana Yoga + Barre
Year founded: 2017
The trainer: Alyssa Manny, founder
Favorite COVID-appropriate rest day activity: Reading. Manny just finished a field guide about falconry. A skydiving jump master, she has an affinity for animals that can fly. “To quote Da Vinci,” she says, “‘Once you experience the sky, your eyes will forever be turned upward.’”
Ohana Yoga + Barre was built on the principle of community (“ohana” is a Hawaiian term for family). And, boy, do we all need a little community right now. That’s part of the reason founder Alyssa Manny still leads classes from inside the Tennyson Street studio via livestream. “It’s like a little piece of home,” she says. (Don’t worry, she’s the only one using the facility.) Manny, who opened the studio three years ago, was already in the process of working with software developers to expand Ohana’s livestream capabilities in the future. Then the coronavirus shut down her studio on March 13, and, she says, “the future happened in 24 hours.”
Today, Ohana livestreams between four and six classes a day, offering the same variety of courses the brick-and-mortar studio did when it was open, among them barre, yoga flow, yoga FiiT (think: interval training meets yoga), and restorative sessions. “Drop-in” classes are $10 (register in advance), or you can sign up for unlimited livestream classes ($139 per month) as a full-time member of the Ohana community. “It’s a community that’s about positivity. It’s about light, and it’s how about we can live our best lives,” Manny says. “Movement is a huge part of that.” To that end, Manny put together this ab- and leg-sculpting short course to help you and your ohana get moving.
Workout Type: Barre
Muscle Focus: Legs, core
Duration: 25 minutes
Workout: Manny and instructor Devon Barrow lead you through this no-equipment-necessary barre workout, calling out the specific anatomy you’re using along the way. Manny is knowledgeable, encouraging, and her cues are easy to follow even if you don’t have much experience with barre. Click the video to start, or visit Ohana’s YouTube channel for this workout and a few other short sessions. Want more? Manny and other Ohana instructors lead live classes every day; view the schedule here.
