Ingrid Schaller is an excellent yoga instructor. My core strength, muscle development and yoga practice improved tremendously in Ingrid's classes. She focuses on a balance of upper and lower body musculature. She is easy to follow and a good communicator. Ingrid exudes concern for her students by continually changing the practice of her classes, emphasizing individual improvement and safety of postures, and working through the modification of practice to accommodate student's chronic conditions. She follows several known yoga experts and encourages students to attend their workshops. I am proud to recommend Ingrid's yoga and strength classes to people practicing at all levels.
-Alison Martin
Ingrid is primarily interested in bridging the gap between the yoga mat and real life.
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Hello! I’m Ingrid Schaller. I’ve been teaching in the wellness, health and fitness industry since 2011. I was drawn to yoga at first because my body did it easily. Gradually, I realized yoga could provide me with a guidebook to observe my mind. Taking my 500 hours of teacher training in the thick of parenting my two daughters, I found the practice illuminated my inner story and made me more self-aware. Even though I still cannot catch myself in times of high (negative) emotion, I can reflect, recover, and repair in my relationships.
My teaching stretched into obtaining my Pilates mat certification and working with TRX suspension systems to build strength. When the Covid-19 Pandemic arrived, TRX was less available to my students and we’ve continued building our home gyms and our own bodies with dumbbells, therapy band and body weight exercises. I’ve found strength work and Pilates incredibly valuable physically and mentally. Of equal importance has been my return to a mindful cardio routine, applying the same tools of presence to my running, hiking or step-aerobic activities.
Always the learner, I’ve explored other paths toward reducing suffering in my life and the lives of others- all with a merit of their own. But repeatedly, the mission comes back to how I can help people be in their bodies and access “meta” awareness- being able to observe our own mind.
My objectives in any of my classes are:
Know the level(s) of my students and provide accessible teaching for all
Teach students about their bodies
Explain the “why” of our movements and practices
Provide a setting to understand the basics and the opportunity to build on novice level ideas
Keep class themes fresh and intriguing
Have fun, feel better
While I can teach a class of solely strength, Pilates, or Yoga, I often teach classes that incorporate two or all three of these. The calm approach I bring to yoga, I present to strength and Pilates. In my classes, advanced yoga is not whether you can balance on your hands or twist like a contortionist, but rather you accept the challenge of befriending your body and mind. The mark of a successful Pilates or strength class is seeing an “Aha!” on the students’ faces after fine-tuning our attention to the intended muscles.
The trajectory of my journey in wellness has led to an appreciation of and dedication to meditation. While my meditation practice may wax and wane, my movement practices continue to cultivate the ability for me to sit in formal meditation. Like reading or hiking, meditation is another hobby or tool I can turn to in times of high emotion, big decisions, erratic schedules, or bad news.
I love sharing the insights of these practices with my students and colleagues. We all have more to learn, ways to grow, and hurdles to overcome. We can encourage each other to go beyond the superficial rewards of a good workout to cultivate the deeper knowledge and wisdom of our inner beings.