Instructor Intro: Meet Alessandra Flores

The Recreation Department would like to highlight one of our amazing instructors, Alessandra Flores! Alessandra is CEO and Founder of Sol Realm Yoga and taught our Girls Empowerment Yoga class for teens this past spring. She has a recreation background as a former recreation specialist with the Montgomery County Recreation Department and recently pursued her passion for interior design while focusing on creating a variety of yoga classes for youth. Please take a few moments to get to know Ms. Alessandra Flores.

Where does your passion for yoga come from?

I found my passion for yoga in a hopeless place. I found and understood the meaning of yoga during the pandemic when everything felt dark, and the world felt like it suddenly stopped. I discovered a new meaning of self-confidence, awareness, and self-love. As a certified Teen Life Coach and Youth Advocate, I now use yoga to help empower teens with self-confidence, increase mental awareness, and encourage ambition and goal setting.

Why is it important for young people to have access to yoga?

Many consider yoga to be a fitness program that requires you to be flexible and able to bend in difficult positions. Yoga is beyond flexibility! Yoga and other wellness programs are important for youth because they help develop body awareness, manage stress through breathing, meditation, and movement, build concentration, increase confidence and positive self-image, and allow youth to feel a part of a group.

What do you hope participants will take away from your class?

I hope participants learn to be patient with themselves, remembering to breathe in through their bellies and out through their noses or mouths, relaxing their shoulders with every breath. Breathing through certain situations can change the outcome!

How do you know when you’ve had a successful class?

Some determine success based on the number of participants you receive in your program. Others determine success based on the emotional, physical, and mental changes you begin to see with your students. When parents and teachers approach me with how they’ve noticed a positive change in their students, that lets me know I am reaching them, and they trust me. Ultimately my goal is for all my participants to feel better about themselves in whatever capacity they came to the program with.

What other hobbies or interests do you have?

I love reading, playing and coaching basketball, hiking, and gardening.

This article was featured in the July 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.