Our Story
​Growing up, gymnastics was my form of exercise. As an elite gymnast, I trained six hours a day, six days a week and took for granted that I had physical and mental wellbeing baked into practices and interacting with my teammates. Fast forward a couple decades, and I got married, had two kids and boom I had a family. I no longer spent time in the gym or training room and life got a lot busier juggling my career, family, and just keeping the household running. As a result, my own self-care fell to the bottom of the list. ​ Before having kids, my husband and I used to work out five (5) days a week. Then after our first child, it was down to once a week. Then when we had our second, it took almost three years to figure out some way to exercise regularly.
The Lightbulb Moment
The lightbulb came on one day while I was watching my older son at gymnastics class, looking around at all the parents in the waiting area, sitting hunched over, staring down at their phones, while their kids were moving their bodies, being enriched and realized there had to be a better way and that’s when SpringSpot was born. It became clear that I had to find a way to empower families to take control of their health and wellbeing and not force parents to choose between enriching their kids or enriching themselves. They should both be able to be enriched at the same time.
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Our first outdoor SpringSpot session with my younger son.
Although most of my career was spent as a technology executive, pioneering new digital, mobile and software products at companies like Apple and Amazon, my passion for health and wellbeing has always been there. Coincidentally, I had a health scare around the same time the lightbulb came on at my son’s gymnastics class and that was the true catalyst for diving deep into health and wellbeing. I became a student again and after countless hours of studying and practicing, I became a certified personal trainer (ACSM-CPT), and nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition P1). Although I’d previously been an NCAA Division I athlete, I learned so much more about the vital importance of exercise in longevity and quality aging.
Then, a few months later I was asked to be room parent for my older son’s class. I had to be seen by a primary care physician and when I finally found someone to see, I saw on her profile that she loved yoga. When I saw her, I asked her about it and she said as a collegiate soccer player, she tried several places and recommended a yoga studio that happened to be near my house.
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Becoming a Yogi
After I was cleared to be room parent, a month later I decided to try the yoga studio and had the most amazing teacher - he was encouraging, inclusive, and non-judgmental. He really helped build up my strength and nurture my love for yoga. I started going to yoga every other week, which turned into once a week and then twice a week, and then ultimately led me to signing up for yoga teacher training and finally becoming a yoga teacher (RYT-200, trained at CorePower Yoga).
It was an incredible journey and I can honestly say that yoga transformed my life. With SpringSpot, I want to expose more families to yoga and it’s wide-reaching benefits, both for the body and mind.
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The Second Lightbulb Moment
We were on a family summer vacation in France and the entire vacation I made sure we all were active every day - either running, swimming, doing yoga, playing tennis and walking. After the first week of being so active, one night, during our normal bedtime routine, I pulled out a book to read to my older son and he stopped me and said, completely unprompted, "Mom, can I try reading this book?" And he proceeded to try reading the words on the page. He just finished Kindergarten and had never done this before. I was always trying to get him to read independently, but I'm convinced that all the physical activity was also stimulating his mind. I saw first-hand what being physically active can do for a growing child's brain and learning. Then I started researching it more and learning about the science of exercise and the brain for kids. I realized that it was critical for kids to move and exercise for the benefit of their brain development.
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SpringSpot Springs to Life
I was fortunate early on to meet a few amazing people that shared my passion and mission for SpringSpot and wanted to help turn my vision into a reality. I’m very proud of Our Team for the positive impact we're making on the health and wellbeing of families. We saw the difference every time we hosted a class and saw the kids growing and thriving and the parents growing and thriving as well.
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Our first SpringSpot family sessions were held in the beautiful outdoors and we offered yoga for kids and adults. When winter came, we shifted our adult and kids classes indoors at a studio in downtown San Mateo. As more families started experiencing the SpringSpot family session - kids kept coming back for our engaging kids yoga class and parents enjoyed the guilt-free workout they got in a different room at the same time. We started getting testimonials like “SpringSpot is the best parent & child exercise experience I've ever had.” We started growing and getting new families through word of mouth.
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“SpringSpot is the best parent & child exercise experience I've ever had.”
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Then Covid-19 struck and Shelter-In-Place orders forced us to stop all our in-person classes. Although it was tough, we knew we had to innovate and find a way to continue serving our families. What happened over the following months was nothing short of herculean and a testament to the versatility, dedication, and resilience of our team. We quickly switched gears and through the right mix of creativity, collaboration and hard work we moved everything online.
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Just two weeks after SIP was mandated, we offered our first online class, and within three weeks we’d released our very first professional-quality On Demand Kids Yoga video. Then a couple weeks later we released Family Yoga - Minecraft Edition. We continued to create more content, including Adult On Demand Workouts including live classes Total Body Strength, Cardio and Core and Yoga Flow. Then seeing the need for mental wellbeing, one of our teachers that had worked many years in mental health helped release several guided meditations.
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Fast forward and we've now developed over 150 curated wellness activities based on our 6 Pillars of Holistic Health (FRAMES) to help kids, family, and adults build healthy habits and strong family bonds. Now more than ever, living a healthy and well life is not only important but a necessity. We look forward to helping you and your family feel your best, both physically and mentally.
Come take our quiz and take the first step towards you and your family's health goals!
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To your health,
She-Rae
Founder, SpringSpot
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