Find Inner Peace with Yoga Practice
Escape from your busy day-week-month. There are a variety of places in your neighborhood that offer yoga classes.
Many of us enjoy a good vigorous workout at their gym, but not so many are aware of what they can get out of yoga practice. It can nurture your body, mind, and spirit. It could help people to find some peace and calmness.
September is National Yoga Month. Initiated by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, Take Time for Yoga is designed to get the public more familiar with the health benefits of yoga. Find one in your area.
Once you enter the studio at Franklin Yoga & Wellness in Franklin you will be greeted by a friendly and welcoming staff. It is an intimate oasis where you can choose from a variety of yoga classes such as hatha, vinyasa, gentle flow, kundalini. Plus tai chi, reiki, or Sadhana (morning meditation).
If you are new to this then gentle or vinyasa yoga are a good start. "Vinyasa flow is gentle which is a wonderful introduction for people if they're a little skittish about trying yoga," said Betsy Barry, who teaches this style at Franklin Yoga. "It's very welcoming and people can take it at their own pace."
The Baba Siri Chand Yoga Center in Millis is within the Ashram (community center). This studio is situated on 18 beautiful acres. They traditionally have offered Kundalini, but now are opening it up to other styles for the public. "Now we are going more mainstream with a variety of styles. We are adding chi gong, tai chi, Iyengar, and gentle yoga," said Victoria Haffer, Director at the Center. For $5 you can drop in for a community Hatha yoga class.
The Yoga Center is offering a free week of yoga classes to new members. Print out a copy of the schedule from the website: www.yogaattheashram.org. Try a few classes in their beautiful studio which is surrounded by tall windows that fill the room with natural light.
The YMCA in Franklin, Foxboro, and North Attleboro also offers yoga. Their classes range from gentle to power yoga. They stretch out the stress and strengthen your core. There is something for everyone, said Gina Lowell, director of associate group exercise. "I'm finding that some people are following up their workout with yoga," she observed. After Zumba, muscle work or Spin, people are adding yoga as a way to cross-train.
Team Fitness in Franklin also offers yoga and pilates classes. Exercise is their primary business, but they do offer yoga and pilates classes three times a week, according to Ashley Butler, marketing and sales manager at Team Fitness. For first-time customers, they offer the first 30 days free. This includes yoga and all other classes.
CircleWorks in Medway offers yoga for adults and teens. Judy Giovangelo, owner of the studio runs her business out of the Enchanted Fox in Medway. She uses the power of yoga to help people support themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually. Their schedule can be viewed at EnchantedFox.net.
In the past two years, she expanded her practice to especially focus on teens and their families. In the wake of her son's suicide in 2009, she started BenSpeaks.org. Her mission specifically targets teens and families to give them empowerment.
"BenSpeaks provides the tools. Yoga is just one of the tools. Yoga has the ability to support anyone to really come home to themselves - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And really get to know their bodies and mind in a positive way," Giovangelo explained.
She uses a combination of yoga, meditation, and expressive art for students to understand the power of their thoughts, words, feelings, actions, reactions, and choices. These are powerful ways to channel themselves.
"Today our kids are imploding on themselves emotionally through alcohol use, texting, sexting, drugging, computer games. We are emotionally cut off. Our kids don't have a toolset to go through their emotions in a positive way," she said.
She wants to help teens and families find healthy ways to deal with their daily anxieties. "They are exploding with their emotions by bullying or road rage or the final act of suicide. This is the culture we’re seeing. Kids who are emotionally handicapped."
The Health & Human Services created Yoga Month as a way to learn. Their website: www.yogamonth.org is one place to learn about the physical, emotional and spiritual health that people can gain from a routine.
Franklin News, September, 2011
