Yoga is changing the world with its teachings of nonviolence, humility, truth-telling and living the best life possible, as well as the other yamas and niyamas and the emphasis on presence and mindfulness and peacefulness. Right now, during the pandemic, local yoga studios continue to offer yoga for free or at a deep discount. If you’ve never done yoga, now, when anxiety and fear is high, is the time.
My own journey with yoga began when I was a young teenager and the show Lilias, Yoga and You aired on PBS. Back then, most people only knew about yoga because of the Beatles’ association with Swami Vishnu-Devananda and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. But long before that, Paramahansa Yogananda brought yoga to the United States, and in 1966, B.K.S. Iyengar’s book Light on Yoga, a complete guide to yoga practice, brought yoga to more people. Yet when I at Kent State in the late 1970s, my only choice was to develop my own yoga practice.
In a couple of years, I’ll have been practicing yoga for fifty years. Wow. People disagree with me when I say everyone should do yoga, but I believe in my heart and soul that if we can calm down and find the light that resides in each of us and connect with it, the peace we find will help us build new relationships and make the world a better place. I know if I practice self-care, I care more about everything I do, and that’s the first step to changing the world.
Today in Cleveland, there are many yoga studios and lots of teachers to share the yoga they like best. The best way to keep the studios in business, and yoga instructors teaching is to find online classes. This is your chance to get acquainted with different styles and teachers at home.
I did my yoga teacher training with Puma Yoga, and I still consider its predecessor, Yoga Roots in Lakewood, my home studio. Right now, the studio live streams classes for $10. Sign up through MindBody at least an hour before class starts. Expect high quality classes vinyasa flow, yin (slow-paced with long holds), and nidra (sleep) yoga with Yoga Roots, whose sister studio is located in Cleveland Heights.
Core6 Yoga, formerly Krysia Yoga, in Westlake, has traditionally been an ashtanga-style studio with a focus on poses linked by a repetitive sun salutation flow. The studio still has some power yoga going on, but the Zoom schedule is also filled with restorative yoga classes. Like Yoga Roots, the live-stream classes are $10, and class passes lessen the cost. Although I frequent this studio because it’s five minutes from home, I still choose it when I want to let someone else lead me through a class.
Inner Bliss used to be synonymous with hot yoga (at least to my way of thinking.) The online $5 classes are taught on Facebook. The schedule is robust, with five class offerings a day and everything from Yin Yoga to Hot Powerful Flow. Owner Tammy Lyons has been bringing yoga to the Cleveland community for many years and her teachers mirror that commitment.
Pink Lotus Yoga in Lakewood was among the first to offer online yoga with yogi Marcia Camino and her instructors. They now offer a full schedule of online classes, from Morning Yoga to Noon Yoga: Hin and Hatha to Weeknight Gentle Yoga and Guided Meditation. For now, all classes are pay-as-you-can to help support the studio while it is closed. If you prefer audio, you can download their Yoga Nidra and Hatha Yoga recordings to play along at home.
I spend more time with my personal yoga practice than in a studio. Yoga is part of my life every single day. What does that mean, exactly? It means meditating for ten minutes every morning by focusing on the breath, not the thoughts. It means lying in bed after the alarm goes off with my left hand on my heart and my right hand on my belly so I can feel the life force and connect with God in prayer. It means standing in tree pose while waiting for my coffee to be done and doing a series of sun salutations and warrior poses for half an hour before work. It means paying attention, being mindful as I walk, staying focused on the moment. And in the evening, it might mean laying on my back with legs up the wall, an inversion that helps me sleep.
Today, it also means teaching yoga at Rocky River Recreation Center and at UH’s Connor Integrative Health Network. It means choosing a theme and quotes and sticking with it throughout a traditional vinyasa flow class that starts with meditation and ends with visualization. It means sometimes keeping it slow and sometimes powering it up. It means asking people what they need in their bodies and in their minds, and responding to it from deep within, from that place where God resides.
Studies show that our immune systems are bolstered by good mental health, and don’t we all just feel so much better after a class of breathing, meditating, movement, visualization, and complete relaxation? I think we can have great hope for the world because so many people are practicing yoga, many of us every day.
Claudia Taller is a northeast Ohio-based writer with a special interest in travel, food and wine _ and yoga. Check out her work at claudiajtaller.com.
One Response to “Yoga: An Answer for a Stressful Time”
Susan Gall
I’d like to add Green Tara Yoga in Cleveland Heights to the list of studios offering remote classes — Iyengar yoga instructor Karen is even able to provide remote feedback to individuals during class