Stretch the Horizons

One Friday afternoon I drove to my favorite yoga studio on Balltown Road, taking my usual route past Union College and Niskayuna High School. But instead of the quiet ride I’m used to, I enjoyed the lively chatter of a car full of women, on their way to the studio for the first time.

Soluna Yoga is a wonderful respite outside of the busy streets of Schenectady and the bustling grocery stores and strip malls of the suburbs. It is owned and operated by Certified Yoga Instructor Lisa Alexander who, this past Friday, opened her studio to eight women from the City Mission.

The women who were invited represent a population that traditionally does not have access to or resources for the fifteen dollar classes, in a studio which is located far from any bus line. And while our adventure was seen as a rare and special occasion, it is an experience that I hope will come again soon.

Lisa had been wanting to bring her work as a yoga instructor to inner city Schenectady, through a commitment to the yogic principle of sevas, or service. And since the City Mission is equally committed to that outward expression of faith, a board member, who is also one of Lisa’s students, proposed that the residents of the women’s shelter be exposed to the life affirming practice of yoga.

As a member of the City Mission staff and a lifelong student of yoga, I was thrilled by the opportunity to share in this new venture. So, on Friday afternoon we set out toward new horizons, with a plastic crate full of recently donated exercise mats in my trunk and the feeling of satisfaction I get when two seemingly distant worlds are drawn together.

As we climbed the stairs to the second floor of the medical office building where Soluna is located, I explained to the ladies that we would enter quietly, place our shoes in the hallway and find a spot on the hardwood floor, waiting patiently for all to enter.

The ladies were struck by the photos hung on the wall among coat hooks and shelves of pillows and blankets. The black and white pictures featured fiercely strong women in a variety of yoga poses, standing calm and assured in an ever changing world. One of the women pulled out her cell phone and snapped a photo of one of the images.

Others gasped as they entered the studio, amazed by how bright and open the space was. They greeted Lisa, who sat peacefully in the front of the room, allowing the ladies to adjust to the new environment, each in their own way.

As I lay on my own mat in the impeccably clean wood floor studio, I remembered the first time I returned to yoga this fall. I had spent the previous year stretching my tight back and tired legs on the cement floor of my small bedroom in my host family’s house in Peru.

Before coming home, I left my tattered purple mat with another volunteer I had met during the year. We both agreed that the five feet by two feet rectangle provided our only pure moments of solitude during a time of confusion and unfamiliarity.

Far from that world of disorientation, I now shared a room with women from very different walks of life, women who I have become close to and have learned from. I have heard their stories of loss and devastation, addiction and desperation. I am now seeing their lives transform, if only one small step at a time, yet it is clear that each is in a new place in her life.

Together, we enjoyed an hour of laughter, movement and breathing. We shared space that welcomed each of us where we were. We listened to the guiding words of our instructor who consistently reminded us to listen to our bodies and to remember that each of us has something unique and personal to offer.

Lisa closed the class as she always does, with the students laying on their backs in shavasana, a Sanskrit word meaning “corpse pose.” While the room appeared to be filled with lifeless and exhausted bodies, with palms spread open and feet collapsed to the sides, the room was in fact filled with life. The only sound one could hear was the steady wind of our own exhalations, which overshadowed the distant rush of traffic outside.

Lisa drew us back into consciousness with a small bell, waking our senses and returning us to the present moment. Following her direction, we bowed our heads in gratitude to God and to each other, voicing the word namaste, “that which is sacred in me, honors that which is sacred in you.”