Giving Back To The Community Is Part Of Yoga Instructor’s Mantra

By Nancy K. Crevier

Karen Pierce is as pleased to be teaching the upcoming “Yoga Mania” class at Newtown Youth & Family Services (NYFS) as the agency is to have the experienced instructor share her talents at its new space. For Ms Pierce, who is donating her time to NYFS for the four-month class, it is a way of giving back to the community in which she grew up and a way to get kids hooked on a healthy method for destressing and moving their bodies.

“Kids’ idea of yoga is different than what it really is,” said Ms Pierce, who has taught yoga privately and in various clubs for the past 15 years. “They have an idea that yoga is very ‘mystical.’ But the tradition I teach in is called Vini Yoga, which is a therapeutic type of yoga. It uses the biomechanics of the body, it uses breathing, and it uses a lot of modifications. Yoga can help teens really learn to feel their bodies during these years of change,” she explained.

By adapting poses to meet the needs of each individual, yoga becomes a very personal exercise. Regular practice of yoga can help young people destress from homework and other outside pressures that they feel, and feel good about themselves, said Ms Pierce.

No prior yoga experience is needed for the “Yoga Mania” class, nor is any special equipment or clothing required. “Participants will want to wear comfortable clothing that is easy to move in, but not too loose. If we are doing handstands, we don’t want any T-shirts flying up,” she cautioned.

Classes will begin with a game to loosen up the group mentally and get into the spirit, said Ms Pierce, and will be followed by warm-up exercises for the body, learning a variety of poses, and then end with a period of relaxation.

Parents who register their teens for the NYFS “Yoga Mania” might want to contact Ms Pierce about her Sacred Spaces business, an extension of her yoga philosophy. This consulting business focuses on aiding people in transforming their home space through better organization. It is important, she feels, for a person’s living space to be uncluttered and accessible in order for them to pursue inner peace. “If the outside is chaotic,” she said, “it’s hard to find the sacred places inside of yourself.”

To contact Ms Pierce for private lessons or for more information about Sacred Spaces, call 470-6969. To register for “Yoga Mania” call NYFS at 270-4335. Classes begin Tuesday, January 29, from 3 to 4 pm, at 17 Church Hill Road, and run through April 29.