Yogi of the month

Our Yogi of the Month, Dr. Marjorie Arca, moved from Wisconsin to Rochester about a year and a half ago to become the new surgeon-in-chief at Golisano Children’s Hospital. She might be newer to breathe, but she’s not new to yoga and has been practicing for a long time!
 
We are so glad she discovered breathe and we also want to express our gratitude for Marjorie and the rest of our community working in the medical field, especially during the pandemic. Thank you!
 
MARJORIE’S YOGI OF THE MONTH INTERVIEW:
 
“COVID kind of pulled the rug out from under us, right? So our usual places to go for comfort, our usual places to go for peace, somehow [weren’t] there anymore. Thankfully breathe said, ‘Okay, we'll try online.’ I love the fact that we all learned together. Like [when breathe started online classes] the teacher said, ‘Okay, last week, this kind of worked for me, but this week, it didn't, so let's just try this another way.’ And I think it showed that they were learning with us. It showed that they're as vulnerable as we are as well. 
 
I would say that COVID changed us, it is changing us, it's still not over. But I think having the practice -- it is a constant. It is the time for you to just kind of say, ‘I will do this for me for an hour or an hour and 15 minutes, and I'll be a better me. I'll be a kinder me, I'll be a less-stressed me.’ And then hopefully I can send that along to other [people], whatever peace there is, whatever you got out of it.
 
In March, as you remember, everything shut down and at that time, I was by myself. I have a husband who's an internal medicine doctor. My daughter is graduating this year [from] college, and my son was graduating high school. So we made a decision that my husband was going to stay back [in Wisconsin] while my son is still in high school. And so I was by myself [in Rochester]. For months I did not see my family. Like celebrating birthdays, Mother's Day, anniversaries, Father's Day, not seeing them at all. And that's why my virtual community of yogis really was life changing.
 
I will tell you though, I'm old enough, and I've been practicing long enough, that this is not the first life altering thing, right? My biggest tragedy in my adult life was losing my mom about seven years ago. And I remember being on the mat and holding onto it like a prayer, where, you know, you just try to go through it. You go through the moments, and then you get to savasana. You just feel like everything is collapsing, and you just go, ‘breathe in, breathe out.’ [You] find grief and sorrow and face it for five minutes on the mat, just saying, ‘Right, this is my heart. It's broken. And, I'll come back.’ 
 
I feel like during those times, when I lost my parents, I needed to go to the mat. Just like I needed to go to church and pray and rage and whatever, I needed to be on the mat because I feel like that's when you are at your barest. You don't have to be strong for your family. You don't have to be calm for everybody else, right? It’s just you. It’s just raw anxiety, fear, joy, grief. For that five minutes, or whatever it is, where you can just be empty. 
 
The other thing too is there's COVID, and, you know, all the unkindness that is out there, and I don't think that's going to go anywhere. And somehow, somewhere, you just need to find peace. Because otherwise, it's all over you. And then the self that you give to yourself and to people around you is not the best self. Just finding that time to re-center, refocus, and then the world can have you. But for that particular time, it's you, being kind to you. 
 
I think that breathe is a palpable part of my life in Rochester. I think it's an incredibly welcoming community. Sometimes I'd see my nurses there and I'm like, ‘Hey, if you don't tell anyone how gross I look right now I'll get your latte!’ breathe is that friend that you have that doesn't ask for much. But whenever you see this friend, you feel better. You feel more than what you were before. It never takes away. And at the end of it, you're like, ‘I need more. I'm glad I did that.’”

“About two years ago, [my daughter] suggested I go [to breathe] with her. It didn't click all that quickly, but I stuck with it. And it's neat how it unfolded, slowly, but it unfolded. I would leave class feeling immensely better, and more energized, and really like I can conquer the world in order to get through this list of 30 things.
 
And I've actually like the virtual [classes], because I can sign into a class and although you don't have the people around you, doing it in the comfort of home when it works for you, and as often as you want -- it's really been great for me.
 
I feel you draw something from the instructor. They each bring something different and unique to the experience. I like to [practice] with the instructor online, if not, the audio works great too, because you can see them in the room with you telling you what to do and just go through it and still be present to that moment.
 
It's something to do for yourself, that makes you a better, stronger person. I feel I can then go out and do what I'm supposed to be doing. And maybe do it in a better way, and that affects other people. What I draw from yoga is being present, which is difficult. We all multitask. I'm trying to get away from that and do this one thing at hand. So you do it wholeheartedly, full force. The other thing yoga means to me is taking care of yourself. Making yourself important. After a yoga class, I feel stronger, both mind and body. It sets the tone for the rest of the day, or if it's in the evening, it just sets the tone for going forward.
 
I look forward to those positions that I know will be difficult. It's often in my head, and I try to turn it back to embrace this, embrace this, it will be good for you. Chair has really been a lot like that. I'm still working on crow. Sometimes you get up then it's just such a great feeling like, oh my gosh, it was up for three counts. This is wonderful! One of my other favorite things is tree pose and dancer pose. I think of trees and being in nature, and you feel grounded, you feel strong. And when you start going up with your arms and all that growth that we want that in every part of our lives. So I try to think about that when I'm doing [tree].
 
You always feel happier after you do a class, it's like your whole body smiling. You know, like we send out those vibes, those happy vibes. ‘I can do that’ vibes, ‘we can conquer the world’ vibes.
 
I would just like to make it a real practice in life to stay positive, to compliment people, and say thank you when the opportunity presents itself, because we all need that in life. And thank you to all who make this available so that we can do this virtually and have opportunities to meet different yogis and different teachers. A big thank you for all the good that's out there that people are sharing, both in class and outside the class.”

Yogis of the Month: Greg and Maureen


G: What I thought yoga was going to be coming in is totally different than what it turned out to be. I think because of that whole intimidation factor…but it's more about being there and participating. Showing up is the hardest part, not what you do when you get there. And I think a lot of people miss that.
 
M: It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but it's also very doable. You’ve just got to try it and give yourself some grace, which is really hard for me. When I went to my first class after about 10 minutes I walked out and stood in the back hallway and cried. “It’s too hard. I can’t do it.” I didn't want him to be disappointed. I didn’t want to be disappointed myself. The voices have pretty much stopped during yoga now and it's gotten a lot better. It's funny because when we first started, people said, “Don't you just love it!?” I don't know if I could say honestly that I love it, but I do know that if I miss, I notice a difference. I mean…I miss it! Like something just doesn't feel right. So I don't know if I could say I love it, but it's definitely become a part of who I think I am now.
 
G: I like the challenge. A lot of the balance is really challenging for me. I can see it's improving and getting better. And I like it how it rounds out my fitness routine. Before yoga, I was doing a lot of cardio and I was at a crossroads, so I started doing yoga and yoga works on strength and flexibility and balance. So it's more than I would have gotten from just a weight routine. The meditation is pretty interesting too just because it's something I've never done before and it's nice to explore that.

M: Yeah, it's interesting. Some days I feel like I've got more out of it than others but I'm sure that's just a factor of whatever's going on inside myself. Deb did a meditation and she had us ask ourselves a series of questions. I think she called it planting the seed. Like, what am I grateful for? Who am I grateful for? And then you let them go. You just kind of forget about them and sit there and when we were done, I opened my eyes…I had tears. I was like, wow, something must have released somewhere. That was pretty powerful one for me.
 
G: I've noticed that sometimes when I'm in a yoga class, I'm not thinking, I'm just going with it. And it's really great to not be thinking ahead to, you know, to the 20 wheels that we're going to have to do at the end! I definitely see the meditative aspects of it in other places too, like if I'm doing cardio and I'm on the stair machine. It's nice to be present and not worried about how much time I have left. I think ahead all the time because I work in the IT industry. I’m always thinking things through and planning things out. So it's nice not to have to be like that for a while.

M: One thing that I find very interesting with yoga is if you've had a killer, bad day, and you may walk in and your head is so full and you're thinking there's no way I can turn this off. You get in there and you just settle in and within just a few minutes, that's all kind of on the back burner and you're just focused on [yoga]. And you can walk out of there and it's like, holy cow, what was I upset about before? What was I wound up about?

G: I'm surprised at how good of a day you can have when you go to yoga at 5:45 and you leave feeling so relaxed and ready to face the day and get into work. It always amazes me how it makes the whole day that much better.
 
M: You feel light.

Fazeelah – Yogi of the Month
 
“My daughter is a big yogi. She's been doing it for years. And for years she has said, ‘Please, mom, do it, you'll love it.’ And I always thought I wasn't strong enough. I do have weak arms and wrists and I was just scared, you know? A couple years ago, I got plantar fasciitis in my left foot and I've never had so much pain. I couldn't do the treadmill. I couldn't walk. I couldn't do anything. So then my doctor said, ‘Well, try yoga.’ Honestly, I tried it and I can't say I'm 100% cured, but I am 90-95% cured and it has changed my life tremendously…and Birkenstocks have changed my life too!  
 
I started with the New to Yoga series. I took it really slow, like, let me just try this. Then I [did] the 30 for $40. And then I joined right away because it was for me, I just knew! In the beginning I wanted to do it right. I remember asking Amy, my New to Yoga instructor, how much somebody should come to yoga. She said for it to benefit you at least twice a week. I was like, ‘Well, I can come four times a week.’ And I did.
 
[Yoga], to me, was the best because I was just on my mat and there was no judgment and it was a community that I fit right into. I’ve never met kinder people. They were all genuine, they were all kind. It didn't matter what you look like, or where you came from --  everybody was so nice. I am kind of surprised that I took such a liking to it. I'm not an exerciser. For me, this didn't seem like exercise. I've never really been overweight, but I've always gained weight. I just wanted to stay fit and healthy and I thought yoga could benefit me in so many ways. I haven't really lost a lot of weight with yoga. I may have toned, I've always been kind of flexible but now I'm more [flexible], and the aches and pains aren't all gone, but the yoga definitely helps. I can remember one day --  it was so weird --  in the shower I just kind of turned one way in my shoulder blade and pulled something. I was dying all day and I came to Betsy’s class and by the time I left, that pain was gone. I'm a believer!
 
I like to be in control. All the time, wherever I am. So this has helped me to ease up a little bit. Sometimes I take a minute to breathe in and breathe out, and just step back. And realize that it's okay. Things are okay. Things aren't always going to happen the way you want them to. Things aren't always in my control. So that's how I'm trying to go out of my comfort zone -- by realizing that things are just different. They're not good. They're not bad. It's just different.
 
I listen very closely to what the instructors say because they have such good messages you can relate to your everyday life. It's really beautiful. I don't think that I would have liked it as much as I did if it wasn't for the breathe community and the instructors. It's kind of like in school. If you don't have that right teacher or professor it just makes all the difference. It can change your whole attitude towards it and it can either give you a negative experience or positive experience. I have to say that there's not one teacher that I have come across that has made me feel that this is not what I want to do. They've all been really great. It's the community and the vibe that I just love.

Joanna – Yogi of the Month

"I used to have a really committed yoga practice when I lived in Philadelphia – it was really transformative at the time. But then I fell off when life got stressful and I moved, so I was a lapsed yogi for probably 3 or 4 years and it was really hard mentally to come back. I had so many expectations and a lot of attachment to how it used to feel and what my body used to be like. I got started here because the schedule managed to break through a barrier I think I had – there’s always a class. So I can’t use my, 'there’s not really a convenient time' excuse. I just showed up one Wednesday night dressed in too much cotton for sure, and had never sweat that much in my life, but I felt very powerful. There was a guy on the mat in front of me who said, 'I hope to see you next week!' And that made a difference too – we now take class together every Monday.

I had a chip on my shoulder about heated yoga but it has transformed me in a way that a previous [style of yoga] didn’t. For years I probably hated my body…really, really struggled with body image. When I was doing yoga in Philly I was really competitive like, 'I’m too fat to do a handstand.' It was impossible for me to hate my body when it was doing so much for me here. It broke through…I just couldn’t believe what my body was capable of. I started to really observe how much it was my mind that was afraid and putting up those roadblocks.

It’s been a lot of freedom in the practice. Freedom in my body but also freedom from beliefs about my body or about who I am. I show up, there are no expectations, like 'come as you are,' and it’s been really cool to find out that I like who I am. It was really the first time probably in my life that I had been in my body and had that feel ok and this just took that to a new level. And I was not in good shape at all when I started – physically, mentally…and the teachers and students really embraced me for who I am.

The 30 days for $40 was just enough time to get over the heat but also embrace the heat. I’m a psychologist and I tell people a lot about anxiety and the fight or flight system and how just because it’s active doesn’t mean there’s a bear. You don’t have to run, you could stay. The first couple classes I was like, 'Run! Run! It’s hot!' [Laughs] And I still practice by the door just in case! It’s that practice in motion how you can have sensation and you don’t have to buy into the impulse. But it took a good week of doing that to acclimate.

It was Carly who said something that really stayed with me: 'What you think is your greatest weakness can be your greatest strength.' For me I was of course like, oh, my weight. I don’t take it for granted when I’m holding a pose. I really can celebrate the first time I comfortably held forearm plank. I have to work really hard with gravity and my body and it’s paying off. For me, because I know what it’s like to hate and take for granted my body, it’s so much more powerful to have these moments of, 'Wow, this feels good' or, 'Wow, I can do this.'

In my field I am the instrument of my work emotionally, mentally, and hold a lot with clients. It’s a real privilege. My [yoga] practice is a way I take care of that instrument. I think it gives me extra compassion even noticing that it’s really hard when your flight or fight system is active to be like, 'Breathe, there’s no bear!' [Laughs] You’re scared -- it feels very real. Yoga, similar to therapy, is working on your lifelong relationship with yourself. Talking has a definite way of doing that but the body has a lot of wisdom too. Sometimes we can use our minds and words to almost stay out of our bodies, so bringing the body in, I think, is key to healing, especially for trauma. Just being able to be present to my experience, in my body, and breathing has been healing for me. There’s lots of ways I try to encourage clients to do that.

In the Baptiste structure, something again that’s similar to therapy is this idea of the frame: there’s enough structure that you feel safe and held but it’s not rigid. From the lines of your mat to having an idea about what general sequence to expect. That is very much therapy -- having these boundaries so that in that space you can play freely. I recognize how important that’s been to me in my yoga practice and how much I want to keep providing that for my own clients."

Yogi of the Month: Carla Liberatore (Syracuse)
 
"It’s just such a beautiful community. I basically came back here a year and a half ago. I had moved out to California, was there for 2 days, and my husband – the person I knew for 24 years – said, ‘I don’t want to be together anymore.’ So I came back with one suitcase and I signed up for Living Yoga and people who I didn’t really know gave me dishes, and just helped me because I had come back with just a suitcase. I had no house – I had nothing. I wasn’t able to start working for another month so I came here 5 days a week and I just cried and cried through all the classes. It saved me.
 
I’ve always been an exerciser but this was the first time that I could do some intense exercising but also feel really relaxed. What happens in savasana for me is…[pause] you find who you are. You’re completely in touch with your inner self. It’s as if no one else is even in the room. During savasana waves of love, joy, peace, happiness, and kindness just pass through me.
 
It’s overwhelming because I’ve been through a tremendous hardship over the past 4 years and to think that’s what is still inside of me is just so powerful. Not anger, or bitterness, or ugliness, but all of these beautiful and wonderful feelings come flying into me. I feel like I’m in here for a moment. The hour and 15 minutes goes by in a moment because I’m just so in the space of being here and it makes it timeless. You don’t feel like you’re in time, you just feel like you’re in a timeless place of intense joy. Yoga helps me find and be sure of myself, that I’m still me. And feel whole, you know?
 
Just as powerful as the yoga itself is the people I’ve met who have become a part of my life, and those connections that I’ve made through breathe. Donna and Maddi…they have just made this place. When you walk in here they make you feel like a movie star, it’s just so nice!"

"I’ve been at breathe for about 9 months now and prior to that I had a home practice. I grew up racing motocross so flexibility was always important and something I always did as part of my workouts and training. It wasn’t necessarily yoga, but it was stretching. So I had a base of flexibility and it progressed more and more into the yoga side and then I knew I wanted to take it to the next level and go to a studio.
As a guy, to walk into the studio can be a little intimidating. When I did my search to find this place I wanted to go to what I thought was the best place and so it’s a little intimidating to walk into a studio of that caliber when you’re new, but everyone is so, so friendly from the moment you walk in with the staff at the juice bar, and the amazing teachers, and the community itself.

Something led me here – I didn’t know much about Baptiste at the time – but because it was heated it drew me in and then I fell in love with the Baptiste style. For me, the real shift was when I was doing the 21 Day Challenge and that’s when I began a daily practice for 3 weeks and realized how good I felt. So I’ve maintained basically a daily practice since then and it just keeps getting better and better.
At some point over the winter I did Demystify Meditation and added that to my practice. I knew the benefits about meditation but I just didn’t know how to begin. I needed a little bit of guidance and now I meditate every day.

Then I did the 40 Day Challenge and I learned things I never thought I would be able to do and I just keep working at stuff and it’s awesome. It’s challenged me, that’s what I like, the physical challenge. That’s what drew me in initially to the practice because it reminds me of motocross, of riding, because it’s moving meditation and you’re present and focused and there’s a sense of euphoria afterwards. I didn’t think anything could make me feel like when you get done racing, but this gets pretty close. Any other workouts or exercise just doesn’t compare.

I’m more present, grounded, and it crushes stress and anxiety, and improved my sleep. I like the energy of the class and being in the room with community. It’s inspiring and motivating to be around other people who are here to do the same thing and take care of themselves.

Now it’s something that I just make part of my day. I look back and I think honestly it was meant to be. For me, this is it. I can’t say enough good things about breathe."

Yogi of the Month: Antonietta Alfano

“I had a traumatic event in my life two years ago -- I don’t know how deep I’m going to get into it -- but I suffered from loss. I was very displaced. This traumatic event happened in my life and I went on a spiritual healing journey. The universe and the angels gave to me a place in Costa Rica. It was called a ‘Heal Your Heart Retreat.’ It saved and changed my life because the two people who meant the most were gone from this world. It was like, ‘Why am I here? I don’t need to be here.’ My daughter, one of the people who was taken, she was my inspiration to stay here on this earth and so when I came back from Costa Rica I took the healing modalities that I learned and really worked on myself. I was very isolated from the world but slowly by slowly I started to come out. About 5 months after that I joined a gym, and that’s where I found my yoga. I had two months of free membership so I tried it out and I really enjoyed it. Then I couldn’t afford it anymore so there were a couple of months when I had a setback.

I went to breathe College Town to look at crystals, and then I left. Then a couple weeks later I went to Greece and that’s when I met Lori for the first time. I said I was curious if I could afford yoga and she showed me the 30 Days for $40, gave me recommendations, and I decided I need to invest in this because it will really help me. I went to my first breathe yoga class in Greece and I thought, ‘Wow it’s really hot in here!’ and, ‘Oh, they shut the lights off completely!’ and, ‘I really love this incense, this smells good!’ It was a really amazing first experience in how I felt on the mat. It made me feel alive once again. Like I had a meaning to life.

I started in November at breathe so I’ve only been doing it for about 7th months now and I don’t want to stop. It’s my obsession, in a good way I think. It all comes together with my journey I’ve been on -- saving my life and then changing my life and making me into a better and more mindful person. And not just as a person but as a mother. I’ve been fighting for my [maternal] rights for the last two years to get [my daughter] back. And for the first time in two years she’s with me for the summer and it’s just…[trails off] So that’s something that I’m entirely grateful for. Learning patience and balance and forgiving myself if I make a mistake.

In tree pose mostly, just because it’s a really powerful pose, I release and I cut cords. It’s been a huge part of my healing and spiritual journey. Tree is all about balancing the chakras. I start here [points to abdomen] imagining a beautiful yellow energy from the solar plexus and I imagine it just kind of going around and then I bring it all up from the ground and I just branch out into the universe. When I can’t do that, I’m stuck here [points to abdomen]. I can’t bring it up - it’s forcing me to stay here. If I’m not able to balance, my life is imbalanced. Then I have to stop, sit down, meditate, cry it out, and try another time. This is where your inner power is, so if you don’t have that it also affects your root chakra, where fear is, or your heart, where insecurity is. So I feel like the solar plexus is: you have courage, you have power, you have love.

I am a professional dancer, so I’ve been doing ballet for 25 years -- salsa, swing dance, a bunch of dances -- those were my outlet, my freedom. I quit ballet two years ago when I started yoga. ‘You have bad feet.’ ‘You need to lose 10 pounds.’ ‘You can’t hear the music so I’m going to put you in the back.’ I realized I was not happy doing it and I started performing solo. Ballet is about perfection - yoga is the opposite. Ballet made me think I was really bad and I always had these issues with my thighs because they were so big, according to them. Yoga really helped me to accept my body and how it is. I don’t compete now, I just perform.

I’m just so grateful for everything. It’s unspeakable. I shaved the side of my head, I got my own place, I started yoga… I look back and I think, ‘You’re a badass! You’re a badass, girl!’ Not in an ego-sense, but in a way to share my love for myself and the things I have done. It’s hard to explain. It almost makes happy tears because it’s been such a journey. I took this traumatic event and it was like am I just going to give up or what can I do about it?

Don’t ever be mad at yourself. Or punish yourself for anything. You can learn from your mistakes and those events or situations, especially traumatic, will make you stronger. What do we learn from that experience? How do we change that into a different perspective? It will help you grow into this special, beautiful person.”

Yogi of the Month: Julie Bianchi
 
"I got into fitness when I was 29, and before that I was smoking, drinking…I was a hot mess. And then turning 30 I was like, ‘Holy crap, I’ve got to get myself together!’ So I joined a gym and my husband said, ‘Julie, are you ever going to go to the gym?’ And it was true! He was being honest! So I said, ‘Well, let’s see where it goes.’ And literally at that moment I started exercising like crazy. First it was all about weight loss because I lost a ton of weight and felt really good about myself, and I really pushed myself hardcore. So then I had both of my boys and again it was all about burning calories and what was the most efficient use of my time. I would do a yoga class here or there, but I never felt an attachment.
 
I visited my sister in Pennsylvania and she was doing a vinyasa yoga so I went to it and it was a different kind of yoga than I had done before and I felt like I was getting a workout. I literally had driven by breathe my whole life and just not stopped. I finally came to a class here and it was in the back right corner by the door because I did not want to be in the front. I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, it’s hot in here!’ And wondering if people would be mad if I opened the door! I just jumped right in and very quickly I became obsessed because it changes your life.
 
I felt a shift.
 
[Pause]
 
I don’t know why I’m crying but it was crazy. It was like a clean slate, you know? I think most people drawn to this are Type A. I got my master’s degree, then I became a mom, and I kept setting goals and pushing myself. And this just felt like a place where I didn’t have to do that. I felt guilty because my kids were young and I thought an hour and 15 minutes is so long to be away, but then my family was noticing. My husband and my kids were like, “Mom, you need to go to yoga!” My anxiety is through the roof when I don’t practice. That’s another thing, I’ve always been super anxious and nothing ever helped that until this.
 
I’m a social worker by profession. Most people I went to graduate school with have completely changed fields because if you don’t take care of yourself it’s not good. I absorbed so much trauma and honestly I’ve seen some of the worst in humanity. When I worked for the police department we used to get called out to homicides so I would see…and then do death notifications and stuff like that. You can’t do that and not be affected. I worked in the city school district for years as a school social worker and always pictured myself there but it got to a point where I never knew what was going to happen day-to-day. And the violence…your heart just breaks for the kids that didn’t choose to be born into this and who were born with every strike against them. It was so exhausting. The schools kept failing, and then they’d close the school, and then you didn’t know what school you were going to be in the following year.
 
An opening came up in Brighton, and never in my life would I have gone for that if it hadn’t been for my yoga practice. It was, ‘I’m not good enough,’ and the fear of rejection, the daunting task of applying because I hadn’t applied for a job in years, asking people to write letters, and then the whole interview process. It seems so overwhelming, but I remember being on my mat and having this strong sense of, ‘Julie, you’ve got this, just apply.’ Not that it’s easy there – school social work is hard everywhere – but it is a totally different and more supportive climate. Just something about yoga, pushing through the hard stuff in class and knowing that everything is temporary, that really resonates with me. And when you’re in a shitty time of your life you know that is temporary too.
 
For me yoga was just a game-changer. Now I’m crying again! It balances me. It opened everything up in crazy ways I never thought possible."

"Before I retired I always did Wednesday and Sunday and I tried to get one more time. Now I feel like I have to hide this from my husband [laughs] that I come 5 days a week! I joke with [my friend] and she says, ‘You’ve inspired me to retire!’ And I say, ‘Well this is my new job, I come here 5 days a week!’ I have to confess sometimes I feel guilty saying that I’m going to yoga again -- sometimes I go twice a day!
 
I feel more like a yogi. My downward dog is transformed, my wrists don’t hurt [knocks on wood]…it’s just completely different. And I love half moon! I don’t know why I love half moon. Every once and a while I’ll be home and in the kitchen and I just do it. Simple things like bending over to pick up a pen that you dropped! I notice in the car -- I’m 66 -- I can turn around and look over my shoulder and before it was getting harder and harder to do that. I’m so fortunate to be retired.
 
I remember Carly talking about when she started doing yoga and I think she said she did it for about 2 years before she ‘got it.’ I did it for a year and enjoyed it but three years later I was like why am I doing this? I kept coming back but I just wasn’t getting it. I wanted to ask somebody, ‘Why am I doing this? I don’t get it!’ But maybe 2 days a week just wasn’t life-changing enough. When I retired and I could come whenever I wanted I think that’s when it changed for me. From an obligation – to myself, but still – to something I wanted to do.
 
You feel it in your heart. I felt it in my heart. [Pause] That it’s for me. And it kept me coming back even when it wasn’t feeling great. So maybe you know it’s for you, and even when it’s not fun or easy, you push through it because you know there’s something there. It’s a practice that gives back to you. Maybe it’s like a relationship where sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s work, but you do get back."

Yogi of the Month: Niesdri Welsh
 
“In 2012 I had to get a pacemaker. I’m a very active kind of person – biking, running, kayaking, hiking -- and then as I started wearing the pacemaker I could not bike anymore because it feels like it’s pinching my bone when I bike. I was so mad. I thought, ‘This is the end of my life. I cannot do exercise anymore.’ And I was told to slow down, slow down, but you know if you’re active and then suddenly you’re not…it’s depressing. I was so mad at the world.
 
Then I thought maybe I could do yoga because yoga is about breathing. So I came here to buy the class pass and I HATED it. I thought it was so hot and I cannot keep up with my breath. This was not a yoga that I knew because I had only done Kundalini. I came once a week and I hated it. The instructor would say ‘pause’ and I would be like, ‘I have to move!’ It was so hard for me. So then I stopped. I thought, ‘Forget it. I’m not doing yoga anymore.’ So I didn’t do exercise at all.
 
And then in 2018 my sister came to visit me and she saw my yoga mat and she said, ‘You have so many yoga mats but I don’t see you doing yoga! Go with me!’ So we went to breathe and they told me about the 30 Days for $40 so I bought one for my sister and one for me. I came every day because it was a good deal. And every day my sister would say, ‘Oh I feel so good!’ And I said, ‘What do you mean you feel good? I feel so worn out.’ Then after 2 weeks I felt so great. So great! I was giddy – it was like somebody watering my soul and my body – fresh. And I thought, ‘Is it from yoga?’ I still doubted.
 
So I went to the library and the bookstore and I bought these yoga books and I read all of them and I love them. I understood more than just moving – I understood the purpose and the deep goal. Yoga is not just exercise -- it’s kind of like, be flexible in your mind and open your heart. As I read I began to understand and I became gradually flexible. I was so mad when I first started learning crow, like, why is my body so stubborn!? But then suddenly – lift! And, oh my god, it’s so light! It’s not the strength -- it’s my heart and my mind!
 
I bought the 30 days for $40 in August and I still come every day! I’m changing my body, and I’m changing the way I’m thinking. Usually I’m just rushing, rushing. Coming to yoga for me is relaxing and refreshing and like watering the flower in my soul. I’ve learned to become patient and open-minded.
 
I tell my sister all the things I can do in yoga and my sister says, ‘you’re too late!’ and ‘you’re old, you’re going to be 60!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be 60, sexy, and bendy!’”
 

“I’ve been practicing yoga for about 15 years. I started practicing in the Berkshires shortly before I went to law school. I needed yoga clothes so I stopped into breathe in Greece and I met Ryan and that’s it! Now I’m here many years later.

I like Baptiste yoga because the physical aspect helps me get out of my own way. It redirects my attention to get everything else out of the way so that I can just breathe and it essentially calms me. I love arm balances and inversions. Sometimes I feel like I’m more stable on my hands than my feet. I enjoy something about it…the strength or something. I’m so clumsy on my feet!
I do have a strong physical practice but I am also perfectly fine with lying on my mat and sleeping. I’m not saying that I’m the guru of getting out of my own way, but I think people have that struggle of, 'Oh my gosh what are people going to think?' After practicing all these years I’m like, 'whatever!' at this point. I work really hard at my job so usually Saturday mornings I’m tired. I really like my job but it is a total Type-A personality type of job and I have to constantly be on. So yoga helps me get back to me. I’ve always been a really high-strung person and I get upset easily. Not necessarily crying-upset, but I can feel it. The practice of yoga has allowed me to deal with life better. I respond as opposed to react. It’s mellowed me – a lot.

Being a person who has to do everything perfectly, yoga can be a little intimidating at first. But you just keep moving and you learn body awareness and you figure out how to move your body and it just takes time. You’ve got to give it a few tries. And different instructors land with different people. I think all of the instructors have something different to give. So give it a shot, try different instructors and just keep doing it. No one is good at anything when they first start and yoga is not meant to be 'good' – it’s supposed to be how you feeling doing it, and that’s the important thing. For me, my body feels good and my head feels good, my heart feels good. I know that’s super cheesy! But it really does encompass the mind and the body, and I don’t know any other activity you can get that from.

Yoga itself is good for your body, for your soul, for your mind, but this community adds to that. It can’t be just about the yoga – if I’m going to be going to a place on a regular basis I have to feel comfortable there. Everyone has been so welcoming and I’ve built some great relationships just being at breathe.”
 

“I’ve been practicing since about mid-July and I started by taking the New To Yoga classes at breathe. I thought, ‘I’ll take the 3 visits and we’ll go from there.’ I started yoga because I’m getting old – I’m 68 years old – and I thought I would try to improve my balance and flexibility.

I’ve got to be honest, the first class I took, I didn’t know what they were talking about! You know it’s like, ‘Keep space between your fingers, breathe in, breathe out, push your thighs back,”…and I’m thinking, ‘What is she talking about?! I can’t remember all of this.’ So I’m watching other people taking class but they’re all new too. I told the girls at the juice bar when I come back the next time to have an ambulance on call! But I finished the 3 classes and then I signed up for the 30 day program. I thought I would go as often as I can and by then I’ll know if I want to become a Living Yoga member or not.

I went through those classes and it was tough, I’m not going to lie. But I’ve adjusted now. I know what pose the teacher is going to call and I’ve been going 6 days a week. 4 days for the Vinyasa and 2 days Foundations and it’s working out – Wednesday is my day off. I also go to meditation once a week too just before the flow class. I didn’t want to do all Vinyasa because I felt like that would be too much and the Foundations classes help me with the poses so I thought I would break it up like that. I just want to keep making progress and maybe eventually I can do some of the poses that I can’t do now.

Even though it’s tough at first, just stay with it. It would be easy to drop out after a couple classes but it does get easier as you go along and if you stay with it you’ll get the benefits. I’m proud of myself. I definitely notice improvement -- a lot since I started because I’d be falling all over the place before! And, you know, I enjoy all of the instructors and they haven’t thrown me out yet!”

“Yoga isn’t my workout, yoga is my peace. It’s challenging, but it’s my peace. It’s the piece of the puzzle that I was missing on a regular basis.
 
I started practicing yoga probably in 2000. I’m a fitness instructor and a yoga instructor now (I wasn’t back then). Exercise and Physical Fitness was my Bachelor’s so I’ve always been interested in fitness. I taught aerobics and I had my own studio for about 6 or 7 years. And then I went back to school and did a graduate program and started teaching health. So the biggest part of my practice was aerobics and that sort of thing. Then (in 2000) I started looking more into decompression. I started practicing and at that point in time I became interested in teaching. And now I’m looking a little bit into meditation! It was really Cyndi who sparked me for meditation.
 
With all of my fitness training and all of the years, I really did not meditate before breathe. I knew about meditation, but I didn’t actually practice myself. I’ve been doing it long enough that I can see – well, I’m a Type A, and sometimes I just fly right off the handle without stopping to take a breath first. And this I’ve noticed [this change] because before I would jump into a discussion without stepping back and thinking, ‘Do you really want to say that?’ And so that’s what I’ve noticed, truly. It’s brought be back a little bit.
 
I teach an online class called, ‘Stress Reduction Through Exercise’ and students have to take yoga, and tai chi, and aerobics. I offer complementary yoga to students in the area who maybe can’t afford a class. I also teach health and before exams we do diaphragmatic breathing, or we do progressive relaxation, or a little bit of guided imagery, for maybe 2-3 minutes before they take their exam.
 
Many of my students have family, personal, and social issues. Sometimes it feels like they’re trying to get their education against all odds. You just can’t imagine… and the ones who share that with me, I take them aside and then I talk to them about maybe how they can change the way they react when they’re not able to change their situation. We talk about breathing, taking a walk, those type of tips.
 
I think a lot of times people have the idea [about yoga] that, you know, you’re balancing on your toes, and you’re putting your heels behind your head, and they say, ‘Oh, I could never do that. I could never sit still.’ And I say, ‘It’s true, it’s hard to sit still but that’s a component you probably need more than you need anything.’
 
I would like to encourage the younger people to do yoga and meditation. I brought my granddaughter when she was 16 and I think that group truly needs the exposure early on because the stressors in their lives are very different from my stresses growing up. It’s totally different.
 
My daughter-in-law was having a baby in May so I brought her a [meditation crystal strand] and I explained that it’s the chakras and all you have to do is breathe with each one. She never got to it, but my 10-year-old granddaughter came to me and said, ‘What are the chakras?’ That’s all I needed. I got the stones, I went through the whole thing with her and she now does that every night.”
 

“I’ve boxed for almost 10 years and I LOVE boxing! That is my sport. I started running to help me with the boxing, but my body was starting to get shot from taking hits and everything else so my doctor asked me to stop running. She said, ‘You’re killing your body.’ And I knew I was - I’m constantly in pain. Every time I try to get into half pigeon on the right, I’m reminded of what I’ve done to my body because I can’t do it. I’m reminded that whether or not I can always get into doing yoga, whether I love yoga -- my body needs it. It’s healing.
 
I didn’t know what else to do and the 30 for $40 was there so I started practicing in June. My past experience with yoga was not great – I did not love it. But when I start a new sport I promise myself I will give it 8 weeks. I will make no decisions before 8 weeks and I will do it for 8 weeks intensely so I give it a chance.
 
I think it’s kind of funny that anyone would have nominated me [for Yogi of the Month] because I don’t know that I love yoga. I’m not sure! It’s the least aggressive thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also definitely changed my life in the sense that it makes me pause, which I don’t do. I don’t go less than 4-5 times a week because as much as I’m sometimes not sure if I love it, my body loves it. I’m frustrated by the things that I can’t do because I’m ridiculously competitive so it’s very hard for me to deal with that but the only thing that has kept me from not coming is being out of town. Part of the reason why I felt guilty being Yogi of the Month is because I want to be one of those people that goes, ‘Oh my god, I love yoga!’ but I’m still working through the part of getting to love yoga, but that doesn’t mean I won’t.
 
There’s no question – my body is more at ease. My favorite thing is when I get an assist because I recognize that I’ve been holding myself out of the pose. Every single time. Relaxing is the hardest thing. I didn’t have my first pleasant yoga class for probably 3 months. And I’ll never forget when it happened. I was in my 3:30 Friday class with Lisa and she told us to do something and then she made a comment about ease and I don’t know what happened but my whole body relaxed and at that moment I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is what they’re talking about!’ I try to recreate that every time and I’m only partially successful.
 
You’re going to laugh, but I’ve never had fingernails before. Never. I pick my fingers from anxiety and stress so bad and my hands have never looked like this. This is physical proof to me that yoga is doing something. If you ever saw my hands before they’d be bleeding – I have not been picking my hands since I started yoga. I’ve been doing therapy for almost 30 years, but I’ve always had that marker of the anxiety in my life, and [now] I don’t do it.
 
Yoga forces me to make time for myself because especially in my field, I have a tendency not to, and balance is really important. I don’t bring my phone EVER to class. That is the greatest gift I give myself. I leave it in my car, I check it when I get out, but whatever is going to happen in that hour and 15 minutes, I don’t need to be part of it. And I love that. I love that my anxiety is lower, I love that I sleep better most of the time.
 
I’m a huge proponent of exercise because I used to be almost 100 pounds heavier but also I deal with anxiety every day with my clients and exercise is the best way to minimize anxiety. I preach it all the time, I have to practice it.
 
I love the Foundations classes. In Foundations I know where my body is supposed to be – I try to take it at least once a week. I want to be doing it right, I want to feel what they’re talking about, I want to be building strength, I don’t want to just throw my body around. When I started I didn’t take Power for a month because I don’t like not knowing what I’m doing and eventually I felt confident enough. After my first Basics class I cried the whole way home because I couldn’t do everything. I HATE that I cannot do chaturanga, I HATE it.  It drives me bananas. So my goal is, by god, sometime I going to do chaturanga, I swear. I will do that someday!
 
I love the heat. I love it because when I start class I can’t touch my toes. By the end of class I can put my palms on the floor. I know my body needs this because my body does things at the end of class that it didn’t do at the beginning of class. That speaks volumes to me and that keeps me coming back. And the fact that it’s work! I sweat! I sweat like nothing else.
 
The teachers, and the women who work behind the counter, the whole thing, are what keep me coming back. They knew my name within the first few days I was there and it was such a personal experience. They were so welcoming. Even after the 8 weeks I think what kept me coming back were those connections.
 
The other thing I love – I love that all the teachers come in all shapes and sizes. I LOVE that. Because coming in in yoga clothes is incredibly intimidating and I love that I’ve got a male teacher, I’ve got a female teacher, I’ve got somebody stick thin, I’ve got somebody who’s got hips like I do. When I saw one of the teachers first at Greece and I saw how she was built, it was so freeing. I was like, ‘Oh my god, you can be curvy and do this!’ Honest to goodness, I think that’s one of the best things about breathe.”
 

Shaun Parry
 
"In the year and a half since I’ve started practicing here, it’s just become a part of my life; it’s just the way it is. I’m here almost every day. Everyone else in my life knows that’s where Shaun’s going – he’s going to yoga! The people who got me to finally get into yoga and whose opinions I really respect finally said, ‘Shaun, if you’re not going to yoga you’re an idiot. Go!’ You know I was always trying to stay in shape and do different things, but then to hear back from people who have practiced yoga all over the country, every corner of the US and other countries as well, and who have practiced here at breathe, say, ‘You have no idea – it is the greatest.’ I just feel really grateful that my first yoga – here we are in Rochester, NY – is the quality and the experience you get at breathe. They say breathe is the best studio. And then that makes you feel proud to practice here – it’s fun coming here every day.
 
Physically, mentally, it’s tough for yoga to not affect every part of your life if you’re doing it. I know it sounds kind of cliché but it really truly is that. The more you put in, the better it gets. I have so much more fun and joy NOW than a year and half ago when I first started. More excitement. So I can’t wait to see where I’ll be a year and a half from now! I told my kids and my wife, ‘You guys, I know you think I’m doing it for me, but I’m telling you, you guys are happy that I do yoga every day.’ Because it affects the way I do everything else.
 
It’s unbelievable. And again it’s not just that [Cyndi] did it and you all did it and you have these buildings or whatever -- it’s the quality. She doesn’t just have 6 yoga studios, she has 6 of the best yoga studios on the planet, right!? It’s insane!!"

PJ Lin
 
"I love all kinds of sports and when I came to the United States I wanted to do something related to sports -- that’s why I applied for kinesiology as my master’s degree. 

I never was really thinking about doing yoga because at that point I thought yoga was just stretching and I didn’t really consider yoga a physical activity. But then in 2010 when I was in Michigan one of my friends who played basketball with me went to a Bikram yoga studio. He shared his first yoga experience and it was all positive things. So I went to yoga in Ann Arbor and it totally changed my concept of yoga and I thought that’s totally a strength exercise rather than just stretching as I originally thought. And I got addicted to it. 

I practiced regularly for 2-3 years and [then] I had to concentrate on my dissertation writing and I didn’t going to the studio that much. But we had a Taiwanese student association and a group of us (for some reason) would get together and workout. And every single person had something they could share so I actually led a yoga class. We would get together 3 times a week and we would switch and rotate and I’d always teach the yoga. Yoga helped me not just release my physical stress while doing my dissertation but also my mental stress. I considered that really precious time during the day when I could think nothing and kind of isolate myself into a practice. And when I [led] a yoga practice with some of my friends they shared [that experience] with me too. One of my friends is a very anxious person and after the practice with me he said, ‘I swear to god I slept all night -- that’s the best sleep I’ve had in so many years!’ and I thought, ‘Oh my god this is really helping people’s lives.’ At that time I had 20 students, friends, coming to my class. Some friends heard from other friends so they would come [too].

After I finished my degree in Ann Arbor I found this job posting and it was for me, for sure. This job not only asked for a PhD in kinesiology but it was combining every single component that I love like exercise, intervention, yoga, tai chi, wellness. I am [now] a postdoc associate at the PEAK Performance Lab. 

So I come to Rochester [and] I find [out about] breathe from Karen in our lab. She was in 40 Days at that time and she shared how amazing the 40 Days program was and how the practice helped her and when I heard that I knew I needed to check this studio out. And my birthday gift was a breathe gift card! That [same] day I went downtown and I joined -- jumping right in to the Living Yoga program. I was so amazed because the whole room was packed. I still remember it was led by Anita, so she was my first yoga instructor at breathe. 

Right now I consider yoga a part of my daily routine. I literally practice every single day. Since the end of April (I joined breathe last year) until now, I’ve probably taken like 450 classes already. I also rotate between the 5 different studios. 

I also use [yoga] as a tool in my research right now.

The yoga study particularly wants to target sleep disruption, like insomnia. The sleep problem could happen to anybody, but for cancer patients this is one of the two common side effects they experience, [it] could come from cancer or it could come from the treatment. So we have a 4 week yoga intervention that is a guided 75 minute session twice a week. The intervention is about 45 minutes [of] gentle hatha, and 30 minutes of restorative postures, meditation, and also some breathing exercises. 

This is a nationwide study and we have the research base at Rochester and we have so many community college and clinical sites that help us to recruit cancer survivors. We study how the yoga affects sleep [and] we can actually assess their cognitive impairment like memory loss and also fatigue. It is very comprehensive so it can also evaluate overall quality of life. We would like to see if the effects of yoga sustain 3 months or 6 months and if [the survivors] continue doing the practice. 

It happened to my anxious friend -- when he took a single [yoga] class he could sleep through the night. And I also find that in my research – it’s not just him. 400-some people all feel the same way. I don’t actually think it’s just the posture or stretching, it must be including all the breathing and meditation and also how you train your body and your mind to relax and calm down. I don’t think I can find any better job that I can actually still enjoy what I love to do and apply that as a tool for people."

Umbereen Mustafa
 
“I started my regular practice with breathe, but I was practicing in the winter months basically as a competitive rower. I would be outside when it was warm and I would come inside when it was cold, and this was when I would dedicate myself to yoga for 5 months. About 3 years ago I ran into a couple of tough patches in my life. My dad got seriously hurt, spent 3 months in the hospital, and it was a period of incredible introspection. When I came back to breathe I said this is it. For me, this becomes religion. Tuesdays and Friday mornings are going to be untouchable. Somebody will get the kids on the bus, and the world stops for that hour and fifteen minutes. I did it for a year and my practice changed, my life changed, it touched me in ways that I needed, and I found a lot spiritually and emotionally -- a lot of peace when I was in yoga at breathe.
I started trying crazy things. I started getting upside-down, and I’m addicted to upside-down. I really am. I used to say my life was upside-down, and then I realized upside-down is actually a beautiful thing. My life is chaos, and that’s not always a beautiful thing, but upside-down is beautiful. For a year all I wanted to do was be upside down everywhere I went. Outside, inside, and then it moved into the more challenging poses.
The idea that yoga is about flexibility is so wrong. It’s about control and strength and I rarely feel like I have control in my life because of how many things are naturally in there with three kids and two full time jobs -- also I do a lot of volunteer work because I’m an over-committer – and so, how you get control, and how you focus on just one thing at a time is what yoga gives me. I’m still not good at taking it off the mat effectively, but the same way it took me years to get comfortable with crow and that someone kept saying it and then I eventually did it and now crow is so easy, is a metaphor for life. I was terrified to do it, and then I did it, and then where do you go next?
I think about some of the poses we do and I think about how to be slower and find balance and that’s what I take off the mat. If I can really start every day saying, ‘How can I get through this day and feel like I was balanced?’ And part of it is just showing up. Part of it is just making sure I don’t compromise my yoga time ever. I have three kids, two puppies, and I felt like everything was pushing my buttons, but when I can stop and say, ‘It’s not what you’re doing to me, it’s what can I do to calm myself in the midst of all the chaos?’ And that’s what I take off the mat right now. It’s going to take a long time for me to change my personality which is overachieve, overdrive, go too fast without thinking, to slowing down, thinking before opening my mouth. Doing lion’s breath in the bathroom! I’ll do it with my kids sometimes because I don’t get ridiculous enough, and that’s just a ridiculous way to ease tension.
Yogis already know the magic of yoga. The beauty of yoga for me I believe is very different than what people expect from yoga if you’re not already a yogi. The stereotype of you have to be flexible to take yoga, that it’s about stretching, it’s quiet and calm -- there are days where the music gets cranked and somebody talks or some of the Sunday morning jam-packed classes in Webster we get silly and giggle – there’s a freedom about yoga that I think we all need to give ourselves permission to practice and there’s a humanity about it.
I love, by the way, I love, love, love, that meditation is included in Living Yoga because it creates an accessibility. In 40 Days we started talking about meditation and somebody said, ‘I had to cough and I didn’t want to cough and wreck everybody else’s space.’ But we’re all human, we’re all personal, and I think the more you force anything, whether it’s quiet or speed, or whatever, you’re ruining what yoga can be. Because at the end of the day yoga is about the people and what we all bring to each other in this community. And that’s what I love about breathe -- that it’s a community of multiple locations, multiple instructors, multiple programs, no matter who you are you’ll find something at breathe or you’ll find someone to unlock what you need. Give yourself permission as a yogi to just be human and get what you need out of it day by day.”

Mike Rumrill and Carolyn Rumrill (father/daughter)
 
M: My physician and some other medical people highly recommended yoga so I really wanted to go, but I was kind of afraid to go because I didn’t want to look like I didn’t know what I was doing. 
C: I think I took you to Carly’s class first…
M: Yeah, it was great. I picked it up really fast. I was worried about being embarrassed, but then I realized that everyone’s there doing their own practice and you focus on yourself. Although I can remember the first class I did and it was hard and afterwards I really felt it.
C: You’re an active, fit person, and you’re really strong, which inspires me because I work on strength more, whereas you work on flexibility more. You don’t have trouble with upward dog or chaturanga, because you’re so much stronger, but you get frustrated with some of the balancing poses or flexibility stuff, which is my favorite part.
M: Her commitment and dedication has been amazing. She did the Teacher Tour, and then 40 Days, and she’s been really committed to it. And it’s been inspiring for me. In fact, over the last 3 weeks when I haven’t been able to practice, she kept going and I was so bummed out that I couldn’t go out the door with her to go to yoga class.
C: I think the buddy system, like our example, is nice if you can get someone who’s interested to come with you. And you don’t even really interact that much in class, but just to know that they’re there is helpful.
M: Don’t be afraid – I know there are a lot of men who want to excel at things when they first walk in, and there’s no pressure. Nobody is really looking at you. And the instructors are so great at helping. In my case, I just came to a beginner class and after the first class I was ready to go! All of the instructors here are great. I think that’s one of the best things about breathe – it’s like a community here and the people are so friendly and open and the instruction is amazing. And when you have to miss it, you really feel like you’re missing something.

Q Bertram
 
"Throughout the years I would dabble in and out of yoga and I always wanted to do it but I was coming at it from a different mindset then. I wasn’t thin enough. I wasn’t limber enough. I would get intimidated. 

So I did the 30 days for $40, and I signed up right when school was over because I’m a school counselor, and I left the school year feeling really depleted. I love what I do, and the passion is still there, but I felt depleted as in I had just given my all. And then I’m a mother and I’m a wife, a sister, a daughter, a niece, and I give to everybody in my life. And when you give so much you don’t have anything left for yourself. 

This time my lens was different. I don’t know if it was maturity, I don’t know if it was something in me that approached yoga in a whole different way this time. It was where the counselor found her counseling. There were days I would get up from the mat and you couldn’t tell if it was sweat or if it was tears. It was so good for me. And I felt good. My body felt good, I felt strong. 

You get to know the instructors and then they start to spark something in you. You’re in downward dog and they’re talking to you and it’s kind of like this soulful medication. It really is, all of those things together. By bending I’m extracting all of the mess out of my life, and the atmosphere and my breath and the words from the instructors are pouring right back into me. Every day was like that for me. I missed 2 days that 30 days -- that’s how much I needed it.

I knew my 30 days were about to end and so I was having a conversation with Michelle and she was saying to think about what you spend in other places that could add up to Living Yoga. And I thought, you know what, she’s right. So I had to be honest with myself. I gave up Target to take up Living Yoga. Seriously. I would go into Target every day if not every other day and it would be like $40 or $50 and I realized my week spending at Target is a month at breathe. I can do that. I said to my husband, 'I’m going to give up Target for yoga,' and he looked at me like, 'What!?'

It’s powerful. Like it is so powerful when you put the brakes up and everyone around you has to understand that this is mine. It doesn’t mean I’m selfish, it doesn’t mean I love you less, it doesn’t mean that I’m taking anything away. It actually means that I love you more because if I pour into myself there’s more for you, right? That creates more space for you if I pour back into myself. Because when I don’t do that, I am miserable. I go on shopping sprees because I’m trying to fill something. I’m making cookies for everybody because I’m trying to fill something up. But you can’t through life like that. So when I found that time and I claimed it -- that was powerful for me. That was validating for me as well. 

Anyone who thinks about it or if they feel intimidated like I used to feel, there’s a reason that that thought is in your mind to want to try. There’s a reason that thought keeps going through your mind and you have to follow it. There’s something pulling you there and it doesn’t mean that you’re being selfish to want to do something for yourself. If you feel like this atmosphere and this space is calling you, if you are one of those people who come in to look at all of the pretty things and grab a juice, there’s a reason you come in all the time for that. There’s something deeper here."
 

Alex Peña
 
“Yoga was always something I was really interested in from a distance and there was a bit of fear attached to doing it, because I wasn’t very physical or athletic. While I was an Eastman student I was very serious with my instrument, practicing a ton, I was doing a double major so I was very overbooked, and probably very tense. I developed a playing injury in my ulnar nerve in my arms, which really was debilitating from my sophomore to junior year -- a very pivotal time for somebody in music school. [I had to] think about the long term, like, if I’m going to do this musician thing then I’m also going to have to take care of my body. 

So it started off just working with a physical therapist and learning how to stretch in a mindful way from a kinesthetic standpoint specific to my arms, back, shoulders, and my instrument. As you start to do any kind of physical practice you just start diving in and digging in and finding more. It was my roommates at the time (two opera singers) that said the woman who comes to Eastman to do yoga classes is really wonderful [and I] should try her out. At that point I was very afraid of doing anything with my arms because I had this injury and I never want to go back to that. So when I started yoga I was very timid to do anything on my arms, my wrists. I was one of those people who hated down dog – it was like, you guys call this rest, but it was terrible. This hurts my wrists, this hurts my arms, I’m afraid I’m going to break a finger, like, all of the above! And it just started peeling away, peeling away, peeling away. I naturally had a very stretchy back so I could do a whole set of poses naturally, like backbends and twists and natural balance, and I could not do really basic things like a halfway lift - or, the basic series that is Sun Salutations A and B. 

I started at breathe once College Town opened up and I was really attracted to the idea of multiple locations being able to fit in my schedule. I have 2 full time jobs within the University of Rochester and Eastman as well as downtown, connecting 7 different art organizations for a non-profit program. My schedule is different every day, it’s different every week, so Living Yoga is just so ideal for me because I can open the schedule and I can actually make 1 of the 20 classes. 

I started doing it more, caught the bug. I did two 40 day challenges and I think that was the real big shift in me. It really did change my life because now I do yoga naturally 3-5 times a week. And if I don’t, then I feel pain in my body either when I’m playing my instrument, or pain when I’m just sitting there, or I just start to feel, honestly, depressed. And before it gets too bad I know I have to get back in the studio. I’m somebody who works with others, I feed off of the energy of other people, off of breath, even those little teaching moments when someone asks a question in class and we can all workshop it together for a second. I feed off of those kinds of moments. 

Chaturanga was an impossibility for me because I was afraid of my wrists, and now somehow I got into crow, and I can do handstands. Every time I pop into something on my wrists I still think of that fear but I just breathe through it and push past it -- not in a pain way, but in an accepting kind of way. In balance poses you have to breathe and listen and let it happen. I find those are really centering for me."
 

Art Hirst
 
“I have heart disease. I had open-heart surgery 21 years ago, and then I started taking over the cooking because I wanted to make sure I had the right diet. My bride, Barbara, who I love dearly, is much more flexible. So I started cooking and doing exercise and then one day I asked my doctor, ‘What else can I do to take care of stress?’ He said, ‘Have you ever thought of yoga?’

So I called breathe and I spoke to Cyndi and I set up a lesson -- and this will help you decide how long I’ve been doing it -- Carly was just starting teaching. So she was in her early 20s, and I took 3 or 5 private lessons and I thought it was awesome, and then I started going on Tuesdays with Molly. Barbara caught my enthusiasm and she took some privates with Carly and then she started coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I think it’s been 10, 12, 13 years!

We both think that this is one of the best things we’ve done in our lives. Everybody here is nice. They’re very customer-oriented. They’re very pleasant. I think this place is awesome and it’s amazing to me how Cyndi has been able to carry what’s good here all around.

Of course, everybody knows my favorite pose is half moon. It’s more advanced and I can do it at will. Half moon I just love. That’s my pose. Everybody knows it! In fact, I did it for my doctor a couple of years ago. He says, ‘What do you like about yoga?’ And I said, ‘I love half moon.’ And he said, ‘What’s that?’ And I did it for him.

I’ll be 83 in January and I give full marks to yoga. Barbara and I are very fortunate -- we’re healthy.”

Erica Stuart
 
"I’ve been coming to breathe since I moved back to Rochester 11 years ago. I practiced regularly -- I practiced through my two pregnancies -- and then 2017 was a rough year. I got divorced, I started a new job, and I moved. So there was a lot of change. I actually stepped up my practice during that time. I started Living Yoga again, which I had in the past, and that was the one consistent thing that I had last year. I just think it was critical in helping my stability – much more than just exercise.

For me it’s like a moving meditation and it allowed me to just get back to my breath and be in my body. Feeling stronger physically helps me feel strong emotionally. I do all sorts of other exercise too, and I have for my whole life, but there’s something different about coming here that you don’t get anywhere else. I always come back to breathe. I’m always here at some point during the week."

Glenn Pezzulo
 
"I started practicing yoga about 10 years ago. I was living in Boulder, CO at the time and I knew there was a huge yoga community – in Boulder yoga studios are like Starbucks, there’s always one close by. It was never an activity I thought I was going to get myself into. But I had these 3 really good friends of mine who were all practicing yoga and they kept recommending it to me. I was just starting to run as a form of exercise. I was on this big mission to get myself into better shape because in college times there was a lot of partying going on and after [college] I didn’t take care of my body. So I started hiking every day, riding my bike, I started running pretty frequently. And my three good friends saw what I was doing and said, ‘You know, you should really do yoga – it’s a really good form of cross-training.’ One of those friends took me to a heated power vinyasa class with probably 40 or 50 other yogis in the room and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I immediately fell in love with the practice.  I loved how it pushed me and then I would immediately feel the results. After every class [I] had this sense of euphoria both in mind and body and, oh man, I want that all the time. 
 
I moved back to Rochester 3 years ago and my first breathe class was the day after I drove back. I was such a fixture at my old studio - it was an important part of my life, I really wanted it to be just as important with my life in Rochester.  So I drove out to Webster, took one of their classes, and just thought, ‘Oh, this is perfect for me!’ Yoga has changed my life so much for the better – mentally, physically, and spiritually. Once I added yoga to my routine of running and strength training, I took off, man.  I started signing up for races and my race times have improved so much with the frequency that I practice. I see how everything comes together through yoga to help me with everything else in life.  Thanks to yoga and everything else, I lost about 50 pounds all those years ago, and I just feel so much better for it and I wish I had done it sooner."

Julie O’Hehir
 
“My daughter is really why I do yoga because one summer she had been visiting a friend who had a cousin who taught yoga, and together they would go and do yoga. The next field hockey season, she didn’t get any injuries, which is really unusual. She didn’t continue doing yoga here regularly but she would do it from time to time, and no injuries. She said, ‘Mom, you should come.’ I said, ‘Oh no, that’s not for me, I’m old. I’m not in good shape. I’m not flexible.’ I’m so grateful that she didn’t give up asking. Because finally when she was in college and I hadn’t seen her in a while because she was so busy, I just did it to be with her. I didn’t know what I was doing and it was hard and it was hot, and yet it was good. So it just kind of evolved from there and I’m grateful. 

What I like especially about breathe is the extra little programs and activities and things that you can choose to do. I try to avail myself of those extra offerings if I can and it’s so worth it for me. I’m a home visiting nurse, so I see people all over Monroe County, but no matter where I end up at the end of the day, I can find a studio that’s not too far. I love being able to go to each studio that suits my needs for that particular day, and they’re all the same, but different. And I love that.

[For work] we went to a child abuse summit, our whole team, and we went to several really great talks, one was Francoise Mathieu, who is a known expert on trauma and people who care for others who might have trauma. It’s a lot more common than I think we might know. She was talking about different things people can do and she said, ‘You know, when I tell people to try running, or meditation, or yoga, they tell me, “I don’t like that.” And I tell them you don’t have to like it, just do it.’ I thought that was so interesting because there are days now where sometimes I don’t really feel like going because I’ve had an extra rough day, or it doesn’t really fit in my schedule, or my knee hurts, and generally speaking if I make myself go I always feel better when I’m done.

For me a lot of it is synergy between yoga and my personal life. It’s a different way of being a nurse for me, and a different way of being a person, and I’m still working on it, but I’m trying to meet myself and my clients where they are, and have unconditional acceptance of them. That acceptance is so different as a nurse -- I find my clients and I are more of a team. It’s more empowering."

Kim Phillips
 
“I used to do yoga at the Y when there was child watch and then my daughter went to first grade all day so I joined breathe for the physical aspect of it, and that’s the least of it now. [When] I joined I did 40 Days so that’s how I come – I always come 4 days a week. It’s like when you drive to Wegmans and you always park on the same side. This is how I come to breathe. 

Recently I had to have surgery and that took me out of yoga for 6 weeks. So I thought, ‘Oh, I need to meditate now. I need that outlet.’ And it’s been amazing. I have noticed that I’m more calm and centered and purposeful. I was just telling Cyndi last week in meditation that I hit this light at Jefferson and Main and usually I’m like, you know, [Kim made a great frustrated face here!] because I’m stuck there for several light cycles! But the other day I was sort of late (by my standards) for class, and I thought, ‘Where’s my fire? Why am I not freaking out?’ I was looking for it and I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t there. I guess this meditating thing really works! And with my kids, they’re 8 and 10, and they’re like, ‘What’s wrong with mom? Why isn’t she freaking out?’

I try to do 2-3 meditation classes in-studio a week, but a friend and I have been doing our own little 21-day meditating thing. So if I can’t do it in-studio then I’ll login online and do one of those meditations online and then we’ll check in with each other. Even if it’s 5 minutes it’s an awesome reset. I find myself looking forward to it and craving it.”

Molly Lawler
 
“It’s been life changing for me to be a part of this community, in so many ways. The fundraiser for Bill was just unbelievable. I can’t even begin to say how much that meant – it was overwhelming. I love that I can come here and really give myself 75 minutes. [Even] if I’m having the worst day of my life I never leave here without learning something from the instructors. And I really full-heartedly believe that I can take what I learn here, out there, to make me a better person. 

When I was away for so long just recently, I actually feel like I was becoming clinically depressed because I wasn’t with my people and my group and it was awful, terrible. So I’m so thankful – every savasana I take my blue towel and put it over my eyes, and I say thank you god for everything and everyone I have in my life. And absolutely breathe is one of the tops of my list. Because I really don’t think I could do the things I have to do unless I came here. 

It’s hard to even explain because it’s just so important in my life.“

Monika Schrodt
 
"I used to live in Peru & it was sunny and not as cold & I had family and friends, so when I came here it was very lonely. I would go to work and it was night. Come back from work & it was night. So I joined a gym. For the life of me, I can’t! No matter what, I hate exercising. I wanted to, but I couldn’t! You could not pay me to go. I always wanted to do yoga & when I came here I loved it. And I hate Rochester but I wouldn’t move because there’s no breathe!
 
It’s the energy of the space. Like we are all on the same wavelength. We’re the same. I also feel like I belong, you know? We all are so different & there is some part of us that is the same.  I don’t know how to express it…I feel like I’m with my tribe. It is not the same when you do it alone at home – it doesn’t feel like this kind of energy that fills you.
 
The people here are accepting. It’s like a home for me. I feel it is safe. I know that I’m going to come here & nobody will, you know, say anything like where am I from & if I am deserving of being here. So it’s a place I know that it doesn’t matter where I am from, doesn’t matter what I am wearing, doesn’t matter – these are people that are like me.
 
Some years ago – it was 2005 – I had a car accident & it was horrible. I was t-boned by an 18-wheeler. I [took a] Mercy Flight to the hospital. I almost lost my arm. I broke everything. So I never thought that I would be able to do an arm balance. The first time I did it I cried because I didn’t feel like my body would be able to do something after that. It feels like my body is strong & it can do things, even if I think that it’s impossible. Your body kind of shows you what you can do & with practice you can do anything.
 
I don’t know if people know or are aware of how just a smile, how it can mean so much. For the people who come the first time, or when you had a horrible experience and you come and someone smiles at you – I don’t think anybody knows how powerful that little thing is. That little sign – so little for us to do, and it can mean the world for somebody else. I try to do that, smile at everybody and make people feel welcome.
 
This place is for me. I am myself here. I’m not afraid of being myself or being seen. I can tell a joke and we can all laugh and be silly and I can be me here. I cannot tell you how much I love this place.”

Paige Gilbert
 
"Yoga has been so fun from the beginning. And I’ve never done a sport, or any kind of physical activity that’s been fun and engaging and something where I wasn’t hating myself while it was going on, and I found myself wanting to keep coming back. I’ve never been like that in my entire life.
 
I used to have, well I still have, really bad anxiety. And yoga, I don’t know what it did, but I find myself a lot less stressed, and I can handle more situations. I don’t know if it’s breathing, or just being mindful, but it’s helping me so much outside of yoga. And I’ve lost a ton of weight – and I feel like I’m not even doing it because I’m having fun working out but then I look in the mirror and I really see an improvement.
 
One thing that I love, that I recently found out about myself, is once you get to the point where you know the poses, you can almost close your eyes, and practice yoga. And you’re not thinking about the pose, you’re thinking about how it makes you feel and how you can connect with your body. I’m at that point now. In the beginning I was trying to remember what’s a Sun A, what’s a Sun B, or [looking] around to make sure I'm doing it right, and now I’m at the point where I can really connect breath to movement. Every class is so much more than just a workout. That’s what I love about it. It’s totally a mind and body experience.
 
I would just say: try it. Because you might think you’re not ready for it, but it can really change your life and it’s as simple as just going to class one day."