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August 21, 2002
Saratoga, California Since 1955 |
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Photograph by George Sakkestad
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Anya Kroth of Natural Instincts completes the second stage of the Trikona-asana, or triangle pose. This three-angle posture stimulates blood flow while stretching the back, shoulders and hamstrings.
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'Toga discovers yoga
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Mandy Major
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It's time to face the facts—yoga, despite
its growing popularity, is still largely
unknown and mistrusted. It has been called
both New Age and cultish, therapeutic and
just a good way to burn calories. Reports
about its benefits, from helping ailing backs
to fighting obsessive- compulsive disorders,
are churned out weekly, and yet a sizable
portion of our populace still refuses to
listen—it's too hard, too strange, and too
expensive.
Some believe yoga is the evil doer that only
causes thighs to twitch, while others just
remain indifferent, but there is one thing
that everyone should do: Find a qualified
yoga instructor and watch them. For the more
courageous, go up and chat.
Why? They're calm, gracious and fit—every
single one of them. And therein lies the
surprising, indisputable power of yoga. Flies
buzzing, schoolchildren yelling, and
coffeemakers clanging all appear nonexistent
when tenured yoga practitioners speak of
their art and, in turn, their lives.
Although yoga is roughly 4,000 years old, it
was not introduced into the American
mainstream until the 1940s. It took another
60 years to make its way into Saratoga. Two
years ago there were only a handful of
instructors, most of them driving over from
Santa Cruz to teach once or twice a week in
San Jose. Times are changing, though, with
several local venues opening their doors to
the holistic arts and a growing number of
teachers staying put and expanding classes
into Saratoga.
Teachers explained that the shift was due to
instructors and residents recognizing the
great need for relief from stress in the
area, caused by the changes in the economy
and its demand on the workforce.
Dancing Yogi, Saratoga's only strictly-yoga
studio, opened a little over a year ago. With
a subdued decor of cream walls and
rust-flecked floors, the studio is a soothing
testimony to yoga's philosophy of calmness.
Cindy Walker, who has been teaching several
classes at the studio since its opening, is a
yoga veteran. It has been 23 years since she
graduated from college with a degree in
movement therapy and subsequently discovered
yoga.
"I first tried yoga in 1980. It wasn't a big
thing in Maryland—it was still the quiet
hippie thing to be all hush-hush about and do
on the side," Walker explains.
But when she moved to Los Angeles several
years later, and she began studying Ashtanga
yoga, her life changed—and it continues to
change.
"I swear by yoga. It's been my god, my
therapy, and a complete tonic for stress,"
says Walker, who not only teaches at Dancing
Yogi but also leads yoga classes in Los Gatos
and owns a full-time catering business. "The
demands of working in the valley can really
push someone over the edge. This calms that
stress and puts things in perspective."
Marilynne Chophel, who teaches yoga and
meditation at lush Hakone Gardens, also saw
the local need for stress relief and
relocated from Pleasanton to help Saratogans.
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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Ralph Pickett focuses while practicing
his tree pose during Marilynne Chophel's
intermediate Iyengar yoga class. The aim of
this pose is to achieve the firmness of a
tree, providing the body with balance and
coordination.
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"I saw how much Silicon Valley needed to
cultivate a silence and stillness," she
says. "That's why I chose this side of the
hill, because I work where people are needed.
There was a great need here, and it's
important to bring a quality of presence and
awareness in everything we do—whether we're
driving on the freeway or in the boardroom."
This overwhelming sense of stress in the area
is cited by most of the instructors as one of
the top reasons they work here, but also one
of the main reasons they think people should
try yoga.
"The valley is so hungry for stress
reduction," says Anya Kroth, a native of
Russia who holds two Ph.Ds and is currently a
mathematics professor at West Valley College.
She teaches yoga on-site for corporations and
recently began teaching Iyengar yoga (the
most popular form in Saratoga) at Natural
Instincts. "We never stop, and we pay for it.
With this global culture, everything is
accelerated. We want everything to be faster
and faster, but the faster we go, the more
two-dimensional we become," says Kroth. "We
need to recharge, relax and reduce stress."
Those who haven't done yoga before might be
curious why people believe yoga, which is
advertised as merely a trendy exercise
regime, would help focus and soothe those who
practice. Yet this is at the core of yoga
methodology—to use the refinement of the
outside body to help the inner being. After
all, yoga itself means "to unite."
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Photograph by Kristopher Gainey
While in the Lotus pose, Nancy Jamello of the
Saratoga Recreation Department brings a
calming close to her restorative yoga class
with energy chimes, a singing bowl and
meditation bells.
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Nancy Jamello has been teaching locally for
17 years but practicing since her sister
returned, yoga-enthused, from Nepal, India,
in 1967. She currently leads restorative yoga
classes at the Saratoga Recreation Center,
and believes that yoga affects the entire
body, inside and out.
"Restorative, healing yoga has saved my life
a thousand times over mentally and
physically. I feel like I would have fallen
apart with all the different stresses without
it," says Jamello.
"It helps you keep an open mind," explains
Barbara Laux, a former nurse who switched to
teaching yoga five years ago. She has just
finished her first month teaching at Natural
Instincts. "As a parent I've been better able
to accept both the good and bad with my
children's actions. It has given me the
strength, mindfulness and peace to make good
decisions," she says .
For many of the instructors, yoga has not
only facilitated improved communication and
confidence at home, but with the community at
large.
"Yoga helped me take on projects that I could
never take on before," Kroth adds earnestly.
"The practices translate easily into other
aspects of your life. You become more patient
with people, your performance at your job is
better—every aspect of your relationship
with the outside world improves."
Yoga can, of course, be practiced solely
fitness. In fact, it's actually one of the
things yoga does best—several instructors
cited it as indirectly helping them lose
weight and making them feel much more fit
than when they were younger. But to those who
practice regularly, it seems becoming
involved with it at a deeper, more personal
level is nearly impossible to avoid.
"If you are doing it for fitness, that's OK,"
says Laux. "Just give it some time and stick
with it. Before you know it, it will end up
impacting every part of your life."
Chophel, who in addition to being a yoga
instructor is a licensed marriage and family
therapist, also believes yoga transcends just
the physical. "It's not just an exercise
class, but about awareness and the qualities
of inner and outer life," she says. "It
allows for an integrated state of wholeness."
Yoga lovers commonly note its ability to open
up the mind and allow for transcendence above
the mundane stresses of day-to-day life. It's
hard to pinpoint what fosters this, as
opposed to proving yoga's ability to tone,
when all you would have to do is peek into an
advanced class. Some believe it is the
quietness inherent to the practice, or the
level of connection felt between the
movements and body.
"It allows you to have time to be inside
yourself and concentrate on the great riches
to be discovered there," says Kroth. "It
helps you become content with what you have
by working with your own body."
"While in a pose you can really feel graceful
and feel how your breath opens up the body,"
says Jamello.
In traditional yoga, spirituality is a core
element. However in modern practice, with the
uses of yoga being so varied, spirituality is
not essential for the experience. The
instructors in Saratoga understand possible
fears or resentments concerning this, and
accordingly do not discuss spirituality in
their classes to a great extent.
"All of the yoga styles and instructors are
basically the same. We take different
avenues, but ultimately it's all about
self-awareness," says Chophel. "What is
important is the quality of the presence and
connection of body and breath."
Cindy Walker is very spiritual about her yoga
practice, but does not draw much attention to
that in her classes, especially in the
beginning. She also makes the distinction
between yoga's connection to spirituality and
using yoga as a religion.
"It is important for people to understand
that yoga is not a religion," says Walker.
"More than anything it's about getting in
touch with yourself, and finding a quiet
place."
To novices, it may not matter whether yoga
can improve their emotional well-being or
improve the quality of their life when before
them lies a room full of twisted bodies. But
it may help them to know that beginning
classes build slowly, lesson by lesson.
Instructors also emphasize the fact that yoga
should not be done competitively and the last
thing a teacher would want you to do is check
out those next to you.
"Just leave your ego at the door," recommends
Laux. "It's a refreshing place to be, and
it's OK not to do what the person next to you
can do. Allow yourself to try it and not be
perfect."
Fears or reluctance can also stem from a bad
experience, most likely due to an
under-qualified instructor or styles that did
not suit a particular body type.
"Many people don't realize how many types of
yoga are out there," says Walker. "There has
to be a type of yoga out there that speaks to
you; it's just a matter of finding it."
Chophel agrees. "I encourage students to try
many styles and teachers. With the increased
popularity, the sampling available is just
wonderful."
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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Students Sofia Poullada, Sandee Marostica and
Sophia Giles meditate on deep breathing during the closing ceremony
of Nancy Jamello's restorative yoga class.
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LOCAL INSTRUCTION
Saratoga Recreation Department, Community Center
19655 Allendale Ave., 408.926.6552
Hatha Yoga, taught by Nancy Jamello. 10-week
course. $94 residents; $104 nonresidents. Mondays 7:30-9 p.m.,
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30-noon, Thursdays 6-7:30 p.m.
Yoga for Youth, taught by Carrie Skelly and
Elanah Kutik. 7- to 13-year-old Fridays 4:15-5 p.m.
$49 residents, $59 nonresidents, for eight-week course.
Dancing Yogi
14598 Big Basin Way, 408.741.7084, www.dancingyogi.com, info@dancingyogi.com
Intro to Yoga, taught by Cindy Walker. Wednesdays 7 p.m.
Vinyasa, taught by Cindy Walker. Mondays 9 a.m., Thursdays 9 a.m.
Hatha Yoga, taught by Cindy Walker. Levels 1 & 2, Mondays 7 p.m., Tuesdays 9 a.m.,
Fridays 9 a.m. Drop-in $14/class, 5 classes $60, 10 classes
$110, monthly unlimited $150
Southwest YMCA
13500 Quito Road, 408.370.1877, www.scvymca.org
Seated Yoga, Mondays and Wednesdays
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Yoga & Meditation , Mondays
7:30-8:30 p.m. and Sundays 10-11
a.m.
Iyengar Yoga, Tuesdays and Thursdays
9-10:30 a.m.
Therapeutic Yoga, Tuesdays and Fridays
1-3 p.m.
Classes free for full facility members,
$55-$60 for program members.
Hakone Gardens
Lower House, 21000 Big Basin
Way, 408.395.9994
"Yoga and Breath" series, taught by Marilynne
Chophel. Iyengar style of hatha yoga.
Beginning level, taught by Marilynne
Chophel. Wednesdays, 10:15-11:45 a.m.
Intermediate level, taught by Marilynne
Chophel. Must have three months' prior experience and regular practice or
consent of instructor. 5:30-7 p.m.
Restorative Yoga and Breath, taught by
Marilynne Chophel. Works with chronic pain and disability. Wednesdays
1:30-3 p.m.
$156 for set of 13 classes. Drop-in $15 (only
for those who have completed a
series prior).
Natural Instincts
14435 Big Basin Way, 408.867.9670
Iyengar Yoga, taught by Anya. Mondays
noon-1:15 p.m. $80 for series of four semiprivate classes. Drop-in $25/class.
Iyengar Yoga, taught by Barbara Laux. Call for times
and prices. 408.399.0131
Women's Healing Group, involving gentle yoga
with Jeanette Gouillder. Call for times and cost. 408.390.5943.
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