Yoga pose with yoga toes.
Unraveling their rubber mats, classmates join together before the next class. From downward dog to warrior pose, each person places their hands on the mat, allowing themselves to become completely immersed in the world of yoga, absent of judgment and egos. As quiet music hums in the background, the rhythm and flow of each pose becomes seamless. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Yoga is more than just a class for some people — it’s a lifestyle, full of lifelong benefits. And, yoga is a common practice in Moscow, whether it be on University of Idaho’s campus or downtown at a local studio.
Throughout Moscow, both on campus and off, there is a community of people who have found a way to strengthen and heal their bodies, as well as soothe their minds. Since the spread of yoga throughout the world, it has taken on new adaptations to each culture it encounters.
Every day, people on the Palouse find ways to allow yoga to not only influence them momentarily during practice or class, but impact them long term. Yoga allows people to discover ways to process their emotions and overcome hardships.
Participants do a chair pose variation during the Awaken session at Kula Yoga and Tea in Downtown Moscow. Photo by Leslie Kiebert.
For first-year Dustie Jackman, yoga became a part of her life at a very young age as a way to combat stress.
“As I started doing yoga more my junior year of high school I noticed how it affected me emotionally and mentally,” Jackman said.
Jackman took her first yoga class in the fifth grade but did not make yoga a part of her daily life until the end of high school.
“Before junior year, when I didn’t really do it as much, I was just really tired and depressed most of the time,” Jackman said.
Jackman attends yoga classes twice a week and said she sees the positive impacts her practice brings to everyday life.
“I feel like I am more mentally stable and more aware of my surroundings, and myself,” Jackman said.
Yoga can become an outlet to process emotions and a be a turning point in people’s lives, like Dede McReynolds, a Moscow community member who sought yoga following a bad breakup.
“I think that my capacity to handle emotions long term is not something that I’m going to achieve, but it’s something I’m creating healthy habits around,” McReynolds said.
She said she attended her first yoga class in 2015 during a difficult time and found resolve in her practice.
“I didn’t do yoga until I had a traumatic event in my life,” McReynolds said. “I definitely saw a positive result by incorporating yoga.”
While some seek out the emotional benefits of yoga, others find that the physical benefits are yoga’s greatest attribute.
“I was introduced into the practice in college and realized that it had a lot of the feature in working out that I felt like I was missing by just going to the gym or taking fitness classes,” said Sarah Brookera, a teacher at both Kula Yoga and Tea in downtown Moscow and at UI.
Brookera said she began her teacher training while she was in graduate school and did not anticipate it would lead to her teaching several classes.
“I think yoga offers and avenue for people to think about their bodies and think about their mental self-care in a way that can be easily accessible,” Brooker said.
Anne Adams, associate professor of mathematics education at UI has been practicing yoga for five years.
“Almost five years ago a friend of mine was teaching a class for her first time and she told a few of us about it, so my partner Harry and I decided that we would just go to support her,” Adams said. “After struggling through that first class we both decided that maybe it would be a good idea to come back and do some more.”
Adams said she noticed that throughout life, she had lost the ability to move her body in certain ways. After attending classes regularly she was able to regain her flexibility and athleticism.
“They say you can’t gain new flexibility once you are out of your twenties, it’s not true. I’m so much more flexible than I was five years ago,” Adams said.
Instructor Meggie Cafferty explains a pose to her class at Kula. Photo by Leslie Kiebert
Madi Hull, owner of Kula Yoga and Tea said she has witnessed the powerful impacts yoga can have on strengthening the body.
“Retired women who come in and take classes, women who have not done exercise in forever and they want to start getting back into their bodies, I’ve seen them go from not being able to get down onto the floor to being able to move into a lunge from downward dog,” Hull said.
Hull said her daily practice has a tremendous impact on her mood.
“When I have had a more regular practice I definitely feel happier — period. I notice that when I don’t have a regular practice I’m just miserable,” Hull said.
Even as a trained yoga instructor and business owner, Hull said she still strives to better herself in her yoga.
“I think the hardest thing for me was coming into myself and keeping the focus on me, and my own body, and that is still my focus is trying to keep my focus on my own breathe,” Hull said.
For Adams, yoga is a simple way to maintain regular physical activity.
“I think for me, it’s just important for me to stay healthy, and its important for me to feel good and yoga does that for me. That’s why I want to keep coming back to it,” Adams said.
Yoga helps more than just a single population of people, Adams said it can also help college students distract from their worries.
“When you’re feeling stressed about things, for that one hour that you’re in that yoga class you are so focused on doing very specific and difficult things with your body, you don’t have time to think about anything else,” Adams said.
People constantly strive to reach for their better selves, whether it be through physical activity or enhancing mental awareness. Jackman, McReynolds, Brookera, Adams and Hull all discovered one commonality in their yoga practice — its positive impacts on their mind and body.