Stretching the Imagination
by Alicia Broudy
It was a Friday night on the South Side as I walked along with the rhythm of high heels and the thumping base from a nearby bar. At 12th and East Carson Street, I stepped through an open door and walked up a stretch of wooden steps to the BYS Yoga studio.
Behind a decorative curtain, the studio glowed with a warm ambiance of dim lighting and soft music. A few yoga mats were situated on the wooden floor and in a circular fashion, their inhabitants stretching. The studio stood quiet and still - for now at least.
This is not a normal yoga class, I had heard and was informed again several times.
The studio filled with a little more than twenty people, Nicole Zellie began class with a series of simple yoga postures. We warmed up with child's pose and downward dog, while soft traditional yoga music filled the studio.
We were in a forward bend when jungle-like drumming music pounded off the walls. Nicole told us to swing our arms, letting our weight carry us. Bent double and hanging our arms like cavemen, we walked up and down our mats.
Of course I looked silly, but so did everyone else.
YogaRhythmics combines elements of yoga and free-form dance attune to a variety of music. From Lady Gaga and Norah Jones to yoga instrumental, the music allows for free-form movement and dance. In a studio above the South Sides' teeming night life, students of YogaRhythmics let loose.
"There can be craziness going on down there, but there's a different energy up here" Kristi Rogers, owner of BYS Yoga, said.
The YogaRhythmics class started small, building gradually until everyone was sweaty and 'Kung Fu Fighting.' Nicole provided simple instruction, telling us to march around the studio or shake out our arms. By the end of each song, though, everyone was dancing their own dance.
As Nicole put it, "With YogaRhythmics, I can color outside of the lines."
Created by Connie Miller in 1986, YogaRhythmics is derived from Kripalu YogaDance. Kripalu YogaDance began around the time Olivia Newton-John's 'Let's Get Physical' hit the charts (the song made Nicole's playlist that Friday night). Nicole studied with Connie Miller and earned her yoga certification alongside her YogaRhythmics certification in 2003.
"I'm never afraid to be on the dance floor by myself," Nicole said.
By the end of the class, I felt that way myself. The "YogaRhythmics" environment at BYS Yoga makes even the shyest and quirkiest dancers comfortable.
"YogaRhythmics is more about the idea of self expression and confidence," Nicole said.
In addition to profound self-awareness and energy, YogaRhythmics provides physical health benefits. YogaRhythmics makes for an invigorating workout - my hair matted with sweat and my heart rate up, I must have burned off a few hundred calories.
The class has all the positive physical aspects of a normal yoga session (increased flexibility, lost weight, gained strength) but Nicole has also heard students reporting a less judgmental attitude (to themselves as well as others,) a clearer mind, and general feelings of relaxation and even peace. The students of YogaRhythmics, all shapes and sizes and ages, danced at their own pace.
"Look at me," regular yoga student and instructor, Paul Richards, said. "I'm an old gray-haired man and for an hour and a half, I get to be a child again."
BTW: BYS Yoga offers the YogaRhythmics class every third Friday of the month, and proceeds go to a charity of the previous class's choice. The proceeds from the night I attended the class went to the MS Society.
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