Not Your Average Workout Students Learn To Open Their Minds By Opening Their Rib Cages And Joints At Yoga Workshop

In a warm, candle-lighted room Sunday afternoon, about 40 people relaxed, breathed deeply, then twisted into positions unfathomable to the uninitiated.

And, frankly, to some of them as well.

The wonders of yoga aren’t just about flexibility, though having it may help.

“People think yoga is contortionistic, but it’s moving from within,” said Patricia Berger, a Coeur d’Alene yoga instructor. “It’s a way of connecting people with their inner bodies.”

She tells students to open their rib cages, extend their spines, focus on the body and become more aware of it - all part of the ancient art of yoga.

Sunday marked the last session of a three-day workshop taught by Bob Smith, a Seattle yoga instructor who’s working on his second book about the ancient art. He drew participants from Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and even Boise for a weekend full of asanas and pranayamas.

Asanas are physical postures designed to bring about flexibility in the body and mind; pranayamas are breathing exercises designed to calm the mind and body and prepare for meditation, Berger explained.

Smith, who was Berger’s first instructor 24 years ago, said the workshop was meant to help people do yoga with less stress on their bodies.

The workshop - like most yoga classes - was for people of varying abilities, Berger said.

A glance around the room as people followed Smith’s instructions backs that up. Some people were nearly as flexible as he was, some were instructors themselves, and some, well, were about as likely to bend the way Smith does as your average high school quarterback is to do the splits.

But it doesn’t matter.

Yoga proceeds at each individual’s pace; there’s nothing competitive here. The less flexible simply don’t bend quite as far with each asana as those more advanced.

Yoga attracts people who want stress relief, a way to increase their flexibility, or a way to keep active despite the aches their not-quite-teenage bodies are giving them.

“People don’t usually start yoga until their body is breaking down,” Smith said. “Yoga is a hard discipline and it moves slowly, so people aren’t usually ready for the discipline until other activities aren’t working any more for exercise.”

While people of any age can do it, the average starting age for yoga practitioners is in the 30s and 40s, estimated Berger, who’s now 50. She started yoga to alleviate the pain caused by the scoliosis with which she was born. She’s now virtually pain-free, she said.

There are more than physical benefits, however.

“It transformed my life and I see it transforming other people’s lives, too, in a positive way,” Smith said. “Instead of coming from a more fearful, stressful place, I can now come from a more open, trusting place.”

Mental and spiritual awareness from yoga has kept teacher and practitioner Janice Vien of Spokane at it for 12 years.

“For me, yoga is a discipline in which I can get closer to my higher spirituality,” she said. “Mostly it’s the peace of mind and then there’s the side benefit of a healthier body.”

Berger regularly sees people start her classes tired after a long day at work and leave feeling re-energized, she said.

“It’s not religious,” she said, “but it is spiritual.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: Yoga classes For more information, contact Patricia Berger at the Blue Lotus Sanctuary at (208) 665-1946.