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Clark University student brings yoga to new level with ganja

Monica Sager

Special to Worcester Telegram & Gazette USA TODAY NETWORK

WORCESTER — At the onset of the pandemic, Clark University student and certified yoga instructor, Melanie Adams couldn’t make herself practice on her mat. With so much going on in her life — from being forced to go back home to leaving her friends behind and even trying to circumnavigate a virtual world — yoga wasn’t taking priority for Adams.

Her solution? Ganja yoga.

In October of 2020, Adams earned her certification in ganja yoga, making her one of only of two yoga teachers in Massachusetts trained to teach cannabisenhanced yoga.

“This is a great activity because cannabis and yoga pair so well with some improved flexibility, and for some people their balance can improve,” Adams said. “People really get into the flow of it more. It takes away the obstacle or the boundary of the mind.”

Adams, who works at Worcester’s Mayflower Medicinals at 645 Park Ave., ensures that the cannabis she shares with her classes is safe and high quality.

“I just want to make sure everyone’s having a good time,” Adams said. “It’s very important to know how to safely guide people through this practice. I was able to apply everything I already knew from being a yoga teacher and from teaching for almost three years at this point.”

People, who must be over 21, join her for the inviteonly, two-hour class on her porch where they pass around a pre-roll or bong at the start. Adams also offers edibles that are generally 70 to 80 mg, such as Lucky Charm marshmallow treats or blondies, that she makes herself in the shape of a heart. Students pay for the yoga portion of the event and not for the cannabis, ensuring that Adams and everyone present are heeding the law.

The group sits around and smokes for around a half hour, listening to a collaborative playlist, before they move to Adams’ fenced-in backyard and lay their mats out in rows to begin their hour-long practice with a 15minute meditation to end it all.

Adams, who is a senior at Clark studying psychology, mentioned a Sanskrit phrase, “this is what occurs when the mind ceases turning,” that becomes center in a ganja yoga practice.

“I want to help people to unlock that state of almost enlightenment, where they’re not as focused on all their obligations and worries that they usually carry,” Adams said. “This is a space where they can escape all of that, even if it’s just for a little while.”

For Adams, she said the hardest part of ganja yoga is remembering what she did on one side of the body in

“This is a great activity because cannabis and yoga pair so well with some improved flexibility, and for some people their balance can improve,” says Melanie Adams. COURTESY MELANIE ADAMS

Yoga

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order to repeat it again on the other.

“I find that I’m much more creative, though,” Adams said. “I don’t have to put in all the effort because it channels through me. After teaching yoga for four years, the poses are stored within my body.”

Though, Adams admits ganja yoga isn’t for everyone.

“I don’t think it’s a general oversweeping thing. Cannabis yoga is not for everyone,” Adams said. “I will say that I often get a few people each visit that do not consume cannabis at all.”

Beyond her ganja yoga, Adams teaches four to five vinyasa yoga classes a week at Clark, Holy Cross, and sometimes Anna Maria College.

Adams started practicing yoga at 15 years old. She called it part of her personality and a weekly tradition. She did it for a gym credit, but yoga quickly became an integral part of her life.

She went on to receive her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2018, right after high school. Adams specialized in vinyasa yoga. In 2020, she earned her training in trauma conscious yoga, a practice that has definitely made an impact on how Adams teaches her own classes to this day. This sense of yoga has allowed her to learn how to be more adaptable and look into other areas, such as how the practice can help people through transitions and other hard times in their lives.

Now, each Wednesday and Thursday, Adams prepares to lead a yoga class at the College of the Holy, as she drives to the College Street location in her car that sports a yoga-moniker on the license plate and sets up with her yoga mat with a tie-dye design.

“In these times when the external world makes it hard for us to slow down and breathe, remember that, when surrendering, the outcome is not a sign of weakness,” Adams said to her students at the start of a class. “It is a sign of trust, that there is more than one way to get to our destination. We can be calm and enjoy. We don’t need to endlessly toil.”

Adams teaches in an empowermentfocused style, ensuring that she is mindful to her audience and that anyone is able to practice alongside her.

“My teaching style is that everything is optional because you’re the only one that knows your body,” Adams said. “I think that sometimes yoga turns into ‘Simon Says’ and people think they have to do what the instructor says or the people next to them are doing.”

Instead, Adams uses words like “if you’re able,” “if it feels comfortable,” “you can,” and “if you want.” She gives a variety of choices for her students in each pose. Adams, who said that her “eccentric personality” leads to unique yoga experiences, also encourages her students throughout the practice, cheering them on when they try something new and telling them that they got it in tough poses.

“It’s disempowering to have someone tell you what to do,” Adams said. “Your yoga practice belongs to you.”

Looking to the future, Adams wants to start outdoor teaching again. She wants to one day use her yoga and psychology backgrounds together to become a yoga therapist. She would use yoga in a more individual and personalized style.

“I really think that every single person in the world should be practicing yoga in some way,” Adams said. “I don’t think there’s any kind of exercise that can substitute this kind of stretching.”

Adams is one of only two yoga teachers in Massachusetts trained to teach cannabis-enhanced yoga. COURTESY MELANIE ADAMS

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Untangling the politics of hair

WSU professor to give presentation for historical museum

Veer Mudambi

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Worcester State University Professor Tanya Mears has taught a course on “The Politics Of Hair” for about four years and it is a blockbuster, in terms of drawing students.

On March 16 at 7 p.m., she will be bringing this topic to a wider audience in the 10th virtual presentation accompanying Worcester Historical Museum’s “Pretty Powerful” exhibit. One of the fundamental premises of the exhibit is that fashion matters, and that examining fashion can provide insight into women’s experiences in economics, politics and culture. To that end, hair fashions can be a conscious political choice as well, especially the ways that Black women choose to fashion their hair and how it shapes interactions in a society that still views standards of beauty through a white lens.

Mears says that the hairstyles of Black women, even in the modern world, are still considered “unprofessional” and women can even be sent home from work because of their haircut. That makes them, overwhelmingly, the only people who are policed on their hair. “I teach at a college so I get more leeway, but if I were working in a front facing position as a bank teller or in a corporate environment, the expectation would be that I conform to a white aesthetic.”

She recounted how Malcom X was very judgmental of Black women straightening their hair, because he said they wanted to look like the oppressor, but in her opinion, it is much more complicated than that. “It’s a matter of survival.”

Deb Hall of the Worcester Black History Project, which is a co-sponsor of the presentation, agrees that the white aesthetic is often internalized by young Black girls and she remembers trying to straighten her hair — “it was just something you did.”

She hopes that, “one day, we can get to the point where it doesn’t matter — (it’s) not less authentic if you straighten your hair and (you’re) not seen as different if you don’t — that we can all be free to be as creative as we want with our hair and not have a billion dollar industry telling us what to do.”

The main point of Mears’ presentation is to educate people about the concepts of normativity and non-normativity.

“Because of their socialization, white people assume the things that they find important are normative, or the default, and don’t consider how it is different for Black and brown people and other worldviews.” It stems from the reality that white people can go from the cradle to the grave and not interact with people of color, but Black and brown people don’t have that option.

“We can’t even escape it in our houses,” she says, “you turn on the TV or open a book, there are white folks there.” Which can lead to the disorienting sensation of being a stranger in your own country.

“I can remember, as a young child, going to camp and there used to be a fascination with my hair — how do you comb it, what products do you use, how often do you wash it — even at that age, I could see the difference,” said Hall. And in college, when she was looking at dorms, white women wanted to touch her hair.

That’s not an uncommon occurrence, according to Mears.

“A number of the Black students who come to the class have had the experience of random white people coming up to them and running their fingers through their hair.”

It has happened to Mears, who used to have long dreads that people would pull like a rope. “It serves to dehumanize a person,” Mears said. For a white person to think that’s acceptable, is an example of white privilege.

Mears feels people get very uncomfortable with the term “white privilege” but says that all it means is that white people can expect to maneuver in a world of whiteness. So they don’t have insight into the fact that their world view, behavior, and expectations are not the same as everyone else.

“Historically speaking, one of the more complicated things that has happened in the U.S. is that white people don’t think of themselves as a racialized group,” she said.

Mears emphasizes that white privilege has nothing to do with class or whether or not someone is racist.

“It’s a simple reality but if you don’t see yourself as racialized, ending racism is not your problem and you have a privilege as you move through the world and it is easier for you.”

Mears said people have raised their voices to her because they were so angry at the suggestion that they were privileged in some way or received any

Dr. Tanya Mears, Ph.D. associate professor of United States & African American History Department of History and Political Science, Worcester State University

WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY

Bears repeating: Local bears are waking, but it doesn’t have to be a confrontation

Veer Mudambi

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

When a friend called to say they had seen a bear crossing Main Street and to keep the dogs inside, Holden resident Dan Prosser didn’t pay it much mind. After all, the dogs were inside and both he and his wife were in for the evening. However, when Prosser’s wife opened the back door to check on the chickens, she came face to face with said bear on their back porch, eying the chicken coop with interest. She ran back inside for her camera, returning in time for a shot of its rear disappearing over the fence.

Worcester County residents can expect to hear and experience situations similar to the Prossers more frequently for the next month, as bears emerge from hibernation through April. “They’re coming out of the dens and hungry as can be,” said Prosser. Having not eaten anything since November or December, their stomachs will be growling even more than they are, causing normally cautious animals to explore areas they would otherwise avoid — such as backyards.

Bears are mainly vegetarians and will be foraging for wetlands vegetation, acorns, and tubers like skunk cabbage or Jack in the pulpit. However, upon coming out of the den, their natural food may be initially hard to come by, and human-related sources may prove an easy, filling and most of all, consistent, meal.

“A bird feeder represents thousands of calories that gets refilled almost every day,” said MassWildlife biologist David Wattles. He said bird seed is the number one thing that attracts bears to backyards, at which point they notice all sorts of other interesting things, leading to other issues as they try to get into sheds, the garbage, beehives and chicken coops.

The last one has grown increasingly common and is potentially the most problematic — wildlife and livestock conflict rarely ends well. Backyard chicken farming has become more popular over the last couple of years, especially during the pandemic. Chickens, eggs, and feed are all great food sources, and there is simply no way to build a backyard chicken coop that can keep out a determined bear. Wattles encourages chicken owners to use electric fencing, with the necessary info available on the MassWildlife website.

Pet owners can breathe a sigh of relief, because out of all the animals a bear might encounter in a backyard, chickens seem to be the only ones they consider on the menu. “In terms of seeing pets as prey items, we don’t get many reports of that,” said Wattles. This doesn’t mean that you should let your dog out to try and chase it off, however, rather, follow the Prossers’ example and keep your four-legged family members indoors until the bear’s gone.

It’s not only suburban dwellers who will have to get used to hungry furry neighbors. “There is lots of natural habitat on the edge of Worcester with increasing numbers of bears in Worcester County,” said Wattles. One bear collared by MassWildlife even denned this year very close to Worcester Airport. “In and around the city, we’re going to see bears,” he said. “They will adapt and establish themselves.” Which means humans will have to adapt as well — but it’s easier than it sounds, mainly requiring just a few changes in habits.

“We carelessly lure bears into our yards and neighborhoods with food when we don’t secure our trash,” said Colin Novick, executive director of the Greater Worcester Land Trust. “And we need to know that late winter into spring, when bears are waking up, is a very poor time to be out filling up the bird feeders.” Keeping trash in a closed bin and waiting a few weeks to put out the bird feeders will go a long way to preventing unexpected furry visitors.

As the weather continues to improve (this last bout of snow notwithstanding) more and more people are returning to outdoor recreation. If hiking suddenly seems less appealing with the thought of hungry bears wandering around, both Novick and Wattles emphasized bears are more afraid of us than we are of them. “Generally speaking, there is very little risk from our

A bear at Eagle Lake DAN PROSSER

Bears

Continued from Page 7

bears, and people find bears are timid around people and see us as the dangerous party to be avoided,” said Novick.

That being said, whether it’s in the woods or your backyard, if you see a bear, said Wattles, “give it the respect it deserves and give it space.” Upon seeing one ahead on a trail ahead of you, the key is to let the bear know you’re there — a startled bear is more likely to react defensively. If you suddenly find yourself too close, however, back up slowly while speaking calmly. Wattles emphasized the slow part — despite being primarily vegetarians, “you don’t want to run from any predatory animal,” he said, as that will trigger the chase instinct. While too slow to chase deer and other wild animals, bears will beat humans in a foot race hands down.

In terms of not surprising a bear, sticking to established trails, being aware, listening, looking, and paying attention to where you are should be enough to avoid any trouble, Novick added.

“So, hiking is a low, low bear risk activity,” he said, “while sunbathing next to your spring backyard bird feeder is decidedly an extreme sport!”

The party taking the larger risk, however, is almost always the bear. Novick witnessed a tragically avoidable situation in Worcester near his home. A bear that had been using the rail trail as a habitat corridor from Leicester into Webster Square found itself cornered by a dog in a fenced in backyard. In a panic, the owner called the police and an officer shot the bear with a pistol.

“It was a classic example of how not to defuse a wildlife interaction,” said Novick. “My reaction went from wonder and excitement, to frustration, to heartbreak.”

Fortunately, in the decade since, methods have greatly improved, and more often an out of place bear is sedated and relocated.

“A bear eating out of a bird feeder, trash or chicken coop isn’t a bad bear,” said Wattles, “it’s just being a bear.” The onus is on humans, he said, to decrease the likelihood of a dangerous situation — be it for humans or bears.

“We can choose whether there is bear-human conflict,” he said.

After finding a bear in their backyard, Dan’s wife, Tara, ran back inside for the camera, returning just in time to see the bear scrambling over the fence after an aborted chicken coop raid. TARA PROSSER

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CONNELL SANDERS

I spent the weekend in one of those tiny cabins from Instagram

Sarah Connell Sanders

If your side of the algorithm is anything like mine, you’ve probably seen a Getaway Outpost pop up on your social media feed more than once. The targeted ads encourage city dwellers to escape to a 200-square-foot cabin for a low-tech holiday in the woods. In every post, attractive couples sit cuddled up on a queen bed, sipping steaming mugs of coffee under the light of a massive picture window. The reality wasn’t far off.

Dog-Friendly Stay: A Getaway stay is as much a vacation for your dog as it is for you. In fact, a brief stroll around the premises revealed that nearly every other visitor had also brought a fourlegged friend. Inside the cabin, we found a bag of sustainably harvested dog treats, a feeding bowl, and a map detailing a number of dog-friendly hikes nearby. A tie-out cable reached just short of the cabin door, allowing our pup the independence required for convenient late-night bathroom breaks.

The Cabins: Each of the Getaway cabins is named for a staff member’s grandmother. We stayed in "Angela," which meant that we alternated between bursting into song for most of the weekend, a hybrid of the Lumineers “Angela” and Taylor Swift’s “Getaway Car.” The cabin includes an electric stovetop, a sink, and a refrigerator, along with an outdoor fire pit for grilling. Our cabin’s bathroom was deceivingly spacious — the hot water tank not as much. Plan showers accordingly. Somehow we felt secluded during our entire stay in spite of the cabin’s transparent fourth wall. In fact, we both agreed the fish tank window was the best part of our accommodations. The view looked out on swaths of 100-foot trees billowing in the wind. At night, we could see the stars. We woke up with the sun.

Activities: The Getaway operates more than 20 “outposts” across the country. The closest to Worcester include Blake Brook in New Hampshire (1 hour and 45-minute drive) and Machimoodus in Connecticut (1 hour and 30minute drive). We went south to Connecticut but still managed to sneak in a snowfall. On the first evening, we visited the nearby town of Chester. I suspect we crossed through some sort of time and space continuum in the course of our 15-minute drive along the Connecticut River. Chester’s town center strongly resembled Stars Hollow, the fictional setting of "Gilmore Girls." We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant called Grano Arso, located in the old

Some of the cabin's features included a bag of sustainably harvested dog treats and a map detailing dog-friendly hikes. COURTESY SARAH

CONNELL SANDERS

Hair

Continued from Page 6

preferential treatment and asserted they aren’t wealthy. But basically, white privilege means that the color of your skin didn’t prevent you from getting a loan or an apartment.

Colorblind racism is what’s in style now, said Mears, and she has to be very very careful about how the concept is presented to people. She explains that colorblind racism is offensive in that it relies on the idea that race-based differences don’t matter, ignores the realities of systemic racism and does not distinguish between equality and equity. While it may be well-intentioned, it leaves people without the language to discuss race and examine their own bias.

In our society, according to Hall, hair is a gendered discussion about how women can be more beautiful and the objectification of women that takes place in a patriarchal society.

“It’s how gender and race intersect to make Black women and girls feel not good enough or pretty enough and excluded from the definition of a ‘true woman,’ which is available only to white women.”

The “Politics of Hair” is a conversation, said Hall, that she can’t remember ever not happening. That being said, she said, the hair industry has been hugely profitable for Black women entrepreneurs. The first Black women millionaires were in the hair care industry providing hair products for women like them.

Charlotte Haller, history and political science professor at WSU, and moderator of the “Pretty Powerful” exhibit, said that the Mears’ presentation fits perfectly into the themes of Pretty Powerful because it shows the ways that fashion and hair are politicized. “It can be made political by the dominant culture through laws and codes regulating appearance and through the everyday interactions of white dominance and supremacy.”

“Glad we’re having the conversation now,” added Hall, “it really is where racism and sexism intersect in this society — the closer to white skin, the longer and straighter hair is, the closer you are to being successful.”

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