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SUN'S OUT, SUPS OUT STORIES OF MARATHON RUNNERS TURNED YOGIS NICKI DOANE, YOGA STAR
SUMMER 2018 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3
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T H R E E E N E R GY- B O O ST I N G SMOOTHIE RECIPES
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IN THIS ISSUE SU MMER 2018 VO LU ME 6 , N U MB ER 3
PU BL I S H E R Matthew Steele GE NE RA L MA N AGE R Ally Thompson MANAGI N G E D I TO R Emma McClatchey ART D I REC T I O N Jav Ducker COPY E D I TO R Frankie Schneckloth ADVERT I S I NG RE PRE S E NTATI VE S Sarah Driscoll Jav Ducker Frankie Schneckloth
FIELD EDITORS Central Iowa: Linsey Birusingh thehumblehedonist@gmail.com Cedar Rapids: Kim Reed dancingbuddha@gmail.com Council Bluffs: Alexander Hiffernan chiffernan@gmail.com Dubuque: Shelia O’Laughlin sheliaolaughlin@mchsi.com Quad Cities: Emilene Leone emileneleone@me.com Western Iowa: Trishia Gill trishia@evolvesiouxcity.com
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Ayurvedic Summer Smoothies
BY MAHARISHI AYURVEDA Fuel your workouts (or simply enjoy some of the best summer flavors) with these three Ayurvedic smoothie recipes.
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What's SUP?
BY LINSEY BIRUSINGH From rivers to lakes to pools, Iowans are testing their balance with SUP (stand-up paddleboard) yoga.
5 Making the Leap
16 Yoga for Power
6 Let's Take This Outside
21 Astrology forecast
BY KEN APPLEBY Returning to yoga was a journey unto itself for Ken Appleby, a non-binary transgender person, who recently underwent top surgery.
BY EMMA MCCLATCHEY These four Iowans have run ultramarathons, biked RAGBRAI, scaled mountains— and they credit yoga with getting them there.
BY SARA HAWTHORNE What to expect during this summer's solar and lunar eclipses, from Vedic astrologer Planetary Sara.
ADVISORY BOARD
BY TALEE F. MABEE Eastern Iowa yogis have flocked to the Indian Creek Nature Center in droves since the center opened their outdoors to yoga.
Sheree Clark, holistic health and nutritional coach Diane Glass, facilitator, Tending Your Inner Garden Dennis Kelly, founder of Yoga in the Park and Meditation Around Town, Des Moines
8 Starting a Yoga Journey: Making Yoga a Habit 22 Meet Nicki Doane
COMMENTS & SUBMISSIONS Send comments, story ideas, press releases & public announcements:
BY JEREMIAH HOPKINS Getting yoga in is better than doing it perfect. Learn to fit yoga into your busy schedule, and embrace the meditation side.
BY ELISSA CIRIGNOTTA For the international yoga star and founder of Maya Yoga, yoga is both a science and an art.
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Transformative Travel: Adventures in a Minivan
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A Pose and a Pint
editors@yoga-iowa.com ADVERTISE Ally Thompson, General Manager ally@littlevillagemag.com (319) 640-0091
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BY REANNA SPAIN A pair of newlyweds took a two-month honeymoon, driving 2,400 miles in a van to visit some of the country's greatest natural wonders.
YogaIowa Recommends
BY YOGAIOWA Get inspired by stories of grit, athletic achievement and spiritual enlightenment with these books and podcasts.
BY ALLY KARSYNY You may call beer yoga a gimmicky trend, but for new yogis, these classes can be transformative.
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On The Cover Yoga teacher Megan Robertson and her dog Mina practice yoga on a paddleboard at the Terry Trueblood Recreation Center in Iowa City. Photo by Zak Neumann
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• SUMMER 2018
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Three Ayurvedic Summer Smoothies to Fuel Your Workouts BY MAHARISHI AYURVEDA Need a boost before cardio? Feeling thirsty after vinyasa class? These three Ayurvedic smoothie recipes are chock full of vitamins, minerals and hydrating ingredients that’ll up your energy levels. Bottoms up!
TO PHO
S BY JA
V DUCKER
According to Ayurveda, India’s ancient health system, the best time to exercise is in the morning, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., when your body has its greatest levels of strength, stamina and coordination. Can you guess why? This is the Kapha time of day, when getting slow, steady Kapha dosha to move is good for Kapha and for you! If exercising in the morning doesn’t suit you, Kapha time rolls around again in the evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Try taking a long, leisurely after-dinner walk during this time. It’s best to avoid exercising between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun’s at its highest and your digestive fires are burning; instead, use this time to eat the main meal of your day.
Turmeric Smoothie
Creamy Date Shake
Fresh and Fruity Sweet Berry Rose Smoothie
Turmeric is this year’s go-to summer smoothie ingredient, but it’s been used for its healing, antioxidant properties for millennia in India. This delicious recipe also includes bananas for post-workout potassium and salt to help balance electrolytes. Props to Sabita Sawhney of Sabi's Cafe in Fairfield, Iowa for the recipe.
Dates are considered a nutritive tonic in Ayurveda, because they are sattvic—promoting vitality, joy, strength—and they nourish the body’s dhatus (or tissues) and immunity levels. This shake is a creamy, filling treat you can enjoy as a pre- or post-workout snack. For more protein and a velvety texture, add a tablespoon of smooth almond butter or a scoop of vanilla protein powder to the mix.
Overheated after an outdoor workout? This sweet, hydrating smoothie helps cool Pitta dosha—the elemental force in your body that’s associated with the fiery sun. Coconut milk, rose water and sweet berries are especially cooling.
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• SUMMER 2018
Ingredients 1 cup almond milk or coconut milk ½ cup mango chunks and/or ½ cup pineapple chunks 1 medium banana 1 tablespoon coconut oil ½ teaspoon turmeric (can increase to 1 tsp.) ½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon ginger A dash of Himalayan pink salt; adjust to taste A pinch of freshly-ground black pepper; adjust to taste A little raw honey (optional) if you like it a little sweeter Some additional (optional) add-ons 1½ tablespoons maca 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1/4 ripe avocado 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes Directions: Using a high-speed blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Adjust all seasonings to taste.
Ingredients 1 cup almond milk, oat milk or cow’s milk 1-4 soft, pitted Medjool dates, to taste (soak overnight for a soft, juicy texture) A pinch of cardamom powder Directions Using a high-speed blender, combine all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Adjust cardamom to taste. Serve cool.
Ingredients 1 cup almond milk, or unsweetened oat milk 3/4 cup fresh, ripe, sweet (not sour) berries 1/4 cup coconut water (excellent for hydration) 1/2 cup coconut milk (combine organic cream of coconut with a little water to obtain thick coconut milk) A splash of food-grade rose water 1 teaspoon maple syrup, or to taste Directions: Using a high-speed blender, combine all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Adjust all seasonings to taste. Serve cool. Optional: Garnish with rose petals or mint leaves, and enjoy!
Making the Leap
"Everything was OK. I was good. I was me."
BY KEN APPLEBY My journey with yoga started a few years ago. Initially, it was intended to help me cope with my anxiety and depression. Most recently, it’s been an amazing tool that assisted me in finding security in myself during my transition. I came to the realization last year that I needed to make changes with my body to become my true self. So in November 2017, I began hormone replacement therapy, a weekly injection of testosterone. Then, in January, I had a double mastectomy; this is known in the trans community as top surgery. The changes that have come with testosterone have been immense. My voice has dropped significantly, I have more body hair and my body itself has changed shape. I’m stronger and so much more confident in myself. That being said, learning to love myself has not been an easy feat. It’s been a long road, but the days of gender dysphoria and personal body shaming are behind me. Yoga gave me that breakthrough. After my operation I couldn’t practice for six whole weeks! While I was pleased with the results, I wasn’t content with where I was physically. I hadn’t been active in well over a month. I had gained weight and was struggling with post-op depression. The very first day that my exercise restriction was lifted I began a 30-day challenge to kick off my overall wellness and emotional healing. After that, I made the leap. I added a hot class to my weekly routine. Everyone knows how roasty and damp you become while in those studios. You can’t help but want to strip your clothes! Same went for me: I longed to take my shirt off during class. This was a goal of mine. But I was intimidated by the chiseled tan dudes in snug pants. I began to spiral. I felt defeated as I drove away from the studio that evening. I had missed my moment to be authentic and feel free. Alas, the following week, I returned. Anxious and fearful of letting myself down again, I threw my mat on the floor in the back. I glanced around and noticed people of all shapes and sizes, men and women. The temperature began to rise as we started to flow through our Sun Salutations. I tried to talk myself up, You got this, you got this!
Y J AV D U C K E R
As I moved into down dog, I spotted a curvy man who had pulled off his tank top—no shame and completely comfortable in his own body. What I wanted for myself. And with my heart in my throat, I did it. I took my top off, exposing my 10-inch scars in all their glory. Easy to say it was a milestone in my life which I will never forget. And what I feared never happened. Not one weird glance or muffled whisper. Everything was OK. I was good. I was me.
P H OTO B
I am me. Hi, my name is Ken, and I am a non-binary transgender person. Ken’s home studio is the Breathing Room in Cedar Rapids. They trained there in 2016 with Megan Robertson of Muddy Feet Yoga and received their 200 hour YTT. Ken has been teaching 1.5 years. Aside from yoga, Ken is passionate about gardening and dog rescue.
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LISA HANIGAN LEADS A YOGA CLASS AT THE INDIAN CREEK NATURE CENTER. — PHOTO BY JAV DUCKER
Let’s Take This Outside
Indian Creek Nature Center draws scores of yogis seeking to connect with nature BY TALEE F. MABE On the morning of April 28, the sun is high over the patio at Cedar Rapids’ Indian Creek Nature Center, which is covered with unfurled yoga mats. Her back to the lush prairie, instructor Cassie Hammermeister leads poses and invites guests of the 25th annual “Women in Nature” retreat to join her and “let light shine on the dark places in [their bodies].”
“I truly believe that we’re all connected with the earth, with the prairie,” Dummermuth said. “It allows you to let go of external distractions.”
Fast forward to May 1. Visitors have filled the patio and spilled onto the grass. Instructor Maria Dummermuth encourages those gathered for the opening of the summer “Practice in the Prairie” series to let their minds retreat into the sounds of frogs, breeze and the gentle churning of the creek.
The Indian Creek Nature Center hosts everything from the Monarch and Maple Syrup Festivals to frog- and fossil-themed children’s programs to workshops around beekeeping and urban chickens. Its outdoor yoga workshops have been particularly successful. Feedback from center patrons has reflected not only a greater appetite for yoga, but a desire for experiences anchored in nature.
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• SUMMER 2018
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“In the last three to four years specifically, wellness in nature programming has [become] one of our prongs of programming,” said Center Educational Coordinator Kelli Kennion-Lane. “What that looks like for us is answering the question, ‘How can we create a champion of nature in wellness programming?’”
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No one is knocking studio practice, least of all Dummermuth, also a teacher at Heat Yoga in Cedar Rapids—“Anywhere you can get to your mat is good,” she said. But with outdoor practice comes opportunities for tapping into the harmony of the natural setting, something that invigorates Dummermuth’s personal practice. This kind of retreat into nature can be seen as emblematic of sannyasa, furthering the goal of selfsurrender and self-abnegation.
Indian Creek joins other institutions throughout the Cedar Valley and the state—from parks to animal sanctuaries—in opening their grounds for yoga, turning yogis into visitors and visitors into supporters.
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PHOTO BY JAV DUCKER “The cool thing about the nature center is that even though we’ve been here since the 1970s, we … are consistently discovering new members of the community, new patrons, and they us.” As interest in outdoor yoga has swelled, so have numbers at the Tuesday evening sessions: Attendance this summer is poised to surpass previous years’ averages of 30-50 people per night.
Indian Creek is far from the only nature center in Iowa to hold a summer yoga series. “Yoga hikes” are held at the Dragoon Trace Nature Center in Ringgold; Grimes Farm & Conservation Center in Marshall present nature yoga, including a class on the Summer Solstice; Cedar Falls’ Hartman Reserve Nature Center hosts yoga on a boat ramp near Big Woods Lake; Dickinson County Nature Center in Okoboji has hosted beach yoga; Hitchcock Nature Center in Honey Creek, Dakins Lake in Zearing and towns across the state have integrated “yoga in the park” classes.
Each of the rotating presenters feeds the buzz by tapping into friend and student networks. Before Kim Riffey arrived for the “Women in Nature” retreat, she had never set foot on the “When people have a specific interest in center’s campus. something and want to give Riffey credited something a try … that “I truly believe that we’re gives them more of a reason Dummermuth in turning her on to come out,” said Emelia all connected with the to yoga at Indian Sautter, ecospirituality earth, with the prairie. Creek. Instructor coordinator at Prairiewoods It allows you to let go of Amanda Mikesell Franciscan Spirituality Center external distractions.” attracted several of Hiawatha, which plays host Indian Creek to a biweekly “Hatha Way” —Maria Dummermuth rookies from her yoga series. workshops at United Fire Group. Sautter has seen these relationships flow both ways, as center patrons try yoga for the first time Running the gamut of experience and skill, and first-time visitors branch out from yoga into attendees and instructors develop rapport with deeper involvement. one another and the center. Connections like “People have a tendency to fall in love with these top Kennion-Lane’s list of benefits realized from yoga programming. Prairiewoods the more time they spend here,” Sautter said. “A lot of people introduced through “Not a class goes by” where Kennion-Lane and yoga start participating through other ways as well.” her colleagues aren’t able to turn visitors, drawn in by yoga, sound healing, mindfulness walks Talee Mabee is a writer, editor and newly-minted University of Northern Iowa graduate with a degree and beyond, onto even more involvement. in political science.
“PRACTICE IN THE PRAIRIE” SUMMER SERIES LINEUP AT THE INDIAN CREEK NATURE CENTER July 17: “Slow Flow” with Jenny Chadima July 24: “Yoga/Pilates mix” with Maria Dummermuth July 31: “Vinyasa Yoga for Everyone” with Ally Thompson Aug. 7: “Vinyasa Fun Flow” with Amber Wolrab Aug. 14: “Slow Flow” with Jenny Chadima Aug. 21: “Yoga/Pilates Fusion” with Kayla Davis Aug. 28: “Hatha Yoga” with Ann Fleckenstein Sept. 4: Amanda Mikesell Sept. 11: “Focused Flow” with Marsha Nieland Sept. 18: “Hatha Yoga” with Lisa Hanigan Sept. 25: “Yoga” with Maria Dummermuth
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JEREMIAH HOPKINS PRACTICES YOGA IN BED. — PHOTO BY ZAK NEUMANN
Starting a Yoga Journey:
Making Yoga a Habit BY JEREMIAH HOPKINS For some of us, yoga is a little too much like meditation. There’s not enough cardio, we aren’t fighting gravity to overcome heavy objects and there’s a lot of slow talk and heavy breathing. Making time to attend class, or even turn on 12 minutes of YouTube, seems like the last thing we should be doing in a world full of deadlines and commitments. We can’t spend our time doing nothing. We need bigger, better, faster, more…. The frantic pace of modern life leaves many of us feeling as though we don’t have time for ourselves. Americans have more leisure time than ever before, yet we are more stressed than ever. Migraines, chronic pain and anxiety are all common symptoms of a body that isn’t quite meant for endless news feeds and Twitter warfare. Our minds need time to be still, and our bodies need time to breathe. Let’s get one thing straight: Yoga is meditation. For those of us that find it hard to approach the mat from that perspective, it’s OK. We all find our practice for different reasons. Some of us find fitness on the mat, others a relief of anxiety and others a flexibility that complements other activities like running or climbing. Yogis over the centuries have practiced yoga as “warm up” to meditation. Through the release of physical energy through movement, one could be opened up to greater spiritual energy. Connecting body and breath achieves balance, calm and a clear mind. This is yoga and it is also meditation. Yoga offers us a chance to escape modern life. Whether it’s 10 minutes, two hours or a weekend retreat, yoga is an instant vacation. It is the feeling of the mat beneath our feet, the strength in our core and the breath in our chest. We aren’t making lists, we aren’t wondering what others think of us and we aren’t sitting in the drive-thru wondering why the heck we signed our kids up for soccer anyway.
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Busy times bring busy lives. It can be difficult to find the moments we need to truly disconnect and find our breath. Because yoga blends an inner experience of calm and quiet with an outer experience of movement and breath, it helps us approach meditation more smoothly. It is a way to invite peace into hectic days. We can plug it into our schedule just like going to the gym, or attend a local meet-up just like going to happy hour. Yoga is visceral and tangible, making it more accessible to those who just can’t “sit there and do nothing.” Yoga is a balance of inner and outer energy.
Try yoga in bed. There are a number of poses you can do in bed, right after you wake or before turning out the light. Some suggestions are seated Lotus with a side stretch, spinal twist and Child’s Pose. Learn some desk poses. If you work at a desk most of the day, you know it wreaks havoc on your body. Try seated backbends, shoulder stretches, seated twists, wrist movements and even a standing forward fold if you’re bold enough!
JEREMIAH HOPKINS STRETCHES AT HIS DESK — PHOTO BY ZAK NEUMANN
Practice mindful actions. Being present when walking, driving or
brushing our teeth teaches us connect with the mindset we find on the mat in the simple actions of daily life. The more you can practice these mindful actions, the stronger your yoga practice will be when you show up to it.
Done is better than perfect. Getting 10 minutes of quick yoga
into your morning is better than none at all. Don’t worry about doing a complete flow or having enough time for a nice Savasana. Once you learn to connect to your breath more regularly, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can feel centered.
Yoga is also a practice. It is a habit to be acquired over time through showing up to the mat, connecting to the breath and finding flow. Habits are strengthened over time, through repetition and association with positive feelings.
Amit Ray said, “Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you.” For any of us who have practiced yoga for even a few weeks, I believe we can say the same. When we step onto our mats, we step out of the world and into ourselves. We quiet the voices that noisily bombard our day. We shake the doubts that make us second guess. We breathe away the fears that consume our creativity. Yoga is a meditation. It is a journey inward that helps us remain anchored in a world that constantly draws our attention outward. By embracing this aspect of our practice, we can find deeper connection in everything.
There are any number of ways to add yoga to your daily grind. Here are a few routes that can help us sneak in a little more yoga—and a little more peace of mind.
Jeremiah Hopkins is an Iowa native who has been practicing yoga for more than five years. Off the mat, he serves as a consultant, a public speaker and an occasional writer. His Instagram account is @the_tao_of_jh
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Transformative Travel:
Adventures in a Minivan BY REANNA SPAIN I tiptoe barefoot towards the pebbled Lake Erie shoreline as the rain mists my face and exposed shoulders. I feel the water inviting me closer—reaching and retracting. My toes slip in, a sheer, white cold racing up my legs. I feel my breath catch in my throat and I know I am forever changed. My husband and I are no strangers to raised eyebrows. We tend to do few things conventionally, but when we revealed our plan to spend our honeymoon cooped together in our minivan, make-shifted into living quarters for an entire two months, we certainly became the subject of curiosity. We’ve always been avid travelers. In fact, I knew I was going to marry him when on our first date he asked me if I was up for a road trip. We have insatiable interest in the world and about life— how other people eat, live, love. We want to drink it all in every chance we get. So, this idea felt so natural and so necessary. We mapped out our route but had no specific plans or expectations, save two goals: see as many of all 50 U.S. states as possible, including as many national parks, and put our feet in all five of the Great Lakes. We outfitted our van with a bed, a camp stove, nooks for storage and the essentials for 60-plus days on the road. I have yoga to thank for my “beginner’s mind"; Understanding that everything is always in constant transformation, myself included, allows for more flexibility and continued curiosity. Perhaps it’s always been yoga that fostered my love of travel. It’s true that it taught me the value of being in the present moment, and you certainly need that when you’re not sure how far you’ll drive or where you’ll sleep for the night. That experience at the Lake Erie shoreline was the beginning of our 2,400 mile adventure, and an unfolding of personal growth and intense expansion. What followed was my evolution from one Great Lake to the next and eventually on to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Great Salt Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. Standing at the edge of all nine of the largest bodies of water in the United States, I felt such clarity, but also curiosity; such unknown, but an incredible calm. Such wonder. It’s like when you look up into the galaxies that live outside of ours and you feel so small, only I didn’t feel small. Actually, I felt so expansive. I started to picture myself melting into the frigid water beneath me, spanning the miles and miles ahead where the water disappeared into fog. I felt my connectedness to it all. Squeezing my eyes shut tight, even now, I can feel that air, brisk in Pennsylvania, salty and humid in Utah, still in Michigan. My feet wet, solid beneath me, but slinking into the ground, making roots in the soft sand. I vividly remember thinking to myself, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”
"Somewhere between the sleeping in rest-stop parking lots, cooking potatoes over an open fire and washing dishes before packing it all back in, we fell deeper in love."
Our 73 days on the road took us from Iowa to Honolulu, Hawaii and 42 other states on the way. Somewhere between the sleeping in rest-stop parking lots, cooking potatoes over an open fire and washing dishes before packing it all back in, we fell deeper in love—with each other and ourselves and our planet. We were tested physically, mentally and spiritually as we aimed to tread lightly, spend frugally and absorb deeply.
TOP 10 PLACES FROM OUR TRIP: 1. Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky Lush greenery, rich history, unbelievable cave tours. 2. New Orleans, Louisiana Beignets at Café Du Monde. Need I say more? 3. Seaside, Florida Soft, buttery white sand and cool, blue waters. 4. Key West, Florida Chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick, anyone? 5. Cummins Falls State Park, Tennessee Picture this: a threemile hike opens up into an oasis of a cool spring waterfall clear enough to dive in. And we did. 6. Savannah, Georgia Southern Live Oak trees + Spanish moss + peach cobbler. Divine scenery and eats. 7. Lander, Wyoming Wide open space and familiar faces here. 8. Highway 1, Redwood National Park to San Francisco Stunning blue water paired with delicate yellow wildflowers make for one incredible drive. 9. Sequoia National Park, California TREES. 10. Honolulu, Hawaii Ever eaten pineapple so fresh and so tropical it tastes like coconut? That’s Honolulu. Plus kalua pork and rice and breathtaking hikes.
I carry these memories with me in the most intense of ways. Years later, my yoga practice is more stillness than sweat and I find excuses to spend a lot more time outside—if not with my feet in the water, with my feet at least in the soil—remembering and honoring all that I offer to myself simply by being, and all that the Earth offers simply by doing the same. The pace of life on the road is much slower than back in the "real" world, but we’ve worked to maintain quiet and calm, especially after the birth of our son. We’re still avid travelers and will forever be, though we may need a bigger van as our family continues to expand.
PHOTO COURTESY OF REANNA SPAIN
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Reanna Spain is a Des Moines native, writer, marketer, mother and certified yoga teacher. Learn more at www.reannaspain.com.
• SPRING SUMMER2018 2018
Since our honeymoon road trip, we’ve managed to visit five more U.S. states, bringing our total to 48 states visited (Alaska and Montana, we’re coming for you next). We hope to carry on this connection to the Earth and curiosity about the world to our children as they grow and explore alongside us.
YOGIS ENJOY DRINKS DURING BEER YOGA AT THE MARQUEE IN SIOUX CITY. — PHOTO BY ALLY KARSYN
A Pose and a Pint
Brewery yoga is summer-y, affordable and attracts new yogis. But is it 'true yoga'? BY ALLY KARSYN A 41-year-old man showed up for his first yoga class in butt-crackbaring jeans and without a mat, but he committed to the night’s yinstyle practice with a bottle of Budweiser beside him. After bending, twisting and meditating on loving kindness, Wesley Church of Homer, Nebraska, described achieving a level of peace and calm he usually only experiences in his backyard, surrounded by raisedbed gardens, a hummingbird feeder and songbirds. At Beer Yoga, he found that same feeling on the floor of a bar. “I didn’t see that one coming,” he said. “I didn’t expect much.” He’s the kind of person that Caroline Rivera wants to reach. About six months ago, the yoga teacher from Studio83 Holistic Wellness started offering Beer Yoga every other Thursday night at The Marquee, a live music venue that serves craft beer in Sioux City, Iowa. The class costs $12, which includes a drink.
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“It’s less intimidating, less expensive,” she said. “It’s a way for me to introduce something that’s been so healing for me to a group of people who aren’t necessarily willing to walk into a yoga studio … Because, through no fault of the studios, it’s just not a place they feel comfortable.” Beer, cats, dogs, cursing, gangster rap, goats, ganja—all have been used by teachers across the country to make yoga appear more fun, inclusive and accessible to attract new students. Critics have called some of these newfangled ideas everything from tacky to borderline sacrilegious. A study by Yoga Alliance and Yoga Journal found that nearly 37 million Americans practiced yoga in 2016, up from 20 million four years earlier. Over the long term, yoga has gone from an ancient spiritual
practice in India to a $16 billion industry in the United States, where a pair of yoga pants can cost $128 and there’s naked yoga in New York. In Decorah, Iowa, Laree Schouweiler, owner of indoor cycling and hot yoga studio Reefuel, leads a monthly all-level flow called Bend & Brew at Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. (During the summer, classes are held in the park across the street.) For $20, students can get a health smoothie from Impact Coffee before class and one free beer from the brewery after—all with the promise to “cure what ‘ales’ you.” “Even though this billion-dollar industry isn’t lacking in participants, these specialized classes open the door to those who may not have tried it before,” Schouweiler said. “Does this coincide with every yogic principle? No, but does that mean that all the benefits are negated? I don’t believe so. Yoga offers so much on- and off-mat that benefits outlast a single beverage consumed after class.” In Hinduism, the aim of yoga has been to unite body, mind and soul— experiencing one’s true self—in a quest for moksha, meaning enlightenment or liberation. Yoga isn’t just some fitness fad; it is thousands of years old. Now, as the popularity of yoga rises, so have efforts to keep it rooted in tradition. In 2010, before beer and goats crashed the scene, the Hindu American Foundation launched the Take Back Yoga campaign to raise awareness about the practice’s Hindu history. A few years later, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also started an initiative to try to reclaim yoga by appointing a yoga minister and organizing the first-ever International Yoga Day on June 21, 2015. More recently, Sanjay Manaktala, an Indian-American stand-up comedian based in Bangalore, released a satirical sketch featuring “Biryani yoga,” where fans of the spicy rice dish get their fitness fix with a plateful of biryani balancing on their backs during Downward-Facing Dog, followed by a guided meditation with visualization: “I am chicken. I am mutton. I am boneless.”
A BEER YOGA PARTICIPANT SETTLES INTO CHILD'S POSE. — PHOTO BY ALLY KARSYN
During Savasana, the students in the video finally get to eat, but they get up and leave when they find out it’s made with mock meat. There’s a message at the end of the nearly two-minute video: "Biryani yoga does not exist and hopefully never will. Please stop beer yoga also." In many Iowa communities, at least, beer yoga is defined less by pretention and gluttony than accessibility and outreach. Another alcohol-infused practice has been going strong in Davenport, Iowa, for more than three years. Originally called Tippi Yogis, Bends & Brews led by Sarah Wendland meets every Sunday and Thursday at the Front Street Brewery Taproom. It’s advertised as “BYO mat” and $10 to practice. “I am a fan of meeting my students where they are and making yoga accessible to everyone, not just the privileged few who can afford a yoga studio membership,” Wendland said. “I get a lot of first-time yogis who have always wanted to attend a class but felt this style was more approachable … And it’s fun!” Yoga for First Responders, a Des Moines-based nonprofit, has been offering BrewerYoga at Peace Tree Brewing Co.—first at the Knoxville location, now in Des Moines—for about two years. The beginner-friendly yoga class includes free beer samples after Savasana. If someone doesn’t want an alcoholic drink, there’s water or root beer, or kombucha. YFFR founder Olivia Kvitne saw multiple benefits to offering a donation-based yoga class at the brewery: she could raise funds for her nonprofit, support a local business and—like Wendland pointed out—meet people where they are. “It’s not about where the classes are being held or what gets them in the door—it’s how the classes are being taught that matters,” Kvitne said. “I teach the same yoga class I would teach at a yoga studio inside the four walls of the brewery.”
This is the only yoga class he attends. For a few months, Phipps and his 13-year-old daughter went to a more fitness-focused yoga class at the community center in Onawa, Iowa, where they live—almost 40 minutes from Sioux City. But then the teacher moved away. Phipps wanted a social outlet and to do something that would be good for him. He found Beer Yoga. On a recent Thursday night, Rivera lit a piece of palo santo and watched it burn while her students relaxed into Savasana. Then she guided them through the metta meditation: “May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease.” Phipps came up to her afterwards. She was still sitting on stage. “I really needed this,” he said. “My dad passed away last week.” With a glass of Surly’s Todd The Axe Man by his mat, that night’s class gave him a chance to pour out the sadness. As long as people like him keep showing up for Beer Yoga, Rivera is going to keep teaching it. “Just because somebody doesn’t consider it ‘real’ yoga,” she said, “doesn’t mean that the people who are here aren’t experiencing real healing.” Ally Karsyn is the founder, producer and host of Ode, a live storytelling series presented by Siouxland Public Media, where she is the arts and culture producer. She's also a lifestyle photographer. More details at allykarsyn.com.
"It’s a way for me to introduce something that’s been so healing for me to a group of people who aren’t necessarily willing to walk into a yoga studio."
—Caroline Rivera
The monthly class usually draws 30-40 students, including a lot of men who are new to yoga. With craft beer on tap and a Big Acai Bowl food truck on site, students tend to stick around and socialize instead of rolling up their mats and going home.
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The community aspect is partly what brought Jeff Phipps to Beer Yoga in Sioux City. He keeps coming back for the beer—and because he likes Rivera’s style of teaching. At each class, she sets an intention and incorporates mudra, mantra and mindful breathing, inviting her students to settle in for an hour-long meditative slow flow, just like she would at a studio. She doesn’t drink while she teaches, and generally, her students don’t either. The beer is there to be sipped and savored afterwards.
“This doesn’t seem like it’s such a commitment. When you go to a studio, it’s maybe more serious,” Phipps said, then paused. “It’s kind of nice to be able to find time for your soul.”
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And that’s enough to shift a newcomer’s perception and get him to show up.
CAROLINE RIVERA LEADS BEER YOGA IN SIOUX CITY. — PHOTO BY ALLY KARSYN
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MEGAN ROBERTSON AND HER DOG MINA ARE SUP YOGA VETERANS. — PHOTO BY ZAK NEUMANN
What's SUP? BY LINSEY BIRUSINGH
“I have a sign in my kitchen that says ‘What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’ So, if you love yoga, sunshine and West Lake Okoboji, this would be an exciting new way for you to exercise while enjoying the beauty of nature! It will benefit your strength and balance, while nourishing your soul,” Jorgensen said. Though the sport is beginner-friendly, it is different than yoga on solid ground. “It moves a little slower than a land class,” Jorgensen explained. “The interesting thing is that some of the poses are harder on the water and some are actually easier. The board forces you to engage muscles that you don’t normally think of using on land.”
As I thought back to my first SUP yoga experience, these two elements were very potent. I also felt the gentle waves lured me deeper into the present and focused my mind. Some in my group even felt an emotional and spiritual response. There was something for everyone. If you’re fired up to try SUP yoga, Rima suggests finding a teacher who is first and foremost a good instructor on the ground: “Someone who can connect with their students, knowing when to push their students and when to pull back and offer cues for stability.”
“Some of the poses are harder on the water and some are actually easier. The board forces you to engage muscles that you don’t normally think of using on land.” —Amanda Jorgensen
Meg Rima, owner of Ignite Power Yoga in Dubuque, agrees. Teaching SUP yoga for five years, she’s witnessed the transformative properties of flotation. “Even simply standing on the board gets your feet actively engaged into the balance of your body, which translates into muscles firing up your legs and into your core,” she said. “Your hands hold the paddle and your arms provide the paddle motion, but it is your core that provides the torque to propel yourself across the water. So you can expect a lot of core strengthening. Your joints will also benefit from using them in their full range of motion without jarring compression since you are floating.”
Once on board, you’ll have time to get acclimated while paddling out a short distance to your anchoring point. “A paddleboard is surprisingly similar in size and shape to a yoga mat,” Rima said. “Many first-timers are pleasantly surprised at how buoyant the boards are and how much yoga that they really can do on the boards. Each person will make class their own by finding their own edge. Those that enjoy finding their edge can expect to fall off their board frequently. They always come up smiling and are usually less afraid to fall off again. Those who do not want to fall typically will not fall off throughout the duration of the class.”
Rima says she doesn’t rush students off after class, but rather gives them time to explore on their own and play. So like any good yoga class, you can find the element of your practice that nourishes you most. Linsey Birusingh, 500 RYT, leads retreats and adventures through her company, Yoga Thrill Adventures. She also teaches at Power Life Yoga and guides traumasensitive yoga for women around Des Moines. Off the mat, she is a journalist, TV host, traveler, adventurer, mother and wife.
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Amanda Jorgensen, owner of The Studio Yoga and Barre in Spencer, Iowa, says you don’t need to have paddleboard or yoga experience to join her class. In fact, it’s a low-impact form of exercise that calms the mind and teaches the importance of breath, simply by linking your boards together on the water and playing with poses.
Rima said the practice has more than physical benefit. Her students often find a better connection and appreciation for the outdoors. SUP yoga may also serve as a bonding experience between students, both those who know each other and those just meeting.
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Iowa and stand-up paddleboard yoga seem like unlikely mates.Landlocked and known for our fields, we’re not the first state that comes to mind for water sports. But a quick search and a couple of phone calls, and I had more SUP yoga options to choose from than Hawkeye apparel on game day! I talked to instructors from Okoboji to Dubuque about getting beginners on the board.
Yoga for Power
Richard Mockobee
When preparing to run a marathon or ride RAGBRAI, yoga likely isn't at the top of the training schedule. But these four Des Moines-area athletes have used yoga to reach new levels of physical and mental achievement. BY EMMA MCCLATCHEY ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAV DUCKER
Richard Mockobee wakes up around 3:50 a.m. each day, and by 4 a.m., he’s on the pavement, running five or six miles before heading to his job at a bank. The 50-year-old has been a runner nearly half his life, completing five marathons and a Booneville Backroads ultramarathon. “The first time I ran was horrible,” Mockobee said, noting he was a smoker when he started. “I was at the back of the pack, I was slow, I didn't really know what I was doing.” Mockobee started running with the Capital Striders—a local running club that has grown into a nonprofit organization—then led by Steve Bobenhouse, now the president of Fitness Sports in Des Moines.
“The days you
don't feel like doing it you just have to get up and go do it.”
“[Bobenhouse] said, ‘Come with me and I'll show you the proper stride and teach you how to run within a group of people,’” Mockobee recalled. “It's almost like being in a triathlon: you learn road etiquette, how to run behind people, how to run beside people, how to call out when you're coming up on them.”
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“The big lessons that I learned were you can't just go out and do a seven-mile run without actually preparing your body. The days you don't feel like doing it you just have to get up and go do it.” But after his 40th birthday, Mockobee said he “hit a wall.” He found himself thinking a lot about death, and suffered an anxiety attack that sent him to the doctor. He was prescribed anti-anxiety medication but didn’t like the way it made him feel.
He started watching yoga on TV, mimicking the movements. He bounced around from the YMCA to studio drop-in classes before encountering a public yoga demonstration while preparing for the Des Moines Marathon. The teacher and her husband were opening a new studio, Power Life Yoga. There, Mockobee’s “journey to yoga” began in earnest. He now practices yoga five or six days a week, including one restorative yoga class—usually yin yoga, which he said is “geared towards athletes … working all those opposing muscles, those tissues, those ligaments that you need to have for running.” “It taught me how to be on my feet longer and get the mental toughness you have to for marathon running,” Mockobee said of yoga. “When you're out there for three or four hours trying to do a 19- or 20-mile run, your mind tends to wander. Yoga helped me bring that back in and go within me to focus on my breathing and to give myself a little mantra to get myself through those runs.” Mockobee’s biggest tip for runners? “Yoga, yoga yoga,” he said. “Yoga is not a 100-percent cure-all for injuries but it can lessen the effects so you're not as injured as long, you're able to bounce back a little faster … I like to call it active recovery.” After decades of running and yoga, Mockobee has found a training recipe that works well for him, and has no plans to slow down. “The lessons I’ve learned [are] all due to trial and error—a lot of error, if anything,” he said. “I've been hurt, injured and I've gotten up, dusted myself off and gone back at it. I never stopped.”
Carrie Phelps “What I originally found in running and then was transferred into yoga, is I feel like running is a moving meditation,” she said. Phelps used yoga techniques to prep runners in Des Moines’ 20K Dam to Dam race—which she has also completed—helping them map out the race course in their minds and warm up with Sun Salutation A.
A heated power yoga class helped convince the fitness-minded Phelps that yoga could also provide an intense cardiovascular workout. Since, Phelps said she has built strength with power vinyasa yoga, trust with aerial yoga and flexibility and relaxation with restorative yoga.
“I don't know if it “I feel like running is a helped them but it really helped moving meditation." me, visualizing the running, feeling right, feeling fast,” she said. “That form of meditation can really help with your mindset. We use that a lot in lifecoaching. If you visualize doing it, you're more likely to do it.”
It’s a new kind of cross-training for the seasoned athlete. Phelps has completed eight or nine half marathons (leg cramping kept her from attempting the full marathon). She has also ridden one day of RAGBRAI for four years.
From New U’s power yoga classes to its collaborative therapy and “goal-crusher” workshops, Phelps shares her strategies for balancing fitness and wellness, a runner’s energy and a yogi’s steadiness.
“With biking, it's a great way as you age to have social time with exercise time … and getting in nature really resets you,” she said. “With running, I just loved you can do it for free, you can get moms together and go on a trail, or load your baby into a jogger and go, whatever's convenient. Once you get after three miles you get that runner's high and you can do a lot of thinking when you run.”
“I think the biggest feedback I've gotten from students is they see not only mental growth but physical growth as well,” she said. “They feel stronger. They can do inversions they weren't able to do. They have a better mindset.”
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“I was actually going through a divorce and losing my dad to cancer. That's how I found yoga, is I needed a different way to de-stress, because how I knew how to destress was to go running or biking or killing myself at the gym and I thought I'm going to kill my body! I need to find another way,” said Phelps, who got her 200-hour certification in 2014 and taught yoga at a gym for the first three years. “I saw the transformation it had on my life, and just started teaching it.”
Phelps has since stepped away from running in favor of yoga and biking, which she said are easier on her joints.
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In March, Carrie Phelps opened New U Yoga in Ankeny, offering more than 20 yoga classes and life/wellness coaching. Though she’s been a fitness instructor for two decades, her yoga and life-coaching career grew from a difficult period in her life.
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IOWA CITY
Nikki Thies
Nikki Thies has run two full marathons, two half marathons, seven of Des Moines’ 20K Dam to Dam races (including the 39th and final Dam to Dam on June 2) and so many 5Ks and 10Ks she’s lost count. She’s not always in a running mood, though. The mother of three, full-time Wells Fargo employee and part-time yoga teacher said she learned to listen to both her body and her mind while training for her first Dam to Dam. “I started to hate running,” she said. “When I started out I followed the training plan to a T, and that was more for mental security than anything else. There's just a lot of self-doubt, when you start doing long distances —'Can I really do this?' After a while, it's like, ‘Yeah, I can, and I don't have to kill myself in the process!’ You figure out what works for you.” Thies said yoga has helped her become more aware of when she’s overexerting. She started her practice in 2005, when she was pregnant with her son. She’s now a certified instructor, teaching 24 weeks out of the year at the YMCA. “I'm a go-go-go-go-go person and yoga helps me stay grounded, ultimately. It's hard for me to slow down but that's what yoga really does for me,” she said. “When you're balancing in poses you can't help but stay fully present.” Thies said she often suffers from hip stiffness as a result of exercise and her desk job. Her favorite antidotes are kneeling lunges, Sun Salutations and the poses Fire Log, Double Pigeon, Head to Knee and Lord of the Fishes. When it comes to running, Thies’ training routine consists of long runs and HIIT—high-intensity interval training—on treadmills, running for typically 18 minutes (or around two miles) on varied degrees of incline. “I noticed a big difference when I started [HITT] because all of a sudden my pace improved a ton,” she said. “I was very consistent in my pace, and that was a big difference. You can do a lot less mileage and still get really good benefits.” Thies has learned to let herself take a break when running becomes “just something else to do.” But she was all-in while training for this year’s Dam to Dam. “Now it's not ‘I have to [run],’ it's ‘I get to,’” Thies said. “I'm happy. I'm enjoying the present moment, I'm not thinking Ugh, I have three more miles. I stay present with my breath and enjoy it for what it is.” “I want to enjoy it—that's my biggest lesson. To not outrun my joy for running.”
Calvin Johannsen
“I can safely assume people put me in the 'overly active' box,” said Calvin Johannsen, who can be found scaling rock walls, lifting weights, practicing yoga, playing ultimate frisbee or otherwise moving his body at most any given time. “Several years back I was quite inactive, and I took up running to slim down,” he said. “My training philosophy is to be able to roll off the couch and into any event at a moment’s notice. I may not win the marathon, but I will complete it.” Johannsen hails from a farm outside Schleswig, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa before moving to the “promised land” of Des Moines, where he enjoys running and biking trails and slacklining at Grey’s Park. “After doing a few marathons,” he said, “I was drawn to the next challenge: the handstand.” Johannsen was first introduced to yoga by a friend five years ago. “I recall the days of my heels being far off the ground in a Downward Dog,” he said. Now, Johannsen has not only completed a handstand, but made yoga a central part of his workout routine. “If I was to lay out all my activities, interests and hobbies, then overlap them into a Venn diagram, yoga would be in the middle,” Johannsen said. “It’s the one activity that mutual[ly] benefits (and amplifies) my abilities in all my activities … I believe it greatly enhances performance and shortens recovery time.” Johannsen frequently posts snapshots from his yoga practice to his Instagram account @calvin.johannsen, including a 100-day yoga challenge (at least 15 minutes a day for 100 consecutive days) completed in March. He also uses his phone to learn from yoga stars such as Dylan Werner and Patrick Beach on the app AloMoves. “For a workout, I’ll typically warm-up with a quicker paced flow to get the blood pumping and body loose. Then to wind-down my routine, I’ll settle into yin-style yoga,” he explained. “If I could only do one of my activities, it would be yoga.” Though he’ll sometimes slow down to enjoy a Snickers bar, Johannsen said he delights in his active lifestyle, which takes him from beaches to mountains to evermore challenging arm balances. “My current activities can be attributed to purely enjoyment and trying to be the best version of myself I can be, and seeing what my body is capable of,” he said. Emma McClatchey is YogaIowa’s managing editor.
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YOGAIOWA RECOMMENDS
BOOKS
PODCASTS Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth Duckworth was often talked down to by her scientist father for lacking “genius.” By after a long career of teaching, business-consulting and neuroscience research, she’s come to believe genius is far less useful than grit. In this bestseller, Duckworth delves into the meaning of grit, and its indiscriminate power to bring success and happiness to those who harness it—from spelling bee champions to Seattle Seahawks to CEOs.
Another Mother Runner Podcast It takes a village to raise a child, and a village to make a runner. Friends Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea have created a worldwide village with their bestselling books and podcast, encouraging women of all ages, whether they’re running to get fit, fight depression, spend time with friends or lose baby weight. The pair bring on special guests—from Olympians to cardiologists—discussing everything from nutrition to what to do if you get your period on race day (hint: wear black shorts). Available on iTunes, Stitcher and at anothermotherrunner.com/another-mother-runner-podcast
Buddha at the Gas Pump
North by Scott Jurek, with Jenny Jurek Stories from the Appalachian Trail are often fascinating (A Walk in the Woods, anyone?) but none are quite like Scott Jurek’s. In the spring of 2015, he ran nearly 50 miles a day for seven weeks to beat the trail’s speed record—on a vegan diet, no less. Told from the perspectives of Scott and his wife Jenny, North is a superhuman story filled with adventure, endurance, love and the strangeness of “elective suffering,” as Scott puts it.
Recorded out of Fairfield, Iowa by Rick and Irene Archer, Buddha at the Gas Pump features stories from the “awakened”: religious leaders, scientists and everything in between. “Perhaps those listening to these interviews will become convinced, as we are, that genuine and permanent spiritual awakenings are not just a pipe dream, but are real and are becoming relatively commonplace,” the Archers say. After soaking in more than 450 episodes, you’d be hard-pressed not to believe in enlightenment. Available on iTunes, Stitcher, at batgap.com and on the BuddhaAtTheGasPump YouTube channel.
MWF Motivation Podcast Yoga Gym by Nicola Jane Hobbs The most valuable piece of fitness equipment is the human body, according to Nicola Jane Hobbs. Her “simple, strong and stretchy” workouts utilize 150 yoga poses, combining gym-worthy strength and endurance training with the mindfulness and flexibility of yoga. Equal parts fat-burning and soul-enriching, Yoga Gym is a fun way to cross-train.
If you can muster the motivation to listen to this podcast, the next mental steps towards your goals should come more naturally. The 10-20-minute episodes are released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (thus the MWF in the title), with renowned life coach Rob Dial discussing how to meditate, dream bigger, delay gratification, conquer jealousy and regret, confront fear of death, quit a bad job and much more. Available on iTunes, Stitcher and at www. mwfmotivation.com/category/podcast
Astrology Forecast:
Solar and Lunar Eclipses BY SARAH HAWTHORNE A partial solar eclipse will take place on July 12, and a total lunar eclipse on July 27. Typically, there can be unfavorable events worldwide during this two-week period. (Watch for significant national/international events and news about highly-placed persons.) The partial solar eclipse occurs on July 12 at 8:48 p.m. central time during a new moon in the sign of Gemini—and will not be visible in the U.S. Only those in southern Australia and northern Antarctica will be able to view the eclipse as it occurs over the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The total lunar eclipse occurs on July 27 at 2:30 p.m., during a full moon in the sign of Capricorn. The eclipse will also not be visible in the U.S., but rather in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. It is considered to be the longest eclipse of the 21st century.
Sarah Hawthorne, a.k.a. Planetary Sara, is a Vedic astrologer. See her forecasts at yoga-iowa.com and planetarysara.com. (Note that astrological signs according to Vedic astrology and the sidereal zodiac are 23 degrees earlier than the tropical zodiac used by Western astrologers.)
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If we consider that Rahu and Ketu, the north and south nodes of the Moon, cause the eclipses, then we see that these negative influences are “swallowing” the Sun and Moon, which are the king and queen of the planetary cabinet, ruling our minds, emotions, hearts and souls. Watch your emotional state and be careful in crowds or around volatile persons.
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ILLUSTRATION BY JAV DUCKER
According to Vedic astrologers, eclipses are not favorable and it is better to rest, fast, listen to spiritual music or chants and meditate during the eclipse. It is also said that spiritual practices such as yoga are much more profound and evolutionary when performed during the time of the eclipse.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NICKI DOANE
Meet Nicki Doane,
International yoga teacher and co-founder of Maya Yoga BY ELISSA CIRIGNOTTA Have you ever met those few special people that live and radiate the practice of yoga? To me, Nicki Doane is one of those rare specimen. Nicki is not only one of my beloved teachers but also the beloved teacher of thousands.
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If she’s not teaching at studios and conferences around the globe, you can generally find her at her home studio Maya Yoga tucked in the North Shore rainbow-riddled jungle of Maui, Hawaii. This gem of a studio, built from Alaskan yellow cedar, sits in the lush Huelo Valley and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. At the studio, you won’t be able to access wi-fi or turn on lights. It’s a visually stunning haven designed to allow students to let go of the hustle of daily life and drop completely into their practice and into their bodies.
Later, in search of more information on physical alignment, she went on to study the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar, founder of Iyengar Yoga, a precise form of Hatha practice. This combination of two systems of yoga lead her and her former teaching partner Eddie Modestini to develop Maya Yoga. Maya Yoga is a unique approach to Vinyasa with a focus on dynamic structural alignment, conscious breathing and practical yogic philosophy. This system of yoga emphasizes teaching to the individual while learning to create integrity within each pose that can be easily carried beyond the mat and into daily everyday life.
For Doane, yoga is about developing the tools to be a kinder person to The practice was love yourself, the people you at first sight, she said, love and to the people almost as though that you don’t love. It’s a practice of becoming more she had just put on a Doane has been teaching mindful and learning to pair of comfortable and practicing yoga for pay attention to how you broken-in shoes. more than 25 years. The are feeling. Yoga is a lifepractice was love at first support system, a fountain sight, she said, almost as though she had just of youth and a way to take care of the body. It is a put on a pair of comfortable broken-in shoes. tool to practice awareness and to heal. For Doane, Her first introduction to yoga was through her yoga is both a science and an art. university as a gym credit; that soon led to a completely different life path. It is quite common to see blankets, pillows, straps, block and chairs in Doane’s classes combined In 1991, Doane journeyed to India—“the with a vigorous Vinyasa practice. She incorporates motherland of yoga,” as she calls it—for the chanting, yoga sutras, pranayama, yogic philosophy first time. It was there in Mysore that she met and storytelling into her classes. one of her most influential teachers, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and immediately realized this The poses help students to tap into emotional and would be the beginning of a long relationship. spiritual bodies, while the sutras are used as a road map to assure yogis there is a way out of the pain, She continued to study with Jois not just for the whether it be physical or internal. poses, knowledge and yogic philosophy, but out of the love. He became a grandfather figure in Find out how and where to practice with Doane her life that pushed her far within her personal at www.nickidoane.com, and keep an eye on the practice. Under Jois’s guidance, Doane became Shakti Yoga event schedule for Nicki Doane’s fall an authorized teacher of Ashtanga yoga. 2019 workshop in Des Moines. PHOTO COURTESY OF NICKI DOANE
A MINI-Q&A WITH NICKI DOANE Where are some of the most fantastic places yoga has taken you? Without a doubt India, going to the motherland of yoga. Studying with the masters has been a phenomenal life experience. Leading retreats on the Amalfi coast has also been a highlight. I’ve really enjoyed going to some of some of small towns in the United States. I find it reassuring and appreciative. Do you have a favorite and least favorite pose?My favorites are Adho Mukha Svanasana (DownwardFacing Dog), Sirsasana (Supported Headstand) and Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand). My least favorite is Pincha Mayurasana (Feathered Peacock Pose). What advice would you give to a newbie? Don’t do too much. Find a class at your level. Take an intro to yoga class or series and find a teacher you feel good about. Pay attention to how you feel about that teacher. Find someone you connect with and respect. Listen to your body and let that guide how you begin.
Elissa Cirignotta is a writer, teacher and world traveler. When she’s not teaching or practicing yoga in Des Moines, Portland or Sicily, you can find her growing plants, planning trips and writing stories. She founded Happy Mindful People; for more information, visit www.happymindfulpeople.com.
The next edition of YogaIowa will look a little different
Dear Yogis: YogaIowa is committed to building an inclusive wellness community across the state. That means representing all kinds of yoga, and providing a range of lifestyle recommendations to help us all continue to deepen our practice. Our community is an expansive circle of wellness practitioners, and helping that community make sense of the information swirling around us—and delighting in the discovery of new aspects of our practice—is the passion that guides our work. Beginning in October, YogaIowa's investment in this mission will deepen as we transition away from the folded newsprint product that has been released quarterly up to this date, and toward a higher quality magazine format that will be released twice each year. The October issue will be a Fall/Winter edition, and it will be followed by a Spring/Summer edition released in April. In addition to the feature content you count on, the new format will include an expanded directory, regionally segmented, and designed to facilitate exploration not only of the state’s yoga studios, but also healthy places to eat, and wellness-focused businesses and organizations of all kinds. We are also increasing circulation to 25,000 copies per edition (formerly 10,000). We hope you will look forward to this as much as we are, that you will keep YogaIowa as an important part of your wellness practice, that you will support the businesses that make each issue possible, and that you will take pleasure in the adventure as you check off wellness destinations across the state.
PHOTO BY JAV DUCKER
See you again this fall!
Matthew Steele Publisher, YogaIowa
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