Proper exercise can be elusive in a time of physical isolation. But yoga, which can be practiced alone and effectively reduces stress, is right for the times. Local teachers are offering a range of online classes.
Outermost Yoga, Provincetown
Outermost Yoga’s team will soon publish videos for various levels. Ten instructors will offer about 20 weekly classes, according to founder Stefan Piscitelli. His seasonal studio, which usually opens in May, is in the Davis Space at WOMR, but he is staying in his winter home in Los Angeles for now.
Trained in hatha yoga and trauma-sensitive yoga, Piscitelli says he is thinking about helping people rebound from this experience.
“Many of us, whether we realize it or not, are actually experiencing trauma response,” he said. “It’s like grief but its source is a bit more ambivalent in this case.”
Producing yoga remotely does present some difficulties. “Streaming yoga from our apartments is doable,” Piscitelli said, “but I also miss the living feel of yoga. So much of what we do as yoga instructors is reading the room.”
Visit outermostyoga.com for more information.
Quiet Mind Studio, Wellfleet
Lee Wotherspoon, owner of Quiet Mind Studio, has been offering live yoga classes four days a week via Zoom for anyone interested in participating.
Students can join classes on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday at 8 a.m., Sunday at 9 a.m. and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Most classes focus on body, breath, and movement, but Saturday’s class focuses on meditation, Wotherspoon said.
The turnout so far has been “amazing,” she said. “We have lots of local people and lots of faraway students. I have people in class from Wellfleet, Provincetown, the Bronx, and South Carolina.”
Wotherspoon’s platform can hold up to 100 people in each class but it is set up so each student sees only the instructor on the screen and not all the other students.
Although she too misses the chance to physically work with her students, Wotherspoon said she is focusing on giving students their own sense of physical life, “a felt experience of their own body,” she said. “For sure, the mind component of yoga is essential,” Wotherspoon added. “The primary input and output of yoga practice is attention to the present moment.”
Classes are currently being offered free of charge, but Wotherspoon said some students have chosen to donate. For more information, visit quietmindstudio.com or email [email protected].
Truro Yoga
Genevieve Morin of Truro Yoga will be offering one class a week on Saturdays at 4 p.m. via Zoom. Morin said she is now preparing to reach out to her yoga students with information on how to access her Zoom class, but anyone who is interested in being a part of the class can contact her directly at [email protected].
“I want to keep a sacred space where people can share what’s going on,” Morin said. “It really is a space that we hold for people to be themselves, and I don’t want that to change.”
The classes will be 75 minutes long. Morin said she won’t be charging for the class but is accepting donations.
“As far as the payment goes, it’s going to be a suggestion,” she said. “If people want to Venmo me, then that’s fantastic.”
Yoga Provincetown
Yoga East in Provincetown is offering daily online classes each week for interested participants. Last week’s movements included Yin Flow and Vinyasa.
Visit the Tender Warrior Club page on Facebook to find out more information on how to access the classes.
Wellfleet Preservation Hall
Jen Shannon is currently offering free online yoga classes that students can access through YouTube. The classes focus on breath, gentle movement, and traditional yoga poses to balance and revitalize, according to the hall’s website.
For more information visit wellfleetpreservationhall.org or jenshannonyoga.com.
