Pat Dilley, Mitzi Breland, and Zoe Brumfield were all active, weekly students of Sonja Usry’s yoga classes at Downtown Yoga before the closing of the studio.
With Usry’s departure from Forest and return to Louisiana, Dilley, Breland, and Brumfield began discussing how to continue their morning classes.
Pat and Mitzi formed a yoga group at the Forest United Methodist Church. The group meets Monday and Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. and currently utilizes a video routine.
Dilley and Breland originally encouraged Sonja to open a studio on Main St.
Breland helped to design, paint, and furnish the studio. Breland said, “We took photos of the group and blew them up in black and white, and we hung them on the walls.”
Their practice at FUMC is gentle and low impact, covering the basic series and transitions of yoga. These basic stretches, performed over the course of an hour-long series, are good at breaking up adhesions in the muscles, getting fresh blood flowing through the tissues, decompressing and aligning the spine, and creating some muscular activation. The poses also deliver better balance, muscle strength, muscular awareness, and muscular tone.
All three of the women have found relief from past muscular or connective tissue injuries. Breland said that when she began yoga she had difficulty turning her neck. Dilley said when she started, she had shoulder pain and stiffness. Brumfield said when she started, she had difficulty lying flat on her back with her legs outstretched.
Breland and Dilley both said that yoga helps them with stress. Breland said, “It makes you feel good for the rest of the day.”
Yoga, like most exercise in general, causes the release of endorphins. And like all workouts, it can be an outlet to release energy that you are holding onto. Whether running, biking, hitting the weights, or hitting a punching bag; one’s workout at some point or another serves everyone as gym-therapy.
Breland promoted yoga as an ideal activity, saying, “It’s for anyone at any level. And there are no major expenses or equipment.”
Dilley described the atmosphere of the classes at UMC as a quiet place to practice. Brumfield echoed this sentiment, saying, “There are too many distractions at home (for yoga).”
The morning classes are free. Dilley said that the class is open to members of the community outside of the UMC fellowship. Dilley and Breland both said that they want to expand their yoga group.
