Students at SaKula Yoga Studio in Metuchen take on the “three-legged downward-facing dog” pose. Long gone are the days when yoga was reserved for swamis and spiritual seekers in India. Having made its way west, the practice has become popular with everyone from fitness freaks to chronic-pain sufferers to those seeking yoga in its literal interpretation of “union with the divine.”
So much has the discipline caught on in its many forms that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recognized September as National Yoga Month.
“Current research suggests that a carefully adapted set of yoga poses may reduce low-back pain and improve function,” the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine states.
“Other studies also suggest that practicing yoga … might improve quality of life; reduce stress; lower heart rate and blood pressure; help relieve anxiety, depression and insomnia; and improve overall physical fitness, strength and flexibility.”
And these benefits are accessible, with yoga studios in virtually every town throughout the state.
One in particular, located in the Iselin section of Woodbridge, brings the practice all the way from its roots in India.
“Unless you experience God, you would not know what it is,” said Tanvi Shah, proprietor of TanviYoga. “It’s the same thing with yoga.”
Shah grew up in Gujarat, India, home of what was then the country’s only ayurvedic university and hospital. Yoga was commonplace, and Shah often practiced asanas, or postures, along with her family.
It was not until health issues struck Shah, however, that she began to truly devote herself to yoga. After having her second child — Shikha, now 5 — Shah’s cholesterol level spiked and she started having chronic backaches.
Having always been athletic and not one to take medications, Shah looked for an alternative way to deal with her problems — and yoga fit in perfectly.
Once she made the practice a regular part of her life, Shah’s cholesterol went back to normal and her backaches went away, she said.
“It’s sort of designed to give a stretch to every cell in your body,” she said, adding that pranayama, a method of breath control, adds to the benefits.
According to Shah, she has watched her students transform before her eyes — from introverted to extroverted, from unhappy to happy.
Shah teaches at a studio attached to her home in Iselin, and on Sundays at Edison Martial Arts Academy. For more information, visit www.tanviyoga.com[1] .
In addition to regular yoga classes, Shah offers “Backache Yoga,” which is tailored to help those with back and disc problems. She also teaches “Prenatal Yoga,” as well as “Chrysalis Yoga,” specially tailored for kids age 7 and older, which Shah said helps prevent precocious puberty, allergies, asthma, anxiety, attention deficit disorder and depression.
Along with incorporating conscious breathing techniques in her yoga classes, Shah also employs pranayama in the meditation courses she offers.
“The mind controls the breath; the breath controls the mind,” she said, adding, “A normal person probably uses about half of their lung capacity.”
Nicholas Jouvanis, an Edisonbased yoga breath therapist, cannot say enough about the powerful impact bestowed by simply partaking of a basic human function. “The effects are amazing,” he said. As evidence, Jouvanis explained that he was an atheist before beginning yoga breathing, and now is not. He added that he has had clients report seeing angels or deceased loved ones during yoga breathing sessions.
The main objective of the practice, however, is to provide psychological and physical healing — something Jouvanis himself experienced back in 1984 at a weekend workshop.
He said that by his second session, his emotional instability was alleviated.
“In that second session … I cried like a baby,” he said. “The more you cry, the more you heal.”
According to Jouvanis, people store emotional memories in the body. Yoga breathing “brings up emotions, deflates the ego, gets it out of the way and it gets us in touch with our emotions to cry it out.”
Denying the existence of psychopathology, Jouvanis said such issues are instead an energy problem within the body.
“I’m totally different from psychiatry and psychology,” he said.
“Psychiatry gives them drugs, and they’re on drugs for years and years.”
Clients see major breakthroughs as early as their first session of yoga breathing, according to Jouvanis. Although he recommends multiple sessions, he also encourages clients to do the breathing on their own once they’ve mastered it.
In addition, he offers a guarantee.
“If I see that the breathing did not bring up emotions for you to release it, then I have not gotten my job done, so I will not get paid for it.”
For more information on Jouvanis’ services, visit www.thespiritualkey.com[2] .
Bonnie Beresford and Ro Marinucci — life partners for 23 years — transformed a loss into something positive when they opened SaKula Yoga Studio in Metuchen.
Marinucci’s mother, Elly, was in the last days of her life when she vehemently told the couple that they should dedicate the rest of their lives to helping others. Having both benefited greatly from their own yoga practices, the women realized that opening a studio of their own could fulfill Elly’s wish for them while following an existing passion.
Marinucci said SaKula, a Sanskrit word, means “born from family, friends and community.”
Less than a year later, SaKula opened its doors in January 2010, and has lived up to its name and mission, according to the pair.
They started with five teachers and about 35 students, and now 18 teachers provide instruction to more than 700 students.
Offering specialized classes such as chair yoga and yoga for mobility, SaKula is equipped with teachers who are trained in dealing with persons who have disabilities, whether physical or mental.
“Right now, we’re working with a child who has cerebral palsy,” Marinucci said.
According to the women, each day brings a new student to the studio, and part of what keeps students coming back is the close-knit nature of the facility.
“A lot of our students do practice at home,” Beresford said. “But they always come back to our studio to have that community feeling.”
SaKula is located at 325 Main St., Metuchen, but will soon be moving to the 2,000-square-foot location at 335 Main St.
To find out about special deals offered through the end of September for National Yoga Month, visit www.yogahealthfoundation.org[3] .
References
- ^ www.tanviyoga.com (www.tanviyoga.com)
- ^ www.thespiritualkey.com (www.thespiritualkey.com)
- ^ www.yogahealthfoundation.org (www.yogahealthfoundation.org)
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