As part of D.C. Yoga Week 2008, local studios offered free or $5 classes from April 12 through April 18, including a Sunday afternoon session on the National Mall. I wanted to use this week to restore balance to my life of too little sleep, and too much sugar and caffeine. I wanted to remember how to breathe.
My adventure in yoga began in the muggy, early afternoon on Saturday, with a beginner's class at Unity Woods Yoga Center across from the Metro stop in Woodley Park. Students young and old covered every inch of studio space. Instructor Joe Adlesic led the class through the basics of yoga movement using the Iyengar method of teaching, which incorporates props to help students achieve greater flexibility. He used squishy blocks called yoga bricks, blankets and even metal folding chairs to introduce the various poses.
At first, I was skeptical. However, as class progressed, I began to appreciate how deeply I could get into the stretches with the help of the props. During the final meditation, we lay on our backs and bent our legs, resting our feet on the chairs. I fell into a deep and blissful relaxation that I was loathe to leave.
He advised students new to yoga to take a foundation class to become familiar with the movements.
"Once you get started, it becomes an important part of your life," he said.
I awoke Sunday to gray skies and cold rain and dragged myself to my "Yoga on the Mall" class. At first, I could not find the class amid the chaos of cherry blossom season and a rally for Darfur. I eventually noticed a group of about 40 people doing downward-facing dogs northeast of the Washington Monument. With the help of the enthusiastic yoga instructor, I went through the flow of poses with surprising ease, guided by the use of monuments and governmental offices as reference points.
"Turn your back to the Treasury Department," the instructor said to help ease us into the Warrior pose, a version of a lunge with our arms in the air.
Debra Mishalove, an instructor at the Mall yoga class from Flow Yoga Center, said she was inspired by the history of the grounds used for the outdoor studio.
"It's cool to be practicing yoga where so many different movements have taken place," she said. "Yoga is a catalyst for change."
Annie Mahon, also an instructor for Sunday's class from Circle Yoga, said that "Yoga on the Mall" was a way to bring different practices and studios together.
"Yoga is really the same," she said. "This is a way for it to not be so divided."
As I swept my hands towards the Washington Monument to ease into a lunge, I could not ignore the power of doing yoga where protestors demanded civil rights and called for an end to the Vietnam War, where students now called for action on Darfur. It gave me shivers apart from the cold.
On Monday morning, I talked to Anne Harrison, a reggae yoga instructor at Somafit on Wisconsin Avenue, to learn more about new forms of the age-old discipline.
Harrison managed a D.C. reggae band for 10 years before turning to yoga to help her through a crossroads in her life. She now weaves reggae music from her extensive personal collection with the traditional vinyasa flow of strengthening and stretching poses to create a high-energy workout that emphasizes breath and alignment.
Though she said some people originally raised eyebrows at the un-orthodox combination, she recently applied for a trademark for the practice.
"It combines my two loves, reggae music and yoga," she said. "Bob Marley sang 'emancipate yourself from mental slavery,' and that's what yoga is."
Harrison said yoga can help college students find calm.
"The more you do yoga, the more you can take that meditative state off the mat," she said.
Her class takes place on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. at Somafit, but she also screens her workouts live at reggaeyoga.org for those who can't catch her class.
Unusually calm and limber, I headed to Tranquil Space for a Tuesday morning "all levels" yoga class. The studio is two blocks off of Dupont Circle on a quiet and sunny stretch of P Street above a pet store.
Carol Collins, an enthusiastic and nurturing instructor, led the class through the traditional vinyasa movements. We began with a series of lunges, transitioning into the push-up pose and then easing our hips into the sky for a downward-facing dog. A nimble pregnant woman maneuvered the challenging poses next to me, at one point balancing her entire body on her shoulders for the steadiest headstand I have ever seen.
I was almost embarrassed gasping next to her. However, yoga requires relinquishing comparison. The practice is as much about acknowledging and working with personal weakness as it is about building strength.
Collins said in an interview after class that yoga is about finding time for yourself.
"I want students to take away a small piece of who they really are," she said.
Further, Jo Ann Kester, the studio manager at Tranquil Space, said people often assume incorrectly that you need to already be flexible and strong to start practicing.
"You don't need to be a certain type of person to do yoga," she said.
During the final meditation, Collins provided students with eye masks and wafted the studio with lavender aromatherapy spray. I lay for several moments on my mat, completely still, save for the rise and fall of my breath, and relaxed to the bone.
I emerged again into the sunlit streets of Dupont Circle, newly compassionate and calm. I did not truly miss my sarcastic self, the one who drank too much caffeine and did not find time for herself. As I walked back to the Metrorail station, I remembered to breathe.
