Photos by Liam Chudler
EAST LANSING, Mich.—Throughout the city of East Lansing, yoga and mental wellness classes can be found all around.
From Inner Fire Flow at the Hannah Community Center to a Midday Moves Finals Flex hosted at the Michigan State University Library, there are many options for community access to classes that help improve both physical and mental health through group activity.
The East Lansing Parks and Recreation Department is one way community members find classes to take with others. There are a number of yoga classes offered by the department.
“One of the things we really care about is, when we look at fitness and wellness, we really think about the whole person,” said Justin Drwencke, the Director of Parks, Recreation and Arts. “There’s also that mental component where concentration on the poses or doing the breath work can help with stress relief, help reduce anxiety and really addresses both the physical and the mental side of wellness.”
Inner Fire Flow is one example of a yoga class offered through East Lansing Parks and Recreation. The class is taught by yoga instructor and founder of Overflow Yoga, Rae Sherman.
Courtesy of Rae Sherman
Sherman’s class takes place on the second floor of the Hannah Community Center where she has a unique setup for her participants.
“We started this class when it was cold and I wanted to provide a space that was cozy for people to come in and de-thaw,” Sherman said. “When you walk in you can see fairy lights, nestled, and creviced against the walls. You can see a tapestry. You can see candles in the room. Just cozy and aesthetically pleasing.”
Sherman had been told to be invisible in her practice, and that made her feel awful. Her goal with Inner Fire Flow is to let people’s fires shine through and have participants help each other do so.
“That was kind of the reason behind me naming it that,” Sherman said. “I feel like this room is like, let’s fan each other’s flames because we don’t want to put water on anybody’s spark, anybody’s fire.”
To complement people letting “their truth burn bright,” Sherman hopes the people who sign up for her class can take her lessons and apply them to their everyday lives.
“I hope that they gain the emotional component of wellness, just as much as the physical,” Sherman said. “I hope that they’re able to gain a sense of emotional regulation throughout their day-to-days when life puts them in that bind.”
According to Kathleen Miller, program coordinator for East Lansing’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Arts, part of the department’s mission is to promote wellness. They do this in a variety of ways, including meditation and overall bodily health through yoga programs.
“Two things really strike me and why I like to participate in yoga is mobility and balance,” Miller said. “Along with it comes breathing techniques and that goes a lot of ways to help people manage things like anxiety and distress. So, I think yoga offers a lot of tremendous health benefits to the community.”
“I wanted to do something for the social and wanted to do something that’s outside of my norm and talk to different people, which I have been,” said Wesley Evans, an Inner Fire Flow student. “Being physical in general helps with your mind, so we go into class and you leave everything outside and you just get in the mood. It’s your body and the poses and that’s really relaxing and the physical, like I said, I have back problems and it’s helping me work with that.”
Miller specified that the classes offered through the community center are created to be a more affordable yoga option for people in the area. Their goal is not to take away from any of the other yoga studios around East Lansing.
“We are trying to appeal to a very broad group of people,” Miller said. “Most of the yoga classes I’ve personally participated in here, I’m seeing people of all levels but most of us are at the lower end of the skill level.”
As reported by Rita Melkonian at Wellness Living, there is a large disparity between the cost of in-person or online group yoga classes compared to private, one-on-one sessions.
Melkonian found that rates for private classes tend to be around three to five times higher than group sessions, due to students receiving more attention from a private instructor.
According to Yogalian, the average price for studio classes is $15-$25 per session, while online options cost $10-$30 for a monthly subscription and private sessions are as much as $150 per hour.
An even closer, zero-cost option was recently available for the East Lansing community, right on MSU’s campus. Midday Moves Finals Flex was one of several classes offered by the Fitness and Wellbeing Coordinator for University Health and Wellbeing at Michigan State, Angela Maniaci.
The class allowed for flexibility from its participants as people could either attend online via Zoom or come to the MSU library in-person. Maniaci wanted to ensure a low-stress environment, providing mats and other necessary equipment and scheduled it on Friday, April. 24 because she knew final exams were the following week.
“Before finals week, many are already stressed and cortisol is high,” Maniaci said. “When we do gentle movements, stretches and breathing practices, it allows the nervous system to calm down.”
Some may think that having a virtual option for a physical activity class in today’s world may not allow for people to get a proper workout or experience in. However, Maniaci believes that giving people the option to attend from the comfort of their own space outweighs potential drawbacks.
“Many enjoy the virtual experience for the convenience and the peace of mind that others cannot see them,” Maniaci said. “I do believe that people [who attend class virtually] still feel like they’re part of a community. Everyone logs on or shows up for different reasons, but all of those reasons involve the opportunity to take care of themselves in that moment.”
Maniaci believes easy community access for people is important because mental wellbeing classes provide an opportunity for self-care.
Options may exist for people who’d like to take more one-on-one yoga classes, but someone like Drwencke sees the group classes as a way to build connections and make it easier for people to develop relationships.
“You might be engaging with somebody who wouldn’t typically interact in other settings,” Drwencke said. “Those group settings are really valuable, not only for the physical and the mental wellness but just for the fact that you’re getting exposure to others in the community.”