photo by Kirk Anderson

stretching
body & mind

with yoga

by Megan Thomas

It’s a mountain phenomenon. Athletes are the norm and activity is the mantra. Visitors pack skiing, snowshoeing and sledding into a weekend, while locals scramble to prepare for the next hill climb or ski race.

photo by Tim Brown, courtesy Zenergy at Thunder Spring

With the athletic nature of mountain life, many people in Sun Valley and its surrounding Wood River Valley turn to yoga to complement and enhance their active lifestyles. While the mountains invite physical activity, they also encourage contemplation and heighten respect for the natural environment. Yoga embraces the mountain lifestyle by improving athletic performance, counterbalancing extreme sports, connecting to nature and creating a tightly knit community.

Yoga’s origins in India trace as far back as 5,000 years ago. Many mark the beginning of modern yoga at 2,000 years ago, with the publication of the text “Yoga Sutra” by Indian sage Patanjali. “Yoga Sutra” outlines eight branches of yoga. These branches comprise two branches of ethical behavior, postures and breathing and four meditative branches.

Yoga, as most know it today, embraces only two of the eight limbs: the asana or physical postures, and pranayama breath control. Yoga integrates physical poses and breathing techniques to stretch body, breath and mind. Even the least spiritual practitioners find a unique state of consciousness achieved through the practice.

photo by Tim Brown, courtesy Zenergy at Thunder Spring

Young and old, experienced and beginner, fit and less-than-fit may practice yoga. Although local classes target specific levels, styles and goals, the composition of students within classes varies considerably. The joy of the valley’s yoga culture emerges watching a young professional skier admire a gray-haired woman who stretches, breathes and focuses in a way that leaves him in awe. Gender, age and athleticism factor less into yoga than other physical activities. Yoga participants cannot simply be categorized as young, flexible, spiritual junkies. Instead, students from all walks of life are simply categorized as yogis.

Valley yoga teachers agree the majority of their yogis seek out yoga for its athletic benefits. The integration of the physical postures and breathing techniques improves endurance, strength, balance, awareness and concentration. Many practice specifically to improve their skiing or snowboarding. Yoga enhances on-hill performance and prevents injury by strengthening hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors and core muscles, while also improving balance and breath.

photo by Tim Brown, courtesy Zenergy at Thunder Spring

Then there’s après-ski yoga, which remains one of the most popular classes in the valley. Yoga stretches sore ski muscles and relaxes the mind. The risks associated with downhill skiing or boarding can lead to heightened awareness and stress. Through its postures and breathing, yoga eases a stressful mind and facilitates a state of relaxation.

In a quest to improve athletic performance, yogis discover the deeper emotional and mental benefits of yoga. The slow, deep breathing allows the mind to quiet and reach a novel state of consciousness and awareness. Yoga teachers watch their students come to class for the “yoga body” and return time and again for the enduring emotional rewards.

During the quieting of the mind and breath, yogis are able to slow down and appreciate their surroundings. Yoga encourages a respect for and integrates a close connection to nature throughout the practice. Instructors often refer to poses by their animal names, such as the camel or cobra pose, or call on natural metaphors to help students understand the movements of their bodies. One valley teacher, Jolinda Saindon, instructed her class to imagine their collarbone and spine as two rivers, and then instructed them to let the rivers flow freely. Given the closeness of rivers, mountains and wildlife, mountain yogis share an understanding of nature with the yoga practice.

photo by Tim Brown, courtesy Zenergy at Thunder Spring

Valley yogis and their teachers share a unique relationship. Close personal relationships flourish between students and teachers. Pilar Settlemier-Tumolo, manager of the Sacred Cow Yoga Studio, summarized the novel dynamic.

“In the valley, I don’t know my students’ first names; I don’t know their last names. I know their first and last names and if they have had a knee or other injury.”

The understanding of students as people allows teachers to focus on students’ specific needs. These personal relationships differentiate local yoga from practice elsewhere. And the unique closeness between students and teachers now pervades the entire yoga community.

The valley’s yoga recently changed significantly: expanding, evolving and stretching itself into a cooperative community. Yoga studios no longer compete for clients. Instead, the community embraces yoga’s own definition of unity by coming together. The unity is striking. According to Mila Riggio, yoga director at Zenergy in Ketchum, yoga teachers in the valley “work for each other and with each other.” They embrace the differences that differentiate their teachings and are quick to compliment one another’s style, knowledge or experience.

For instance, Jessica Soine and Matt Filoon offer instruction in Bikram yoga, sometimes referred to as “hot yoga.” This 90-minute class incorporates 26 postures and two breathing exercises.

photo by Tim Brown, courtesy Zenergy at Thunder Spring

The collaborative essence also paves the way for groundbreaking yoga. Local teachers Jenny Wilmer and Amy Clifford cooperate to teach Nada yoga, sound therapy yoga classes and retreats that incorporate physical postures with sound work. The classes use tone and sound rather than words to help yogis deepen into poses. Wilmer describes the classes as taking yoga “a step further beyond breath, to penetrate deeper and loosen blocks.” The class differs from anything else offered in the valley and possibly elsewhere as well.

As a model for cooperative practice, a place of experimentation and proof of the athletic and personal rewards, yoga has already left an indelible mark on the valley.