Three new ways to practice
By Marissa Hermanson

Yogis flock to Boulder from all corners of the Earth to take yoga teacher trainings and be inspired by yoga instructors who aid in the evolution of the practice. We checked in with three Boulder yoga instructors who are leading the way in their yoga niche — anjali, yin and partner yoga.

Anjali restorative yoga with Shannon Paige Schneider

Shannon Paige Schneider, owner of öm time yoga studio, started practicing yoga in 1996 when she was diagnosed with cancer. Her doctor at the time recommended that she try a yoga class that was taught by a nurse.

During her bouts with cancer, Schneider practiced yoga once a week. “It was the only place I was going to feel well. The experience of being in a space of that regard is actually what I felt was most helpful,” says Schneider.

Though the class incorporated only basic poses, the most important aspect was the positive atmosphere. “The poses we did were not nearly as helpful as the affirmation I received from her that we were all engaging a pattern of wellness in the battle of our illness,” says Schneider.

Schneider felt like she couldn’t have survived without yoga because it gave her hope and created a pattern of wellness for her.

“It made me feel, feel and feel. I learned to feel for hope in my body. Hope as an idea is not nearly as helpful as knowing that how you are engaging yourself, skin, muscles and bones and weaving the movement into the breath to participate with the healing process.”

Schneider started teaching restorative yoga in 2003, and by 2004, she had created a form of yoga called anjali, meaning soft or malleable. Her 90-minute classes involve nine poses that encourage rest, lengthen the spine and support the health of the central axis of the body. “From the center, health and ease radiate,” Schneider says.

Students lie on the floor and explore a sequence of resting poses, including supported back bends, side bends, twists and child’s pose.

Guided meditations accompany the poses.

The instructor narrates with myth and imagery, evoking scenes for the practitioner to follow. The story is the hallmark of anjali yoga.

Schneider says anjali is great for people who are trying to get away from depression and antianxiety drugs.

“You are teaching yourself to rest and relax in a world that is so tightly wound,” says Schneider.

For more information about öm time and anjali yoga, visit www.omtime.com.

Yin yoga with Laura Kupperman

Laura Kupperman teaches yin yoga, a form of restorative yoga, at Corepower Yoga. Kupperman has been practicing yoga since 1995, and teaching yoga since 2002.

Kupperman started studying yin yoga as therapy with cancer survivors, and at the time, she began sneaking some yin poses into her classes. For the past five years she has been teaching some form of yin, but in the past year has been teaching dedicated yin classes.

In yin yoga, students hold poses for three to five minutes. Yang, by contrast, is a more active and dynamic form of yoga, like Vinyasa, which focuses on stretching muscles and building strength. Yin focuses on joints and bones and the connecting tissue in our bodies.

“The goal is to keep tissues in the body as supple as you can, especially tissues that make your joints get tight,” says Kupperman.

“Your bones are yin,” she says. “So think of getting braces on your teeth. If you wanted to move your teeth you wouldn’t yank them back and forth to put them into place. Instead you put braces on. Time and gravity cause the change.”

Almost all yin poses are done seated or lying on the floor, and focus on internal forces.

“This is about slowing down and releasing tension … floating down the river instead of climbing up,” says Kupperman.

Kupperman says that as people age, their lower body gets stiff and the upper body gets weak, causing us to lose our range of motion and circulation. Yin helps to keep the body supple and flexible.

“In a successful yin yoga practice, you should come out feeling a little softer, more vulnerable.”

For more information on yin yoga and Laura, visit www.laurakupperman.com.

Partner yoga with Elysabeth Williamson

In partner yoga, two people complement and support one another through a series of poses. Partner yoga uses the same form and principles of individual poses, but adds another person to deepen the impact of the pose.

Elysabeth Williamson, instructor of principlebased partner yoga and author of The Pleasures and Principles of Partner Yoga, has been teaching yoga for 25 years, and partner yoga for 15 years.

“What I do is really geared towards everyone — touch, nurturing, restorative positions,” says Williamson.

This type of yoga helps people cultivate relationships by using themes like trust, compassion and surrender to create a connection between two people. Williamson adds that it embraces all forms of relationships — mothers and daughters, friends, life partners and even acquaintances.

“It really potentially could be for anyone,” says Williamson. “It deals with the universal aspects of humans. We are in relationships from the time we are born to the time we die.”

Some poses use inversions, which are for people who have more yoga experience or athletic training. Others cater to the novice.

Williamson says she developed partner yoga because she didn’t feel skillful and conscious in her own relationships.

“Yoga means union — the transcendence of unity,” says Williamson. “Partner yoga is a very direct metaphor that we are not separate, and it’s a way to experience that — that we all are part of this pervading unity.”

To learn more about partner yoga, visit Elysabeth’s website at www.PartnerYoga.net.

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