Yoga on the Pier

The following was written by Mary Lou French, a group participant at Cancer Support Community-Redondo Beach (CSC-RB). Mary Lou has been attending the Yoga on the Pier series that benefits CSC-RB in partnership with Blue Zones Project, Redondo Beach Pier Association, and the City of Redondo Beach. The series will continue each Monday from 6:30-7:30pm through August 26th.

CSC-RB is a nonprofit organization that offers over 150 FREE monthly programs of Emotional Support, Education and Hope to cancer patients and their loved ones. Mary Lou has recently undergone treatment for ovarian cancer.

Yoga on the Pier

What a serene and unique experience......doing yoga on the pier.....with cool ocean breezes brushing your face and arms, the warm, soft sunshine on your body!

Twice I have been at the Redondo Pier for the Yoga on the Pier series. I have come away, both times with such a profound feeling of gentle renewal. I don't think that doing yoga in a classroom will ever be the same as I will always meditate on the physical joy of my time of yoga on the pier. I will try to reconnect with the sound of the waves sliding onto the beach as a background for future yoga classes.

I am relatively new to yoga....having only started a few months ago at the Cancer Support Community classes. In those classes I was encouraged to gently try the different yoga poses but not to do more than my recovering body could handle.

At the Yoga on the Pier I carried that message in my mind.....doing only what was comfortable and not stressful. It was easy to "take a break" from poses that I didn't feel strong enough to perform. I had learned well from my CSC yoga instructors....do only what you can in comfort.

On the pier for yoga there was a feeling of camaraderie. Few of the participants looked familiar to me....only those from the Cancer Support Community. But the mother's with their children, the married couples and the grandmotherly types like myself were all seemingly joined together in this lovely, evening experience of healthy exercise and the smell of the salty ocean air. There wasn't any feeling of competitiveness as some participants did some of the more advanced poses as if they had been doing yoga for years. Then there were those of us who were doing only what we were able and enjoying the experience.

I can't wait until next Monday as the Spectrum Health Club sends a different instructor each week and we try new and varied yoga poses. I love the fact that this event is trying to raise donations for the Cancer Support Community......what a great cause to which one can contribute money to further support CSC’s  mind/body programs from which we all so richly benefit.