Truth Yoga: Stress Relief, Personalized Attention

Anyone who's ever walked blindly into a yoga class, with little knowledge of the methods or moves, knows how awkward it can be.

You try to figure out what you're doing by watching the people around you.

This isn't the experience of yoga that Truth Yoga Studio wants you to have.

The small, intimate studio opened on Main Street about a month ago, under the ownership of Traci Ward. Ward picked her materials and location carefully, after conducting research into the options for yoga in Milford.

What she learned was Milford didn't have a dedicated yoga studio. And she was encouraged to open a studio by a friend, Amy Leone, whose counseling service shares the floor.

The studio is on the second floor of an historic downtown building, at 211 Main St., and it is quiet and light-filled. Once you're in the room, you don't hear any traffic noise.

The classes that Truth Yoga conducts are scheduled. Ward speaks with each student to try to determine what class would suit them best: low-intensity, high-energy or something in between. Classes are offered at varying times, including early in the morning.

In describing her business, Ward emphasizes that yoga isn't just a workout. It's that, but it's more than that. For many of her students, it's the one hour out of the day they get to disconnect from the sometimes frantic, over-scheduled, demanding world around them. Part of her job is helping students focus on being "in the moment."

Ward is a certified instructor, having graduated last year from Yoga For Life in Framingham, a seven-month process. The name of her studio reflects her personality. One of her essential character traits is her honesty, or truthfulness, something her friends and yoga instructor at Yoga For Life identified immediately.

Her classes draw a mixed group, men as well as women, and all abilities. She will work individually with people on how to position themselves, the kind of one-on-one attention that a larger studio lacks. She asks each new student to fill out a questionnaire, so she can match the services they need to a class.

"I want people to feel very comfortable; when you arrive, you're going to fit in," Ward said.

Truth Yoga Studio is located at 211 Main St., Milford. Classes are offered at varying times, including Pure Asana, Pure Asana Drop-in, Prana Stretch and Flow, and Awaken Your Soul. Parking is free on the street in front of the building, and behind the building in the bank parking lot. The contact number is 508-296-8298.