With "You Are the Ocean" by Schawkie Roth playing in the background and yoga stick mats placed precisely on the floor, students relaxed their minds and bodies and performed a series of Iyengar yoga poses during Yoga Is for You at the Syosset Public Library Tuesday.
According to instructor Sharon Starr, she prefers to teach Iyengar yoga because the posture and alignment of poses will allow the body to develop in a manner that is anatomically correct. She says when we strengthen and stretch the feeble areas of our bodies, it will reward us by returning parts to their correct placement.
“Iyengar-style yoga is a form of Hatha yoga that is concerned with proper alignment poses and breathing techniques to release stress," Starr explains. "We learn to focus through the balance poses.”
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Iyengar yoga also incorporates the use of props such as straps, blankets and wooden blocks.
“It helps the people who are not as flexible to get into the poses,” says Starr.
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Yoga classes can be a way to diminish aches and pains. “It can be used as an aid, but it is not a cure. For example, with breathing in childbirth, the breathing techniques are known to help minimize the pain,” she says.
The class promoted achieving a sense of well-being with a 15-minute guided meditation.
“Everyone nowadays has the monkey mind where your thoughts are going from one thing to the next," Starr says. "After the meditation, most people are more focused when they leave here.”
Judy Steinberg of Woodbury, a three-year yoga student, is energized by this type of practice.
“It makes me feel good and Sharon is a fantastic instructor," Steinberg says. "Yoga is great for the body.”
Based in Huntington, Starr has been teaching yoga for the past 30 years. Starr also instructs yoga classes at Plainview and Jericho libraries.
“I started off in a dance group in Brooklyn and then it progressed into yoga," Starr says. "Yoga is a dance of the mind and body coming together to express yourself. Dance and yoga are a discipline. Dance and yoga are very similar in many ways.”
If interested in attending Yoga Is for You, classes will resume on Tuesdays beginning Sept. 21 from 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The fee for the classes is $60. Registration begins on Aug. 24. For more information, call 516-921-7161 or visit www.syossetlibrary.org.
