Sunday, November 10, 2013

Evolation Yoga aims to relax the West Side

By Sade Mckenzie and Shytisha Taylor
Bengal News West Reporters
As the vibration of mellow tunes flow throughout the body and citrus-flavored incense  fills the hot, humidified room, one can’t help but to feel relaxed by the calmness of one’s mind. 
Evolation Yoga made its first appearance on the Elmwood strip in 2009 as a Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga studio. Since then it has become a transnational meeting ground for diverse individuals sharing a common passion for yoga.
  Alicia Kirkendall
 Bikram Yogawas created by Bikram Choudhury. It is a 26-posture exercise conducted in a 105 degree room. Each individual posture works collectively to create muscle flexibility, constant blood flow and a clearer mind.
The studio has  expanded, offering a variety of classes for students including a beginners  yoga class conducted in a less heated room, a faster-paced yoga class also known as “flow” and Bikram Yoga for advanced students. These classes focus on controlling the outer body through inner stillness.
Alicia Kirkendall has been a yoga instructor at Evolation for two years and says that yoga has helped her to exude positivity and embrace self-reflection and meditation.
            “What are you doing for everybody? You’re just sitting there meditating but without that inner stillness what would you be projecting otherwise? Chaos or anger? There are so many feelings that people feel, that they don’t realize they can put off to others,” Kirkendall said. 
 In addition to the advantages that yoga has for the mind, practicing yoga in a heated room helps to sweat out toxins held within the glands and organs of the body. The heat also helps to soften the muscles, allowing students to easily adjust to the various postures without messing up their body alignment.
“With the heat, it increases the circulation of your blood so it gets everything moving around faster,” Kirkendall said.
Kelly Trip, a Yoga Flow instructor at Evolation calls it fun. She teaches yoga to her employees at her corporate job for 50 minutes during her lunch break and calls it “corporate yoga.”
“It’s really about connecting the postures in a fluid way,” Trip said.
Yoga also allows students to connect with each other. Students contribute to the self-healing process of people around them. They work together by feeding off of each other’s energy and motivating one another. 
“It’s amazing having everyone come together into one room and work hard to better themselves,” Kirkendall said.
Instructors at Evolation Yoga continue to build a larger yoga community by teaching their techniques to students and teachers nationally and internationally. They conduct a series of training workshops in California, Florida, Costa Rica and Spain, and have helped open Evolation Yoga studios in Florida, Atlanta, Costa Rica and Columbia.
“We all help each other,” Kirkendall said. “It’s a good network of teachers and guidance. It’s a well-rounded training.”
They have  training workshops in California and Hawaii in March 2014, and later in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
 “Yoga is a great getaway from a hectic life,” said Lasasha Oyo, student at SUNY Buffalo State.
Oyo has participated in yoga classes at Evolation for the past year and calls it a spiritual journey.
The West Side offers many other yoga studios that contribute to the community and present a different focus other than hot yoga. With all of the different types of classes available, an individual can find a style specific to what he or she  wishes to accomplish.
Erin Cook, owner of Head to Heart Yoga,  says that it is never too late to begin yoga. She believes that there are various styles and levels to suit anyone’s liking.
There are many kids yoga classes offered around the world and people practice yoga well into their 80s and even 90s,” Cook said.  


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