Before the stay-at-home order, yoga instructor Lauren Gennett Lewis led classes at up to four studios across the Front Range. Earlier in March, she even held a yoga class outside of the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, where participants maintained their distance. Now, she rolls out her mat, sets up within her home in North Boulder’s Newlands and invites participants into her living room through Zoom.
While she conducts virtual classes in conjunction with Yoga Pod, she is also offering her own sessions to raise funds for a friend in need by encouraging folks to log on, tap in and donate. Today, all one needs to keep up an exercise routine and a spiritual practice is a strong Wi-Fi connection and an even stronger desire to not fall victim to the couch during these slow-paced days of solitude and snacking.
“Taking the great leap into the virtual landscape felt disheartening at first, but since then my perspective has shifted,” Lewis said. “As I opened my first Zoom classroom, students faces popped up not only from our Boulder community but from all across the country and beyond.”
While yoga studios and fitness centers around the world are shut down, the next best thing for those seeking a bit of zen and an endorphin rush comes in the form of a cyber gathering.
“Working online eliminates physical connection — which I cannot wait to get back to — but provides a pathway to a more diverse community,” Lewis said. “My initial response to online yoga was resistance, and now I see its great value. We must be more flexible than ever, utilizing all of the tools at our fingertips to stay synced-up as we navigate this bizarre terrain.”
Every Sunday and Wednesday at noon, she will livestream a Vinyasa class, yet she personally isn’t keeping any profits from these specific sessions. Rather, all proceeds will benefit her friend Maihaa Keeley, who is battling cancer. The zoom link, that will stay the same weekly, is zoom.us/j/6452376223.
“As we are all painfully aware, the financial burden of this pandemic is massive,” Lewis said. “Now, more than ever, it feels important to take care of one another. My dear friend is going through a particularly tough time as a single mom battling cancer right now. I feel fortunate that I am able to donate the proceeds from my online classes to her for the time being. The collective generosity of students has made a big difference in her life. Giving of ourselves, in whatever way we have the means to, is a potent way to remember how connected we all are.”
Class participants can donate to the Venmo of Lewis at “Lauren-Lewis-156” or give directly to a GoFundMe she set up for Keeley at gofundme.com/f/mama-mahiaa-needs-our-support.
It’s her goal to create a similar vibe of connectivity found in an in-person yoga class.
“There is something really magical about practicing yoga in community,” Lewis said. “Yoga studios can feel like a second home for many, including myself.”
Lewis said she understands the various distractions that may arise when yogis are attempting to practice from their home’s interiors. When she’s not teaching, but taking a virtual class, a cloud of preoccupation can sometimes settle.
“Practicing yoga in my home feels 10 times harder than practicing at a studio,” Lewis said. “As a student, it is easy to sign into a class, check my email, flip the roasting vegetables and put a Band-Aid on my kid, all while the teacher is still in child’s pose.”
It’s up to viewers to find the discipline and ground down.
“Although there seems to be a bigger barrier to committing to a practice during this time, it feels more important than ever,” Lewis said. “My anxiety has been much higher than normal and each time I show up to my mat, I walk away calmer. Yoga is a tool for finding presence amidst these turbulent times.”
Local establishments where folks go to burn calories and break a sweat are offering new ways to serve members during closures.
“Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep one’s mind clear and body healthy by exercising,” said Patrick Montgomery, yoga instructor and brand integration director at Movement Climbing + Fitness. “Individually, people can decide if it’s a good time to push themselves, or back off, given the edge we’re all on with COVID-19. What we’re seeing is that our members are finding innovative ways to keep moving and an outpouring of support for each other through digital media.”
Participants can connect with familiar faces during these times of social distancing.
“We’re livestreaming our fitness and yoga classes on our Boulder, Baker and RiNo Facebook pages,” Montgomery said.
A full list of Movement’s previously recorded and upcoming livestream classes can be found at info.planetgranite.com/live-stream.
Virtual sanity
When Kelly “Karuna” Schwartz launched the online meditation community Mind Oasis in 2017, little did she know it would reach the amount of people it did — and play a particularly significant role over the past few weeks. The Boulder County-based business that provides an array of online meditation practices — engaging viewers on a global level — always relied on technology to spread its offerings. Now, in the wake of coronavirus, it is providing them at no cost.
“How could we not offer community meditation sessions free of charge on Mind Oasis?” said Schwartz. “As a 501c3 nonprofit, this is our mission in action and it was a no-brainer decision made by our board of directors within moments of understanding the seriousness of what we are facing.”
In addition to providing a wide range of sessions, Mind Oasis teamed up with a meditation instructor, Gina de la Chesnaye, who has recently recovered from COVID-19. She is offering a free six-week series geared toward those battling the sickness and dealing with the physical and mental effects that coincide with it. The series, that launched on Wednesday, received more than 50 registrations. Sessions are recorded and available within 48 hours if folks wish to revisit.
“Meditation is a potent practice anytime,” Schwartz said. “During difficult and uncertain times it is critical. A meditation practice helps us to acknowledge and work with strong emotions in a sane way. When practiced regularly, it can help you realize when you’re about to go down a dark spiral before it happens, which helps you to be more present and show up for yourself and everyone around you in helpful and kind ways.”
For Schwartz, the gift of community meditation goes way beyond deep breathing and the lighting of sage.
“We were facing a crisis of isolation in this country before COVID-19,” Schwartz said. “A lot of studies have been done that demonstrate many people suffer from loneliness, depression and anxiety. Community meditation is designed to offer an antidote to feelings of loneliness through practicing in a group. Since we’ve been operating online for over three years, we have a community that spans across the U.S. and into other countries as well.”
Those who have implemented meditation into their daily routines for years and those who have never attempted to quiet their brain will find more than 20 well-trained Mind Oasis teachers tailoring sessions each day to meet the participants where they are in their practice.
“With good instruction, our meditation practice can connect us more intimately with compassion and empathy for ourselves and others,” Schwartz said. “This becomes mission critical for understanding why we need to engage social distancing and isolation, even if we ourselves feel A-OK. While engaging a meditation practice has a bit of a learning curve at the start, once you become a daily practitioner — even just 10 minutes — you can more frequently access a level-headed response instead of reacting.”