Student Feature: Dannette
I first experienced yoga in my twenties, while living in Manhattan. The yoga center I first entered was in Chelsea, and besides offering classes, they also cooked vegetarian Indian meals downstairs. I clearly remember the smell of delicious food wafting up to the class! My energy level had always been very high. I was living a very fast-paced, high-octane sort of a lifestyle, which is pretty much the norm in NY, so I didn’t stick with yoga for very long. A number of years later, as a professional actor, I wanted to maintain flexibility in my body and move well. So, I started taking yoga classes again. My favorite studio was 86th Street Yoga on the Upper East Side. I was able to ride my bike to classes, which I loved (much more preferable than waiting for public transportation!). I was taking only one class each week—I just didn’t want to spend the money or invest in myself then. But I loved the studio and my teacher, Nixa. Once I moved to Philly, I found a studio, Three Queens, where I was once again close enough to ride my bike. There, I kept up my routine of taking just one class a week (still being miserly with myself), with my main focus still being just on the body.
When we moved to Greenville, I took about a year away from yoga. By January 2022, I was ready to get back into a yoga practice, and I found Greenville Yoga. And this studio, too, is close enough for me to ride my bike there—funny how that’s a continuing thread for me! The move “down south,” where the pace of living is quite a bit slower than in New York and Philly, and moving through midlife, finally allowed me to slow down. And I was also ready for a yoga practice that was not just about the body. I’ve always preferred morning classes since my energy is higher then, so I started attending Liz’s morning classes regularly. That’s when I ultimately began to learn how to breathe. Before that, I hadn’t realized I wasn’t truly breathing throughout class—or in my life in general. After a little more than four years, I’m still working on breathing as a practice—and it’s doing wonders for my nervous system, which had always been on high alert throughout my life.
I’ve found many other things of significant value at Greenville Yoga. I also found a place, probably for the first time ever, where I felt safe enough to allow myself to “just be” in my body. I can lie on my mat and inhabit my body, feeling it from the inside out, rather than the other way around. I was never comfortable enough in my own skin to do that before. It took some time, but I came to realize that this studio is a safe space where I don’t feel my body is being judged, and my practice has made me feel “safer as a human.” And now, I am not just a once-a-week yogi—I have given myself the gift of practicing every day if I want to (and I do want to!).
I also found a community here, which I was never available for anywhere else. As an introvert and relatively shy—and largely lacking in self-confidence—I would always leave the studio promptly after class, hop on my bike, and go. Now, I benefit in so many ways by being involved in the community of Greenville Yoga—which is significant! I love the friendships I’ve gained, and I very much enjoy speaking with “strangers” in the lobby. I feel amazingly comfortable, happy, and whole at Greenville Yoga.
Now, four years later, I have attended Yoga Teacher Training and Awake & Aligned. My interest in taking these trainings was never about wanting to teach yoga, but about deepening my knowledge of yoga itself and my body in it—and also wanting to have fun with the other students! Through these trainings, I experienced a shift in my yoga practice: my focus went from wanting to do a pose “right” to experiencing the joy of fully expressing each pose. I love the feeling of expanding and elongating my spine and creating space between all of the ribs with coordinated breath. It feels so good! I was also able to deepen my understanding of breathwork. Essentially, I have learned to use my yoga and my breath to create as much space as possible in all ways. Just about everything in my practice has grown since the trainings.
Having practiced yoga for several decades and then finding Greenville Yoga has been a slow and meaningful journey toward soothing my mind and emotions. Practicing yoga and being part of a beautiful, loving community here in Greenville has also been an amazing path to spiritual growth. I hope to always be a yogi!
