julia

By Stephanie Bersh Your journal, like your mat, is your refuge, a place where you can let your guard down, discover who you really are, and celebrate that discovery. - Bruce Black I fell in love with writing when I was just a young girl. It started with writing in a diary and sharing my days and my crushes. As I moved into my tumultuous teen years, my diary morphed into a journal.  It shifted from who I was crushing on to my innermost feelings and thoughts, and it became my safe space to work through the drama of relationships [...]

(Dear Reader, The inspiration for this blog came from co-teaching a New Year’s Day class with Anna Ottolino. Anna and I wished to convey that our yoga practice should aid us in growing and evolving. That we should greet, rather than gloss over negative emotions such as anger and frustration--that such sentiments are excellent teachers when we move through them rather than avoid them. While putting together our class plans, we reflected on the roles people play and how it’s familiar to “stuff” emotions. Suggestion #4 (below) came from the book Anna shared during our January 1st class. I hope [...]

Dear TBY Community, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a fierce inner battle."  While I would not wish the experiences of grief or loss on anyone, I'm confident that my traumas have increased my ability to put this familiar saying into practice. According to emotion researchers, empathy is the ability to imagine what another might be feeling or thinking. Author Brene´Brown sums up the difference between sympathy and empathy with excellent insight. She suggests that instead of offering silver linings to those who've befallen heartbreak, we might say, "I know what it's like to experience pain and I'm [...]

TBY Class Notes - Printable Weekly Schedule Sunday 8:00 am - Level 1-2 - Megan Mazzocco 9:30 am All Levels - Julia Jonson 11:00 am - (*Jessica Spalding will return to teaching Gentle Basics in April) 4:30 pm Andrea Harris Monday 9:30 am Level 1-2 - Andrea Harris 6:00 pm All Levels - Andrew Gurvey Tuesday 9:30 am Level 1 - Anna Ottolino 11:00 am Basics - Laura Mills 5:30 pm All Levels - Carrie Temkin Wednesday 8:00 am Morning Coffee Wisdom - Bhante Sujatha 9:30 am Basics - Stephanie Bersh 11:00 am Gentle Basics - Bette Plass 5:30 pm [...]

A Letter of Thanks from Andrew Gurvey 11/26/2020 Dear TBY Yoga Community, 2020 has certainly been a challenging year for all of us.  I’m always careful when I make a blanket statement like that, but with the onset of COVID-19, a heavily divided and vicious political climate, a record number of natural disasters (all of which are record-setting in and of themselves), and the resultant effect that we are essentially isolated from one another and have to adapt to new ways of creating connections. This is a powerful time, indeed, and a scary one.  For me, it’s easy to get [...]

Poem by Walterrean Salley Be good to yourself— You deserve it. Take care of yourself  While you're here. No one else can do it Better than you. Hold yourself up.  Don't be your worst enemy. Nor a 'self hater, ' Like some love to do. Live and enjoy life. Look in the mirror and smile. Believe that good things Will happen for you. Be grateful that you were  A candidate for life. And let such gratitude Show. Make the best choices for yourself. Exercise. Rest. And eat properly. For on such things the body thrives. Love yourself,  And then you [...]

Dear Yoga Community, We shared some big news with our teachers and staff last night (11/11/20). We announced that TBY Yoga would continue in a different form without a physical building. It is truly the end of an era for a space that holds such deep meaning for so many of us. Over the past nine months, we’ve been able to forge tight-knit relationships among the staff and community members as we provided skillful instruction with Livestream and Outdoor classes. As sad and heavy-hearted as we are right now to be losing our brick and mortar we have witnessed that [...]

Educational Resources for Beginning to Understand More of America's History to Stand Up Against Racism By Julia Jonson For racial healing to begin, understanding has to happen first. As yoga teachers, our job is to have compassion and teach awareness, which fosters empathy. Protests in favor of racial equality erupted after former police officer Derek Chauvin was caught on camera kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. Chauvin faces charges in the killing that lasted close to 9 minutes after Floyd called out for his mother and whispered that he couldn’t breathe.  Protests for racial equality are happening against the backdrop of [...]

In this first episode of TBY Talks, a foursome of friends waxed eloquent on the topic of Overcoming Obstacles. We felt it a timely topic as we collectively weather a global pandemic, social unrest, a historic election, and much more. TBY Co-Owners Julia Jonson and Andrew Gurvey had an enlightening conversation with TBY student Kadi Petridis and her fiancé Dr. Willie Underwood (bios below!). We hope this complimentary episode touches your life in some way.  https://youtu.be/82VY-Z4v62E Kadi Petridis Kadi Petridis was born in Bamako, Mali, to a black Malian mother and a white American father who served in the Peace Corps in [...]

By Kadi Petridis Sr. Director/Team Lead South Central Oncology Account Management Team Pfizer, Inc. (TBY Yoga Student/Guest Contributor) A women’s group at my company invited me to write a blog post on the topic of Joy earlier this year. At the time I had no idea we would be in the midst of a global pandemic as well as a major call to action led by citizens across the globe to address the issues of police brutality and systemic racism in the United States.  Both issues are a stark reminder that life as we know it can and will shift [...]