Get your Stretch On: Hand to Heart Yoga

By Vanessa Oswald

No matter what age, weight, height, or gender, yoga is the type of exercise any person can learn to love and enjoy. It increases flexibility and strength while serving as a relaxation method, putting participants more at ease with their mind, body, and soul. Luckily, there's a new yoga studio opening called Hand to Heart Yoga, to serve as a center of rejuvenation and fun for the people of Buffalo.

Director and founder Erin Cook is hosting an open house on January 16th, from 9AM to 6PM, at her new studio, located at 425 Elmwood Avenue. Free hour-long yoga classes will be offered during the open house, the first one an all-levels class from 11AM to noon, and a hip-hop yoga class from 2 to 3PM. Both classes are for anyone who is interested and will be taught at a moderate pace. Mats and props will be provided if needed, along with free refreshments.

Cook, who received her 200-hour certification at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is ready to begin instruction, offering a diverse range of classes to the public.

"Hand to Heart Yoga offers an intimate and safe space for people to practice," says Cook. "It's important for the teacher to know each student, and because I will be teaching every class, it gives me a chance to know who I'm teaching and what each student's personal needs are, so each person is really receiving that personal attention."

Her studio will feature classes including gentle, moderate and vigorous yoga, as well as yoga classes with other unique dance styles, activities, or themes fused into them, like hip-hop yoga, candle-light relaxation yoga, and sunrise or lunchtime yoga. Seems like there's yoga to fit every individual need.

Kripalu yoga, Cook's specialty, helps enhance awareness of the body, breath, and mind, and it improves natural alignment. This type of yoga is for all students, who are encouraged to work at their own pace. Yoga is not about competition; it's about working to improve one's personal goals and abilities through gradually challenging the body's limitations.

"Yoga provides numerous benefits to the physical body, but it can also calm the mind and can even provide spiritual growth if one's open to it," says Cook. "Some of yoga's benefits include stress relief, increased strength and flexibility, weight and cardiovascular management, breath awareness, increased relaxation, slowing of the aging process, a sense of well-being, and it can also relieve pain."

For years Cook danced ballet, and after a while it put a constant strain on her knees and lower back. When her mother, also a yoga teacher, introduced her to the practice, she became hooked. She found relief in the movement, found her natural alignment, and found that her pain subsided.

"Yoga is a great way of staying in touch with yourself. Life can get really busy and hectic, but I always know that my bright pink sticky mat will be there waiting for me, allowing me to decompress and to tap into what's really important," says Cook. "Yoga teaches us to stay present and place our mind chatter on hold, so that the real stuff can all surface."

Special workshops will also be on the agenda for each month. The first workshop, "Yoga, Chocolate and Wine," will be held on Thursday, February 11th, at 6PM. This class will be for all-levels as well, and it will focus on postures to help stimulate each chakra, otherwise known as the energy centers, in the body. Afterwards, participants have the pleasure of indulging in delicious wines and chocolates, making one rich and tasty event for the body and the soul. 

For additional information about Hand to Heart Yoga, contact Erin Cook at 716.507.8422, or go to www.handtoheartyoga.com to find out about the open house, classes, and future workshops. Calling ahead to reserve a spot for the free classes at the open house is well advised due to limited space.