communityspotlight Yoga in the Pines:
Where Women Can Retreat and Refresh By Karen Adams
I
n a quiet log home amid 30 acres of pine trees, Theresa Polley teaches yoga for women, and she teaches something else, too: the value of self- care.
Polley offers individual classes throughout the area, and once a month at her studio, Yoga in the Pines, located north of Tyler in Mineola. Yet it is her yoga weekend retreats that truly immerse women in relaxation. “It’s a different dynamic with women alone, being out here away from the everyday world,” she said. “And we go beyond the yoga with sharing our experiences. We have a lot in common.”
Before she discovered yoga, she worked in the fast-paced, competitive world of marketing and advertising, and lived with a lot of stress herself. Now the single mother of three is still busy, but happier. Women don’t take time to treat themselves, she said, and she remembers what that was like. “I try to offer women a completely life- changing experience,” she said. “It sounds high and noble, but that’s what happened to me.” Women of all ages come for yoga retreats in the pines, Polley
There is time off between yoga classes to go into town, get a massage, or simply read a book on the porch. “When the women arrive on
Theresa Polley
said: mothers and daughters, sisters and friends, women from 18 to 75 and every age in between. Some women come alone and make friends there. In July, two local women attended a retreat, found they were in the same profession, and became friends. They’re returning in the fall for another retreat together.
The casual weekend retreats are all about relaxation and nurturing and taking time for oneself, Polley said.
Friday, they are so stressed, I can see it in their faces,” Polley said. “But by Sunday they look completely different: relaxed, refreshed, younger. It’s amazing.” Being surrounded by quiet nature, with its soothing smells and gentle sounds, also makes it relaxing, she added. “It’s such a change from what many women normally experience, because they’re always busy and taking care of others.” She hopes that, after such an experience, her students will remember how good they felt and will move self- care to the center of their lives. Once women discover yoga, she said, they usually want to do more. Before she tried it herself, in her 30s, she was a runner. “I would see people doing yoga and think it looked so easy, like they were just lying there.” Then some friends urged her to try it, so she did. “It was very challenging,” she said. “But it was also the most relaxed I’d ever been! It changed my life.” Polley said that the quiet breathing practice, which is so central to yoga, is a good lesson for life. “It’s hard for most women to find that stillness. But once you learn to do it, you can transfer that peace to the other parts of your life.”
For more information, contact Theresa Polley at 469-867-0766 or yogainthe
pines@aol.com, or see her website:
yogainthepines.net. See ad below.
Karen Adams is an editor for Natural Awakenings magazine.
16
Dallas |
www.NADallas.com
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