KENT ATHLETIC AND WELLNESS CENTER — Thursday, 10:40 a.m. With cheeks flushed pink from yoga class, Wendy Morrison’s students are pulling on socks and sweaters and draping scarves around their necks. Wearing expressions of contentment, they file out slowly—as you too probably would had you just exercised every muscle in your body.
Wendy and I sit down on a bench and she pulls one thigh nimbly atop the other. She has pale blue eyes and speaks softly and deliberately. When I started asking those in the know about yoga teachers in Chestertown, Wendy’s name was always one of the first to come up.
SPY: Is it true that you were the first yoga teacher in Chestertown?
WENDY: Leslie Raimond was teaching classes, and a few others, but I was the first to do it consistently, to actually have a class that went on and on. I’ve been teaching my Wednesday night class nonstop since 1983. It used to be at the library, but now it’s at the Episcopal Church. It’s a great class, and I love giving it.
SPY: Has the yoga scene in Chestertown changed much in the past twenty-six years?
WENDY: Tremendously! There was a lot interest in the sixties, then it slid off, but now it’s back up again. The number of styles has increased greatly, especially since so many “stars” have gotten into it. Yoga is more of a business now. In Chestertown, yoga has really exploded in the last two years. There are more people teaching different styles. It’s great to have a variety of types of yoga available. Trying to fit yourself to a particular style doesn’t work; you have to find a style that fits you.
SPY: What is your teaching style?
WENDY: Very eclectic. In class we work mostly on asanas (poses) but I try to bring in a lot of breathing, some chanting, and meditation. Also a sense of attitude, and a style of living. And always at the end of practice a full relaxation, which is really important.
SPY: Is it possible to learn yoga from a book?
WENDY: I’ve been doing yoga since I was thirty, and I began with a book called The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. I was traveling a lot then, and I practiced on my own with the book. But then I met a teacher in Delaware, and he began to get me to work with breathing, and to hold the poses longer. Working with a teacher is really different from working on your own. I’ve studied with lots of teachers since then. My 200-hour certification is from American Yoga College, now International Yoga College. I am an RYT (registered yoga teacher) with Yoga Alliance, and I take continuing education credits every year with teachers lke Rama Vernon and Erich Schiffmann.”
Wendy peeked at her watch and then unfolded her legs. She works full-time at Washington College as a computer programmer and had to be getting to work. “Ahh,” she said, stretching her arms overhead, “after class I feel so good, I wish I could go home and do yoga all day. On the other hand, one of the reasons I enjoy teaching so much is that I’ve never done it as a way to make a living.”
“Follow your bliss,” says the mythologist, Joseph Campbell. Almost thirty years ago, Wendy Morrison was lucky to have found her bliss in the study and practice of yoga, and she’s been following it ever since.
Wendy teaches at the Kent Athletic & Wellness Center, Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. The cost for non-members is $8 per class, or $65 for 12 classes. Club members pay $5 per class or $35 for 12 classes. On Wednesday at the Episcopal Church, Wendy teaches from 5:15 to 6:45. The class is free, although a $2-3 donation to cover the church fee is suggested.
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