by Heidi L. Everett
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Anyone interested in keeping calm and carrying on this summer need look no further than outdoor yoga sessions throughout St. Joseph.
The drop-in sessions from Shanti Yoga Center are open to everyone. While the sessions are free, donations are encouraged.
“If you’ve got friends visiting for the weekend, just bring them,” said Jessie Sandoval, who founded Shanti Yoga Center in St. Cloud in August 2019. The center was offering 40 classes a week.
“Then, we had to close in March due to COVID, so we moved everything virtual,” Sandoval said.
As the pandemic worsened and safety precautions tightened, Sandoval got creative in 2020 and started having outdoor sessions in wide open spaces where people could socially distance, including a winter solstice yoga session at Milk and Honey Ciders in St. Joseph.
“We had more than 90 people at that event, and it was around 30 degrees outside,” Sandoval said. “It could’ve been way colder, but we wanted people to be comfortable getting uncomfortable in the cold and know they could still move their bodies and do something.”
Due to the success of that event at building community, Sandoval has expanded outdoor yoga sessions.
“My premise is always about community and connection, practicing yoga and being outside with nature,” Sandoval said. “I am blessed and grateful our sangha, our community, of students and teachers is so strong and resilient.”
To that end, everyone is welcome this summer at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursday at Millstream Park in St. Joseph. Saturdays at 11 a.m. are split between Milk and Honey Ciders and Bad Habit Brewing to accommodate other events scheduled at those venues.
Everyone is welcome regardless of previous yoga experience, Sandoval said, including kids and dogs. Bringing a yoga mat or towel is helpful.
“We want to make it accessible for all whether you’ve ever done yoga or not,” she said, “and, we are on gravel, so we won’t be standing on our heads.”
Sandoval also encourages participants to wear comfortable clothes to move in and layers that are easy to shed, so they can be comfortable.
Shanti Yoga Center has a team of teachers who lead the sessions, so participants are not just getting one person’s teaching.
“It’s an opportunity to experience different teachers and different practices,” Sandoval said. “But ultimately it’s about moving our bodies and enjoying nature.”
Sandoval became interested in yoga as a college student at College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph.
“I was stressed out, had a hard time sleeping and was getting migraines,” she said. “There was this recognition that I needed to find a better balance.”
She found yoga, which allowed her to be physically active, injury free and “I started to feel better in my mind,” she said.
“I found yoga was such a tool to have a way of managing stress and managing my approach to things,” Sandoval said. “I just wanted to continue to help people find that calm.”
“Yoga is about easing the suffering in our mind,” she said. “That gives us freedom.”
The yoga center is slowly upping its indoor class sizes while maintaining hybrid and outdoor options.
“As we make our slow entry into being back in the world, people can join us from home or join us in the studio or at one of our outdoor spaces,” Sandoval said.
Find the outdoor yoga schedule for St. Joseph and all other class offerings on Shanti Yoga Center’s Facebook event calendar or website: www.shantiyoga.center.
St. Joseph residents can keep calm and carry on with outdoor yoga classes at local establishments and parks this summer.
contributed photo
Yoga participants relax in child’s pose at the outdoor Summer Solstice class with Shanti Yoga Center in 2020 at Milk and Honey Ciders in St. Joseph.
Even with temps hovering around 30 degrees, more than 90 people participated in the Winter Solstice outdoor yoga class with Shanti Yoga Center in 2020.
Jessie Sandoval, owner of Shanti Yoga Center, wants to build community and connection through outdoor yoga classes. She became interested in yoga as a tool to alleviate stress while studying at the College of St. Benedict.
