Mindful Yoga at Saint James

A path to a quiet mind

Yoga classes are temporarily being held in the seminar room below the chapel. Please use the chapel ramp entrance.

Mindful Yoga
What is Mindfulness? Put simply, it is enjoying the fulness of an experience. Any experience. It is slowing down to be in the moment. Mindfulness is employing all of our senses, to engage fully in that experience, without distraction. So the practice of Mindful Yoga, be it hatha, yin, vinyasa, restorative, or other style, is a practice of coming back again and again and again to our experience on the mat. Experiencing our body in its glory of strength, flexibility, aches and pains; experiencing breath as it moves throughout our body and nourishes it; and experiencing our mind as focuses on each posture and sequence without judgment, distractions, self-criticism or any unproductive thoughts. Sometimes in life and in a yoga practice, we aren’t as mindful as we’d like to be and aren’t firmly embodied in that experience and miss out on its richness. A regular practice of Mindful Yoga can help to build our mindfulness muscles. Join us in one or more of our weekly classes.

All of our instructors have at least a 200-hour yoga certification and have earned or are earning their 300-hour advanced certification, sometimes several times over. They also have additional specific areas of training from chair yoga, meditation, pilates, enneagram and others.

Gentle Yoga
Our Mindful Gentle yoga postures and sequences are meant to bring attention to your breath, your body and your mind.  As the name says, this yoga is gentle in its approach and is a form of hatha yoga.  The yoga is performed more slowly than you would find elsewhere with mindful attention in the postures, and generally includes time for meditation, yogic breath and relaxation. The amount of ‘flow’ in a typical class will depend upon each instructor as well as the makeup of the class itself but in general is not significant.  Flow refers to the transitions, movement and rhythm between each posture.  Gentle Yoga is suitable for a wide range of body types and modifications are offered to address individual needs by our well trained instructors.  Our teachers will vary in how they approach the ideas of yoga through different tools and often use a theme or focus for certain classes so students can develop more skills and abilities to nurture their practice.

Benefits of a regular gentle yoga practice include a loosening of tight muscles, overall strengthening of your muscles and neural signals, improved lubrication of joints, expanded lung capacity and improved balance, not to mention increased self-confidence in yourself and your body’s ability to respond to the demands of your day.

Classes are 60 minutes long. Postures and sequences are practiced standing, sitting and laying down. Props are available as needed.

Restorative Yoga
Restorative yoga is suitable for practitioners of all levels and is a restful practice that holds yoga poses for a longer duration using props like yoga blocks, blankets, and bolsters. It is a practice of deep relaxation that emphasizes the meditative aspect of yoga—the union of body and mind. Through the use of props for support, many of the postures are held almost effortlessly.

When the body enters a state of relaxation the mind can also relax as tension is released from both body and mind. The only work that’s required on your part during a restorative yoga practice is to pay attention to your breath and become aware of any sensations or thoughts that may arise.

Enjoy 60 minutes of easy supported yoga, either as a way to take a break in your busy day or to gently wind down your day.  Meditations may also accompany the sessions. Yoga mats and other props will be provided, or participants are welcome to bring their own. Comfortable, easy-to-move in attire is recommended.

Stay tuned, as we continue to build and expand our yoga offerings at Mindful Yoga at The Urban Well at Saint James.

When

Gentle Yoga
Mondays* at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom 
Mondays* at 6 PM  | Onsite & via Zoom
Wednesdays at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom
Fridays at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom

Restorative Yoga
Wednesdays at 6 PM | Onsite only

Cost

$15/session
$60/six sessions
$80/month with the unlimited payment plan.

If you'd like to take advantage of our unlimited yoga practice plan, click here to learn more.


First session is complimentary. Pay online or at the door, by check or cash (exact change only please).

Have questions? Click here to email Kate Brossman.

*For most national holidays, Monday yoga moves to Wednesdays. Check with your instructor for exact time and location when a national holiday falls on a Monday.

Click here to purchase yoga sessions

Urban Well Mindful Yoga Instructors

Sandra Orndorff

Sandra Orndorff, a Yoga and Meditation Instructor, PA Certified Family Recovery Coach and Enneagram Certified Life Coach has 20 years of Yoga and Pilates as well as her experience of embodiment coaching. She understands the connection between the body and the soul and how important moving the body is to our vitality.

As a graduate of Evolution Power Yoga she has a grounded education in the connection to physical body not just as poses but also from the mechanics of the body. Sandra leads each session with an intention, a grounding, and a short Shavasana.

Jen Burnett

Jen Burnett has been teaching yoga since her graduation from the Evolution Power Yoga Learning Institute, where she completed the 250HR Access training program.  Her intention in becoming a yoga teacher was to make yoga accessible to seniors.  She established several chair yoga offerings, including a weekly AIM class at the Senior Center at the Lancaster Rec, and a weekly Virtual Senior Center class with the Lancaster County Office of Aging.

She is active on the board at AIM to Empower, which is a non-profit focused on changing lives through yoga.  Jen guides her classes with a focus on gentle movement, inquiry, and meditation.   Her classes place an emphasis on breath, the link between the physical body and the mind:  healthy breathing makes the mind relaxed, fresh, and vibrant.

Roberta Strickler

Roberta has been teaching yoga as therapy, mindfulness meditation, and Ayurveda in central Pennsylvania since 1995. That same year, she earned her first certificate as a yoga teacher from the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA. For the next 12 years, she continued her yoga studies to include Anusara Yoga, a Iyengar-based style of yoga known for its elegant language and therapeutic principles of alignment. She has also studied mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Roberta sees the goal of modern yoga to be the relaxation of the body, so the mind can be stilled for the practice of meditation. She has taught yoga for mindfulness-based stress reduction and yoga for breast cancer survivors, other cancers and cardiac events.

Her approach to yoga and meditation integration along side of Ayurveda, balance, physical rehabilitation, and well being, have dominated her private teaching throughout the past ten years.

Kate Brossman

As a 20+ year practitioner of yoga, Kate decided to pursue  her teaching certification in order to deepen her understanding of her own practice and approach to life.  She attained her 250-hour yoga teaching certification through Evolution Power Yoga 10 years ago and followed that with trainings in meditation, body mechanics, chair yoga and life coaching.  She’s currently enrolled in an advanced 300-hour certification program in Adaptations.  Kate loves how yoga can help with physical strength and flexibility as well as bringing grounding and centering on and off the mat. She believes the practice of yoga, mindfulness and meditation are something each of us can bring into our daily living no matter our age, health, or current physical abilities.

The Urban Well is a registered trademark of Saint James Episcopal Church.

When

Gentle Yoga
Mondays* at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom beginning September 11th
Mondays* at 6 PM  | Onsite & via Zoom
Wednesdays at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom
Fridays at 9 AM | Onsite & via Zoom

Restorative Yoga
Wednesdays at 6 PM | Onsite only (beginning September 13th)



Parish house front entrance

Where
Yoga room in the lower level of the Saint James Parish House 119 North Duke Street
(beside the public library)

Cost
$15/session
$60/six sessions

first session is complimentary

Pay online or at the door, by check or cash (exact change only please).

Have questions? Click here to email Kate Brossman.

*Moves to Wednesdays when there is a national holiday. Check with your instructor for exact time and location when a national holiday falls on a Monday.

The Urban Well is a registered trademark of Saint James Episcopal Church.