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Melina Stinson is a dancer as well as a certified yoga and Pilates teacher. She tells how it got started: “The school director came up with the idea. She was aware that I had accumulated a lot of knowledge from my practice as a dancer and my yoga training and suggested that I combine that knowledge in the form of a class for accessing well-being.”
Combining exercises from yoga, Pilates, qigong with somatic practices and even Continuum, Melina explains: “We have to be really in tune with ourselves as dancers. Sometimes you feel like you need a specific yoga exercise and a specific breathing exercise. The idea is to offer a bunch of different tools so people can go find what’s good for them.”
The class starts with positions on the ground or a mat with a series of stretches and yoga poses. This is followed by gentle reinforcement exercises from Pilates for the abdominals and gluteal muscles with a strong emphasis on breathing. The second part of the class is done standing with a series of more energizing and dynamic exercises that come from qigong. Participants work on balance, body awareness, and naturally, breathing.
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Last modified: October 24, 2018
