Regardless of age or strength Yoga can guide the way to well being

Bob Clark doesn’t know that yoga is one of six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, but he is certain that his joints feels much more flexible since he started the practice Bob’s wife Barbara can’t recite the Sanskrit names of most of the myriad Yoga poses she is learning, but said her breathing has become deeper and her body “feels more open.”

Jenny Xiang is not terribly concerned with the philosophical or spiritual components of Yoga. But the Intensive Care Unit nurse sure does appreciate how Yoga’s physical component relieves her neck pain from 12 hours stints in the ICU.

The increasingly nimble group participate in one of Danna Liebert’s Grounded Growth Yoga classes.

Ms. Liebert, a Riverdalian, began practicing yoga 30 years ago, when her high school philosophy teacher assigned her to attend a single class. 

Ms. Liebert’s life was upside down. Her parents were in the midst of a divorce and her father was facing a cancer diagnosis. 

The yoga class, “taught by hippie yogis” in a small apartment on Manhattan’s West Side, was a “very profound experience” for the young girl. 

“It was so powerful to practice something that made me feel so good when everything in my life was very difficult,” she said. 

Ms. Liebert soon began to take yoga seriously, decades before classes for the practice became as ubiquitous as Starbuck’s Coffee shops. 

“It is a practical resource to improve your life,” she said. “If I am unclear about which side to take on a particular issue, I do yoga and the decision becomes clear. If I am tired and I do yoga, I have energy. We all crave well-being. Yoga shows us how to find that inside ourselves.”

A certified yoga instructor since 1996, Ms. Liebert travelled to India for four months to study advanced techniques with yoga masters.

Locally, she offers classes for beginners and more advanced students, as well as a family yoga class and an afterschool kids’ class.

She also works with students on a one-on-one basis and is even teaching the practice to Manhattan College’s men’s basketball team. 

“In my classes, it’s not one size fits all,” she said. “I teach at all skill levels. I can’t tell you how many times people have mistakenly said to me, ‘I am not flexible enough to try yoga.’”

Mr. and Ms. Clark, both 70, have been attending Ms. Liebert’s classes since June. At a recent Sunday evening class, they were joined by their daughter Kate, visiting from Philadelphia. She took yoga classes when she was pregnant. 

“It was the best advice anyone ever gave me,” she said. “I was able to manage my physical pain. It also allowed me to have some space just for myself for an hour or so.”

While yoga may be a very calming endeavor, Ms. Liebert is very active during her classes. She spends part of her time guiding her students through a wide variety of yoga poses as well as breathing and meditative routines. 

Much of her time, however, is spent buzzing from student to student — ensuring their back mats, headrests and other yoga paraphernalia are well positioned to protect their joints and maximize the effectiveness of the poses. 

“Our teacher pays exquisite attention to where we are and what each of us is doing in our practice,” said Barbara Frank. 

Ms. Liebert explains the benefits of each pose to the students as she teaches it and the students quickly begin to associate the poses with their English nicknames. There is Down Dog and Mountain Pose, Happy Baby and Down Dog, Big Toe Extended and Cobra. Many of the poses have ancient origins are practiced in some form all around the world. 

“The first class I came to I had so much pain and now the pain is not there,” said Ms. Xiang. “Your body makes you want to come back.”

For more information about Ms. Liebert and her classes, call 347-313-8742, or go to www.groundedgrowthyoga.com.