of health. Some just want to be healthier, but many suffer from mental or physical ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic anxiety, lymphedema, congestive heart failure or obesity; some are recovering from surgery or illness. Owner/instructor of Yoga Zensation, Senteno has 300 hours of yoga therapy training. Her therapeutic yoga classes focus more on wellness than exercise. “Yoga therapy … is a great way to get in touch with your body and heal,” she said. “It’s about the student finding something that gives you the healing that you need.” Senteno often works with students one-onone and develops programs specifically tailored for their circumstances. Not everyone can or should attempt advanced asanas, or postures, like the headstand (which is extremely dangerous for inexperienced practitioners); some are physically incapable of even basic asanas. Physical limitations don’t rule out participating in the practice, though. Yoga isn’t just about the physical body; in fact, only one of the eight “limbs” of the practice consists of the physical asanas. “Even without postures, there’s still breathing techniques you can do … also meditation,” Senteno said. Senteno often prescribes yoga nidra — a guided form of deep meditation — for the approximately one-third of her students who suffer from chronic anxiety. In a program called “iRest,” developed by yogic scholar Richard Miller, the Department of Defense & Veterans Affairs is using yoga nidra to treat combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related issues. iRest has been endorsed by the U.S. Army Surgeon General and Defense Centers of Excellence and has been successful in treating symptoms of PTSD, including insomnia, panic, lethargy and the sense of losing control of one’s daily life. While deployed on the front lines of Iraq where he treated soldiers for the emotional and psychological effects of war, U.S. Army veteran Cheyenne Forsythe twice survived IED attacks. Like many, he returned with wounds that no one could see but everyone, especially Forsythe, could feel. “[I was] experiencing a lot of panic attacks, experiencing a lot of tension within myself and with other people. It was difficult to get along and it was difficult to trust other people,” he said. Fed up with feeling like a stranger in his own life, he decided to get help. While being treated for PTSD at Broward County VA Outpatient Clinic, Forsythe became interested in yoga. He soon found that yoga gave him a sense of control and peace he’d been lacking since he’d returned from war. “You’re kind of unsure of yourself — you’re a new person — you’re trying to find peace with that new person. That’s what yoga enables you to do. Soldiers need that; they need to become familiar with themselves again,” he said. Forsythe believes that yoga could help any soldier who struggles to readjust to life after war. “I know I can do something for myself that can bring peace to myself at any point and time during the day,” he said. “[Before], anything would set me off, and I needed to find a quiet place in my mind.” Another local instructor blazing the trail to provide a type of therapeutic yoga is Mary Lyn Jenkins, owner and instructor at Big Fish Yoga. Last fall, Jenkins’ studio offered its first six-week yoga course for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Going into the project, which was funded by the North Florida Chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society and her studio, she didn’t
really know what to expect. The course was so successful — every class had a wait list — she plans to double the number of students in the next series, beginning this month. “Yoga can be a huge possibility in the life of these people with MS,” she said. Jenkins describes students being able to feel their bodies for the first time in years, experiencing improvements in coordination and strength that some had thought were permanently out of reach. According to MS ActiveSource (msactivesource.com),
intellectual disabilities, such as autism and Down syndrome. Santiago, who discovered the practice “73 pounds ago,” also teaches several yoga classes for adults, which in part inspired her to bring yoga into the classroom and afterschool programs she’s involved with at North Florida School. She finds herself continually amazed at how yoga is helping transform her students. “Besides developing flexibility and strength, stamina, agility, balance, even cardiovascular fitness and coordination, besides that, it’s
“Yoga therapy … is a great way to get in touch with your body and heal, it’s about the student finding something that gives you the healing that you need.” strength, balance, coordination, fatigue, mood, range of motion and spasticity can all be improved by the practice. Jenkins does not shy away from challenging herself to bring yoga to new and perhaps unexpected students. For the past year, she has been volunteering to teach yoga at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville. To date, as many as 75 students have shown up for a single class, including football players, cheerleaders and teachers. The experience has impacted Jenkins as much as the students. “It’s like you’re giving these kids the world,” she said. “It’s changing my life.” Stacy Santiago is another local teacher bringing yoga to some very enthusiastic and perhaps unexpected students. The special education teacher at North Florida School of Special Education teaches children ages 13 to 15 who have a variety of mild to moderate
promoting mental strengths, a positive attitude not just toward exercise but toward their bodies, toward their self-esteem. I know it’s promoting concentration and self-discipline,” she said. She shares a story of two students on the autism spectrum who have become friends. One is also diagnosed with obsessivecompulsive disorder, a frequent companion to autism, and the other is particularly selfcentered, a common characteristic of autistic individuals. One day, the first student was locked in a ritual, repeating it over and over until he felt satisfied, when his friend turned to him and said, “You don’t have to be perfect. God loves and respects you the way you are.” “That’s yoga at its best,” Santiago said. Mike Ryan, head athletic trainer and physical therapist for the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been incorporating yoga into the team’s workout regimen for years — initially
camouflaging it as “flexibility classes” so as not to offend the machismo of NFL football players. But in recent years, the practice has become so popular that players — even big, burly offensive linemen — have started asking for it by name. “A lot of the players have found it’s a great way to accelerate their [injury] recovery and maintain their core strength and flexibility,” he said. An accomplished endurance athlete himself (he’s participated in six Ironman Triathlons, three Escape From Alcatraz Triathlons and the 2002 World Championship Duathlon), Ryan pointed out that the versatility of yoga sets it apart from most fitness regimens. “From the stiffest athlete to the most limber, they all can fit in,” he said. “It’s hard to get people at many levels to do the same thing in the same room, [but] yoga is very adaptable to people on all levels.” So if you’re an athlete, an expectant mother, the parent of a child on the autism spectrum, or struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, even cancer, there’s a form of yoga you can try. Even if you never say, “Yoga saved my life,” like Altman, it could change yours. Namasté. Claire Goforth themail@folioweekly.com
IN THE PINK 522 Third St. N., Jacksonville Beach, 372-0029 1235 San Marco Blvd., Fourth Floor, San Marco, 396-5515, jaxinthepink.com
YOGA ZENSATION 1188 Edgewood Ave. S., Riverside, 622-8613, yogazensation.com
BIG FISH YOGA 484 Osceola Ave., Jacksonville Beach, 372-0601, bigfishpoweryoga.com
Big Fish Yoga owner and instructor Mary Lyn Jenkins offers a six-week yoga course for multiple sclerosis patients, who experience improvement in coordination and strength some had thought were permanently out of reach.
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