Newsletter
Center for Yoga History
Purposeful. Dynamic. Transformative. Each of us has a different experience, but we all are changed by it, in various ways, to different degrees. It’s very personal and unique to the person and their practice, but yoga initiates change.
TEN YEARS OF THE CENTER FOR YOGA: THE GROWTH OF A COMMUNITY
Ruth and John Fisk thought they’d be in East Lansing for a few years – just until John got his PhD -- and then they’d move to one of those states many of us think dreamily about living in. That was 1997.
On February 23rd, 2008 devoted teachers, students, and clients will celebrate 10 years of gathering at the Center for Yoga.
How did this happen? What was the plan?
Ruth says she didn’t have a plan. John agrees. So then how did the Center become the answer to “Where am I going to teach?” She was looking for somewhere she, her students, and yoga would be respected. She wanted to honor the tradition and its practice in a dedicated space like the place she had begun her yoga learning in Santa Cruz, California in the 80s. She didn’t have anywhere in mind, but she knew she wasn’t going to teach at the local health club anymore.
Then, while driving east on Grand River Avenue, a sign caught her eye. “I literally slammed on the brakes,” Ruth recalls. “I wasn’t even looking for it, and there it was.” A sign. A sign that she was meant to have her own space. A property rental sign.
Much of how the Center happened seems serendipitous: the location, the expansions, the teachers, the bodywork practitioners. But the solidity of the foundation; the sense of peace; the atmosphere of acceptance; the dedicated teachers, students, and practitioners gathered around her, these things are purposeful, the result of the tone set by Ruth Fisk.
The Center for Yoga is no accident.
1770-C
When Ruth first looked through the windows at 1770 E. Grand River Avenue, she didn’t take notice of the huge pile of paper in the middle of the room. (They recycled it). Or the old soda machine in the back. (They removed it.) “The space just felt right,” Ruth declares.
“She sees the opportunities,” John explains, “not the barriers.”
“You dream about what you want.” Ruth is matter of fact. “We painted the walls, the leasing company remodeled a little and put in new carpeting, and we had this wonderful place to teach yoga.” She makes it sound so simple.
The Center for Yoga came into this world as one large studio with a smaller room and a bathroom at the back. Ruth was the only teacher, the visionary; but she had asked Julie O’Day to join her, the first bodywork practitioner, the pragmatist. “We’ve been in each other’s lives before,” Ruth says with assurance. “We have a history. There’s a knowing without saying anything.”
Julie was just the balance Ruth needed – then and now – to hold the space.
Julie’s memory of the first time she met Ruth, the moment that she felt Ruth’s influence, is vivid.
“About 15 years ago, Ruth was a sub in the first yoga class I took at LCC. She lead us through a class that blew us away. We hovered around her like birds, gathered up her props and followed her out to the parking lot. That class changed my life. She lit a whole other level of fire in us.”
If you haven’t had the experience, it would be difficult to understand the impact of that physical and spiritual shift. If you have, you know exactly how powerful, how transformative yoga can be with the right instructor. The desire to create an environment for her students to move to that level of looking inward is what drove Ruth to find a dedicated space to teach yoga.
Julie took private lessons with Ruth, babysat for her sons and became her friend. It wasn’t long before Ruth saw what they could do together.
But with no plan in mind other than to provide a place where she could teach Yoga and Julie could practice massage, Ruth signed a 2-year lease. Thus the plan became a commitment to offering yoga classes for two years.
“Ruth has a certain softness and generosity of character that infused the whole project,” Julie begins. “I was a student in the Massage Therapy program at LCC when she asked me if I wanted to practice in the extra room in the studio space. It never crossed my mind massage would become a career. But people kept coming back, and I took better and better training.”
From the very beginning Julie invested herself in the business, throwing herself into it with as much zeal as she had ever applied to any work. “I was painting, cleaning, doing the brochure and computer work, putting in hundreds of volunteer hours from the start, participating in Ruth’s vision. I thought it was kind of her to let me practice in her space.”
Classes Begin
Ruth has an amazing ability to attract talent and commitment. The first people to share Ruth’s interest in building a place for people to practice yoga were her students, following her to this new location, participating in her vision because of the effect being her student – and eventually her friend -- had on their lives.
Initially Ruth was the only teacher. While she had brought many of her students with her from the health club, she knew the Center needed more students. She credits Gaby Kende for her initial success. “It is because of Gaby that people got to know who I am. She found me at the health club and started telling people about me, bringing students to me.” Some of which would eventually become teachers.
Encouragement from Gaby Kende and abundant stress sent Karen Dailey to Ruth. After one class, she was hooked. Karen, Gaby, Clare Collins and a few other women engaged Ruth to do Saturday workshops that lead them to home practices and eventually to teacher training. “Ruth is a risk-taker. Making the move to her own dedicated space and then expanding to the current center was a taking a huge chance,” Karen acknowledges. Others echo that trepidation. “But there is always this surge of energy into the Center that follows a decision. Ruth has vision.”
Soon Ruth realized she couldn’t teach enough classes to keep the Center occupied. She began to consider others who would share her values and commitment to the yogic way.
At that time, there was no formal training for people who wanted to learn to teach yoga. Historically yoga traditions had been taught through a mentoring process. While Ruth shared her joy of yoga with every student, she recognized an essence in some of her students that she thought made them well suited to teaching. With her inspiration and encouragement, some of them developed an interest in becoming instructors. But none of those who would become teachers had ever thought about teaching yoga until Ruth suggested it.
Kathy Stover, one of Ruth’s early students and one of the first Ruth saw as a teacher, expresses what they all feel; “I didn’t know it was something I wanted to do, and now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Karen voices another common sentiment. “It was a blessing, learning from the other women as colleague and student and mentor and apprentice. I have grown so much personally, and my growth was supported by yoga every step of the way. I’m a different person than I was when I started.”
Unintentionally, Ruth had begun to create the hub around which a community would form.
The Space: 1770B & A
The first expansion was westward into half of the next suite -- 1770B -- where they added an entry way, a small studio, a long hall with a bathroom, and a small room at the end for Julie to see her clients. The first prenatal classes in the area were held in that new studio.
Ruth and Cheri Ferro had talked about her being a part of the original Center, but a malfunctioning answering machine (remember those?) foiled that plan, and Cheri joined the small growing group of teachers later on. “I liked the idea of building a community within the Center and inviting everyone into the space, into the shared dream, ” she remembers.
Still there was no real plan. But more students were arriving, more students were ready to teach, and very soon they realized again that they didn’t have enough room. Overhearing an argument between the attorneys next door in 1770A would mark the moment the second expansion seemed possible. Soon another studio and bathroom were part of the Center, and so the opportunity to draw more teachers in to teach more classes arrived.
The women Ruth engaged in the development of the Center made personal investments of time, money, and professional commitment. The Center was thriving. Two expansions in five years, and it was still growing.
More Space: 1780
By 2002, the Center for Yoga was being expanded for the 3rd time into the 5400 square foot area of 1780 E. Grand River Avenue. Signing a 5-year lease was the beginning of a 5-year plan.
The space was a tangle of cubicles and wire the first time she saw it. Again, Ruth could see the possibilities. With economical and environmental considerations in mind, they moved walls to reorganize the area. The new Center would be two wings with the therapy rooms on the east side and the yoga rooms on the west. This expansion required major investments, an abundance of donations, and some life savings, but it would be a centralized place for yoga and energy work. There would be three full studios, two rope walls, a kitchen, an office, library space, two entry areas, three bathrooms, and four practitioner rooms.
“We just took things one step at a time,” Ruth says. “We offered what people wanted and this comprehensive community of yoga teachers and bodywork practitioners built itself. My vision since then is simply to hold the space. That takes a lot of energy. If you feel energy that’s lingering and ought not be there, it takes energy to clear it out. But when I lock the door at night, I know the space can hold the energy itself.”
Volunteers have made the Center what it is today, physically as well as spiritually. John and a team of volunteers put in the hard wood floors purchased with student donations and made of local trees from a local lumberyard. He and another volunteer also installed the rope walls. Many people helped paint, including Liam and Tyler, Ruth and John’s sons.
“The boys were a big part of it. We dragged them down here for six months while we worked on the new building. They nailed, painted, helped pick colors, critiqued, put holes in the wall. They were helpful, underfoot, and hard to manage, but they were an integral part of it. They have grown up in the yoga center and they have seen the Center grow up around them.”
“Real life is in that center,” Ruth reflects. “One afternoon someone nailed their hand to the floor or cut themselves so they’d bled on the boards. It was so hot. We were all sweating. I went out and got pizza. The boys ate and went out skateboarding. Liam hit his head, came in and puked on the floor. Our life is in there. Blood, sweat, tears, and puke on the floor.”
Of course there are many happy memories, too. “We had a Chocolate Team! Every weekend they brought us coffee and chocolates,” Ruth remembers fondly. “That was wonderful!”
“Clearly we did not follow the course of a typical business, and the Center isn’t run like a commercial enterprise,” Ruth says. “What has developed is a collective idea and philosophy that sets us apart. “ And continues to draw people whose talents and gifts complement each other.
The People
From the very beginning, teachers and bodywork practitioners became part of the Center because they showed themselves to be of a certain caliber, say several of the early collaborators. Everyone identifies shared values and shared vision as the vital connection.
All the teachers are professionals. Most of the instructors at the Center have studied with more than one teacher. Many have studied more than one tradition and have been certified by multiple schools. They have a combined total of an astounding 98 years of teaching. Some might say the Center for Yoga teachers are over-qualified, but that demonstrates the level of their commitment and dedication to learning more about teaching and more about yoga. The teachers are not only some of the best in the area, but the best in the country. They have studied with highly respected yogis and assisted internationally known instructors. The quality and expertise of the teachers at the Center is beyond expectation and not widely known.
Many people have shown remarkable devotion to the Center for Yoga over the years, willingly devoting long, hard hours as volunteers to make the Center a success. Although they don’t use the word to describe themselves, they see each other as tireless. How else would you build a community of teaching and learning alumni of this magnitude?
“Yoga is both the science and the art of helping people live healthier lives,” Gaby explains. “It can also help bring people to a deeper understanding of their own path. One of Ruth’s strengths is that she embraces teachers who represent a variety of teaching styles and methods. We have a teacher for everybody here: for those who want more power or more relaxation or a healing practice.”
Ruth continues to encourage – and to inspire -- her students to become teachers, seeing in them a quality or a gift, something to recommend them to teaching in the way yoga is meant to be taught: with respect, integrity, and honor for the tradition.
The Plan was No Plan
“How did this time – 10 years! – go by so quickly?” Kathy Stover asks incredulously. “ I thought the same thing as I watched my children grow. When we first started it was so small and just an idea, a glimmer of what it would become. We watched it become a reality, and now we have this big thing.”
Kathy sees Ruth’s heart and soul in the Center. Hers is there, too, and so many others have made the same investment. Including the students. “They bring their energy that we need to keep going. The Center needs nurturing and they are a big part of that.”
“Ten years ago there was nothing here,” Clare Collins, one of the early handful of teachers recalls. “ No yoga community, no place to do real yoga. The health clubs only allowed you to exercise. You couldn’t actually teach the tradition.” That was really only happening in private lessons.
“The Center started, was sustained, and moved forward when yoga was not commercially viable or a popular enterprise,” Clare continues. “Incredible students were attracted to the Center. This community was formed. It’s different from what is available elsewhere – here in the area and across the country. This is a very special place.”
Ruth’s move to build the Center for Yoga occurred when the wave of yoga awareness was just beginning. As the Center attracted more teachers and students, so did the wave of interest in yoga gather momentum. When the Center opened at 1780, they were riding the crest of their wave. Now the water is calmer as the trends in fitness have changed, but the Center is as vital as ever -- the students still faithful, the teachers still devoted, and Ruth still holding the energy.
Her latest endeavor is to focus more on training instructors. Ruth has opened the Khagaya Yoga School to certify teachers through Yoga Alliance. She has engaged others to help her: Kathy Stover teaches Pranayama, Julie O’Day teaches anatomy, Kathy Ornish (KO) teaches meditation, and Ruth teaches Asana, the philosophy of yoga, how to be a good teacher, and ethics.
Now it is 10 years that the Center for Yoga has been evolving. “We had our growing pains,” Cheri remarks, “But we recovered, made changes, asked ourselves ‘what did we learn from this’ and moved on.”
What will the next 10 years bring? That is up to the teachers and students, practitioners and clients. The community.
“There is still no real plan,” Ruth acknowledges. “As ‘popular’ yoga begins to fade, what we see emerging at the Center is our history, our sticking to the traditions, keeping yoga’s integrity and seeing students coming back to yoga for the same reasons they did 10 years or more ago – to transform their lives.”
Philosophy
Ruth learned yoga in the traditional manner from Ann Barros in Santa Cruz, California. “I started taking yoga classes in 1980,” she remembers, “From one of the finest yoga teachers in the country. It was Ann that inspired me.” The same way Ruth inspires her students to become teachers. “She put me on the path 25 yrs ago. I knew I wanted to teach the way I had been taught – with respect and integrity.’
When Ruth taught at the club, yoga was considered another means of working on one’s fitness. She wanted to honor yoga and its traditional ways and knew they weren’t interested in that approach. She knew she was going to have to do what she had done in Santa Cruz. She was going to have to open her own yoga center. But this time it would be more than a small studio and one other teacher.
What you see in the Center is Ruth’s commitment to doing business differently. Gaby describes the Center’s unconventional model. “There’s an owner and a director, but it’s more like a collective. The teachers don’t just teach; we do administrative work.”
Clare comments, “I think people would be surprised to know the extent to which the Center runs on volunteer effort. We have no paid staff. The teachers and practitioners are responsible for the functioning of the Center.”
Even when yoga became trendy, an exercise craze, Ruth did not respond to the market. She continued to follow yogic principles, keeping classes small so students could get the personal attention they need and maintaining the integrity of the Center. “Teachers at the Center connect to the values of the tradition,” Clare explains, “A profound tradition, beautiful in its scope and depth.”
Cheri summarizes the perspective many founding teachers share on the purpose, impact, and meaning of their dedication. “You feel the change in your life when you do yoga. Most of us who teach believe that’s our purpose. We see the big difference and the positive change it makes in our lives and the lives of our students, and we want to share that.”
Perhaps it is a calling.
“We seem not to be able to do anything else,” Ruth says.
The Center
The Center is more than a collection of yoga studios. It was opened when there was no dedicated space in town. There were no quiet places to study and practice real or traditional yogas. The Center is an honored space, a blessed and sacred space, the only one of its kind in the area. “The Center for Yoga was the first in the Greater Lansing area. It is still the largest, most comprehensive center and has the most qualified teachers,” Ruth says.
Ruth continues, “Ideally we have created an environment where people feel safe and can reconnect with themselves following the principals of yoga. The pace is your own; no teacher pushes you to go further. We offer the knowledge and the students take in what they want.”
“We are so well equipped. So many different styles of yoga, so many different instructors and bodywork practitioners. We offer other ways of getting in touch with the self, of exploring alternative ways of viewing life, how to go about making yourself comfortable with your life and interacting with people,” Kathy explains.
KO is another of Ruth’s former students whose talent for teaching was apparent early. She adds, “There are lots of places to take yoga, but the Center is different. We deal with the whole individual.”
Over the years, the Center has been a location where you could receive a variety of services in one place that were a challenge to find anywhere, like cranial sacral work, Feldenkrais, acupuncture, Pilates, Reiki, various types of massage, and chiropractic therapy. Now Oasis provides body and energy work in the east wing.
Many internationally respected yogis have shared their philosophy and instruction at the Center, including Aadil Pahlivaka, David Life, Rolf Gates, and Jehangir Pahlivaka. Several times a year the Center hosts workshops from Blood typing to Reflexology.
Why do students come back class after class, session after session, year after year? “Often people are drawn into yoga because of some physical issues or to deal with stress,” says Karen. “They stay because it is more than that. It is more than the body. It is the mind and spirit, too.”
Unlike class in a fitness club or multi-purpose room in a local elementary school, the Center for Yoga provides real community, a place where students feel welcome and safe and honored. The teachers help them along on the journey to find better spiritual and physical health are there. “Students are dedicated to their teacher, to the Center, to the practice. Some students have been coming from the very beginning. They feel their lives have changed extraordinarily and changed for the better,” KO says.
Students feel better when they leave than when they arrived. There is no judgment, no pressure. Only support and guidance. They don’t leave feeling exhausted, dehydrated, and sweaty; they leave feeling energized, fulfilled, and centered. Because of what Ruth and the teachers do at the Center.
“People step in the door and have an instant response. They remember how it feels to be there, they react to the peaceful, quiet atmosphere and remember a deeper connection, the internal quiet, and come back into center, into alignment,” KO says. “Through the experience of being there and also through the memories of past experience, they feel a devotional quality in their experience, a sacredness in the setting.”
Why wouldn’t you return again and again?
The yoga center effect has benefits beyond the students and teachers. “You take a part of what you have become here out into the world. You release stress, you find a deeper connectedness, a gentleness of spirit and sense of goodwill toward others. All of your interactions will be infused with that,” Julie explains.
“Students realize over time the impact yoga has in their lives. They take it off the mat into their everyday lives and into the world,” says Cheri.
It is nurturing. It is soothing. Julie offers, “If you want to have a richer, more satisfying life experience with less pain and stress and more peace and purposefulness, it’s absolutely possible. For everyone. We have the resources, guidance and support at the Center – that’s what we have to offer, that’s why we’re there, that’s why we exist. That’s what we’ve all found here, and that’s what we want to share.”
Is the coming together of all this commitment, integrity, and dedication in the Center destiny?
Ruth says, “Destiny and fate don’t describe the depth of the relationships, of what has happened here at the Center. I think those concepts are overused in the cosmic scheme. This is deeper. I believe we’re all on the road traveling toward our purpose. Paths cross and merge, and we stay on the same path or we walk side by side or we separate. It has more to do with intention and purpose. Founding the Center, creating and maintaining the yoga community and upholding the traditions of yoga, this is my dharma. I have so much gratitude, for what’s happened here. I’m amazed that I’ve been able to do what I have. But then, who knows? Perhaps another force is at work.”
From the Vision Statement: The Center for Yoga is dedicated to the traditional practices of Yoga, taught with integrity and skill. Our intention is to provide the community with a safe and supportive environment for learning, sharing, and healing.
Written by Rebecca Stimson, Clarkwood Connect LLC
www.clarkwoodconnect.com
questions@clarkwoodconnect.com
Permission required from Ruth Fisk for use of any part of this document.