About Yoga
Yoga prepares the ground for healing and can give us the physical and mental tools to access our deepest and most sustaining energy. While it is not scientifically proven that yoga can cure disease, it can enhance physical and emotional wellness -- and bring a peace many people thought they had lost forever. Life-threatening illness, injury and disease can become, not just something to be endured, but a challenge to take control of our lives. Yoga gives you the opportunity to be responsible for your body through proper alignment and concentration, to listen to the inner voice of intuition and relax into healing. Yoga is an ancient art based on an extremely subtle science, one of body, mind and soul. The prolonged practice of yoga will, in time, lead the student to a sense of peace and feeling of being at one with his or her environment. After a session of yoga, the mind becomes tranquil and passive.

Yoga can be a stand-alone practice that offers weight loss/gain with proper nutrition, core strengthening, improved flexibility, posture and circulation, muscle strengthening and aerobic activity. It is also excellent as part of a cross-training program mixed with weight lifting, aerobics, swimming, golf, running or tennis. Yoga can improve focus and concentration and many professional athletes have used yoga to improve their game.


''Yoga overall has made me stronger in all of my movements on the court. It helps me get my body behind the ball, especially on my serve and overhead.'' -- Susan Carter

''A big part of tennis is getting rid of the inner chatter, which yoga does. So when you get into a match, instead of thinking, oh, I have to win this point, you have trained your mind to be still.'' -- Jeff English

"I'm 38 -- way past my prime. Yoga is definitely one of the reasons I'm still playing, if not the reason." -- Bobby Bonilla, Allstar outfielder

Yoga is often used as a stress management tool and highly recommended for rehabilitation from surgery, with a doctor's approval, of course. With executives working longer hours than ever before, yoga has found itself at the top of the corporate ladder.
''Whenever things get to be too much, I stop and remember to do the yoga breathing. It helps me to handle things, to not overreact.'' -- Russell Wild

For additional comments, from Othene's students, click here.

Othene's teaching style is gentle and firm. She insists on proper alignment and form, which in turn brings the full benefit of yoga to the body, mind and soul. The beginner classes are designed to accommodate a raw beginner. If you are new to yoga you will find this time informative and be able to feel the full benefit of your practice without feeling self conscious or competitive. Othene also offers more intermediate classes, Vinyasa (a vigorous flowing series), and yoga for heart patients and women's issues.

Yoga is not a religion, but rather a tool to awaken to the present moment, living your life consciously and richly grounded in the union of body, mind and spirit.