Benjamin Harp, LMT

Benjamin has been a member of The People’s Yoga community since the cozy days of the Alberta studio. When the Killingsworth location opened, Benjamin expanded his role at the studio by opening his private practice in one of the Wellness Rooms. Benjamin’s massage practice focuses on deep tissue, trigger point, myofascial techniques and Thai massage. Benjamin sincerely believes that massage is an opportunity for true transformation. To learn more about his practice and book online, visit his website www.benjaminharp.com.

 Briana Paris, LMT

I practice massage therapy at the northeast People’s Yoga location.  I am thrilled  to work in this soothing, grounded space surrounded by healers and yogis taking time out of their hectic lives to stretch and breathe and nurture themselves.  I always welcome new clients.  I am a particularly suited therapist for those of you who are seeking pain relief, need to decrease muscular tension, and want to kickstart that “rest and digest” part of the nervous system that allows the body to repair and restore.  Regularly scheduled massage can help flush out the toxins that accumulate in the soft tissues (not to mention soothe the hard-working busy body while you relax in the tranquil temple of this massage space).  I provide deep tissue and relaxation massage, and integrate elements of Shiatsu during my sessions.  I was trained at East West here in Portland, and have been an independent contractor (working for myself) since I became licensed and insured in the fall of 2009.
I appreciate your interest in my practice – thank you for valuing your own health and wellbeing.

Please feel free to contact me via phone or e-mail to discuss payment, ask questions, and schedule a massage.

(503) 756-4342 or quietwaterstillwaters@gmail.com

Laurence Reynolds, LMT 

I’m a graduate of East-West College of the Healing Arts which is a COMTA Certified School and has been around for over 3 decades now. I am Licensed through The Oregon Board of Massage Therapists and a member of ABMP.

I have a deep passion for helping people facilitate healing and maintaining the health of their body.  My goal when working with people is to work with them on their individual special needs to facilitate all the healing potential possible by having good communication & strong assessment skills.

I provide many approaches that include Relaxation, Swedish, Deep Tissue, Myofascial, Therapeutic, Pregnancy Massage, Aromatherapy, Body Movement, Thai Massage, and Stretching.  I know that every individual has very special needs, so I address this by providing a specialized bodywork session for each person.  I constantly learn new methods and evolve my practice so that my clients may receive massage that is always at its fullest potential. I look forward to meeting you! http://bloommassage.vpweb.com

I walked into my first yoga class in an inner-city YWCA about a year and a half ago. The instructor sprinted in two minutes after 6AM, breathless from the spinning class she’d just taught. Her voice had the harsh twang of a hopeful Liz Phair impersonator as she intoned, “Circle sweeping the arms up; swan diving down.” Up, down, up, down, and then we’d get to the push-ups. 55 minutes of something resembling sun salutations, then we’d spend the last five minutes of class laying “in our safe happy place” while she ran out to unlock the cycling studio again.
After about three classes of that, we had our first sub. She made us connect each movement of that mad caper to a breath—inhale up, exhale down. Like the difference between being hooked on phonics and real reading, the jerky motions acquired a cadence as they came into focus on the movement of the breath. My curiosity was piqued: with approximately 30 years experience holding my breath in stressful situations, I wondered what would happen if I cultivated the habit of breathing. And so I kept showing up, day after day, 5-6 days a week.

I first showed up at a yoga class because it was a cheap, conveniently located antidote to grueling Minnesota winters and sedentary 60-hour work weeks. My expectations were pretty low: do something that didn’t involve those treadmills under the blaring TVs, but didn’t exceed the boundaries of my Y membership, so handily subsidized by my health insurance at the time.
A motley assortment of seniors, a few dudes in baggy jeans, and the occasional marathoner visiting for a quick stretch, it was the perfect group for me. After we’d rushed through our day’s sequence, we bowed to the mirrors, the teacher in front of them, and the impatient crowd queuing up at the door for 7AM Zumba class. Everyone would intone the requisite “namaste”–except for me.
Raised in Eugene, I was skeptical of anything that smacked of the loose new age-Eastern-self-help-feelgood spirituality that was proclaimed from bumper stickers and dangling prayer flags. I’m one of those people who actually reads things before I sign them and I couldn’t bring myself to recite a word I only understood another slogan. And so I’d incline my head, silent but full of a wordless gratitude.

I didn’t expect that my yoga habit would follow me when I moved to Portland, especially when I discovered that the only place I could afford on my meager freelancer’s budget would be a 5-mile bike ride away. Perhaps it was my favourite spot under the sky light, perhaps the lovely teachers, but once I found it, I kept making that trek across town to People’s.

It’s too soon to tell what sort of a difference yoga makes in my life, or at least to make a statement that sounds impressive. For me, it’s the small things: Slowly I’ve been working on the habit of breathing, in, out, up, down. Some days, I’m completely bowled over by trying to stand on all four quadrants of each foot. A new angle of a hip reveals some nuance of posture that engrosses my attention for a week, on and off my mat. This week it’s been my index fingers: those slightly stumpy digits can change the sensations of a pose all the way back to somewhere around the waistline. I hold out hope that some day my elbows will get with the program, or at least give me a few hints about their program might be.

And yes, I did eventually come round—if you end up practicing next to me, I’ll be saying namaste along with the rest of the group. There wasn’t a grand conversion moment, just one day at the end of class, Suniti offered one of her simple glosses of the term. Oh, that? That’s one of the things I believe. Check.

The People’s community is a great group of people. Where else can I find a sympathetic group of mostly strangers to laugh along with me as I fall flat on my face, or otherwise teeter about? As a confirmed perfectionist, that’s the sort of thing that nightmares are made of, but, regardless of the class, this group makes it pleasant.

When not at the studio, I keep myself occupied by biking all about and doing a range of things for love and money. I’ve worked in fair trade coffee for nearly a decade, most recently doing freelance communications, copy writing, etc. Between 8 and 5, you can find me at Equal Exchange, one of the pioneers of the fair trade movement, working on making international trade more fair, transparent, and equitable for everyone involved.
When not at work, I put words together for fun and money. On the side, I generally comport myself like a granny: gardening, preserving things, sewing, and knitting in public places.

I first came in to People’s on Alberta in 2008. I think it had opened not long before that. I had been to a bunch of other studios (mostly on “intro special” deals …still have never been to a $12+ class!) and rec center/community college classes, but was on the verge of being convinced that, despite feeling the benefits of the practice, this was really…not my scene. People’s changed that, by representing accessibility, DIY attitude, diverse community, a sense of humor. When the studio moved and started offering scholarships I was so excited. Getting a scholarship to help maintain a steady yoga practice was like having a little bit of health insurance, for real, because having this available meant making healthier choices and taking better care of myself. As classes started getting bigger I started seeing folks from the studio around town or friends from elsewhere in class (a shout out to all the secret punk rock yogis!). More recently my mom even started coming to classes with me. The scholarship got me thinking of how to give back and I started doing various sorts of work trade…painting, flyering, and mostly cleaning. It was so nice to know that those times when I especially couldn’t afford yoga classes (which often happened to be when I needed them most) I never had to go without.

I think I’m slowly learning to name the differences the yoga practice has made in my life. There are big life changes coincide almost exactly with beginning this practice that I did not immediately believe were related. Around that time I quit smoking, stopped having panic attacks. There are probably connections I still haven’t made. I’ve become a little more bold, a little less cynical, and less of an introvert. Even my friends and family have noticed I seemed more comfortable in my own skin. And I’m still working on this one but, I used to deal with hard times by running away whenever possible. I’d convince myself I wouldn’t have problems with depression if I didn’t live under such gray skies all year, so I could probably fix it by taking off for Mexico til winter was long gone. I traveled a bunch and turns out people are feeling a bit doomy and desperate about the state of the world pretty much everywhere. Being conscious of so much suffering is hard to deal with, but how do you begin to change anything without facing it for what it is, even when it’s super fucked up. I think this is true for both personal/internal and social/global struggles. So this piece about learning to sit with what troubles you is a pretty relevant teaching when you have grown up being taught to pretend everything’s okay, or to look for a quick fix.

Outside of my time as the studio, I work at a day center in Old Town for folks who are mostly house-less or in need of some basic needs sort of stuff or other help finding resources. I also work on-call in an emergency shelter for survivors of domestic violence. I’m going on tour this summer with some friends in a Portland punk band…I’ve been sort of their go-to roadie for years and this time we’re going back to Mexico City! It’s been pretty much the only sort of traveling I’ve done lately since I went and became a student again…and I’m starting nursing school in the fall. I recently got back in to making art after years of having no real such outlet…this happened by accident, started by being gifted a bunch of materials and getting friends together to crank out protest art, props and banners for political street actions and demonstrations. I’ve been genuinely excited over the last year or two about what seems like a big shift in the local/global social climate, getting a sense that some sort of real change could be on the horizon and may be inevitable. I’m equally excited for what looks like it might be a real summer in Portland with a healthy dose of cold river swimming.

Kelly is one of those many, uniquely perfect students we have that make us so proud to be a part of the TPY community. Below, she was kind enough to share the story of her path to yoga and the benefits she has found in the practice.

I’ve been practicing yoga solidly for almost two years now but yoga has been in my life sporadically since I was a teenager. I still remember my very first class when I was 14. I was amazed by how incredibly enriching it was even though I had no idea what I was doing. It took me a very long time to cultivate the discipline to have the consistent practice that I have now but now. At this point yoga is such an integral part of my life that I can’t imagine being without it.

As a teenager I was quite intrigued by spirituality in its various forms. I was kind of a new-age/hippy enthusiast. A yoga studio opened right next door to my favorite new age shop in the town where I went to high school, Northport, New York. Of course I’d heard of yoga but didn’t really know much about it. So I decided to check it out. The first thing that amazed me was just how physically intense the practice was. There seems to be this common misconception among folks who’ve never done yoga, that its just a bunch of stretching and breathing. Quite the contrary! It was a solid work out and I totally felt it the next day. The other incredible draw to the practice was the inexplicable and almost instantaneous feeling of mental balance that it gave me. And that feeling didn’t end when the class was over. I remember carrying it with me in the next few days after my very first class. It absolutely set the tone for a lifelong relationship with yoga.

I owe so much to this incredible practice. Of course I love the way it makes my body feel. Having a consistent practice has given me vast strength and flexibility that makes me feel amazing. Just on a purely physical level, yoga is a great form of exercise that is hugely beneficial. But more importantly, and the paramount reason why I return again and again, is that yoga is the only thing I’ve found that quells my lifelong battle with anxiety and depression. I had run the gamut in searching for ways to cope this: various forms of therapy, medications, diets, and even ventured into more self destructive methods. I began practicing yoga consistently out of pure necessity. Because ultimately I knew that yoga had such tremendous capacity for being helpful and healing. Even in one class I could feel the shift in my anxiety throughout the following week. Just imagine what would happen if I started practicing several times a week! So I did! These days yoga is the only thing I need to keep me centered. It’s quite tremendous feat. I feel supported in my practice by both the activity of yoga itself and the incredible community of yogis I’ve met at People’s. I love yoga because it is a way for me to nurture myself and promote positive and empowering change.

As a lady of the larger persuasion, both tall and curvy, I’ve always grappled with body issues. My yoga practice makes me fell strong and beautiful in a way I never thought possible. I know my limits but I’m also aware that my strength that will continue to grow the more I practice. I’ve seen such a dramatic positive shift in my life as a result of regularly practicing yoga.

By day, my yoga practice follows me into my job as a marketing writer for a craft paper company. But I also like to play piano, make short films and create art whenever possible.

Jeevan has been a member of the TPY community for two years. She spent the vast majority of that time helping us through cleaning trade for yoga.

“I love the philosophical aspect of yoga that I’m able to gain so much from each class and everything is so symbolic. These things that I learn about my body help me with other aspects of my life. Learning to move in my body helps me to learn to move in my mind. Yoga is really grounding for me and brings me back into myself and that benefits everything!”

Jeevan is also a talented musician and if she isn’t at The People’s Yoga she’s probably working on various creative projects. Recently she’s collaborating with Seth Neefus (Red Clouds Collective) on a folk music project called Old Friend. Jeevan and Seth will be playing at Valentine’s on April 24th with Alina Hardin and Ryan Francesconi!

Myspace.com/jeevansingh

YogiRoots is Portland’s hub o’ yoga on the internet. Following the Yoga Journal article on Portland, YogiRoots contributor Liz Weber contacted us with an interest in fleshing out some of the ideas so quickly presented by Yoga Journal. 

Though this will come as no surprise to yogis currently practicing in the Rose City, Yoga Journal recently named Portland one of “10 Fantastically Yoga Friendly Towns”.   The article proposes that our “evolved ideas about sustainable living and community welfare” and our free-thinker friendly culture add up to an inclusive and thriving yoga community.

The article states that “the conscientiousness that makes Portlanders aware of how their actions affect one another as well as the planet” is one of the reasons why the spirit of service is so present in the practice of yoga in Portland.  Two high profile local yoga non-profits, Living Yoga and Street Yoga, bring yoga to prisons, rehabilitation centers, and homeless youth and are clear examples of service in action.  The article makes clear, however, that it is not just non-profit groups that are trying to make yoga accessible and available to everyone in the community.  It gives the examples of The People’s Yoga, which offers $8 drop in classes and was “established as a response to members of our community who feel yoga is financially out of reach” and also The Bhaktishop, which offers weekly free and by donation classes and just reduced their regular class prices.

Yogi Roots was very fortunate to connect with Michelle Sarchiapone of The People’s Yoga and Lisa Mae Osborn of The Bhaktishop to ask them to elaborate on their thoughts about why simplicity and service are critical parts of a yoga practice, Portland’s DIY ethos, and the future of our local yoga community.

Both Michelle and Lisa Mae agree that Portland has benefited from being a smaller, less influential yoga city than a place like New York City, whose teachers and studios played a large role in yoga coming to the west.  Michelle says, “I think there are cities that became hubs of the western yoga movement, and as a result they have become how we define yoga in our minds. Places where you may find the yoga community feels a bit inaccessible due to the consumerist slant the west has branded onto yoga.”  Lisa Mae echoes this idea and one of the points in the article that the Portland yoga community is “not about pretention, but about inclusion”.  She elaborates that, “There isn’t a righteousness about being part of a yoga community or center here that makes others that aren’t ‘in the club’ feel unwelcome or inferior. I think that Portland yoga centers are doing a great job at making sure that the exclusivity factor is beginning to be wiped away from the playing field, and for that I am grateful. To welcome everyone into the practice, that is the idea.”

In order to preserve this sense of inclusion both teachers think it is critical to be mindful of the deeper, less commercial, principles and practices of yoga.  Michelle says, “I think the move back towards the simple, brilliant, true roots of the practice is as easy as scaling back our expectations of the yoga culture to let the practice thrive. Let it thrive in open, simple spaces.”  Lisa Mae suggests a concept from the Bhagavad Gita, one of yoga’s fundamental spiritual texts.   “We have to see the wider implications of the rarity of human life, and seize the chance to do something positive. Yoga is one of the paths to that possibility, and I think that Portlanders see the implications of sharing with each other in this deep and far-reaching way.”

Looking toward the future, both Michelle and Lisa Mae see opportunities.  With The People’s Yoga’s focus on low-cost, community classes, Michelle has learned that consistency and dependability have been incredibly important in creating and maintaining a strong yoga community.  She says, “People wanted a place that would consistently be there as the novice yogi’s practice moved from uncomfortable and unfamiliar to full, life-giving and spreading beyond the mat.”  She is “looking forward to expanding the capacity of our programs so we can support class offerings for other marginalized populations or populations whose body shapes haven’t been openly embraced by our culture.”

Lisa Mae’s vision for the future includes more collaboration between studios and across styles of practice. She is working towards getting “studios to unite a little more, doing things together and sharing the vast wealth of knowledge and amazing teachers that we are so lucky to have.  I envision a series of ‘Master Classes’ with some of the top teachers in town, sharing what they know in a forum outside of their own studios.”   She and an owner of another yoga studio have even thrown around the idea of embracing Portland’s quirky DIY culture through a Yogi Kickball benefit where local teachers would play against each other and raise money for a local non-profit.

“Yoga is just one way people learn to be more mindful with themselves, their thoughts, the world,” says Michelle.  “Whatever their practice of mindfulness is, mindfulness moves us all to be more kind, compassionate, and reasonable with ourselves and others. If everybody did yoga? Well, we’d all definitely be more flexible in mind and body!”  As Portland’s yoga community grows and reaches even more diverse populations, we might have a chance to test her prediction.

Lisa Mae offers a hopeful summary as well.  “There is a spirit of service that is awakening in people as they realize the far-reaching implications of MORE people practicing yoga consciously, and Portland’s community, with its great people-first mentality, is poised to be blazing some trails there.”

Yoga Journal gave us a call last year while they were getting the low down on Portland’s beautiful yoga scene.

Portland, Oregon

The Scene: The conscientiousness that makes Portlanders so acutely aware of how their actions affect one another as well as the planet may have inspired the TV parody Portlandia, but it’s also the reason for the city’s evolved ideas about sustainable living and community welfare. Based here are Street Yoga and Living Yoga, two nonprofits that bring yoga and compassionate communication skills to homeless youth, prisons, shelters, and rehabilitation centers. Studios all over town get involved in community outreach efforts. At The People’s Yoga, drop-in costs are low to make classes available to a wider range of students. And in the summer of 2010, the citywide Yogathon, in which more than 20 yoga studios participated, raised $21,000 for Living Yoga’s programs.

“I think there’s been a wave of realization that, ‘Oh, wait, this isn’t supposed to be just for me,”says Lisa Mae Osborn, co-owner of the Bhakti-shop, a studio that recently reduced prices to make classes more accessible. “A huge part of our mission is to enable people who normally couldn’t practice regularly at a studio,” she says. “More and more studios here are starting to recognize what a service that is, whether it’s offering classes for $5 or a practice once a month where you can bring a friend for free.”

The city is notoriously welcoming to creative types—writers, artists, musicians, and free thinkers of all stripes. It all adds up to a diverse and open-minded yoga culture—one that’s not about pretension, but about inclusion. “On a good day in Portland, you can participate in Kundalini sadhana, Sufi chanting, Tibetan Buddhist meditation, ecstatic dance, and Jewish kirtan,” says J.D. Kleinke, a local yoga practitioner.

Shout Out: “People in Portland are really interested in living a creative and passionate life,” says Sarahjoy Marsh, the founder and director of Living Yoga. “Yoga becomes a way to express and sustain that.”

Fun Fact: The local foods movement here goes far beyond farmers’ markets. The nonprofit GrowingGardens helps residents build organic gardens in urban backyards and school yards, while Oregon Tilth educates gardeners, farmers, legislators, and the general public about sustainable growing practices.