Since Labor Day weekend, the Bethany Beach Yoga Center has been enjoying its new, more centralized location, just a few miles down the road from its former home. Established in the area for more than a half-decade and previously situated above Isabella’s Restaurant in Bethany, they made the move to a new, convenient and more hospitable environment at 158B Central Avenue in Millville.
Coastal Point • RYAN SAXTON
Pat Wood leads a yoga class in Bethany Beach Yoga Center’s new location at 158B Atlantic Ave. in Millville.
“We had been looking for some time for a space we could afford,” said Pat Wood, associate director of the center and one of three operating partners. “We’re thrilled with this location. We can look out and see trees now.”
Despite the new Millville address, the yoga center has kept its Bethany Beach name, to avoid confusion. The center has become synonymous with the morning classes it offers on the Bethany boardwalk in the summertime.
The road to becoming a successful instructor has been an eventful one for Wood, who started getting into yoga back in the 1960’s.
“I was a Type-A person in Washington, D.C.,” she said, “working for the Congress. Over the years, I did aerobics and other stuff like that. Then I noticed, over time, that I was doing more and more to help me with the tensions in Washington.” Her focus and education turned to the meditation and self-aiding aspects that yoga offered.
“When I started here,” she recalled, “there were no yoga classes in the area. Years ago, I talked to my instructor and he recommended that I study yoga and teach it to really get into the practice. He planted the seed.”
Before moving to the Delaware shore, Wood traveled to Southern India for eight weeks, at the Sivananda Yoga Vendanta, to learn and better understand the customs and rituals of yoga.
“It was a great transition period of my life,” she said. “I had always worked, and I often thought, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’”
To help prepare her for her role as an inspiring instructor, Wood also studied Iyengar style yoga in Santa Fe, N.M., and the art of teaching yoga to children. She also is a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) with a master’s degree from George Washington University.
There are several misconceptions with yoga today, she added.
“Some people think yoga is completely relaxation. It’s really a matter of getting to know your own body and controlling your breath to move your energy through the body.” In addition to proper breathing, yoga has been proven to help develop muscle strength, balance, flexibility and comfort. It can help restore energy, as well as encourage self-healing, stress release and prosperity, she said.
“Each of the classes varies in style a little bit,” Wood said. “Some are a little gentler, and others are a little more rigorous.”
A few of the classes offered at Bethany Beach Yoga will even force students to work up a sweat. Although there is restraint and resistance, pain is not a factor in any of the courses.
“We’re not into pain,” Wood said. “We’re into blissful discomfort. With yoga, you’re stretching a lot and you occasionally use muscles in your body that you don’t normally. If you’re doing something that hurts, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”
Most of Bethany Beach Yoga’s clientele are retirees or those entering their pre-retirement years. But that’s not always the case. “We have a mix of different styles that we’re trying to meet the needs of,” Wood said, “and there are a variety of forms of yoga.”
All instructors at Bethany Beach Yoga are certified, both nationally and internationally, insured and registered by the Yoga Alliance. “We like to emphasize safety and wellness here,” Wood said.
Classes at different levels run throughout the week, except Friday, with Absolute Beginner Yoga courses on Monday evenings from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m. Beginners Level I follows on Monday from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Level I/II classes are held Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 11:15 a.m., on Monday mornings from 10:30 until 11:45 a.m. and on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. Level II classes are offered on Tuesdays from 7 p.m. until 8:15 p.m., with a Morning Stretch and Flow available for all levels every Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. Sundays start off with chanting, meditation and yoga study at 9 a.m.
Drop-ins are welcome at $15 per class, while four-class, eight-class and 12-class punch cards are also available for reduced prices. Absolute Beginner Classes are offered at a lower introductory rate, too.
Special events are also available, including Full Moon Yoga, being held on Friday, Oct. 26, from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., for $15. Yoga on the Ball, an all-level class incorporating the commonly used yoga ball, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, from noon until 1:30 p.m., with pre-registration rates of $15 and $20 at the door.
For a complete list of scheduled classes and rates, call (302) 537-7838 or visit their Web site at www.bethanybeachyoga.org.