It all started with a weekly free yoga class at Lansing’s
Shabazz Academy but has since turned into something resembling a movement - one that places community, sharing and healthful living at its heart.
Give it a Try
“Just give it a try,” says Belinda Thurston, the owner of
Just B Yoga. “We’ve taken away any reason for people to not try. It’s affordable and accessible.”
The studio, which opened in 2010, is located in the heart of REO Town, offering free and donation-based yoga, meditation and Tai Chi classes for people of all ages and backgrounds. They work to provide a safe space, emotionally and physically, for people to join together and “just be.”
Getting people in the door so they can relax, find a place of peace and calm and let go is the main goal at Just B Yoga.
They offer a
variety of classes for people to be able to do just that. Belinda says it doesn’t matter what size or what age you are, bodies are meant to move. “There is no bad yoga,” she says. “We don’t need to bring all kinds of judgment to the space.”
The studio is also
kid-friendly, offering families the opportunity to get out, meet new people and try something new without having to worry about the additional expense of childcare.
Breaking Things Down
Belinda notes there are lots of stereotypes and misperceptions about yoga, and she wants to help change that. People often believe they have to be extremely flexible and strong, or are expected to do perfect poses during a class - but that’s a very narrow view of what the practice has to offer.
Breaking down the image of yoga as a practice that’s all about perfect poses and what kind of outfit one wears is one of the challenges Belinda and her team of instructors face. “I don’t care about the pose,” she says. “I just want to people to come in.”
Part of making that happen is making the classes fun, joyful and even entertaining so clients are comfortable no matter what their experience level. “I would rather we were all falling down and laughing,” Belinda says. “I want people to be the freest they need to be.”
Changing Perspectives
A Native Washingtonian, Belinda has lived all over the United States and moved to Lansing from Texas in 2004. She taught Tai Chi at the
Dallas Academy of Tai Chi Chuan and finished her teacher training in 2008 at Hilltop Yoga studio in Old Town. But teaching wasn’t her original goal.
“I didn’t even want to teach,” she says. “But as I went through the training, I began to realize that there was a good opportunity in Lansing to share a healthy modality, not only for physical reasons but as a way to empower a community to chart its own future.” She admits, “that’s a lot to hang on the shoulders of yoga,” but she sees the practice as a way to literally turn people’s perceptions on their heads.
Belinda says she sees how damaging the stereotypes about Michigan residents are to the people who live here. She believes statistics that say Michigan has the most unemployed, the most overweight etc., can put people in a self-defeatist mode, hindering their ability to see paths for change. “In yoga, you get on your mat and you are flipping your body upside down, and maybe that will make you see things differently.”
Path of Empowerment
When talking about the topic of flexibility, Belinda notes that we can break it down in many ways and that includes the mind, so exploring the practice offers people an opportunity to rethink the ways they see things. Belinda has found her own practice in yoga, Tai Chi and meditation to be very empowering.
In her own life, yoga has provided her a canvas of safety, possibility and courage during several major life-changing events, and that’s something she wants to be able to share with others. “I’m not saying that it cures everything,” she says. “But if you ‘re willing to come in and explore, if you’re willing to just come in and sit your butt down, and if you can find a way to find stillness and possibly open yourself up to new potential, that’s what this path is all about.”
Transformation
With its low rates, donation option and free classes, Just B Yoga has become a great platform for building community. Belinda says she’s proud to be part of the Love Lansing movement and feels blessed to have so many awesome people come through their doors, be a part of what the studio is doing, and helping it grow.
“If I got everybody around the corner to come to the studio that would be amazing, or everybody within that block or within ten blocks, and if we all work together, then we start transformation from the inside out.”
Belinda believes we need to be able to see each other as neighbors, rather than enemies or competition and that change can happen when those barriers are removed. ”We need to be neighborly with one another and build each other up rather than tear each other down.“
A Future Unfolds
As far as future plans are concerned, she says she believes there is a potential that hasn’t even been fully revealed to her yet. She wants to continue to build relationships with people and organizations that are doing good things in the community and are positive influences.
“I would like to be able to look back one day and say these are the influences that Just B Yoga had on Lansing or on Michigan,” she says. “Being part of any renaissance here in Lansing, whether it’s an art renaissance, a social action renaissance, whatever that looks like, whatever it is, we just want to be a part of it.”
Dawn Gorman is a freelance writer for Capital Gains.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of
Trumpie
Photography.
Photos:
Belinda Thurston and a Just B Yoga class
Photos ©
Dave Trumpie