Around the Studio
Q & A with Betsy
What style, tradition, and/or lineage are you a part of?
After a few years of dabbling, I began yoga in earnest in 2008 with a blended Hatha practice and honed in on Ashtanga, getting into a Mysore (self-guided) style practice until I felt worn down by the rigor of it. I loved the yogic foundation it created, the mindfulness, the focus on poses and sequence. I try to mimic some of the sequencing structural elements in my classes even today.
What can a student expect from your classes?
My classes are slower because I find it more challenging to practice that way and find it draws the most benefit from the poses themselves. I have been labeled “sneaky hard” which I am tickled by, but I try to make my classes accessible to all levels of practitioners.
What’s on your mind these days, yoga-wise?
Mobility. Aging has been on my mind and trying to support myself and others do so gracefully and with as little discomfort as possible is my latest aim.
What’s your favorite pose and why?
Headstand. When I started, I was determined to get it and I’ve been proud ever since.
What events are you hosting/leading/contributing to in the coming months?
Yoga for Sanity, my regular yoga + emotional processing workshop is coming up! In it, I help people use the practice to move though feelings because we are physical emotional processors and yoga can be a great vehicle for working through life stress in any form. I am also going to be working with the teachers in training in May, which I always enjoy and am in talks with Emily Bowser to create a super fun, hard sweaty thing for the summer. She’s great to collaborate with and we like to come up with workshops that we would like to attend ourselves.
What’s your favorite spot in Savannah and why?
This is hard because I love Savannah. So, I guess the whole thing is my favorite spot. Downtown is dreamy, any oak covered street (particularly when the sun shines through the moss), the familiar faces in this big small town, the marshland, the mix of neighbors and neighborhoods that exist together, the beach when it’s so hot you can barely breathe, the studio and my home where my friends and family get together.
What other interests do you have outside of yoga?
Gardening, cooking, eating, documentaries and (maybe obvious but) human psychology.
What are three things you carry with you?
Imma have to go existential on this because I’m a minimalist and often carrying as little as possible to get things done, so in my heart I always carry my recovery, my private patchwork spirituality and compassionate curiosity.
What’s one thing about you that might surprise us?
I’m a pretty open book so I’m not sure. My sobriety, recovery and work in the field of addiction is worth noting just as a resource to people who have questions so they know I’m a safe confidential person to ask about that sort of thing.
Betsy's weekly Vinyasa class is offered on Sundays at 8:30 in the studio and online. She's also offering "Yoga for Sanity" from 1-3:00 pm on Saturday, April 13.
Exchange Energy with Megan
Of all the yoga studios in Savannah, why NYN?
I love everything about the ethos at NYN. Our teachers are allowed to be creative and put their own spin on things, so I learn something new every time. But there’s also a unifying seasonal theme, like a common thread woven through no matter who’s teaching. I love to see how different teachers approach the same goals. When two of my favorite teachers opened the studio and I saw the roster of instructors, it was STACKED with literally all my favorite teachers from around town, I knew they were doing something real, and I wanted in. Our classes are deep and fun and full of knowledge and really, really human. I want to do yoga for a long long time, and I appreciate that our studio is about realistic mobility, not grit or performance.
Which class on the NYN schedule is the class you do not want to miss? Why?
Do not sleep on Jen McCarter’s 7:30am Saturday Vin1 class—it’s a blast! She’s got such a great sense of humor, tons of hands-on assists to fine tune your practice, plus a playlist that could’ve been lifted from my own Spotify account. Even though it’s Vin1 there are ways to dial it up, and I’ve already learned new poses that I haven’t encountered before in my decades-long practice. Thank you, Jen!
Where is your favorite place to go/what is your favorite thing to do in Savannah?
I love to just stroll around and enjoy our trees. We’re lucky to have such a lush urban canopy AND live in a place that is walkable (both with sidewalk access—though it could be improved in a lot of neighborhoods too—and temperate weather.)
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us.
Surprise! I skated on Savannah’s Roller Derby team, the Savannah Derby Devils, back in the day. My derby name was Bellatrix LeRage, #HP7 (a Harry Potter reference.) I broke a girl’s leg once! (But it was an accident, and she was on my team so…oops. She’s okay now!) I still love to skate any chance I can get.