Reeta Brendamour, of the Village of Pine Hills, started teaching yin yoga classes in The Villages to accommodate the growing number of students.
Brendamour said the slow-paced, meditative style of yoga is like an accessible version of the fountain of youth.
“I always tell the students, ‘Not only can yin yoga slow down the aging process, but it can also reverse it,’” she said. “There’s two different sides to yoga — yin and yang — which are opposites. Yang yoga is about short bursts of energy, because that’s how you build muscle. For yin yoga, we are focused on your connected tissue.”
Yin yoga targets the fascia — connective tissue that wraps around the muscles, bones and organs — and brings more fluid to your joints.
Its goal is to improve mobility and flexibility while simultaneously calm down the nervous system. Poses in yin yoga, including butterfly, dragonfly or happy baby, are held three to 10 minutes.
“After age 30, your fascia starts to stiffen,” Brendamour said. “There’s really only three ways to work that part of your body: massage, thumb roller and yin yoga. If you think about your muscles being covered with fascia, you understand that you can stretch your muscles out as much as you want, but if your fascia is stiff, then your muscles aren’t going anywhere. That has to be loosened as well.”
Brendamour said that while practicing yin yoga and getting certified to be an instructor, she learned a lot about the human anatomy and the importance of strengthening your parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system responsible for digestion, resting and bringing the body to a calm state after a stress response.
“It’s not just rest, it’s repair,” she said. “In yin yoga, on a scale of one to 10, we will be at a four. Right when you start to meet some resistance, you stop there and then we hold the poses for three to five minutes. When we are in these poses for three to five minutes, you melt into that parasympathetic nervous system so your body can heal and repair. Our motto is long, slow and deep.”
Brendamour, who has herself taken yin yoga classes in The Villages for five years, said her prior knowledge of and experience with the practice led her to search for classes when she moved to the area from Cincinnati.
“Before I started doing yin yoga, I felt that after an hour drive in the car I would get out and feel so stiff,” she said. “I was a lawyer, so I wasn’t moving around for my job. I exercised, but wasn’t focused on any flexibility. When I first started, I couldn’t sit on the floor, but yin yoga has totally changed that. I did yin yoga in Cincinnati, so when I came to The Villages, I quickly looked to see if there was a class.”
At the time, there was only one yin yoga class taught once a week that was instructed by Clinton Harris, who started the first Villages yin yoga class in December 2016. When he could no longer teach the popular Tuesday-night class, Harris asked Brendamour to take over.
“Reeta is a fabulous teacher” said the Village of Lake Deaton resident. “She works tirelessly to engage students and she’s very creative in her own way.”
After starting to instruct classes on Sunday, Brendamour said the number of participants grew in a matter of months from two people to 47, causing her close the door and cap the entry.
Brendamour said the exercise has quickly gained in popularity and more instructors and space in recreation centers are needed.
“It is so popular now,” she said. “All of our classes are busy and so many people in The Villages have learned the benefit and value of yin yoga. I’ve seen so many people in the class improve. Yin yoga is also great for your golf game because we do a lot of twisting, so we are loosening the lower back and it’s great for flexibility in the spine and waist.”
For more information about the club times, check the Thursday recreation club listing in The Villages Daily Sun.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
