The room is 95 degrees and the air feels thick, my clothes soaked with sweat. My heart is beating strong from pushing fresh oxygen through my body for the past sixty minutes. But now it’s slowing down, settling back into is natural rhythm. I lie down in corpse pose for five minutes of rest. My body is so wrung out from all the deep stretching and twisting that my thin purple mat feels like a padded cot. Then I hear the chords of an angel; am I being lifted up to heaven?
At the front of the yoga studio, Danielle Newton is playing her harmonium, an instrument that hums deep, full notes like a church organ. She’s also singing Sanskrit mantras, letting her pitch rise and fall in gentle waves. Newton sits cross-legged, wearing a tank top and leggings. Her eyes are closed softly as she serenades the yogis who just sweated through her Tuesday night hot power yoga class. Her long blond dreads hang loose, a few locs wrapped in decorative thread.
For ten years Newton taught at different studios, observing the variety of ways yoga is offered to the world. She took note of all the approaches that resonated with her, hoping one day to own a studio of her own. Two years ago she fulfilled her dream and opened Be Brave Yoga in Middletown, Connecticut. She has crafted every aspect of the studio with intention, from small things like using hand towels instead of paper for sustainability, to big things like implementing the practice of karma-yoga. Karma-yoga invites members of the Be Brave community to pay it forward, donating money to cover a class for someone who wants to practice yoga but cannot afford it.
The lobby of Be Brave is filled with heavy wooden furniture, all from Newton’s family farm. The space has low lighting and is decorated in earth tones, creating a warm, homey vibe. Plush purple armchairs offer a cozy seat, and on top of an antique-looking dresser is a complimentary mint tea station, with a collection of mismatched ceramic mugs. A chalkboard wall poses self-inquiry questions. “What is one word that describes your most authentic self?” Members of the community responded: “weird, curious, radiant, nurturing.”
A set of glass doors leads into the hot yoga studio. Each wall in the rectangular room has a different splash of color: turquoise blue, royal purple, forest green. On the purple wall is a mural of a lion in delicate black strokes. The green wall is accented by small statues of Hindu deities and a mini forest of plants. Newton believes that objects carry a certain energy, and all the plants are gifts from her friends “so there can be life in the studio.” If they were bought from HomeGoods, it just wouldn’t be the same.
In a Saturday morning yoga class, after stretching, breathing, and flowing through yoga sequences, a group of twenty yogis harmonized for three Oms, a powerful vibration that represents the sound of creation, and is a common way to begin and end practice. The teacher, Genipher Love, shared her belief that a unified group singing out this vibration has the power to send healing reverberations of positive energy into the world. Newton, attending class as a student, sings “Oooooommmmm” in harmony with the community gathered at Be Brave.
Students that were newer to their yoga practice probably looked around in confusion at the loudly humming strangers. Many people arrive at a yoga studio for the first time simply for physical reasons, but slowly, students begin to learn the Hindu philosophy that the yoga practice is rooted in. Teachers mention concepts of mindfulness, self-discovery, and spiritual growth throughout class. Techniques of breath work and meditation are taught alongside the poses that offer deep stretching and muscle strengthening. As yogis begin to reach their physical goals, they commonly find that they’ve wandered onto a much deeper path of personal growth. Newton has observed that as her students practiced the physical poses, “something spiritual was rattling inside them.”
This is how it happened for Newton; she was drawn to yoga because of painful arthritis symptoms in her twenties. Through yoga, she started moving her body intentionally, which led to becoming more deeply aware of herself, and that provided a reckoning that maybe her physical body wasn’t the only part of her that needed attention. She started practicing meditation and breath work, and studied yoga philosophy through multiple trainings, workshops, and books. Now Newton’s lifestyle is steeped in the spiritual practices of yoga, and through her studio, she is able to guide others down this Yogic path of self-exploration.
Be Brave has a variety of offerings, many of which introduce the more spiritual sides of yoga. There is a monthly Empower Women’s Circle that utilizes guided reflection and embodiment practices to cultivate self-trust, emotional regulation, and intuitive living. Also offered once a month is a donation-based class, Santosha & Sobriety. Santosha, a Sanskrit word for contentment, is one of the ethical principles of yoga. This class offers a space for people to explore healing any addiction (drugs, food, phone, etc.) through the practice of contentment.
On a Friday night in October, I attended a kirtan event at Be Brave. Kirtan is a practice of singing mantras to connect with the divine through sound, done in a call-and-response style. Newton played her harmonium and sang out devotional mantras. The crowd echoed back, matching her pitch and rhythm. Each mantra is repeated over and over until it becomes a song, sometimes slowing down to a somber tone, or speeding up to excite the energy in the room. The repetition was hypnotizing.
“Something spiritual was rattling inside them.”
Granted, it did start a little awkward. The first few times the crowd wasn’t unified and the response was half-hearted. But with each round, the voices came together and became more certain in the pronunciation of strange Sanskrit words. “Om Namah Shivaya,” Newton sang out, adding a musical tone and rhythm to the words. “Om Namah Shivaya,” the crowd sang back, matching her intonation.
Singing with a group of strangers was not easy. But kirtan opened up a space to break through that uncomfortability and dissolved any barriers. At one point, an older white gentleman dressed in business-casual slacks jumped up to dance. He romped around the studio, reaching down to invite people to get up and join him.
There is a Buddhist saying that is respected in yoga philosophy: “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
Featured Image: A group of women in class at Be Brave Yoga / Courtest of Be Brave Yoga Facebook
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