These beautiful women work at a nail salon in Silverlake, LA California. Most of them carpool to work from areas slightly out of LA. Their days begin early and end late. Generally when they get home, they begin their second job of caring for home and family. Besides the fact that their income leaves little room for yoga classes, they are in need of a deep body stretch because of the way they sit all day. Their working posture rounds forward and is in a seated squat for hours at a time. There is the weightlifting aspect of carrying small tubs of hot water to the clients several times in a day and the wear of fine eye hand motor skills. With these issues in mind I designed a yoga sequence to sooth and counter stretch the back. We worked on building lower body strength and had a long savasana meditation to clear the mind and reset the spirits.
What I loved most about this session was that we transformed their work space into a micro yoga studio. After the last nail customer left, we swept, moved chairs, lit candles and placed towels on the floor. At first, there were giggles from just laying beside each other. Then there were looks of surprise at seeing each other’s flexibility or lack there of. Most were delighted at the attention from me, physically moving them into poses. When we finished, the room didn’t feel like a busy business. Each of them were ready to talk about how their bodies felt and when we would meet again, looking forward to coming to work for something new. This evening was like a prize at the end of the day, and a gift to their families who would later be greeted by them under less stress than the normal, routine arrival home. To bring my practice to them was the height of yoga community for me. To make the people who make other people feel good, feel cared for too.
