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'Easy does it'

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By GEOFF FOX | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2011

DADE CITY - There were no hurries, no worries.

"There are no yoga emergencies," Nancy Hamory told her Easy Does It yoga class on a recent weekday.

As the soothing sounds of flowing water and Asian flute music filled the Sun and Moon Yoga studio at 14522 Seventh St. in downtown, Hamory led the class through a series of exercises.

First they stretched their lower backs and hips by lying on their backs, knees bent and touching, feet spread apart. They slowly lowered one knee, then the other, to the floor.

"The first thing people notice when they start doing yoga is the breathing — how little they're breathing. It lowers the blood pressure," said Hamory, 49, who has practiced yoga since she was 14. "We honor the body, and every day you do what feels good to you. Easy does it. That's what yoga is all about."

A former picture framer, Hamory has taught yoga for the past seven years and opened the studio about a year ago. She offers a variety of classes, led by several instructors, to accommodate students of all levels.

She said her motivation is to help people feel better.

"When I first started teaching, I thought I'd be teaching to healthy people like you see on TV," she said. "But one of my first clients came limping in. She had spurs on one hip and cysts on the other, and she was in tremendous pain.

"She couldn't do regular yoga, so I started with a gentler approach and came up with" the Easy Does It class, Hamory said. "Within a year, she was back to normal after seven years of being in pain."

The recent class was a mix of men and women ranging in age from 20 to 60. Some were new to yoga; others, such as Debra Holland of Dade City, who can lie on her back and touch her knee to her nose, have been doing yoga for decades.

"I first took it in college for a P.E. credit," Holland said. "I've done it off and on, but I've been coming to two or three classes a week for five years. I definitely have increased flexibility, and I feel stronger. I think I sleep better. It's also a way to spend time with people. A gym can be a little off-putting."

During the class, students got into the "down dog" position, in which their bodies make an inverted V with only their toes and hands touching the mat.

After a strenuous squatting position that not everyone attempted, Hamory had the students "honor" their hamstrings by lying on their back and pulling their knees as close to their nose as possible.

Toward the end, Hamory led the students through "savasana," a pose she said is meant to "relax the body without sleeping and release the mind without thinking."

After the hourlong class, a couple of students said yoga has helped them overcome serious ailments.

"I had a hip injury and couldn't walk without a serious limp," said Gail Grindle of Zephyrhills. "I've been doing yoga six months, and now I'm getting around great. It's like a meditation — a mind-body connection. You're relaxing. You're able to loosen up. I can concentrate my breathing so that it helps stretch the muscles around the hip."

Christine Penney of Dade City started yoga in April as a way to address chronic muscle cramps and pain.

"I tried prescription drugs, and the side effects were lethargy, and I felt dopey," she said. "There was weight gain. I have all this movement now, and I'm not in nearly as much pain. It gets better each time I come in."

Hamory hopes to expand her studio; she said it's a career she can probably pursue until she's 70.

"I think it's a wonderful general practice for healthy young people, but yoga can rehab so many things," she said. "It just seems to trigger everything in the body. Things just seem to get either a little or a lot better, including mental health."

gfox@tampatrib.com (813) 259-8116

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