Yoga inside the Cathedral Church of St John in New York

Source -NewZee

In a soaring cathedral on New York City’s Upper West Side, a lone woman demonstrates yoga movements in front of a video camera for the church’s twice a month virtual yoga sessions. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, at 121,000 square feet (11,241 square meters), is the sixth largest church in the world. “We were actually in the process of launching this program last Easter season and the pandemic put everything on hold,” said Mia Michelson-Bartlett, manager of visitor services and yoga instructor for the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

“It took us some time as things were reopening to reimagine it, given the current conditions. But we were so thrilled to be able to start it up again this year.” New Yorkers have been turning to online yoga to overcome their cramped confines and the stress of life amid the pandemic.

Yoga is “about just taking a pause and practicing that mindfulness and really turning the attention on to whatever we can to quiet the outside noise and the noise and distraction that happens just in our own minds,” said Michelson-Bartlett. “That’s a really important practice, not just in the pandemic as things move forward, to be able to find that little bit of quiet. But more broadly, the world is a crazy place right now, and to be able to just be with ourselves and feel grounded and at peace with that experience is a big thing right now.”

Michelson-Bartlett’s virtual session is an hour of gentle yoga and mindfulness meditation. “Yoga really is based on the idea of trying to connect with something that’s universal or divine or essential,” she said. “And so that’s a big ask for a 60-minute program. But, if they feel a little tiny bit of that little bit of peace or quiet internally, then that’s really what we’re going for.” Regular yoga practice has a positive effect on mental health and in stress reduction in particular, and has long been linked to better sleep, lower blood pressure, and improvements in mobility and flexibility. ……………………………………………………………………………. Follow Us: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVra…​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newzeepk​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/newzeepk