|
|
Located at 122 Market Square, Newington Yoga offers a spacious studio with bamboo floor. A narrow office space in the front of the building shares space with a small storefront offering books and eco-friendly yoga products.
The center offers various yoga classes to practitioners of all levels.
And increasingly, the studio is participating in more yoga therapy initiatives such as a 12 week program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, coordinated with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut ambulatory care facility in Newington.
"It's an incredible experience," she said. She admits many of them are skeptical at first but quickly find it helps them with focus in their lives.
"I think there's maybe that type of stigma but it goes away really quickly," she said.
Manafort also works with other facilities and organizations.
Of course, Manafort and her crew of part-time teachers offer regular classes at the center. Ranging from a slow-paced gentle yoga, to meditation to a Power Yoga, where the flow and conscious breathing of Ashtanga practices are combined with the purifying sweat.
The center also sponsor a book club the last Saturday of the month. While the books generally reflect some aspect of yoga life, selections range from novels to philosophy.
Dorie Duggan, an instructor at the center said she appreciates the all-encompassing aspects of the center. She said Manafort teaches people the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of yoga.
"It's not just in and out," she said. "It's all encompassing.
Manafort has practiced yoga for about 14 years and has been teaching for the last five. She studied with Beryl Bender Birch at Amherst Yoga center and Patty Townsend at Yoga Academy of New York.
She and husband, co-director Eric Ramm, opened the studio last March. Right before the economy really started to plummet. However, she has seen business roughly triple and feels its the various aspects of yoga, such as fitness, breathing, cardiovascular health and inner peace are important to people.
Manafort grew up in New Britain and now lives in Newington. She said her Market Square location is a good fit, especially with like-minded business, such as Market Square Wellness Center nearby.
"This is a fabulous location," she said. "We've done very well."
