by Vicki Skinner

Christian Duvall, Jake Bowman and Jukta Enochs practice the modified plank pose. Photo: Vicki Skinner.

A slightly different version of this article first appeared in the La Honda Voice in March 2011.

June 2011 — “Yoga is a lot more than just the physical.” So says Kathryn Ryan, who went to her first yoga class in college many years ago. Since that time, she has participated in yoga off and on, but pretty regularly for the last 10-15 years. Ryan is now the coordinator of a new yoga program that started in La Honda in September 2010.

Previously, Ryan took yoga classes in La Honda from instructor Colleen Quigley. Ryan says: “Classes took place in her living room once a week. There was a core group of eight to 10 of us.” When Quigley moved in August 2010, Ryan decided to keep the yoga classes going. “I knew I had the students; finding a teacher was the challenging part. So far, I have waivers from 60 people who have taken one or more classes on varying levels. About 10-20 percent are men,” Ryan says. “I never dreamed that within six months there would be five yoga classes a week in La Honda!”

And Ryan has found not one teacher, but three. “Each teacher is different,” Ryan says. “All of our teachers, to me, seem to have a strong spiritual path.”

Photo: Vicki Skinner

Eric Wessoff teaches yoga on Thursday nights at 6:30. His style is the most rigorous. He teaches for the truly serious yoga students who desire a rigorous workout; his class is not designed for beginners. He has been teaching yoga for more than five years and has taught more than 2,000 classes to both adults and children; he’s taught athletes, troubled youth in the justice system, and men in jail.

“I was trained in the Ashtanga style at a yoga school in San Francisco,” Wessoff says, “but have since moved on to study some other less-prevalent styles that focus more on the energetic and mindful part of the practice. There are many sub-styles of yoga these days in the U.S. and they tend to interpret yoga in different ways.”

“Although I teach a number of yoga classes each week in yoga studios and gyms, I have a ‘straight’ job as a reporter, analyst and writer at Greentech Media and, of course, yoga is an effective way to move the mind from the worrying analytical brain to the mindful calm self.”

Photo: Vicki Skinner

What’s it like to teach in La Honda, versus other places? Wessoff says: “I live in the area, so it’s my shortest commute to a class — and one of my more enjoyable classes. The students are game, eager to learn and seem glad to have me around.”

Sukha Carfagno, who teaches yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings from 10-11:15, is more about balance and posture. You could join her class anytime as a beginner and benefit from it. I find that I hear Carfagno’s voice in my head, straightening my posture, as I go through my day. Carfagno has studied and taught Hatha, Iyengar and Anusara yoga for 30 years. She says, “I love teaching in La Honda; the best part is helping people feel better in their bodies and getting to know my neighbors a little bit.”

Mary Elizabeth Redd McKee teaches yoga classes on Mondays at 4 p.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. She has been teaching yoga since 2000; she was trained in Bikram yoga first, and then took teacher training at Mount Madonna; she has also studied with Erich Schiffmann. She says she currently “studies avidly with Shastri in Palo Alto-area studios, and many others.” But McKee has studied more than just yoga. She says: “Most of my background is in martial arts — Brazilian Jiu Jitsu — and I had a massage practice in San Francisco for another 10 years … still have clients each week.”

Sukha Carfagno. Photo: Vicki Skinner.

As with the other instructors, McKee really enjoys teaching in La Honda. She says: “La Honda people are so soooo motivated! They seem quite inspired by the theory and their practice of yoga and it’s an extra pleasure to teach La Honda yogis, much more so than at established studios.”

Ryan has pulled together three very diverse and talented yoga instructors. All five classes take place at the Cuesta La Honda Guild clubhouse, just up from Reflection Lake. If you are coming from Half Moon Bay, you turn right on Entrada Way, past the big tree and Apple Jack’s, and drive a few blocks until you see the lake on your right. Park in the parking area and walk up to the building above the playground. I suggest you bring your own mat, towels, blankets and blocks. They do have spare mats there if you just want to try one class. You might also want to bring a sweatshirt, which you can take off once class gets started, as the clubhouse can be pretty chilly, especially in the winter months. The suggested donation per class is $10, which is a bargain; drop-in classes “over the hill” can be twice that amount. Class sizes range from one to 10, usually. Please join the talented teachers in La Honda and try a class!