Welcome to Central Mass Yoga - We Emphasize Body, Mind, and Spirit

CENTRAL MASS YOGA AND WELLNESS is situated next to the beautiful Wachusett Reservoir in the Causeway Crossing Professional Building, at 45 Sterling Street, (Route 12) 2nd floor, #28 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Parking is abundant in both the front and back lots and our Yoga Studio is accessible to the handicapped through the back entrance ramp.

We have two beautiful, clean and peaceful spaces for the practice of yoga. Both studios are fully equipped with mats and all other helpful props including a backbender and a pelvic swing which provide excellent spinal extension.

Central Mass Yoga’s teaching community has depth as well as breadth. Our highly trained and experienced teachers offer classes at all levels in addition to classes that are gentle, vigorous, women’s, prenatal, postnatal, restorative, special classes for combat veterans, sculpting, YogaKids, meditation, Yin Yoga, Backcare and so much more! We offer many workshops on a variety of themes as well as services including Reiki treatments. CMY also offers a 200 hour teacher training and a yearly retreat.

Central Mass Yoga is a school for all ages and abilities. We are a resource center and a flourishing yoga community. CMY offers an array of classes, healing retreats and workshops that draw from three traditional lineages of yoga: Hatha, Iyengar, and Ashtanga. By combining the strengths of each, we have created programs that offer the best yoga available to beginners and advanced students. Our certified and experienced teachers bring significant talent and spirituality to their teaching. Our classes safely offer students greater, longer lasting benefits.

Started in February of 2000, CMY has expanded three times. We now offer over 35 classes per week including a 200 hour teacher training program. Our mission is to promote the study, practice, and teaching of yoga, and to foster a flourishing yoga community.

WHY YOGA?

Yoga is a rich, complex science or system or art. It is an internal science of self development based on experience rather than belief and “first and foremost a discipline of conscious living” (Georg Feuerstein, Living Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Daily Life). Originating in the Himalayas more than 5,000 years ago as a method of spiritual inquiry, it came to the West 103 years ago. The root word “yoga,”—“yuj” in Sanskrit means to yoke together, to unite.

HEALTH BENEFITS

The health benefits are immediate and apparent. Those that come to Yoga seeking relief from any variety of ailments usually find it. The lists of physical and mental disorders that respond positively to Yoga grow each year.

Yoga postures can relieve back pain, improve circulation, improve posture, and give relief from muscular tension by aligning the body so that overworked muscles can rest. The practice of yoga postures not only quiets the brain but also clears the mind of thoughts that cause tension. Yoga affects all the systems in the body: muscular-skeletal, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and nervous systems.

In conclusion, Hatha Yoga is the oldest and most thoroughly tested physical and mental form of exercise known. It has much to offer in that it is not only excellent for stress management, but, the postures are not joint-jarring where repetitive muscle contractions can lead to chronic stiffness or lack of flexibility. When practicing Hatha Yoga postures, different muscles groups are simultaneously being stretched and strengthened in a natural way.

PERSONAL WELCOME FROM LUCY

Yoga came to the forefront of my life in the early 1990's. First reading books by Swami Rama, Rudolph Ballentine and other classics mostly found at used bookstores. Next, I enrolled in classes at Portland Yoga Studio, in Portland Maine. Elaine McGillicuddy was my first and most influential teacher. She is certainly a master in all the senses of the word. It was through Elaine that I have learned and brought the Iyengar influence into my teaching. Later, I enrolled in the Teachers Training Program at the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Philosophy and Science. I had to travel 8-9 hours from Maine for courses. Not the most convenient, but it had what I felt was the best training available for Hatha Yoga.

The World has changed so much in just a few years. Now there are yoga centers and instructors galore. The discipline and philosophy of each instructor will be different as yoga is a personal thing. Even instructors who have been certified from the same institution often have different approaches, personalities, and teaching styles. At Central Mass Yoga, we have certified instructors who bring significant talent and spirituality to their practice. Learn more about them by reading their brief biographies or taking a class with them.

May you find, as we all have, more than you came looking for. Not only relief from your back pain, arthritis, or an antidote for depression, but a path that leads you into your own soul... into the deep depths of grace.

Namaste,

Lucy