The Silver Spring Penguin

The sound of buses along Fenton Street and Colesville Road can wreck anyone’s concentration. Brakes squeal. Engines growl. Gears grunt and snort.

But inside the second-floor Willow Street Yoga Center, it’s unnervingly quiet. Not because of sound-proofing foam or impervious drywall. Ironically, the calm is brought on with a spoken word.

Ommmmm.

With that, all noise is sucked out of the room. No more grumbling traffic or screaming sirens from the street below. Not even the sound of blood thumping to the brain to confront. Just silence.

It’s all about “opening to grace”, an idea that yoga instructor Suzie Hurley admits can’t be readily defined.

“To me, it’s opening to a bigger energy,” Hurley explains. “It remains an abstract concept until you experience what it means to you.”

However, Hurley says yoga itself is not an abstraction or strictly a guru-led spiritual retreat. Willow Street students often use yoga as a form of physical therapy when recovering from surgery or sports injuries, she says. Others are there to satisfy their curiosity.

Most of all, it’s not about putting one’s body into a state of submission, Hurley says. During one introductory class earlier this month, students stretched their arms to the ceiling, then down to the bamboo-paneled floor. The poses were slow and gentle but also deliberate.

“You focus all your attention on the movement. Alignment keeps your body safe,” Hurley says.

“It’s not about twisting yourself into a pretzel,” she adds.

While most yoga 101 students are women, Hurley says more men are taking an interest. Mainstream acceptance also has made yoga more affordable for people of different ages and incomes.

Yoga’s biggest appeal, says Hurley, is that it exercises the body, mind and soul.

“You can lose weight. It focuses the mind. You get out feeling better about yourself,” she says.

“It just works.”

Willow Street Yoga Center, 8561 Fenton St, Silver Spring.

Photos by Jennifer Deseo for The Silver Spring Penguin.