By Karrie Jacobs

Adrienne Kowalski is one of those people I know from years of taking yoga with Margaretville realtor Phyllis Whitehouse, whose classes used to be held in the bunker-like  building  behind the Sunoco station.  She later joined with another local yoga enthusiast, Candace Conlon Rudd, to create Twisted Sister, in a light-filled space adjacent to the now defunct Arkville Bread and Breakfast. There we practiced yoga in a room that was, on Sunday mornings, permeated with the smell of bacon.

One day about three years ago, Adrienne returned to class after a brief absence looking like the healthiest, happiest person on the planet.  It turned out that she’d been off at yoga teacher training in Costa Rica.   There, she said the showers were always cold, but she didn’t much mind.

While I was impressed with how relaxed and happy she appeared, I was also knocked out by her bravery.   Yoga instruction is usually a career choice for the young and lithe, but Adrienne—who was on the brink of retiring from career in finance at JPMorganChase—was very nearly 60.

She recently told me that while she’d practiced yoga at various times in her life, she got serious about it a decade ago.   She and her husband, David, had purchased a house in Chichester, where a teacher at the local yoga center helped her with a painful “frozen shoulder.”

“I did a Google search on yoga teacher training in Costa Rica,” she recalls, “and came up with this place that seemed to have a philosophy like mine in terms of building community and welcoming people.”

Soon afterward, she flew off for 200 hours of yoga training at InnerSea Yoga Academy in Uvita, Costa Rica.  There, most of the students were in their 30s, but several, like Adrienne were solidly in their 50s.  And that healthy afterglow?  Aside from “doing a ton of yoga,” she recalls, “we were fed vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free meals for the 18 days I was there, and no alcohol!”

Speaking as one of her regulars, (at Twisted Sister and then the Halcotsville Grance) it’s been a pleasure to watch Adrienne’s teaching evolve since her return from Costa Rica…Her classes are Vinyasa style, meaning that one pose flows seamlessly to the next.  Her approach is thoughtful, straightforward, and a bit understated… but with some unusual music choices (like a meditative version of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit).

Between now and Labor Day Adrienne’s teaching schedule includes a 10 am Monday class at Streamside Yoga in  downtown Andes.

Personally, I’m grateful to have yoga with Adrienne in easy walking distance of home (and Streamside, unlike the Grange, has plenty of wall-space for safety-conscious headstands).  If you’re in the vicinity and already practicing yoga, you should, of course, check it out.  And if you’re new to yoga and looking for a comfortable environment in which to experiment, you might appreciate Adrienne’s low-key style. “All are welcome,” she says.  “Come out and give it a try if it’s something that you’ve always been curious about.”

The class is $15, cash or Venmo.~

https://www.catskillspuravidayoga.com~