Passion for Yoga

Talk for even a few minutes with Ruth Fisk, owner and founder of Center for Yoga, or Hilaire Lockwood, owner and founder of Hilltop Yoga, and it is clear that yoga for them is more than a profession. Their study and practice of yoga informs every aspect of their lives—mind, body and spirit.

And they want to share that passion with others.

Through their yoga centers, they bring the healing, energizing and life-affirming power of this ancient art to a new generation.

The word "yoga" means "union" in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India where the practice of yoga began. Yoga can be defined as the union of mind, body and spirit. What is commonly known as yoga is perhaps more accurately described using the word "asana" which refers to the poses or postures used in yoga.

Fully understood, yoga also includes mental and spiritual well-being and should not be characterized as simply exercise, stretching or any such purely physical definition. To Fisk and Lockwood, yoga is both practiced and taught as an art, science and philosophy that touches lives and hearts on every level.

Ruth Fisk describes her studio as a "collective or cooperative." Individual teachers, instructors, therapists and practitioners rent space from her. These members of the collective all bring their expertise to the studio, and all work together to deliver the highest quality instruction to their clients.

Besides the practice and teaching of yoga in many styles and at many levels, the center also offers specialty classes like meditation, journaling, Pilates and others. Massage therapy, energy kinesiology, esoteric healing and special classes and events are also available. More information about these and other offerings is available on the Center for Yoga website (www.center4yoga.com) and through their free electronic newsletter.

Fisk says, "I started studying yoga in the early '80s in California. I served a three-year apprenticeship and have continued to learn and study since then. I have been to India many times for training and study.We have been here now for 12 years and just recently expanded our building for the fifth time, giving us both more physical space and specialized spaces for what we do.

"Everyone who works here is committed to continuing education, both for themselves and their students. We are all seeking mental, spiritual, physical and emotional growth and health; and we bring that growth to those we serve."
Fisk says she relies on the business acumen of Julie O'Day, longtime colleague and massage therapist at the center. Says Fisk, "She has been with me since the beginning, and we have succeeded in this enterprise together."

Fisk's teacher in India, Jehangir Palkhivala, comes to teach at Center for Yoga every year, and Fisk continues to travel to India to study with him. This year, she took a group from the center to India for three weeks to experience the country, culture and practice of yoga in the place of its birth.

Fisk emphasizes, "We make yoga accessible by bringing the practice to the individual in a safe and comfortable way. We explore its therapeutic potential, both physically and emotionally and aid growth of the mind, body and spirit through the practice of yoga."

Hilltop Yoga

Hilaire Lockwood, founder/owner of Hilltop Yoga, began her study and practice of yoga when she was only 18 and living in a strange city where she knew no one. She says, "It was my birthday, and I stopped in a small bookstore to buy myself a present. I picked up a book about yoga, The Yoga Sutras, and I was captured by the philosophy expressed in the book. I concentrated on that philosophy for three years before I even began any physical expression of yoga. Eventually, I moved to Los Angeles to study with teachers there."
Lockwood is trained in Iyenger and Ashtanga yoga and also practices and teaches Vinyasa yoga, a multidisciplinary form of yoga focusing on alignment and breath awareness.

"After I was married and after the birth of my two sons, we moved to Lansing so that I could open a studio here," says Lockwood. "In June of 2004, I was diagnosed with metastatic resistant thyroid cancer, and in August, I opened Hilltop Yoga. Through five surgeries, I have continued to practice and teach. My business has grown, and I now have not only the original studio in Haslett, but I have also opened another in Old Town."

There are 21 instructors who teach through Hilltop Yoga, each of them an independent contractor. Steady growth has led to the studio's expansion into Old Town, a space about twice as large as the Haslett facility. Hilltop Yoga also offers yoga for kids, tai chi and other classes, special events and workshops.

In addition, Lockwood trains yoga teachers. She says, "Hilltop Yoga is a Registered Yoga School (RYS) with Yoga Alliance®. Their training is a difficult, 200-hour process with the option to continue for another 100 hours. Once they have completed that, if I feel they are ready, I will certify them to teach."

She continues, "My goal is to make yoga accessible to everyone. At whatever level of physical or emotional health, yoga helps us respect and care for ourselves. By taking care of ourselves, we are better able to care for others as well."

Both Fisk and Lockwood speak with a passion, enthusiasm and confidence that underlie their own practice of yoga as well as their commitment to bringing yoga to others.