August 18, 1999
Party celebrates 10 years of shaping local yoga community
Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"How many people have looked at this ceiling?"
How about a rough estimate of 3,000 in the past ten years?
Since Union/Yoga opened for business, director Sandy Carden has introduced literally thousands of people to yoga and worked with many others as they deepened their practice. She has also trained nearly 20 teachers who have fanned out in the community to teach yoga themselves, some through her studio.
To celebrate ten years of bending, twisting, opening and sharing, Carden threw a 10th anniversary party Friday night at the studio. While the planned sun salutation relay on the street at Friday Night Live was rained out, that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 25 celebrants at the party. Featuring a cake with 'Om' written in icing and presents for all the attendees, it was a gentle and joyful acknowledgment of Union/Yoga's success and all the people who contributed to it.
"The room is so imbued with the energy of all who have practiced here," said Carden, who has been teaching yoga in Traverse City for 21 years. "I wanted to give back to the yoga community my gratitude, because I have such gratitude for all the people who have supported me all these years."
For the first 11 years she taught yoga, Carden held classes all over the region, including in the basement of the former Future Legacies downtown, the YMCA, Northwestern Michigan College and the Leelanau Athletic Club. She lugged the blankets and mats all around in all kinds of weather. Carden recalled that sometimes she just set out a bowl for contributions, always making enough money to pay for gas and childcare. Other times classes cost just five dollars.
Ten years ago, she finally decided to open her own studio and rented space upstairs in the Masonic Building, admittedly a scary step. Even ten years ago, yoga was not as popular as it is now; it was not accepted by mainstream America and still considered a pursuit of the counter culture. However, Carden believed that the Grand Traverse region could support her studio and forged ahead.
"It was going out on a limb because I had to make the make the rent every month," Carden said. "The feeling was of throwing a party and not having anybody come."
Sometimes five people came to her classes, sometimes ten, sometimes nobody. An empty room did not bother her; she just did her own practice during the time and counted it a gift. Since then, Union/Yoga has grown to three semesters featuring nearly a dozen classes taught by a number of different teachers.
Sheryl Korthals was one of two students who attended the very first yoga class Carden ever taught. Korthals has been practicing yoga since the early 1970s and completed the teacher's training program with Carden three years ago. She now teaches at Union/Yoga.
"This studio is a special, safe place," said Korthals, a nurse who works with cancer patients. "To be able to come to a place where you have invested your energy over and over is like coming home."