Alumna starts free yoga classes at Public Library

1. 11/15/15, 7:17 PMAlumna starts free yoga classes at Public Library - The University Daily Kansan: Arts And Culture
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Alumna starts free yoga classes at Public Library
By: Madi Schulz | @Mad_Dawgg | Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2015 11:15 pm
When Sarah Trowbridge-Alford first discovered yoga
during a class at the University, she experienced
something that she never had before: a quieted mind.
“That was the first time my brain ever just shut up, and I
was just like, ‘Where has this been all my life?’” she said.
From this first positive experience came the inspiration to
continue on and teach yoga — and perhaps even help
others to reach that same moment of peace.
Now, once a month, Trowbridge-Alford, a 2003 graduate,
teaches a free yoga class at the Lawrence Public Library
for those of all ages and skill levels. Held in the
auditorium and various meeting rooms, the class sizes
vary each month.
“Honestly, I’m always a little nervous at the beginning of
each class,” she said. “When I focus on my breathing and
become mindful of my intention, which at its very base is
to transform the suffering of others, my anxiety fades.”
For Trowbridge-Alford, it was important to have a free
class where her students could try yoga free of the
monetary commitment because that was how she started.
“Because it was paid for in my campus fee, that’s what
kind of got me going,” she said. “So that’s one of the
reasons I’m so adamant about making sure that I can offer
a free class.”
She earned her yoga certification in 2014 through a 200-
hour course from Westside Yoga in Lawrence under teacher Gopi Sandal.
Now, Trowbridge-Alford teaches Hatha yoga involving sun salutations and a dancing warrior sequence.
Yoga at the Library
Sara Trowbridge-Alford performs yoga
before a free class held at the Lawrence
Public Library. The class meets once a
month from 5:30-6:30. Alford was certifed
to teach at Westside Yoga through a 200
hour course.

2. 11/15/15, 7:17 PMAlumna starts free yoga classes at Public Library - The University Daily Kansan: Arts And Culture
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By mixing basic moves that beginners can master and some challenging balance exercises, she said she
keeps her students on their toes while also adhering to their needs as students who want to learn.
In the adult class, students practice for a myriad of reasons.
“One woman has really bad hip problems, and likes to come because I do a lot of hip openers,” she said.
“Another woman works in Topeka and my class just happens to fall on a time that works for her.”
Kim Heck, of Lawrence, has participated in the free classes three times, and said she comes to the classes
to relax. Another participant from Lawrence, Lauren Krivoshia, has found that yoga is “the best way [she
has] found to relax, and it’s also a great way to keep [her] body engaged and active and feeling better.”
In each of her classes, Trowbridge-Alford hands out information on other free yoga classes in Lawrence,
acting as an advocate for her students to find good teachers and classes that will work for them.
Along with being a yoga instructor, Trowbridge-Alford works in the Teen Zone at the library five days a
week. In addition to assisting in understanding and using the resources offered in the Teen Zone and
creating programming for sixth through 12th graders, she attempts to make connections with the teens to
create lifelong library patrons. She led a free teen yoga practice at the library during the school year.
Trowbridge-Alford finds the Teen Zone helpful as a place for kids to hang out and socialize without their
little brothers and sisters or their parents. As a teen growing up in Lawrence, Trowbridge-Alford
remembers having limited places to hang out at night that her parents felt were safe.
“We moved here in ‘92 and the only thing I remember being available to teens that wasn’t school related
was the Java Break,” she said. “That was the only place you could go and hang out. There were board
games and books back then.”
Now, with the Teen Zone in the library and with her yoga, she said there’s an opportunity to connect and
help with the issues young people can have.
Whether it has been teaching at the Boys and Girls Club or at one of her free classes at the library,
Trowbridge-Alford has been able to share her love of yoga, and help her students get rid of “monkey-
mind,” a yoga term that refers to the chatter that can clutter minds — the chatter that was silenced on her
first day trying yoga.
“All of the conditions for my happiness are present in [yoga],” Trowbridge-Alford said. “I have no reason
to be unhappy. I’m supported, I’m warm, I’m well-fed. I just feel so much gratitude when I’m doing it.”