In gentle yoga class, you can take it slow

Kelly Wolff had tried yoga.

But in all the classes she attended, even those for beginners, she always felt rushed from pose to pose without time to really sink into the stretches.

"They rush you along," Wolff said.

Then the 51-year-old registered nurse from Mukilteo found just the class for her: Rubenesque yoga, geared toward plus sizes, beginners and anyone else interested in gentle stretching and deep relaxation.

Shelly Talcott, a 46-year-old social worker and self-described plus-size person, started teaching yoga in 1999, after noticing the need for classes that cater to all shapes, sizes and abilities.

"It's slow-paced, easy," Wolff said. "It's possible for most anybody to do her class."

Talcott helps her students stretch and work their entire bodies though standing poses as well as sitting and lying-down positions.

She offers less strenuous but equally challenging versions of popular yoga positions, such as the tree and cobra poses, and also shows students how to make room for their curves during certain poses.

Sitting on pillows is encouraged to make poses more comfortable. Soft canvas straps, looped over a right foot, then left, help students stretch and hold various positions.

Sherry Priest of Everett had always wanted to try yoga, but couldn't imagine going to a power yoga course at a fitness center.

When she hit her mid-50s, however, she realized she was losing strength and feeling much less limber.

In fact, Priest couldn't sit on the floor when she first started Rubenesque yoga, so she used a chair, always an option in Talcott's classes, because she felt so inflexible.

"As you get older, you don't use it," Priest, now 58, said. "It just happens so gradually. You don't realize it."

Priest has been doing yoga with Talcott for about three years. Now, instead of turning almost her whole body to check her blind spot when driving, she can simply turn her head.

"I got back a lot of my flexibility and balance," Priest said. "I think it keeps you young."

Though fitness gurus looking for a strength-training workout might not find what they need in a Rubenesque yoga class, the challenge is just right for Talcott's students, Priest said.

Talcott also focuses on body awareness and relaxation throughout her classes, asking students to feel the difference between the left and right sides of their bodies after doing poses on one side and then the other.

Unlike many yoga instructors, Talcott spends 15 minutes or more at the end of each 75-minute class talking students through deep relaxation and visualization exercises as they lie on the floor. With permission, she gently adjusts students' arms and legs slightly to lengthen their bodies and relax their shoulders.

Students are instructed to melt into the floor. Talcott, in her calm and soothing voice, talks in detail about serene places and asks students to tighten and then relax their bodies, muscle by muscle.

Catherine Feller, 52, of Mukilteo, started taking Talcott's classes in May. When sessions start again in September, Feller hopes to go twice a week.

"I sleep so well when I go home," she said.

Wolff said yoga classes help her to stop moving and relax, something she has trouble doing on her own as a busy working woman.

"That deep relaxation is my favorite part," she said.



Rubenesque yoga

What: Longtime yoga instructor Shelly Talcott offers gentle yoga for plus sizes, seniors and beginners, focusing on stretching and deep relaxation to improve balance, strength and flexibility.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting in September.

Where: Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave., Mukilteo.

Cost: Classes are $10 each or $9 each if you sign up for a six-class series.

Sign up: Call the Rosehill Community Center at 425-263-8180 or see www.ci.mukilteo.wa.us to register.

Information: See rubenesqueyoga.com. Look for class listings in the fall City of Mukilteo Recreation Guide at www.ci.mukilteo.wa.us.

Women's fall retreat: Talcott will host a Rubenesque yoga retreat Nov. 11 to 13 at The Wild Iris in La Conner. It costs $335 per person ($479 for a private room), which includes two nights, yoga classes, two breakfasts, a catered dinner, taxes and gratuities. Contact Talcott at 425-244-1553 or see rubenesqueyoga.com to sign up.



What does Rubenesque mean?

Women who are round or plump in a pleasing or attractive way are sometimes referred to as Rubenesque, in reference to the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, who often showcased full-figured men and women in his 17th-century Baroque-style paintings.