STANWOOD — In a bright, airy room, Susanna “Z” Mantis coaxed her students to close their eyes, breathe deeply and focus as they gently rolled their heads to one side, then the other.
A shoulder roll. A deep sigh. Relax.
Don’t forget to laugh. Mantis and her students — most of them using the yoga course to ease chronic pain — laugh often. The only way to accomplish anything is through positivity, she explained.
“Bring your hands over your heart. Find your focus,” Mantis, 60, said as she coached a class late last month. “It’s always good to hold a good intention.”
That’s the way she approaches her yoga and meditation classes at Z’s Body and Soul. It’s also the philosophy behind her newest project with the city of Stanwood, a volunteer effort and cleanup campaign called “We love Stanwood: Trash the Trash.”
Mantis has teamed up with the city and other business owners in Stanwood and on Camano Island to promote cleaning up the area this spring. It’s a nice community, she said, but she’s noticed some trash on sidewalks, at parks and in other public places. She wants to encourage people to clean up litter, both their own and others’.
“We need to look at what we can do to make our community really beautiful,” Mantis said. “The key thing is awareness. If we’re aware of our community, things will change. I know they will.”
The campaign is scheduled to last at least two months, starting this week. Mantis created magnets that say “We (love) Stanwood,” using a heart symbol in place of the word love. Below that, the magnet says “Trash the Trash.” The message is short and simple, a reminder for people to take pride in their city and pick up the litter they see.
It costs $2.50 apiece for the magnets, Mantis said. After paying for production costs, profits go toward an education campaign she is working on for the Stanwood-Camano School District to show students how trash and pollution harm wildlife.
The Haggen and QFC in Stanwood plan to carry the magnets. They also will be available at Z’s Body and Soul, 9504 271st St. NW, and online at www.zs remedies.com.
Mantis has owned her business for eight years. She sells aromatherapy supplies and teaches meditation, yoga and how to get up after a fall. Her classes are geared toward people with disabilities, chronic pain and the elderly.
Mantis started meditation, yoga and aromatherapy to manage fibromyalgia pain. She never thought she’d teach, but after starting at a friend’s request, she learned to love it.
“I have chronic issues, but I work with it,” Mantis said. “If you want to be happy, you’ve got to work at it.”
Part of people’s overall wellness and balance, she said, is helping their community. By reaching out to heal others, people heal themselves. She applies the same idea to the Trash the Trash campaign: By cleaning up others’ trash, people make the environment better for themselves, as well.
“If we don’t, nobody else is going to do it,” Mantis told her class last month. “Spring is a time to move.”
Dorothy Filer, 79, has known Mantis for about a year. She goes to the yoga classes regularly to help with her arthritis pain. Mantis has created a place where people feel safe and welcome, and it’s no surprise to Filer that she wants to extend that welcoming feeling to the rest of the community.
“She’s a little live wire,” Filer said. “She’s so accepting of people. Everybody. There’s not a mean bone in her body.”
Mantis hopes her education program in the schools and her bright, simple magnets around town will resonate with people and help them make cleaning up the community a long-term goal. The Trash the Trash campaign has been endorsed by the Stanwood City Council.
“My dad picked up trash. He was a local businessman and he taught me we have to take care of our community,” Mantis said. “My dad’s been gone 22 years, but that sticks with me.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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