For the sixth year, Homer yoga instructors are offering a full day of yoga classes to the community with instruction in many different forms of yoga. The event, Yogicstatica, will take place at the Bunnell Street Arts Center on Sunday, April 28. There will be 12 hours of yoga instruction in 12 different styles with one class each hour starting at 8 a.m. The fee for the entire day event is $12.
The Yogicstatica program was coordinated by Joolee Aurand, who has been organizing the event since 2019. She uses a spreadsheet with about 40 local instructors to choose the courses, depending on who is available and interested. It also includes some retired teachers who have taught locally in the past, she said. In addition to various movement yoga, some of the courses this year will include meditation (Sound Healing with Shawn Zuke) and massage (Thai Yoga Massage with Maria Cardoza).
The event was originally sponsored by the Homer Council on the Arts and held at their facility on Pioneer Avenue.
Aurand said the goals set out the first year in their application to HCOA remain the same today: “to provide Homerites a glimpse of the plethora of available yoga options in Homer, ranging from yin, restorative and kundalini, to vinyasa and acro, and their benefits; to create an opportunity for local yoga teachers to meet each other, to share ideas, and to give and get inspiration from each other and to craft a fun, healthy, educational, affordable day for as many people as possible.”
Instructors this year include Aurand, Letha Straley, Orion Donicht, Asia Freeman, Ray Schmoker, Britt Briley and Steph Cortez, Erin Brege, Steph Dickerson, Lucas Thoning and Anna Raupp. The instructors teach at eight different facilities in the community. Aurand said she set up the schedule to vary the intensity levels of yoga for each hour of class and some are a fusion of both.
Aurand said last year, 2023, classes were as small as five to eight people. The largest was up to about 25, about the capacity of the Bunnell studio. People registered are welcome to attend as many or as few as they want to.
Auraund said she was considering holding this event twice each year instead of just in the spring.
This year proceeds will support the Bunnell Street Arts Center. Participants can register by scanning the QR code on flyers they can find posted around the community or at bunnellarts.org. Participants should bring their own gear if they have it but some yoga mats and blocks will be available at Bunnell.
