Yoga Cape Cod

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Tue Oct 09, 2007, 01:39 PM EDT Sandwich - In a spirit of giving back to the Cape they love for its natural beauty and restorative serenity, a place they say has enriched their life and work here, four established yoga and meditation professionals are uniting to donate their teaching expertise Saturday, Oct. 20 when they will lead a full-day yoga and mindfulness retreat for the public. The retreat, called Cultivating Nature From Within, will focus on ways to celebrate nature and one's inner nature while becoming aware of the connection between the two. The workshops will be on the grounds of Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich. Proceeds will be divided equally between Heritage — originally the estate of the late amateur horticulturist and rhododendron hybridizer Charles O. Dexter, and now a 100-acre woodland boasting hiking and walking trails, annual and perennial gardens, and Shawme Pond — and the Barnstable Land Trust, an organization also dedicated to preserving valuable open spaces, wildlife habitats, wetlands and scenic views for present and future generations. Leading the retreat will be Diane Kovanda, who teaches yoga and Yoga Teacher Certification at Yoga Cape Cod in Centerville and sees clients at her stress management office at Complete Wellness in Cotuit; OHMWorks wellness decks and book author Olivia Miller of Marstons Mills, who also facilitates Stress Buster Relaxation Workshops; Catherine Paulson of West Barnstable, instructor of Pranashanti Yoga and a licensed massage therapist at Bodywork, Mashpee Commons; and Adam Liss, who instructs students in Mindfulness Meditation, a program developed at the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979. Liss teaches at Cape Stress Reduction in Marstons Mills. The idea for such a retreat originated with Kovanda. "I had done a video and wanted to give 10 percent of the proceeds back to the Cape. I was thinking, 'Even if I can just save one tree!' So last year I offered a small yoga retreat with Catherine at the beachfront home of Ann Gould in Cotuit for about 25 people and donated the proceeds to the Barnstable Land Trust." This year Kovanda and Paulson set their sights higher. Paulson has taught Yoga in the Garden classes at Heritage for the last three summers. Miller, who had heard of Kovanda's beachfront yoga retreat last year and also is a member of the Barnstable Land Trust, had kidded Kovanda saying, "I'm jealous. If you ever do another one include me!" So Kovanda and Paulson asked Miller to be part of the retreat. "Next we asked Adam if he would be free to participate," says Miller, a former neighbor of Liss' in Marstons Mills. "All four of us have known each other for years, so we hoped he would round out the faculty for the day." Explains Miller, "We're all donating our services, doing it out of love for Cape Cod. We're so passionate about our work and want to share with others what brings us good health and a sense of peace inside." Liss adds, "We teach what we need to learn ourselves.

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