Watt's New
Former nurse gains strength through yoga classes
For the many who have the
notion that yoga is for the rich,
famous and physically fit — you
are wrong.
For the many who need help
with posture, balance, strength
and flexibility — it is time to give
Shirley Weimer of Northern
Ohio Yoga in Medina County’s
Lafayette Township a call — she
could make that wrong a right.
Slight in frame and supporting
a megawatt smile, Weimer credits
yoga for giving her mental and
physical strength during times of
stress and tragedy and an allaround
great feeling on a good
old average day. Yoga has been a
friend of sorts to Weimer and she
graciously shares that friendship
with the many students enrolled
in her classes.
“I grew up in Parma Heights
and went to nursing school out
of high school. I graduated in
1973 and that same year I started
doing yoga with five of my
friends. I walked out of my first
yoga class and had never felt so
good in my life,” recalled
Weimer.
Throughout her life, Weimer
has enjoyed a successful career
in nursing. She is experienced in
surgery, has lots of knowledge
with labor and delivery, and later
in her career put emphasis on
management. Besides the
extreme joy she received helping
patients, Weimer kept the goal of
supporting her family and putting
her children through college
as a driving force.
In 1995, Weimer lost her
teenaged daughter in an automobile
accident. The loss, Weimer
said, changed her life forever.
Although some family and
friends shook their heads at the
thought, Weimer walked away
from her job at Lodi Hospital and
followed her dream to teach
yoga. She became certified in
1996 and began teaching a year
later.
“Medicine is wonderful and I
have a lot of respect for the medical
field, but yoga is a wonderful
way to help yourself not only
physically but mentally,” Weimer
said.
Weimer currently teaches yoga
in Ashland, Medina and Lodi and
holds private sessions in her
home. She also is the yoga
instructor for employees at
Westfield Insurance Company
and gives wellness classes for
several different companies.
“Eighty percent of people taking
classes are doing it for back
and neck pain, but there are so
many benefits from yoga. A lot
of health problems are related to
stress, and yoga is a great stress
management tool,” told the
teacher, explaining that in her
Iyengar yoga-based classes there
is an emphasis on pose alignment,
strength, flexibility, flow,
supported poses, inner awareness
and inner peace. Weimer
added the classes help people utilize
their spine and not just their
muscles. She said her classes are
for everyone regardless of their
physical and mental conditions,
and age is not an issue — yoga
can help. “It’s like a path…the
longer you do it, the longer it
resonates within you,” she
offered.
Weimer also credits her nursing
career with the success of her
yoga classes. “Nursing gives me
a lot of knowledge that a lot of
people don’t have unless you
have been in that field,” she
said, adding she is not a “crack
the whip” instructor but one who
wants all of her students to benefit
from her classes. “One of my
goals is to start classes for people
who feel they can’t do yoga,
because a lot of people feel they
can’t and they can,” said Weimer.
It is not unusual for doctors to
recommend yoga to their
patients. In a written testimony,
one of Weimer’s students, a
breast cancer survivor, expressed
the health benefits she receives
from yoga. She also noted the
best part of the class was getting
to spend 90 minutes a week with
Shirley Weimer. A truer statement
couldn’t be made of the
lady who generates such a tender
and peaceful spirit.
Weimer’s spring classes soon
will be in session with registration
now underway. Prices start
at $10 for a 90-minute class.
Further details can be obtained
by calling Weimer at
330-667-2262 or by visiting
www.noyoyoga.com.
“For so many years I was
helping people who were in the
hospital, and now I feel that I am
helping people so they don’t end
up in the hospital.”
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