News from The Yoga Place

A conversation with Dorothy

     Dressed casually in khaki capris and a T-shirt, Dorothy steps lightly down the stairs into the open airy rooms of her home, lined with books and photos. At 90 she is as agile and graceful as a woman 60 years her junior. A student of yoga for over 40 years, Dorothy Polatsek has graciously agreed to be interviewed for this Yoga Place e-newsletter.
          Once a corporate executive, working primarily in communications, head of her own department, Dorothy keeps things simple. At 50 she changed positions, moving from the smaller, easier culture of Dr. Scholl's where she'd developed the communication department to a larger company with an unwieldly corporate culture. "I had a rough job and was under a lot of pressure. I was experiencing the tension of a corporate setting. I was collapsing onto the couch when I got home.....a couch potato. I'd passed by a sign for Hatha Yoga as I went to work. I was curious. I'd read a little bit about yoga." Accepting life's random invitation and seeking some inner peace, she decided to try it.
       "You had to take of your shoes at the door and there was no telephone." Obviously a place where stress was encouraged to be put aside. "The only time that I seemed to relax was in this yoga class. I began going two times a week. I walked in there tense and tight. I walked out floating. Once I started, I just kept going." She introduced her daughter Annie and many others to this wonderful yoga.
       Dorothy enjoys the free flowing nature of yoga and its meditative qualities as well as the physical exercise. She also delights in the camaraderie of the class and the interesting people she's met and made friends with through yoga. So she can easily state, "I feel yoga is worth whatever effort you have to expend."
       This sense of worth was validated when for a time she was disabled by polymialgia rheumatica and had to stop all activity. She found "I can't just do nothing physically because then I don't feel good." She now walks daily, does aerobics and takes 3 yoga classes per week.
       "Yoga has a calming effect for someone like me who, from time to time, has a mind that drifts towards chaos. Well, life creates chaos and the longer you live, the more abundant are the challenges. Tranquility can feel impossible at times. But yoga is a concentrated and directed activity which helps you to center - to not get pulled off focus. You know how the mind works. You think, "Maybe I left the iron out," or "is my daughter over the flu?" Yoga helps you remain centered. Very often I can say I feel better after a yoga class -- the psyche is settled."
        She goes on to say, "Life is full of challenges all day long unless your sitting like little Miss Muffet on a tuffet. We all have emotional us and downs. There are times when I've cried and cried.The spiritual side is an ever present challenge - we're all seeking more and more tranquility. It's like a man's reach exceeding its grasp. Its an open ended challenge. There is always more."
       "Yoga is good for the body, the mind and the soul. Do anything that makes life easier or more relaxed. When you are relaxed you're going in the right direction. When you are calm you are better able to meed turbulent situations and you are more receptive to people."
      Concluding, Dorothy became reflective: "I'm looking now at the "grand finale". This brings a mellowing. I'm a changeable being. On a good day, I try to be realistic, to enjoy the day without becoming gloomy. For instance, I'm afraid of the future sometimes but, then, I shift my focus to today. You know at this stage of life, I am losing friends and neighbors, I fear Alzheimers but yoga helps. It draws you forward, away from the gloom, into the light."
    Thank you Dorothy for your great spirit and for your wisdom. If you would like to meet Dorothy, come to morning multi-level yoga on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday.