Mary Kate Jamieson owns Chilosophy Yoga Studio on The Parkway. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
BETHEL — Mary Kate Jamieson is finishing teaching a yoga class in her new studio and says, “I sometimes get a little emotional. It has been a long time coming.”
A long time coming for Jamieson but also for the town. Jamieson’s new yoga studio, a first for Bethel is called Chillosophy. After searching for a few years, she opened her studio at the end of October in the space where Rustic Furniture had been at 32 Parkway Road.
About 20 people fit into the room with its buttery pine floors that extend halfway up the walls. The “Florida aqua” paint color and large windows on two sides offer light and lightness in the peppermint-scented room.
Jamieson offers different levels and styles of yoga and meditation. She hopes to expand her offerings, too, “building a well rounded community,” she says, in hopes people will come, “to get out of the cyclical thought patterns of our daily lives, to drop into your body and into your heart and soul … to slow down the thinking, come into the present moment and find things like gratitude once you’re able to release from that never-ending cycle of thinking,” she said.
Wedged between some of the classes is free guided meditation, so yogis can meditate before or after exercising. “It’s an important piece. I want to make it accessible for people. The movement originally was created so that people could sit in stillness and meditation.”
She said it’s important for her to honor yoga’s Indian roots, too.
“We, as a western society, have modified what the purpose and soul of yoga is. It’s important to remember where it came from and what it is for, which is meditation, to sit in stillness and not be afraid of the thoughts that will come up … building the resilience in yoga to sit in stillness for half an hour or an hour at a time,” said Jamieson.
It’s a practice. None of us are ever perfect at it … that we can sit in stillness and are strong enough and resilient enough to face whatever we have to through these practices,” she added.
Jamieson received three specialty certifications, Yoga nidra, mediation, yin and Pranayama (breathwork) completed following her 200 hours in Vinyasa yoga in 2020.
Another teacher, Danielle Mason, of Newry, offers power yoga twice a week.
Drop-ins are $20. She also offers 5 or 10-class passes, and monthly memberships.
She has extra mats at the studio, encourages people to wear comfortable clothes and leave their cell phone behind.
Of the studio itself, Jamison says, “It’s a nice, happy space.”
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