Tulsa Yoga Studio Offering Class Designed For First Responders

Every January we vow to take care of our bodies and minds as we make resolutions for the new year.

But what about those who spend their lives taking care of others? Well a local yoga class is designed specifically for first responders.

Imagine the daily stresses of being a paramedic, firefighter or police officer; yoga classes could move all that stress away.

At Cherry Street Yoga, instructor Katy Jones teaches the first yoga class of its kind in Tulsa, one geared toward emergency responders.

"All that stuff that happens to them, all that trauma that they go through on a daily basis, it gets imprinted in the body and the brain. And it's way more trauma than we go through," she said.

Jones said all the stress, all the bad news bottles up inside the body, and yoga offers a healthy, natural way to let it all go.

"Not only does it affect our mental state, but it affects our physical state,” she said. “You can tell people that have had - for lack of better words - bad stuff happen to them, things change. Shoulders rise, they close off."

Jones specializes in trauma-sensitive yoga training. She also teaches inmates at the Tulsa County Jail.

She said the classes are not so much about perfect form or flexibility, but about getting in touch with your body and getting to know yourself better.

"A lot of people who have been through this, they lose that connection to themselves. So that's what we're trying to get back," she said.

All of the studio's classes are donation-based, so first responders can pay as much or as little as they like. They hope to have the first-responder classes every Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Cherry Street Yoga is located at 1604 East 15th Street near Andolini's Pizza.

You can find more information here.