Yoga in Bellrock Hall focuses on family classes

Craig Bakay | May 31, 2017

“Yoga is accessible for everybody and every body,” says Jackie Adams, who began her yoga practice “many years ago.

“It was in the ’70s and I liked the clothes they were wearing.”

Adams had her own yoga studio in Kingston where she taught classes for many years.

These days, she’s more into bringing yoga to people in many communities and last Saturday was at Bellrock Hall for a session focused on families.

“People ask me ‘can I come even if I don’t have kids?’” she said. “I tell them ‘no, get some kids.’”

She’s chuckling a bit as she says that but she is serious about it being a family activity.

“We’ll see what happens (as to yoga in Bellrock), what the ladies here want,” she said. “This is a lovely hall, a small community and there’s lots of kids.”

She admits it takes a bit of doing to keep a wide range of ages focused, but that’s OK, she’s been working on it for quite some time.

“You have to look after the 4-year-olds and the 50-year-olds,” she said. “They have different attention spans.

“In a non-family setting, you might hold poses longer and work in more philosophy but I think it’s still important to understand why you’re doing the pose.”

Adams is big on the health benefits of yoga.

“I had serious health issues of my own and yoga has helped with that,” she said. “All yoga is about keeping the joints squishy and the body functioning better.

“You know a sedentary lifestyle leads to stress issues.”

But the obvious physical health benefits aside, Adams said that the mental benefits are equally as important.

“You know, when I first started yoga, I liked the way the yogis treated each other,” she said. “It calms the mind and for a little bit, you’re not thinking about anything else.

“All the chatter in the mind drives us crazy.”

Adams is a practitioner of the the classic Hatha yoga.

For more information about her classes in Bellrock, Verona and elsewhere, contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-358-9642.

“I’m really happy to show up to deliver yoga,” she said.