Business - Pepper Wolfe Yoga: Healing suffering from stress and anxiety

Wolfe specializes in Svaroopa yoga, which works with the body and the mind for an all-over sense of wellbeing.

"When people suffer from anxiety and depression, talk therapy helps them work out these feelings in their minds but they don't get the body skills to manage physical pain that can come along with the anxiety or depression," Wolfe said. "I work with the body and the mind to treat a person holistically."

Svaroopa is a Sanskrit word that means "knowing oneself at the deepest level of being" and the method of yoga promotes a release of muscle tension for an overall sense of relaxation.
"This is a different way of looking at the body," Wolfe said. "Instead of stretching a muscle, Svaroopa aims to release the muscles in order to make the body feel better."

Wolfe began practicing yoga in 1993 and shortly thereafter became a certified yoga instructor as a means of giving back.

It was not always Wolfe's plan to become a full-time yoga therapy instructor. After beginning her adult life as a high school English teacher, Wolfe knew that she was a teacher, but didn't know what kind yet.

"My students felt comfortable coming to me to talk about what was bothering them. I knew that I was a teacher but I wasn't sure that teaching high school was my thing. It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do," she said.

Wolfe realized she wanted to help people and went on to receive her master's degree in social work to gain some clinical knowledge to help people. Through yoga, Wolfe learned she could teach people to link their physical aches and pains to their feelings as a way to help her clients learn to read the signals their body is giving them.

"I slowly worked on a process through my knowledge of social work and yoga that combined the traditional components of yoga and mental health to integrate overall health of the body and mind," she said. "Sometimes the media can portray an image of the type of person who 'can do' yoga. The style I teach is accessible to everybody, no matter what their ability level is. This is a different way of looking at the body. Flexibility and openings come when the body is ready to release the tension."

According to Wolfe, the message for healing comes from with-
in, whether the pain is physical or mental.

"Instead of running for the Tylenol, I try to teach my clients to connect with the sensation to find out what is causing the pain and what the body needs. We work from the inside out," she said.

When working through an exercise, Wolfe said she doesn't discourage her clients in any way. Some people like to chat, others prefer to stay quiet. Wolfe simply likes to leave a space for what is and allow things to be as they are, she said.

While working with clients, Wolfe said she hopes she can get them to gain skills to practice Svaroopa yoga on their own.

"I try to teach everything with a takeaway value. Whether people get to the root of their pain in my office or at home, it's exciting to give people the skills to heal on their own," she said.
Wolfe is still advancing her education and in time she will be a licensed clinical social worker and practice body-based psychotherapy and will be able to accept insurance from her clients. She does not diagnose or treat mental health, she works with the body to help clients feel better, she said.

"You can't just treat one part of the body or mind and expect the other to heal on its own," she said. "It's all connected."

Wolfe holds public yoga classes on Mondays from 9:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Saratoga Springs Yoga on Phila Street. For more information, visit www.pepperwolfe.com or call (518)796-9255.