Hello! My name is Hannah VanEvera. I live in West Des Moines with my 3 cats: Jack, Sahara, and a 6-month-old kitten Bellatrix. My sister Abby, her fiancé Jake, and their 2 cats, Milo and Charlie, are currently living in my basement while they save up for a house of their own.
I am a huge board gamer. I’m part of a group that meets twice a month with about 25 attendees. My best friend Beverly, Abby, and I try to get a gaming session in every week and occasionally I’ll meet up with a group on the weekend for an afternoon and evening of gaming.
I’ve been doing yoga with Mary for the past year, and I love it! Last year, I started getting migraines from poor ergonomics while working from home. My doctor recommended yoga in addition to setting up a real home office. I knew for myself that I needed to join a yoga class as opposed to just doing free classes online. Mary immediately came to mind. I previously took a class with her at the Blank Park Zoo and loved her teaching style.
I’ve found over the last year that yoga, especially with Mary, is exactly what I needed in my life. I always feel better after a class no matter if I’ve been suffering from migraine symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or just don’t feel like doing anything. Getting on the yoga mat brings a calmness to my life that I need. I get to forget about everything but the current pose or the current breath. The rest just fades away. I’ve also enjoyed the fact that Abby attends most classes with me. While we mostly practice in silence, it’s always great when a pose, or a cat, makes us start to laugh.
Mary makes every class special. I love the fact that she is able to explain every pose in such a way that I rarely have to look up, and she always gives different options to harder poses. She is able to seamlessly weave together yoga and western medicine reasoning for what we are doing in our practice. Because of this, Abby, Beverly, and I have made it a point to attend public classes that Mary teaches around town. As we are moving into winter I am looking forward to how Mary changes her classes based on the season; the fire this winter will be needed!
