Yoga teacher takes fitness class outside

Every Wednesday at Bandshell Community Park, passersby can stand for a stretch while listening to Christine Stiehm explain the benefits of yoga.

Stiehm, a certified yoga instructor who has taught classes at the YMCA in Austin for years, holds Urban Yoga, a beginner’s yoga class held outside, at 7 p.m. each week.

“Urban Yoga is a really great way that people have found to introduce themselves to yoga,” she said.

Stiehm first got into yoga in 2001 while taking fitness classes at the Y. Though she wasn’t an athlete, she took to group fitness at a stressful time in her life, and the resulting change was a blessing for her.

“I just started feeling pretty good about just moving and exercising,” she said. “It just built into more confidence, and all-around just feeling good. You just feel good when you exercise.”

An instructor suggested Stiehm should take up certification courses for Pilates. From there, Stiehm found her passion for fitness.

Though she teaches yoga at the Yoga Studio of Austin, where she also serves as a massage therapist, she started doing Urban Yoga last summer after a friend needed help teaching the class. Stiehm took it over this year and holds free yoga courses every warm Wednesday.

Though all sorts of yoga practitioners attend each class, Stiehm said the basic yoga poses are perfect for residents who want to learn what yoga is about. People have walked by during classes, joined the group and have become steady members ever since, she said.

“A lot of times I’m getting people who have been trying yoga for the very first time,” she said.

All residents need are exercise clothes; Stiehm keeps a few yoga mats for people who want them, but otherwise prefers to do yoga on the grass. She encourages anyone who wants to attend to show up whenever they can. Urban Yoga will be available as long as the weather is nice, she said.