Instructor takes yoga out of the box into nature

(Photo:evening gowns) If you are lucky enough to be passing Mabou Coal Mines Beach in Cape Breton at sunrise this August, don’t be surprised if you see a group of people in tights doing a downward dog, warrior, or cobra, beside the waves.
Yoga at sunrise at the beach is just one of the innovative concepts Jenny MacKenzie, of Mabou-based Dannsair Fitness & Wellness, is employing as she enters a second year of bringing yoga and fitness to the people of Inverness County.
“Inverness County has so many beautiful spaces and places. We’re all pretty lucky to be living here and to be working here,” MacKenzie said of the community her business serves.
There might have been some sporadic efforts by others to bring regularly scheduled yoga and fitness classes to Inverness County, but MacKenzie is one of the first to convert her passion into an ongoing business concern.
People in Ceilidh country are appreciating her classes, which she says features Vinyasa Flow Yoga.
“My classes flow from one posture to the next, moving in and out of the postures and focusing on movement with the breath,” she said.
Operating Dannsair Fitness & Wellness (Dannsair is Gaelic for dance) keeps MacKenzie on the road most days of the week, visiting community centres, church halls, and even an occasional beach, along one of North America’s more beautiful seacoasts.
“It can be difficult in the winter. This past winter I think I had to cancel classes six Wednesdays in a row,” she said.
MacKenzie is used to a gruelling grind of exercise and travel as a life-long Celtic dancer, and cast member of the Halifax-based stage production DRUM!
Marriage brought the Port Hawkesbury native to Mabou around the time she was involved in some advanced yoga training and she saw a business opportunity.
“There are so many people here setting up small businesses and doing their own thing and I could see there was a real need for yoga.”
Like any business startups, the first year was challenging, she said. Besides travelling to destinations around Inverness County with fresh yoga and exercise routines, MacKenzie is the logistics co-ordinator, bookkeeper, and promoter of her business.
She started a website for Dannsair Fitness & Wellness and plays all the social media angles.
“I had a big idea and a passion for sharing what I knew,” she said.
These days mixed crowds of people can be seen carrying yoga mats as they head into regular scheduled yoga classes at Mabou Arena Fitness Centre, the Saint Joseph Renewal Center in Mabou, the Scotsville Firehall community hall, and Inverary Manor in Inverness, and other locations. She wants to hold classes outdoors at Mabou Coal Mines Beach later this summer.
MacKenzie said she’s proud her business introduced so many people of Inverness County — and some tourists — to the health benefits of yoga and personal fitness regimes.

“It’s exciting to see that people want to learn something new and improve their health.”For more information:prom dresses uk 2014