LOOKING GOOD:
Exercise for the body and soul
Katie Leslie
Photography by Travis S. Pratt
Autumn 2007 Issue
| Salamba Sirasana (Sanskrit), or Headstand (English) demonstrated by Dorcas Quynn McWilliams, owner of Sol Yoga in Frederick.
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"What they find when they show up to yoga class is it has an incredible depth to it, and it allows you to go inside," said Dorcas Quynn McWilliams, owner of Sol Yoga in downtown Frederick. "It's a moving meditation - a way to be with yourself and be healthy."
That's what Frederick cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Cowen discovered when he began yoga nearly six years ago. At the time, two of his employees "dragged" him to a class at a YMCA, he said, and he became hooked.
"I found when I did it, I would get a mental break, like hitting a reset button," he said. "I became a happier individual and I physically felt better."
Cowen said since beginning yoga, the aches and pains he once commonly felt have disappeared with the yoga routines of streching and learning to breathe properly. Practicing yoga also helped him recover from knee surgery, and it's improved his professional life as well.
"Cardiologists tend to be Type A, obsessive-compulsive personalities, so this is good for me," he said. "I don't want to become my own patient one day either, which is why I do yoga in the first place."
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