If you have ever practiced on weekday evenings, chances are you have seen our July Student Ambassador, Michelle Allison, usually set up in the front row and determined to shed the stress of her day as a Special Ed teacher and administrator. Michelle may not say much, particularly during the school year, but her practice speaks volumes about her dedication to herself and her mental health.
Michelle has been practicing at HYA since 2012, and for the past five or six years has come almost daily.
“I just dove in. I was teaching Special Ed and I just needed it to be a decent human in life,” she said. “When I left work it was kind of my routine: go to yoga, clear out and then go do my evening. Now it’s just there for me.
“Summer is very different. In summer, I have a clear head. Summer is like my time where can build strength. It’s not just me trying to get out of my head. It’s me more focusing on postures and my form. It’s evolved with me over time based on my life and my needs. I just keep showing up every day. It gives me something different every day.”
Michelle began practicing when HYA offered only Hot 26 classes, and still returns to that practice when she feels she needs it. Now, she is mostly a regular in the weeknight Flows, and has the strength and arm balances to show for it.
Read more about Michelle and her yoga journey:
HYA: How did you begin practicing yoga?
Michelle: I did it off and on, playing around at gyms mostly. I really started going when I went back to school at Western Carolina. There was a really awesome teacher over at the little gym in Cullowhee. I would go take her class. It was more restorative and she did a lot of hands on assists and I fell in love with that. I think I was probably about 30. I went off and did grad school and came back and started teaching here. I started at HYA in 2012, when I started teaching Special Ed over at Owen High School.
HYA: What does your job entail now?
Michelle: When Covid happened, I was still teaching Special Ed, but the state started giving out some grants. I’ve been working in grant-funded positions for the past four or five years. I do a lot of support for teachers and students. I was doing a lot of work with social-emotional learning, how to address students’ social emotional needs in the classroom. I do a lot of teacher coaching. I’m back at Owen Middle School. I’m working student-facing academic interventions. I work with students but more with teachers on how to address students’ needs in the classroom.
I also went back and got my admin degree. I love all the big picture stuff. I look at the whole school and all the moving parts and tweak it from a bird’s eye view. That’s my favorite thing to do. I also do programming and supervise the afterschool program. We offer all sorts of opportunities for kids beyond the school day to increase their sense of belonging and participation.
HYA: How did you make your way to Asheville?
Michelle: I’m from Georgia, lived in Sylva for a little while, worked at a Waffle House there. Wound up in Hendersonville, worked at another Waffle House, and that’s where I started working with people with disabilities. I started working at summer camps with people with disabilities and I started working more formally there. Then I went to New York. Then I decided I needed to go back to school and actually finish a degree. So I went back to Sylva, got my Special Ed degree from Western and then I went up to Lehigh and got my masters in special education and then I came back down here. My parents had kind of followed me up from Georgia. We’re from the Atlanta area and it was just hot and the traffic was horrible. So they had planted themselves in Asheville and I came back down and started working in Swannanoa. That was 2011. Now I live in Fairview, on top of a mountain.
HYA: How has your practice evolved over the years?
Michelle: It’s really funny. I go through phases. For a chunk of years, I would go through a 26 phase. Typically I would go to more 26 classes in the summer when I had more time or on holiday breaks. I would do Flow when it was a little more limited because they were typically shorter.
Me and Hot 26 have not had a relationship for the past year and a half or so. I understand the value. I think it’s easier for me to get out of my head doing the Flow classes and I have a lot jumbling around in there. I want to get back to 26 and maybe this is the summer we are going to get back together. I used to call it my barometer. If I felt like I was spinning out, I could go to a 26 and see how I could balance, and notice all the things in my body and say, we’re doing OK. Or, we need to hang out here for a minute and stay present and focused. I just haven’t checked in with my barometer lately.
At first I was not concerned at all about strength-building. When I started with 26 it was not my primary reason for being there. But I would notice my balance and my leg strength from all the balance postures in 26. It’s really been the past five or six years where I have really focused on my form and strength. I’ve also gotten injured a bunch of times, which has slowed me down, which is probably a good thing. I go too hard and my body says, hey, pump the brakes. I’ve been focusing on being more mindful, taking things slower and making more quality movements.
HYA: What do you love about HYA?
Michelle: I love the heat. Nobody can crank the heat like HYA. I like the teachers and the community. I am really funny in the yoga community. During the school year, I don’t really talk to people. I come in and keep my head down. My social battery is exhausted by the time I get to yoga. My summer practice is very different. I talk to people and I’m a little more jovial. People are probably thinking, what the hell, this girl doesn’t talk to me most of the year.
I do like the people. Even if I don’t always talk to folks, it’s nice to see the same people next to you. There are a lot teachers, school teachers, in there too. Mental health professionals. People I recognize. It’s nice to know we’re all doing the same thing in there, clearing out the day and prepping for whatever comes next.
