One of our retired pastors, Gretchen Van Utt, is graciously offering to lead a weekly yoga class online for clergy.

When: Every Wednesday from 3:30-4:45
with an optional extra 15 minutes of meditation following.

Where: All classes will be held online.

Who: For clergy, Christian Educators and CREs.

What you’ll need: A good yoga mat, a yoga strap, and yoga blocks.

About the Classes

Leading a church is challenging in the best of times but in the midst of a pandemic and the deep and painful divisions that are tearing at the fabric of our nation, the work has become enormously difficult for many pastors and educators. Congregants are needing more of everything right now – more pastoral care, more meaningful worship, more educational and fellowship opportunities, and most of all more human contact, the very thing we can’t offer. You are not alone if you are experiencing an inordinate amount of stress these days.

Stress is a whole person affliction that wears down body, mind and spirit. To address it we need a whole person practice. For many of us, that practice is Yoga. Far more than simply an exercise routine, Yoga combines asanas (postures and movement) with pranayama (breathwork) and meditation to strengthen, balance and calm body, mind and spirit.

We invite you to join us in a gentle yoga class for Teaching Elders and Church Educators in the Baltimore Presbytery. We will meet online – though not optimal, it works surprisingly well. If you have any yoga experience at all, you will feel right at home. If you are new to yoga, it will only take a few sessions before you will be following quite easily.

About the Instructor

Rev. Gretchen van Utt, HR
Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200 and RYT 500
Yoga for Arthritis Teacher Training, levels I and II

After serving for 35 years in college and university chaplaincies and parish ministry, Gretchen began seeking a more holistic approach to caring for others (and herself!), an approach that honors the body as well as the mind and spirit. The search led her more deeply into her own practice of yoga and to the completion of her 200 and 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training certifications and advanced training for teaching yoga for arthritis and chronic pain and yoga for osteoporosis. She currently teaches classes and workshops with Baltimore Yoga Village and privates in her home studio. She has also taught yoga in local churches and community health and wellness centers.

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