Goal to lose baby weight leads to passion for yoga
At 74, when most people are retired, Beverly resident Donna Wilkinson continues doing what she has done for 39 years — teaching yoga.
“I started yoga in 1971, after my third child was born,” Wilkinson said. “I wanted to lose baby fat, and so I started yoga in my basement. Five of us started, and it changed my life. I loved it immediately.
“The feeling it gave me — the confidence.
It led me to where I am today.”
Wilkinson said that when she started, her husband was a little hesitant of this newfound passion. She would not be deterred, however, and stuck with her yoga education, until she became a certified instructor of the practice.
“I learned yoga for seven years, until I approached the Chicago Park District to get a job,” Wilkinson said. “That was in 1978, and I went along, adding parks until I was teaching at nearly all of them on the South Side. In 1978, yoga was big, but by 1981, aerobics took over. That was a whole craze and class sizes dwindled.
“I kept at it though, until 2000, when I retired from the Park District,” Wilkinson said. “I didn’t stop yoga, though. I now teach at churches, and I still teach at parks, even though I don’t work for the Park District.
“Yoga and meditating is so uplifting.”
Today, Wilkinson teaches many classes.
Three days a week, she teaches at Saint Xavier University, 3700 W. 103rd St. in Chicago. She also teaches at various locations in Beverly and Mount Greenwood, so that nearly each day of her week is filled with breathing techniques, unique positions and an overall feeling of wellness that Wilkinson thinks will benefit most people.
Beverly resident Kathy Jones met Wilkinson 20 years ago when Jones first took classes at Kennedy Park.
“She is a dear friend,” Jones said. “Her classes teach peacefulness, calmness, meditation and inner peace. It is the good in her that she brings to us.”
Jean Catania, of the Morgan Park Junior Woman’s Club, is the event chairwoman for the Work Out to Wipe Out domestic violence event held every year to support the work of A New Direction. AND is an organization in the Beverly/Morgan Park communities that seeks to help those suffering from physical, emotional, verbal, financial or other forms of abuse.
“Donna is very committed to this cause,”
Catania wrote in an email. “Not only does Donna participate, she also effectively expresses her understanding of domestic violence to her clients. She helps them understand how important AND’s services are to the victims they serve. Donna’s clients in turn, respond very generously each year.”
Wilkinson, who has lived in the Beverly community for 30 years, said she and her husband, Bill, who died nine years ago, have three children, and she is now a grandmother to six, ranging in age from 9 to 22.
“My husband, Bill, mellowed as we aged, and he told me I was going to meet a guy with long hair and leave him,” Wilkinson said. “I didn’t, of course, but this is a wonderful business and I will do it until the day Idie. If I cannot do postures any more, I’ll do chair yoga.
“It’s just been a wonderful journey, and never did I think I would go this far,” Wilkinson said. “Yoga is about love and forgiveness, and if we love and forgive ourselves, we can love others. Yoga gives self-acceptance and forgiveness, but it also gives a physical workout that is good for your cardiac system, your organs and your psychological health.
“This is my addiction that changed my life totally for the better. It is a journey, a pathway that I embrace, and is just a way of life for me. I like to think about the thousands of people I have touched, and I am most proud of the fact that 12 of my students are now teaching.”
Wilkinson offers yoga classes at a variety of times. For more information, call 773-881- 3240.
Patti Ahern is a freelance columnist and can be emailed at PattiRMA@aol.com.
“I started yoga in 1971, after my third child was born,” Wilkinson said. “I wanted to lose baby fat, and so I started yoga in my basement. Five of us started, and it changed my life. I loved it immediately.
“The feeling it gave me — the confidence.
It led me to where I am today.”
Wilkinson said that when she started, her husband was a little hesitant of this newfound passion. She would not be deterred, however, and stuck with her yoga education, until she became a certified instructor of the practice.
“I learned yoga for seven years, until I approached the Chicago Park District to get a job,” Wilkinson said. “That was in 1978, and I went along, adding parks until I was teaching at nearly all of them on the South Side. In 1978, yoga was big, but by 1981, aerobics took over. That was a whole craze and class sizes dwindled.
“I kept at it though, until 2000, when I retired from the Park District,” Wilkinson said. “I didn’t stop yoga, though. I now teach at churches, and I still teach at parks, even though I don’t work for the Park District.
“Yoga and meditating is so uplifting.”
Today, Wilkinson teaches many classes.
Three days a week, she teaches at Saint Xavier University, 3700 W. 103rd St. in Chicago. She also teaches at various locations in Beverly and Mount Greenwood, so that nearly each day of her week is filled with breathing techniques, unique positions and an overall feeling of wellness that Wilkinson thinks will benefit most people.
Beverly resident Kathy Jones met Wilkinson 20 years ago when Jones first took classes at Kennedy Park.
“She is a dear friend,” Jones said. “Her classes teach peacefulness, calmness, meditation and inner peace. It is the good in her that she brings to us.”
Jean Catania, of the Morgan Park Junior Woman’s Club, is the event chairwoman for the Work Out to Wipe Out domestic violence event held every year to support the work of A New Direction. AND is an organization in the Beverly/Morgan Park communities that seeks to help those suffering from physical, emotional, verbal, financial or other forms of abuse.
“Donna is very committed to this cause,”
Catania wrote in an email. “Not only does Donna participate, she also effectively expresses her understanding of domestic violence to her clients. She helps them understand how important AND’s services are to the victims they serve. Donna’s clients in turn, respond very generously each year.”
Wilkinson, who has lived in the Beverly community for 30 years, said she and her husband, Bill, who died nine years ago, have three children, and she is now a grandmother to six, ranging in age from 9 to 22.
“My husband, Bill, mellowed as we aged, and he told me I was going to meet a guy with long hair and leave him,” Wilkinson said. “I didn’t, of course, but this is a wonderful business and I will do it until the day Idie. If I cannot do postures any more, I’ll do chair yoga.
“It’s just been a wonderful journey, and never did I think I would go this far,” Wilkinson said. “Yoga is about love and forgiveness, and if we love and forgive ourselves, we can love others. Yoga gives self-acceptance and forgiveness, but it also gives a physical workout that is good for your cardiac system, your organs and your psychological health.
“This is my addiction that changed my life totally for the better. It is a journey, a pathway that I embrace, and is just a way of life for me. I like to think about the thousands of people I have touched, and I am most proud of the fact that 12 of my students are now teaching.”
Wilkinson offers yoga classes at a variety of times. For more information, call 773-881- 3240.
Patti Ahern is a freelance columnist and can be emailed at PattiRMA@aol.com.
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