1. Tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Penny Kennedy, I’m 46 years old and feel like I’m 35, mostly because of Marina and Thavma Yoga.

2. Have you done other styles of Yoga other than Bikram Yoga?
Canadian and moved to the Sarasota area in 2000 with my Work as a systems engineer for Avaya. I have a beautiful eight year old daughter who keeps me busy also.

3. What made you decide to take your first Bikram Class?
I’ve done power flow Vinyasa yoga for a couple of years prior to taking my first Bikram class, this is the only yoga I practice now.

4. Why did you choose Thavma Yoga as your Studio?
I took my first class with Marina on a Thursday night a couple of years ago, because my friend Simon said it was the best workout he’d ever done, man was he right!  It was a Thavma Black class and I almost died!  But I felt incredible after and fell in love with Marinas style, so I became a lifer after that.

5. What was your first Thavma Bikram yoga experience like?
Every time I take a class I get a little more out of it. Sometimes it’s the energy in the room, sometimes I can do a pose better than I’ve ever done, the family feeling of all the people I’ve gotten to know over the past two years is absolutely what keeps me coming back.

6. What makes you come back? What changes have you seen since you began the practice?
My body is able to do things that I never thought I’d be able to do, and when I miss classes because of schedule and just life getting in the way, I really feel different. Yoga keeps me balanced and my last experience a few weeks ago proves that yoga has the power to heal you. I had injured my thumb really badly and could barely use it, not even to write a letter, open a jar, simple things were really painful. I was looking into hand specialists to see what could be done. I took a class with Marina on a Tuesday night and after 90 minutes of yoga, Marina did this most moving beautiful meditation, it was about feeling your heart as if it was a flower petal opening and seeing the energy we’d just created through class move through your body, taking that energy and allowing it to flow to any area of pain in your body…I sent mine to my injured thumb. I swear the very next day my thumb had full movement with absolutely no pain whatsoever. Yoga healed me, actually I think it’s Marinas soothing Greek goddess voice that does it but either way, I’m a believer!

7. What is your Favorite pose? What is your Least favorite pose?
My favorite pose is floor bow because you leave it feeling euphoric, and my least favorite pose is standing bow, because Marina always is such a stickler to make sure you’re doing it right!

8. What do you like most about Thavma Bikram Yoga?
I love my family at Thavma, they’re some of the kindest most beautiful people I’ve met.  We all encourage each other, care about each other and the studio is so warm and welcoming it’s like home. Marina and her team of yogis are truly a special group.
Thanks for all you do to make all our lives better!