“My yoga experience with Marianne has been wonderful, and I’ve been doing it since November of last year,” said Lynn Hart, a senior who has lived outside of Craven for over 40 years. “I actually started it for more strength and my mental health because it is wonderful for that also.”

Marianne Coulibaly’s love of yoga started 20 years ago when she began to practise it.

“It’s the mental wellness aspect, I found something that can help me learn to be still,” said Coulibaly, who teaches the classes.

“I learned to incorporate movement and breathing and learned how to just be.”

Coulibaly, for the past 11 years has lived in the Village of Craven with her husband, has been teaching yoga since November 2024 at the community center.

A year and a half ago Coulibaly decided to learn how to be a yoga teacher with the help of Sam Wilkie at the Wilkie Wellness Center in Lumsden.

“It was a journey,” said Coulibaly who finished the teacher’s course and completed over 200 hours of training.

The goal of teaching in the community was to help others with mental and physical well-being in a nice safe space for people to try new things.

“We all could benefit from a moment of stillness, have some time away from our phone, learn to be more flexible and just listen to our bodies,” said Coulibaly.

Classes are ideal for beginners of any age and are held weekly for an hour each session.

“I want people to leave my class feeling positive about themselves, and help them sleep,” said Coulibaly. “That is the starting point.”

There are upwards of 15 attendees from the ages of 16-72. Most of the participants are from Craven and some drive in from Strasburg to attend.

Coulibaly is hopeful this is the start of something that will grow and help the aging community.

“I’m getting older, so the body doesn’t move as good as you would like it to, that is basically why I got into it,” said Hart.

Class participants have really enjoyed learning yoga.

“The classes are for beginners which is wonderful because I went to one yoga class before not realizing it was for advanced and I was very lost,” said Hart. “This class is much different.”

There are no limitations, participants do what they can.

“The class is very warm and welcoming,” said Hart. “Some things are challenging but you’re not competing with anybody, you’re just doing it for yourself.”

The Craven community is very supportive of Coulibaly’s idea to offer yoga.

“My spouse posted on our community page about my classes and there was a great response,” said Coulibaly.

“The blessing is that one by one each student comes up to me and thanks me for creating that safe space for them to be away from their phones and just be.”

There has not been a lot of health and wellness initiatives in Craven and it is something that Hart would like to see more of.

“There are quite a few retirees that live here, but we’re finding more and more younger people moving out with families,” said Hart. “We just have a good time.”