Now that two Holy Family Church parishioners have found their calling, it sometimes leads them to unusual teaching positions — like tree pose. Anne Marie Evered and Sandy DeMoy alternate leading gentle yoga sessions two times a week in the home of parishioner Mariloris Oliverio. These classes are open to anyone who wants to stretch his or her health regimen.

“It’s God’s body, and if you don’t take care of your body, you can’t serve,” said DeMoy, sister of Holy Family’s pastor, Father Bob Barricks.

Performed using chairs and other props, the exercises are good for the physical well-being of everyone, but in particular folks recuperating from illness or injury, said the teachers.

Agnes Petrusich has been coming to the classes for 11 years, ever since DeMoy initiated the sessions to help her mother who was recovering from a broken pelvis. What started with DeMoy and her mother in an upstairs room of the Holy Family rectory has evolved into twice weekly classes that often fill the finished basement of Oliverio’s home.

The balance and strength Petrusich has gained from the classes helped her through her own health emergencies: a broken pelvis, and several months ago, a stroke.


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