RENSSELAERVILLE — At a wellness studio atop the hill that once was home to the Carey Institute, now rebranded as Hilltown Commons, in Rensselaerville, two women are helping Hilltowners unlock the wisdom contained in their bodies. 

Wisdom Roots Wellness grew out of a years-long collaboration between certified yoga teacher Sarah Nelson and Ayurvedic health counselor Emilieigh Tanner. 

Nelson moved to Rensselaerville in 2004 and had been teaching yoga and pilates at Conkling Hall. Tanner was a student of hers before getting formal training in Ayurveda — an ancient and holistic form of medicine practiced in India — at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 2018. 

“At that point, we began working together under the name Foothills Yoga Ayurveda” without a permanent physical location, Tanner said. 

When a spot opened up at Hilltown Commons last year, they took it, along with the opportunity to rebrand themselves as Wisdom Roots. 

With the name, Nelson said, “we want to communicate that we’re really based in these ancient-wisdom traditions of yoga and Ayurveda, but they’re not by any means obsolete, and that they’re very applicable to living in the modern world, so that’s part of what we’re getting at — that sense of being rooted.”

The image of roots also spoke to the way the two founders are “inspired, nurtured, supported by the natural world,” she explained. 

Together, along with guest instructors and other partners, Nelson and Tanner offer a wide range of services, from yoga to pilates and more. What links them all is a focus on intuition and mindfulness that will put someone “in the driver’s seat” of their life, Nelson said, introducing “a bit more grace” into a world that is inevitably chaotic. 

For instance, one upcoming workshop, which will be held on April 5 from 1 to 4 p.m., will have menstrual coach Laura Potten teach women about “menstrual mapping,” a way of looking at the four phases of the menstrual cycle — follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstruation — and ways to meet the body’s needs in each phase and reduce the symptoms that pop up. 

Tanner said that the four stages of the menstrual cycle are “not common knowledge, interestingly enough,” so many women stand to benefit from learning more about them along with yoga postures that “match the energy of the cycle.” 

Soon, the studio will welcome two instructors from India — Ravi and Sheela Shankar — who are “students in the same tradition that I came up through, which is Krishnamacharya and Desikachar,” Nelson said. 

They will conduct a 210-hour certificate course in Vedic chanting across three modules, the first of which will take place over the course of this year, with the next two to be scheduled later. Vedic chanting is the recitation of ancient phrases that, according to the Hindu faith, were spoken to sages by a higher power and preserved for thousands of years. 

Nelson said she had met the Shankars last year after her own teacher had spent time studying with Sheela online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offered up studio space when she learned the Shankars were looking for a place to practice. 

The chants are a part of yoga, Nelson said, which is “way more than just doing something with the body — it’s about an integration of the entire system of each individual.” 

In light of that, Nelson said that there are yoga classes that are suitable for most individuals regardless of skill level or mobility. 

“We don’t, at this point, have chair yoga, which would be something for someone who has very limited mobility,” she said, adding that it may be introduced in the future, but that at a recent class she had people who ranged in age from 35 to 75, including one person who had a neurological condition.

“There’s really a wide range of people who can benefit,” Nelson said. 

While yoga is understood on some level to most, she said, Tanner’s focus, Ayurveda, is the “next frontier,” putting Wisdom Roots at the “front edge” of a practice that’s growing in popularity. 

From March 31 through April 4, Wisdom Roots will hold a “spring cleanse” event that Tanner said is essentially a “five-day Ayurvedic immersion” that they’ve held twice a year (in the spring and fall) for five years. It will involve remote and in-person options for the greatest flexibility for those interested. 

As part of the cleanse, Tanner said, “we have nutritional guidelines that help to kind of bring you into the new season of spring, which is characterized by a lightness, a brightness — kind of bringing the winter off of the body and the mind.” 

There will also be a “color workshop” which teaches about emotions and their relationship to color with the “Ayurvedic and Yogic perspectives on that,” Nelson said, as well as yoga and pilates classes.

The increased offerings build up to what Nelson and Tanner are calling a “grand opening” in June. Although the studio has been up and running for nearly a year, they said that they were still “working out the kinks” and are now ready to bring in more members of the community. 

“It seems like people are looking for more holistic means of well-being,” Tanner said. “Not just their physical body, but their state of mind, their emotions, even their social experiences. It’s all colored by this wider need of more dynamic, holistic, integrated wellness, which I find beautiful.”