Sky House Yoga is a donation-based yoga studio and wellness collective in Silver Spring. Sky House Yoga offers all of their services at donation-based price ranges, ensuring that no one is ever turned down or priced out. Courtney Boyce is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher who recently volunteered her services to the girls at our Helen Smith Group Home.

Courtney chose to volunteer her services to Hearts & Homes because she wanted to focus on communities where yoga is not readily available or accessible, such as younger and under-served populations. She was inspired when she reflected upon how much she would have benefited from yoga in her teenage years. She said, “The need at that age for what yoga teaches – health, loving yourself, treating yourself well, learning to love your body, and being comfortable and confident in who you are – is essential. That is a skill that we as young women, unfortunately, have to learn.”

From the yoga sessions, Courtney hopes for the girls to realize they need to make time for themselves when dealing with stress, trauma, or anything they feel is out of their control. She hopes they understand that they are perfect as they are, and that with a stronger sense of self, they can more easily deal with anything that comes their way. She hopes they will realize that peace is already inside us, we just need to connect with it.

“Teaching the girls has reinforced that we are all human, we all have things going on, and that we all need love and support. No matter where you come from or what you do, we humans need to be kind and love one another. Having an open-mind and open-heart makes anything possible. We all have many things to be thankful for.”

Courtney says she has been surprised by how open, energetic, and interested in learning the Helen Smith girls have been during the sessions. She has enjoyed getting to know the girls individually, commenting that “they are all so different from one another, yet at the core, they all have the same needs and desires.”

Courtney hopes that in the coming sessions the girls continue to find peace and to accept themselves as they are. “Even if they never go into posture or get into yoga, if they remember that someone once told them stopping for a moment to clear their minds and open their hearts has numerous benefits, I will have succeeded.”