If you have attended the 8:25 p.m. Yoga Flow class on Tuesdays at the ERC, chances are Roni Zelivinski has corrected your downward dog or helped you relax.
Zelivinski, a sophomore community health major, has an inspiringly deep passion for yoga, health, and helping people.
“If there is something that I love, everything in my body wants to share it and radiate it to other people,” Zelivinski shared, and this includes all aspects of her life—particularly yoga, which she has been practicing since freshman year of high school and teaching since age 17.
Zelivinski was first introduced to yoga after attending a class with her friend. She immediately fell in love and knew this was something she could become passionate about.
“The thing that I love about yoga is that you never know what you are going to get –it could always be something different. But you always know it will be beautiful. Every teacher will teach something different,” Zelivinski explained.
After making yoga a constant in her life, Zelivinski decided that she wanted to be able to teach yoga and share her passion with others.
The process to become a certified yoga instructor was long and challenging. The training program was 200 hours, which took about a year to complete. Zelivinski’s journey compelled her to really self-reflect and dig deep into her emotions.
Besides teaching a weekly class at Eppley, Zelivinski instructs fun yoga events around campus such as Rooftop Yoga, which is held on the rooftop garden of the South Campus Dining Hall. At the beginning of the semester, Zelivinski also held Yoga on the Mall, which she deemed a success.
Photo: Noga Raviv
“It was beautiful—a great amount of people, and it was grounding to know that while school was so crazy, we still had yoga,” Zelivinski said.
She has been working tirelessly on a multitude of projects in order to bring positive energy and the practice of yoga to fellow Terps and the local community.
In conjunction with Sweet Green, a restaurant on Route One devoted to healthy foods, Zelivinski is helping to bring their “Passport” program to College Park. This program brings in local fitness instructors, including Zelivinski, and offers classes, health workshops and other cool extras!
She also teaches yoga classes at a synagogue in DC, and is currently working with Girls Health Ed –a nonprofit dedicated to teaching health classes after school to at-risk girls ages 7-18 in D.C.
Zelivinski describes being a yoga instructor as being more of a “guide” who helps her class have a great experience and tailors the tempo and mood of the class to what everyone needs.
Before her classes, she usually spends about an hour getting inspired, making a playlist, and thinking of poses that are good for the moment. Zelivinski is a firm believer in “being in the moment” and tries to run her classes by this motto.
Although Zelivinskispends much of her time teaching yoga, she recognizes the importance of attending other classes. “Your teaching suffers if you forget how to be a student,” Zelivinski said, “It’s very humbling to watch other instructors. You can’t teach unless you practice”.
Zelivinski frequently attends class both at her home studio, and classes at Eppley taught by other instructors. She also noted that becoming an instructor here at UMD was one of the best choices she has made, and she loves the people she has met and the experiences she has had because of it.
Zelivinski’s awesomeness extends far beyond the yoga mat.
She is a doula, which means she is a support system for expecting mothers during pregnancy, birth, and post-partum. Zelivinski is also a certified Zumba instructor and teaches Zumba at Eppley on Mondays at 6:50 pm. She is a member of the Caribbean Dance Team on campus and is a black belt in Tae-kwon-do.
Zelivinski is currently working on a website, but in the meantime, if you are interested in any upcoming events or classes, you can email her at ronit.zelivinski@gmail.com
“Just take a class and see if it’s for you! Experiment with different teachers and classes!” Zelivinski recommends to anyone thinking about taking a yoga class.
“Just do something for your body that makes you feel good.”