Purple and green lights, a vibrant contrast to the orange tungsten that lights up the fall, flicker from within a small one-room building on State Road. There’s a class going on inside; Kimberly Cartwright, one of the founders of the Om of Motion studio, is leading Wednesday night Old School Spin.
Spinning, the name typically given to group indoor cycling classes, is not a new exercise concept; the activity gained popularity in the 1990s and remains a staple at most fitness centers.
But at Om of Motion, now in its fourth month of operation, exercising the body is a secondary benefit, and goes hand in hand with exercising the brain and spirit.
“Our philosophy is very different than coming in [and seeing] exercise as punishment,” said cofounder Triva Emery in an interview this week. The ultimate goal, she said, is “finding that place where you feel empowered and happy, healthy and strong rather than coming in and feeling like you were just beat up.”
And so it’s no surprise that when Ms. Cartwright finishes her class, she pulls up a YouTube video of Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” so the women in the room can see how in tune the dancers in the video are with their bodies. Nor is it a surprise that the next class, called Spin to the Artist’s Way, seamlessly weaves cycling into a longer program centering on rediscovering latent creativity (using Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way as a guide for the latter).
“This has been one of the best parts of my fall,” said Artist’s Way participant Elizabeth Germain of Vineyard Haven. “What I love about this studio is [learning] to integrate the benefits of movement with the rest of our life.”
Edie Yoder of Chilmark, a painter, joined the group mainly to work through the Artist’s Way program, which she had tried once in 1993. She initially wasn’t sure what to make of indoor cycling.
“I didn’t know what to expect from the spinning part,” she said. “But it’s been very good and energizing and somehow it gets energy spinning [pun intended] in the right direction in this classroom.”
At Om of Motion, spinning is often a warm-up, a way to shake off the cobwebs and get both the blood and the creative juices flowing before moving on to the real workout.
“If you do anything cold, you’re not getting the full benefit,” said Ms. Emery.
“We said, ‘What can we enable somebody to experience about themselves now that we’ve got them breathing?’” Ms. Cartwright explained.
In Ms. Yoder’s case, the experience led to her participation in Featherstone’s latest exhibition, The Art of the Personal Altar.
“I put in a piece, and it felt exhilarating to do that,” she said. “I haven’t shown anything that was meaningful to me for a while, so that inspiration might have come out of this [class]. There’s a good deal of soul-searching and questioning and listening.”
While the camaraderie of the spinners is present in each class, not all sessions are as intensive in the soul-searching department. On Tuesday nights, cyclists come for a weekly viewing of Glee (singing along encouraged). Sundays bring the Patriots Challenge. And “Be Happy Hour,” on Friday afternoons, boasts an hour of “spinning and having fun and grooving,” said Ms. Emery.
Om of Motion is also unique in that it is the only spinning fitness center on the Island where you can check schedules, pay and reserve space online. Classes cost $14 for drop-ins, $130 for a 10-class card and $240 for a 20-class card. Prices vary for special series.
“We really wanted some place that didn’t feel like a gym, that felt intimate, that people came in and they knew that it was their place,” she said. She noted that many people do like working out in a gym atmosphere, but “we don’t want to be all things to all people.”
“We specifically set out to be different,” she said. “A lot of people are like, ‘What’s your elevator pitch?’”
But, “We don’t have an elevator pitch,” Ms. Emery continued. “You’ll just have to come in and find out.”
Om of Motion is located at 505 State Road in West Tisbury. Visit omofmotion.com for class schedules.
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