Sun Salutations at The Steward

The irony of travel is that when you’re a tourist, you want to experience a place like a local. But when you are the local, especially when you live in a world-class resort destination, you eye the tourists with envy as they enjoy everything your town is known for. The Steward — the Hollister Avenue hotel formerly known as Pacifica Suites — has bridged this divide with a free weekly yoga class that’s open to locals as well as hotel guests.

The first time I tried the outdoor class, accompanied by my friend Bonnie, it was chilly enough on a mid-December morning that the hotel guest we had followed to find the class ended up begging off, saying she was too cold. That left four of us — all locals — to set up our mats like spokes in a wheel with instructor Lily Rozhko as the hub. Rozhko led us through a practice that encouraged gratitude for our surroundings — not so much the recently rebranded hotel but the clear blue sky, the singing birds, and the sun that eventually warmed us enough so we could peel off our layers.

Rozhko doesn’t use a microphone, so at times she was competing with the traffic noise from Hollister and Highway 217, chatting hotel guests, and squawking seagulls. But her cues were easy to follow as she led us through warrior one and two, modified triangle, and standing forward bend. Afterwards, relaxed yet invigorated, Bonnie and I compared notes as we enjoyed a post-yoga breakfast on the patio of the Steward’s Terra Restaurant. I mused that it wasn’t the most physically demanding yoga class I’d ever taken. Bonnie, who teaches yoga herself, observed, “It was a yoga practice, not a class.” That is, the point was not to leave us physically wrung out but connected with our breath and with our hearts open.

After all, Rozhko — who immigrated from Ukraine 30 years ago — calls her practice “heart of yoga.” She teaches at the Montecito Meditation Center and has private clients in addition to the gig at the Steward, which she got through Expond, a Santa Barbara–based company that connects fitness professionals with resorts to provide experiences on-demand. Rozhko started on her yoga journey when she was suffering hyperemesis while pregnant with her daughter. She began taking pre-natal yoga and experienced such dramatic improvement that she decided she wanted to teach yoga full-time, which she’s been doing for ten years. Rozhko isn’t a fan of labels like yin and ashtanga, which she considers “man-made branding,” but when pressed, she identifies her breath-centered practice as Hatha yoga.

Whatever it’s called, Rozhko’s class is appealing to a wide range of participants. When I returned to the Steward a few weeks later, the location of the class had shifted slightly, further away from the restaurant patio to a shadier area, and the class had tripled in size. I found this edition of the class more vigorous but still accessible, with Rozhko offering variations, like a modified eagle pose that didn’t make me feel like my shoulder blades were being cranked apart. This time, the class was a mix of locals and hotel guests, including a family of four staying at the Steward. Ina, a local, had found out about the class on Instagram and brought along two friends. Columba, who was taking yoga for the first time, found it easy to follow and relaxing after a stressful week. Tiana, an experienced yogi, declared it the best yoga class she’d ever taken. Who says the tourists get to have all the fun?

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The Steward is located at 5490 Hollister Avenue, Goleta. Free yoga class is held on Saturdays at 9 a.m., typically outdoors behind historic Sexton House on the Steward grounds. Class is open to local residents and hotel guests. Mats available for hotel guests only. Free parking. Wear sunscreen, layers, and maybe a hat or sunglasses. Bring your phone so you can complete the online liability waiver.