This article was written by Selima Hussain published in 2014
by the Panther Now at Florida International University.
Bonnie Quiceno breathes deeply. Her body gracefully twists into the shape of a pretzel as she uses her arms, legs and abdominal muscles to balance herself on a blue yoga mat.
In the group workout classroom at Biscayne Bay campus, students in Quiceno’s yoga class attempt the same “flying crow” position.
Some students have managed to pull themselves into the complicated pose, while others are still trying. Quiceno, who has been teaching yoga for 13 years, walks around, gently repositioning those students still having trouble.
“I try to take each student’s needs into consideration,” Quiceno said. “I have a license to touch people, so I want to make sure everyone gets the most of their practice.”
Quiceno, a former ballet dancer, stunt-double, actress and nanny, became a University yoga instructor after immersing herself in the practice for six months. Aside from teaching yoga, she has also acted as a counselor, personal friend and inspiration to students struggling with anxiety and depression.
“I feel very honored and very blessed that my students open up to me,” Quiceno said. “My intention is to have people feel like they have a place where they are safe, and it makes me feel good to know that people feel comfortable to tell me their deepest, darkest secrets.”
Quiceno’s yoga class is broken into two sections: the first hour is strictly dedicated to the workout, and the last 30 minutes is focused on meditation and mental awareness. These sessions are held in the BBC Recreation Center on Monday from 3 to 4 p.m., Tuesday from 3 to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Studies have shown that practicing yoga eases stress, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a 2009 Harvard Medical School newsletter. Quiceno said that many students depend on yoga to improve their mental health and well being.
“I find myself doing yoga poses when I’m doing homework or studying,” said João Garcia, a student who attends class four times a week. “It’s definitely helped me with the daily stresses of life.”
Meditating Malique
Malique Williams, an FIU alumni and student of Quiceno, doesn’t seem like the type to get stressed.
A follower of Buddhism and Rastafarianism, he has a peaceful, carefree presence. But Williams wasn’t always so calm and relaxed.
“When I first started yoga at FIU, I was going through a depressive state,” Williams said. “I had just moved to Miami, and I had no friends. My activity was very low. And then I found meditation, and I realized how going in was.”
By “going in,” Williams means delving into his mind to “achieve bliss.” Yoga and meditation, he said, allowed him to explore himself.
“I realized I didn’t need to go somewhere to do something. I could sit [down] and go wherever I wanted to, in my mind.”
Williams said he started yoga and meditation to heal himself and to make him more wholesome. “Meditation became my medication,” he said.
Williams decided to teach yoga and meditation after discovering what it did for him. Quiceno was a big influence on his decision to do so, he said.
“Bonnie will tell you how different poses are good for your health,” Williams said. He then proceeded to do a headstand.
“Yoga is a science. The headstand I did just now is good for intuition, wisdom…it opens up your thyroid and parathyroid glands. It also energizes you.”
Williams became certified to teach yoga from the Synergy Center for Yoga and the Healing Arts in Miami Beach–the same place as Quiceno. Williams said he looks to Quiceno as a role model for the type of yoga guru he wants to become.
“[Bonnie] is the embodiment of teaching from your heart. She’s always bringing in her knowledge, and you can tell she genuinely cares for her students. I really aspire to be a teacher like her.”
Bonnie’s Beginnings
Quiceno never thought she would teach yoga.
The idea came to her about a year after she was married, around her birthday.
“One day, shortly before I was turning 30, I looked in the mirror and I looked different. Just different somehow. And I realized I needed to do something.”
Prior to getting married, Quiceno had been highly involved with acting, theater and dance. She took a year-long break from those interests to become a housewife.
“I thought, ‘It would be good to get to know my husband,’” she said.
The housewife life, however, did not bode well for Quiceno. She found herself aching for something more.
“There’s a difference between training daily and having an active lifestyle,” she said. “Me and my husband swam, hiked, played tennis…but I wasn’t dancing every day.”
Quiceno decided to take belly-dancing classes at first, then tried yoga. After that, her mind was made.
“I remember going up to my yoga teacher and saying, ‘I wanna be you when I grow up. How do I get started?’”
Quiceno spent the next six months researching yoga and becoming certified by the Synergy Center for Yoga and the Healing Arts.
Her husband abandoned his dream of owning a hardware store to join her.
“We have a small closet filled with tools–wrenches, hammers, whatever. It looks like a mini hardware store,” Quiceno said. “My husband wanted to eventually own a hardware store, but he also wanted to teach yoga. He sold his equipment so he could take teacher-training classes with me.”
Quiceno and her husband, Arbay Quiceno, learn about yoga postures and research the ancient art together. It has become a big part of their life.
“I taught a class with my husband. We had a really good rhythm of flowing,” Quiceno said. “My husband would talk the class into relaxation exercises, and I would chant in the background. We’re a great team.”
Yoga ain’t young
Quiceno is commonly seen with an older woman who sports a long, silver braid. Faye Smith, Quiceno’s 75-year-old mother, is no novice on the yoga mat.
“I was all gung-ho about yoga, so I took my mom to a power yoga class,” Quiceno said.
Smith said she has been doing yoga since she was 62. She accompanies Quiceno to every yoga lesson, twisting her body into the most complicated of positions without the merest flinch of pain.
“I remember doing yoga on the beach for the first time,” Smith said. “And I just stood right up on my head. It didn’t hurt.”
Despite her age, Smith said she rarely has pain or aches.
She attributes the absence of pain to her consistent practice of yoga and her closeness with Quiceno.
“We’ve always been so together,” Smith said.
Smith has become a star in Quiceno’s yoga class, mastering poses and befriending students. She said she is proud of Quiceno.
“I’m going to miss [my daughter] when I go back to Georgia,” said Smith, who owns an organic blueberry and garlic farm in Georgia.
By Selima Hussain, Panther NOW