By Daphne Sashin
Judy Glass
The Zoom opens, and Judy Glass appears on the screen against a backdrop of boxes and office chairs to begin the daily Penn Medicine Yoga Underground session. She invites participants to take a comfortable seat on their mat, which could mean cross-legged like her, but it’s also fine “if you want to sit with your legs stretched out, if you want to sit on a block or a cushion, or if you want to be kneeling ... whatever fits you best,” she says. Basically, the message is, do it whatever way feels good; we’re just happy you’re here. Even though Glass can only see a screen full of black boxes (most people keep their cameras off), she talks to them as comfortably as if she’s leading an actual room full of people.
Most of the day, Glass works as administrative secretary to otorhinolaryngologist Nithin D. Adappa, MD. Lunch hours are for yoga. Glass teaches Mondays (mat yoga) and Wednesdays (chair yoga), broadcasting her sessions from 12 to 1 pm in a spare room in the hospital’s Renewal Center. The other days, she is happy to participate in sessions led by Susan Yeck, a retired HUP nurse, and Erin Lightheart, master improvement advisor for Quality and Safety at HUP.
Everyone’s Included
Glass knows what it’s like to feel overwhelmed in a yoga class, and she does her best to make sure everyone feels included, making frequent suggestions to modify for whatever a student’s body is able to do that particular day or the limitations of their environment. Don’t have a mat? Can’t take your shoes off at work? It’s OK. Her melodic voice and no-judgment style provides a comforting antidote to the day’s stresses, whether Glass is guiding followers through a sun salutation or a lung-stretching breath.
“Even if you’re doing a very simple practice, you can still get a lot out of it. That’s what’s kept me doing it all these years,” Glass said.
She puts her administrative skills to use for her yoga participants too, with daily before-and-after class emails with Zoom links, and recordings for anyone who cannot attend live.
“This is about as accessible as it’s possible to be,” Glass said.
Yoga Underground is the evolution of an in-person lunchtime class for staff that Glass joined around 2015, having practiced on her own long before that. When the instructor left, Glass volunteered as an informal leader to keep the class from ending and eventually became a certified teacher. A few months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Glass, who also teaches at a yoga studio in Lansdowne, Pa., pivoted to offer the classes online.
Classes are available free for all Penn employees through PennCOBALT, WellFocused, and an email list of about 500 people that Glass maintains.
Yeck, who retired from the hematology oncology blood clinic in July, joined Glass as a teacher in 2018 after falling in love with her open-to-everyone approach.
“I am 67 years old, and I believe this is the best medicine anyone could ever take or do for themselves,” Yeck said. “Everyone stretches to their own ability ... reaping the rewards of feeling stronger each practice. It’s one of the best benefits Penn offers for their employees.”
Penn Medicine employees: Want to join virtual lunchtime yoga? Send an email to Judith.Glass@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.