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' Open Up helps people with disabilities access art and wellness through inclusive yoga classes

by Amanda Waltz

August 30, 2019

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Photo: Open Up

As the body positivity movement grows in Pittsburgh, people are looking for more inclusive alternatives to the often toxic culture familiar to the fitness scene. This is one of the reasons why Marissa Vogel turned her attention away from running her vintage lingerie shop Calligramme to focus on her other venture, Open Up, a local nonprofit dedicated to empowering those with disabilities through yoga and theater games like improv.

β€œThrough inclusive, engaging, enjoyable activities including yoga and improvisational theater games, participants explore new tools to help navigate social settings,” says Vogel, who co-founded Open Up with Tessa Karel in 2014 and now serves as its executive director. β€œWhile yoga and improv are two separate disciplines, they both encourage the development of joy, interconnectivity, and deeper self-understanding.”

From the beginning, Open Up has worked to bring its programming to public schools throughout Pittsburgh. Now Vogel says One Up is ready to expand its programs in the arts and wellness scene with Connection, an inclusive community yoga class opening Sat., Sept. 7 with music by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Connection will mark a new chapter in Open Up’s development and close the Access + Ability exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art, where the class will take place.

Vogel says the decision to expand came in May 2018, when a student in their Yoga for Schools program said there were no places for him to keep doing yoga outside of the classroom.



β€œHe said, β€˜I love doing yoga here with friends, but there's no place for us in the community. I'd like to be a yoga teacher someday, but no teachers look like me,’” says Vogel.

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Photo: Open Up