Peaceful warrior
Bonnie Torrance offers unique path to yoga students

By Amanda Mack

Peaceful warrior is not one of the warrior poses practiced by yoga practitioners. But if such a pose existed, it would look like Bonnie Torrance on any given day: heart open, arms and fingertips spread wide as if on the verge of embrace, spine lengthening up toward the sky, smiling.

The owner of Pinwheel Creative Movement Center, Torrance has taught yoga, tai chi and dance in Bismarck and Mandan since 2000. Her primary focus these days are the yoga classes taught out of her studio located kitty corner from the public library in downtown Bismarck.

Torrance exudes the calm joy a disciplined yoga practice can instill. She wears bright, saturated colors like coral, deep yellow, and mahogany brown that conjure up images of the hot desert or the colors of Indian saris. She looks you in the eye. She always has a smile a mile wide for her friends and her students.

Her mop of curls, small stature and boundless energy make Torrance seem almost otherworldly, but she has two feet firmly planted on the ground. She is a shrewd businessperson unafraid to speak her truth. This straightforwardness is accompanied by a gentleness that puts you at ease even as you realize that Torrance doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Ken Johnson, a close friend, values Bonnie for her lack of sentimentality, her understanding presence, and her ability to withhold judgment. “She’s a beautiful person,” he says.

Finding yoga
A child of the sixties, it was the Beatle’s George Harrison who introduced Torrance to yoga following high school. Harrison’s travels to India to practice yoga, transcendental meditation and music inspired her.

“They looked so peaceful doing it. I thought there is something going on there. I started doing the asanas [or yoga postures],” Torrance reflects. “As a dancer, I connected with the physical process.”

She remembers her budding yoga practice: “I would get up early to avoid interruption. I had never spent that kind of quiet time with myself. It was a real eye opener. I became more aware of my personal reliance on my own inner truth.”

It wasn’t until the nineties, however, that Torrance began to truly approach yoga as a way of life. After earning a dance degree in Dallas, Texas, she owned a dance studio and also danced with various dance troupes and for choreographers in the area.

“After finishing my degree, there was no way to stay in shape unless I started doing yoga,” she says. “The meditation and introspection [of yoga] gives you relaxation. There is no exterior goal like in dance that is so competitive. It’s how it feels from the inside out, not the outside in.”

Teaching yoga
Torrance continued teaching yoga, tai chi and dance after her return to Bismarck in 2000. While her studio moved from space to space over the years before landing in its permanent location in 2007, many of her students found their yoga home with her early on.

“I find all of the spaces that [Bonnie] has been in to be very conducive to the spiritual and mental aspects of the practice,” says Janis Cheney, who has practiced yoga with Torrance exclusively since 2003.

Elizabeth Gross, who faithfully attends class four times a week, says, “When I first arrived at Bonnie’s studio I had no idea what to expect. What I found was an array of people from all walks of life looking for a way to be healthy in mind and body. I felt very comfortable and very much at home in that kind of setting.”

Gross continues, “There is a sense of tranquility when you walk into the studio. There’s a sense of peacefulness and acceptance. When you put all that together, you really have an amazing environment in which to grow.”

Students can expect variety in a week. For example, Torrance will focus on backbends in one class, do hip openers and twists in the next, and then do a flow class. She likes to focus on the whole body.

Torrance says, “I’ve been doing this long enough that I can come to a class with an idea of where I want to lead students and then modify it depending on who is in the class.”

Mahesh Mantri, who began practicing yoga at Pinwheel in 2007, says about Bonnie’s teaching style that, “She is a very good teacher. She tries to incorporate all the methods. Not just Shivananda but other styles like ashtanga and Art of Living too. She also incorporates things from Yoga Journal and Yoga Magazine. It’s not just a routine. Every class is a new class.”

“I really appreciate the fact that Bonnie is always looking for ways to challenge us,” says Cheney. “She is open to input and suggestions [from her students] for new ways to do things. She works to continue her growth and to share that with others. She is just an open and expansive person in her work in this field.”

Living yoga
Although students initially may walk in the door for stress relief, with regular practice, yoga can become a way of life.

Gross reports feeling better now than she did ten years ago. “One of the things I really appreciate [about yoga] is the balance of getting time to gain peace and gaining physical stamina. I feel stronger and more confident because of the practice of yoga.”

“It’s a cornerstone of my life,” Cheney says. “Outside of my family and church, it is the priority in my life. I don’t feel as good, organized and centered if I don’t get there.” She continues, “There are times when it’s dark and cold outside and I don’t want to go to class. But I do go 100 percent of the time and I never regret it.”

Mantri says he is calmer since he began practicing yoga in 2007. He says, “I feel a change in me. Not only my body perspective but also my mind. I find myself a little more calm. Meditation and pranayama [or breath work] help me with that.”

Embracing spiritual growth
Torrance says her mission is “to inspire individuals to engage in their own process of moving in a healthy and joyful journey throughout their life.”

To keep herself and her students inspired, Torrance says, “I read to expand my mind, to think thoughts that I haven’t thought before, and affirm things I already know. I attend or host workshops when possible. My students also inspire me every time they walk in the door. I know how hard it is to get out of the chair. In class, I channel the masters and listen to my own body.”

Yoga practice goes beyond the physical benefits. For Gross, it is a very spiritual activity. “I think yoga can really enhance your own spirituality. You allow yourself time for reflection and quiet and peace, which I think brings you closer to God.”

Torrance’s own journey reflects that concept as well. “Yoga totally changed my life. Before yoga I had a glimmer of who I really was. To access [that person] it took yoga…Every single person has that knowledge or truth inside of them. Yoga helps create that opening.”

That Torrance provides such life changing possibilities to her students is something Gross appreciates. “As a yoga teacher, I think Bonnie is very courageous. Creating a studio like this takes courage and wisdom.”

The very attributes of a peaceful warrior.

Pinwheel Creative Movement Center offers beginning, intermediate and adaptive yoga classes as well as tai chi. Schedules are available at Pinwheel,420 East Avenue B, Bismarck.