PVCC Puma Press: March 2006

The frame of the entrance grows brighter as lights dim. Tall mirrors cover the length of the room. The steady whir of ceiling fans competes with the flute instrumental rising from a stereo, intoning images of the East. Only an occasional squeak of the blue yoga mats and a soft patter betray the instructor as she circles her students.

Students lie on their backs. Their eyes are closed, bodies relaxed. A voice joins the trance and instructs the students to let go of the tension starting with the toes. As concentration charges to the temples, the sound of exhalations slows to a hush. A voice directs the students to enter the silence of their beings, let go of every bothersome thing in the mind and gradually return to reality. They are reminded to grow aware of the surroundings and wiggle their fingers and toes.

Students open their eyes and sit up. The lights come back on and the instructor stands barefoot in front of the class, her arms form an oval in front of her waist, closing in interlocked fingers. Her dark, curly hair is trimmed short enough to reveal a complete smile.

The instructor’s name is Saundra Pustetta and she teaches yoga at the PVCC Fitness Center. For over 20 years, Pustetta has been helping anyone who wishes to learn the beauty of yoga. After years of misfortune, she says she found yoga and continues to test its positive influences with experience. Yoga is physically demanding, but Pustatta’s objective goes beyond building a stunning physique. She helps her students attain inner harmony, understand their purpose, battle distress and overpower adversity.

It is Thursday afternoon and Pustetta’s class is practicing the alternate nostril breathing technique. Students sit on the mats with legs crossed underneath them. Their palms rest on the knees and backs are erect. Pustetta tells the class to cover one nostril with a thumb, inhale through the other, hold the breath, shut the open nostril and exhale fully.

The exercise improves the function of both sides of the brain, she says. This technique balances creative and logical thinking. Students continue the exercise until the class ends. They proceed to stack the mats on a shelf and empty the room.

Pustetta’s husband, Silvio, is near, waiting to accompany her home. He whispers something to her and receives a laugh in return. They have been together for over 40 years and through her relationship with Silvio, Pustetta has identified her purpose in life.

As a young woman, Pustetta says she had lived her life the way she wanted to. However, four days after their engagement, her fiancé was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

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	'I teach what I need to know the most'
	—Saundra Pustetta PVCC's Yoga Instructor
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The news did not stop Pustetta from moving her life forward. Months after the diagnosis, they married. After an extended honeymoon in Europe, Pustetta returned home pregnant and Silvio went into his first surgery. He would undergo seven more in the coming years.

Pustetta recalls her husband fighting to stay conscious on a hospital bed. The surgery left Silvio dependent on analgesics and sleeping medication. It pained Pustetta to see her husband in this condition and she began looking for alternate strategies of saving him.

Pustetta consulted a nutritionist who advised her to have Silvio stop taking medication. With her support, Silvio slowly recovered.

However, the challenges did not end there. Pustetta was a mother who owned nothing. She relied on Silvio’s disability payments after losing her job at the U.S. Post Office.

Life was not getting easier but she remained motivated. “There comes a moment when you have to stop saying ‘why me?’” she says. Instead of being a victim,

Pustetta resolved to take action and provide for her family.

She received an Equal Opportunity Grant and earned a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s in arts.

As a graduating student, Pustetta received a phone call informing her that her younger sister had died in a drowning accident, leaving a 3-year-old son behind. Struck by another tragedy, Pustetta was not sure what to do. She asked herself “How will this work?”

Pustetta explains, “I never thought of having a second child, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

Pustetta and Silvio decided to adopt the child and after filling out required paperwork, became parents of little Dana Peace. A mother of a daughter and an adopted son, Pustetta worked as a speech pathologist for the state of New Jersey.

She and her family lived in a tiny apartment. To make extra cash, Pustetta taught ballet. One of the teachers at the ballet school introduced Pustetta to the yogi Shanti Desai. Shanti was born in India and studied yoga from an early age under his Guru, Swami Kripalu. While working as a research chemist, Shanti decided to commit fully to yoga. In early 70’s he moved to New Jersey and opened a yoga school. Pustetta was delighted to learn from a real yogi and is grateful to Shanti for his teachings.

“I was looking to relieve stress and studying with Shanti was a great opportunity to learn control,” says Pustetta.

In the 80’s, Pustetta attended the Shanti Yoga Institute in Ocean City, New Jersey. Shanti’s workshops teach exploration of the inner strength and practices that can be applied to everyday life.

Silvio would always accompany Pustetta to Shanti’s sessions. She laughs and says, “He wanted him to protect me, so he started going to the seminars as well.”

Pustetta feels blessed to have had a teacher like Shanti. “It made me realize how managing stress can affect the quality of your life,” she says. With Shanti’s help, she learned to take control of her life and have a healthy lifestyle. Shanti also encouraged Pustetta to start teaching yoga.

In 2000, she moved from New Jersey to Arizona and accepted position as an Adjunct Faculty at PVCC. Pustetta is passionate about teaching. Her special touch is having her students socially interact. One of the students in her class was looking for a job and another jumped in and helped with a recommendation.

“I teach what I need to know the most,” says Pustetta. She prizes her students’ presence and input. With their assistance, she strengthens her own persona and in turn helps students deal with personal issues, she says.

“I am still learning, but It comes naturally, like breathing,” she says. Standing in front of her class, she does not convey authority or superiority. She relies on the students just as much as they on her.

Pustetta uses yoga as a vehicle to educate students in how to relax, manage stress, and grow gracefully.

A lot of beginners are not flexible, but after practicing various postures, bodies become accustomed to the strain and become tighter and more pliant.

Pustetta also encourages feedback and many in her classes say they have a satisfying experience with yoga.

They claim that it changed their lives and they feel freer than previously and relieved.

Pustetta sets the expectation for her students high. “Every person can improve,” she says.

At the end of class she add, “Be true to yourself, be your own best friend.”