Crystal bowls resonate at West Palm Beach yoga class

Judi Love plays her crystal bowls at the Mandel Public Library.

Three crystal bowls were lined up on the stage Saturday in the auditorium of the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach.

The bowls were of varying sizes, making me wonder what the substitute yoga instructor would do with them.

Soon, Judi Love introduced herself and began reading to us and then playing the bowls, made of crushed quartz crystal.

Love (right) chats with a student after yoga class.

Love first became interested in the power of the crystal bowls when she attended a concert by Life in Balance.

"We were lying down and hearing the vibration of the bowls. I felt kind of wobbly when I stood up," she said.

She bought her own set and picked ones with true tones, no sharp notes. The largest bowl has the lowest sound and holds the note the longest, a quality she calls resonance.

"The smallest bowl has a higher pitch but doesn't hold the note as long," she said.

Husband as bowl carrier

Her husband Denni Landmeier transports the bowls for her, using a cart to carry them because they are heavy and fragile. "They are not easy to play," she said, "so I create a special area for them (sitting on plush carpet), and don't let anyone near them. They require special mallets to play."

Love and Landmeier

Music is the most important part of yoga for Love, who likes the spiritual part of yoga along with the physical. 

When her husband can't come with her, Love brings bells to ring. At the start of the meditation, "your mind concentrates on the sound and then drifts off into nothingness."

For Love, yoga is all about "finding the light within you, not just the physical side, but the radiance inside and integrating them together."

Other classes

Love, of the Northwood section of West Palm Beach, also teaches yoga weekly at the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie and Wednesday afternoons at the Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce. 

She also will teach a yoga class this fall at the Mounts Botanical Garden in suburban West Palm Beach.

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Saturday, June 22, 2013, when I walked:

Steps: 12,953

Miles: 6.5