EARTHA HARRIS
Harris is a full-time yoga instructor, but her favorite thing to stretch is her comfort zone. "I'm fascinated when I see someone doing something I would find uncomfortable, yet they're calm and confident," explains Harris, who was raised in the Berkshires by "hippie parents" and started learning yoga poses around the time she learned to walk.
Since then, she's amassed an impressive physical skill set, studying ballet for 15 years, multiple martial arts, and hoop dance. (Today she whips out her rings for stage shows and nightclub gigs.) She's even practiced free-diving, using a lightweight belt to submerge herself in Walden Pond. "It's about internal exploration," she says. "You learn to stay in the present moment when you're 30 feet down with fish bumping against you!"
Staying centered amid discomfort is key to happiness, says Harris, who leads classes at South Boston Yoga and JP's Akasha Studio. But her long-term goal is to bring private instruction into stressful office settings — and backstage for bands in need of pre-show centering. Oh yeah, she also DJs and plays keyboard in a live EDM act, Psylab. "I'll be backstage in a green room with a bunch of dudes drinking beers, doing pranayama and contorting myself," says Harris, laughing. "It can be a little awkward." That's probably why she loves it.
_SCOTT KEARNAN
