With one deep breath in and one deep breath out, Janice Goodloe is able to create a transcendental experience for a room chock-full of LSU students in her Yoga for Relaxation class at the UREC.
Goodloe, an administrative program specialist at LSU’s Office of International Programs, is beloved by those who take her class. As she guides students through each yoga pose with her gentle voice, cooing words of peace and encouragement, they can feel themselves let go of all the stress and anxiety of their day.
“Just knowing that I can help someone else and be the highlight of their day? That is priceless,” Goodloe said.
Goodloe started working at the university in 1985 and began teaching fitness classes in 1988. Before the UREC was built in the ‘90s, Goodloe taught dance and step aerobics classes in the Carl Maddox and Huey P. Long field houses with a boombox in tow. After a knee injury, a doctor recommended trying yoga to relieve her pain.
The more yoga classes she took, the better her knee felt. Goodloe was hooked and decided to start teaching yoga at the UREC in 2005. Practicing yoga has helped her breathe through the everyday movements she makes that would usually strain someone’s body.
“At my age, I have very good flexibility, strength and posture, and it’s all because of yoga,” Goodloe said.
The response to Goodloe’s class has been overwhelming, with the 30 available spots in her Monday and Wednesday 5:30 p.m. sessions filling up within minutes of registration opening. She often has an extensive waitlist of people hoping someone cannot make the class so they can snag a spot. People can’t wait to join her class and feel her loving energy.
“She’s just an angel, honestly,” marketing junior Emily Wesley said. “Every time I come to this class, I always walk away feeling ten times less stressed than when I walked in. It’s so good for kids our age to get into yoga right now so you can build a lifelong habit from it.”
Students are overcome by a feeling of calmness upon entering Goodloe’s class. Her passion for creating a welcoming and tranquil atmosphere radiates throughout the course, assuring all that they are in a safe space.
“I start my classes by saying, ‘Please remember that there is no judgment, and there is no competition,’” Goodloe said.
“If you’re a beginner, enjoy being a beginner. We all began at one point some time. Listen to your body, listen to your spirit. In yoga, pain is no game.”
Tye Tavaras, director of global partnerships at the university’s Office of International Programs, is Goodloe’s coworker who now frequents Goodloe’s classes.
“She just radiated such gentleness and positivity,” Tavaras said. “When she told me she was teaching yoga, I knew I had to come for the class.”
“I didn’t quite know what to expect the first time I came, but she created an environment that was so welcoming and comfortable that I was going to become a regular,” Tavaras said.
When people tell Goodloe they are slightly nervous about the class, she tells them that yoga is about listening to your body and doing whatever is best for you. There is no competition in her class, and no one is watching anyone else. Everyone is on a private journey.”
“We’re all there for a common goal; to tap into each other’s auras and bring positive energy to the class,” Goodloe said.
Even Goodloe herself was once a beginner, unsure of what to do and slightly apprehensive. It took time, practice, and patience to get to the level she is today.
“When I took that first yoga class, and I did that warrior pose? My arms were shaking, and my legs were shaking.”
Goodloe’s yoga class is a mixed bag of yoga newbies, seasoned pros and even the occasional university powerlifters and track runners looking to loosen their rigid bodies. Regardless of who is in attendance, Goodloe encourages students to go with their emotions.
If they are having fun, she loves to see smiles and hear laughter. If they are overcome with emotion, she wants them to let themselves cry. Goodloe said that allowing yourself to let go and release your emotions is a part of the yoga experience and her class at the UREC.
“I am truly honored to work at the LSU UREC, this wonderful and beautiful facility, in my beautiful yoga studio,” Goodloe said.
Goodloe thanked the facility services workers and the entire UREC staff for helping her throughout her career.
At the end of every one of her yoga classes, Goodloe has the class participate in what is called “Shavasana,” when you lie flat down on your yoga mat, relax your body and meditate. Goodloe softy coaxes the class into a state of meditation in the silent room. Many students find that they drift off to sleep during this time.
“When someone comes up to me after class and says, ‘Ms. Janice, your voice is so calming, and it makes me so relaxed, I can fall asleep,’ there are just no words to express how much that means to me,” said Goodloe.
