Friday Flow: Weekly Unwind with Neha Singhal
On Friday afternoons, Willow Grove Cultural Commons becomes a place to slow down, breathe, and reconnect—with your body, with your mind, and with the people around you.
Led by yoga instructor and Willow Grove Partner Neha Singhal, Friday Flow: Weekly Unwind offers an opportunity to experience yoga as both movement and a practice of connection.
More Than a Workout
As an Indian American, Neha brings a deeply personal connection to yoga. She approaches teaching as an opportunity to honor yoga’s cultural and spiritual foundations while exploring what the practice can mean for modern, diverse communities.
“Yoga belongs to anyone interested in its physical, mental, and spiritual benefits,” she says. Her goal is to create ways of engaging with the practice that are mindful of its history and origins while being inclusive and accessible to people of all backgrounds and bodies.
A Practice of Belonging
For Neha, creating a welcoming space is personal.
Growing up in Maryland, she first encountered yoga at home, where it was a joyful part of family life and a connection to her South Asian heritage. As she grew older, her connection to yoga became more complicated. At school, she learned quickly that her South Asian identity sometimes made her a target for bullies: fellow students taunted her about her accent, her appearance, and the lunches she brought from home. In this environment where being different could mean being singled out, she developed a keen sense that breaking into a yoga pose would likely mark her as “foreign” and lead to painful othering and alienation from her peers.
From this vantage point, Neha watched as yoga evolved in her local community—and in other American cities—into a fitness-focused wellness trend. In many of the yoga spaces she encountered, Neha saw an emphasis on a particular body ideal: young, thin, flexible bodies able to perform complex poses, often represented through the imagery and marketing of commercial studios. She frequently found herself to be the only South Asian person, or even person of color, in these spaces, and also became increasingly aware of the ways that yoga spaces could feel unwelcoming to people of different body types, ages, and abilities.
Those experiences shaped the way she teaches today.
Neha’s classes are designed to be inclusive and accessible to people of different backgrounds, bodies, and levels of experience. You don't have to look a certain way, move a certain way, or know anything about yoga to belong in the room. Whether you have practiced for years or have never tried yoga before, you’re invited to come as you are.
What to Expect
Each class offers guided movement and breathing as well as time to slow down, reflect, and unwind. You’ll be encouraged to listen to your body and explore the practice at your own pace, and Neha will freely offer modifications so that all participants can find an approach that feels supportive to their needs.
Please bring a yoga mat and water bottle. Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely. Yoga is typically practiced barefoot, so no special footwear is required. If you are new to yoga, arrive a few minutes early to get settled and speak with the instructor.
Did You Know?
Museum members receive a reduced admission price for Friday Flow: Weekly Unwind. Your membership also helps make community programs like this possible—programs that create opportunities to experience living cultural traditions, learn from artists and tradition-bearers, and connect with one another.
Ready to Unwind?
Whether you’re looking for a weekly ritual, a way to release the week, or simply a chance to try something new, there’s a place for you here. If you’d like to know more or have questions, reach out to Sandy Spring Museum or call 301-774-0022.
