Barbara Boris was a huge “Star Trek” fan.
Martin Brading, Boris’s life partner for more than two decades, said she enjoyed the fantasy, escapism and philosophical debates that framed the show.
“She was a Trekkie,” Brading said with a laugh.
“She was a very tender person, very kind—thoughtful and compassionate, a gentle soul,” he added of Boris, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Boris died in Kingston on Saturday, Nov. 15, of an embolism, a complication following hip surgery. She was 66.
“She wasn’t reserved. She had opinions. But she was humble, generous, I would say. She never shouted at anybody,” Brading said. “She wasn’t aggressive. She was very open. She would talk to anyone about anything. She always tried to see the best in everything.”
Brading and Boris met in 1992 at Jivamukti Yoga Center in Manhattan. They became friends, then a couple, and later settled together in Woodstock. Speaking about her in a phone interview on Monday, Brading began to cry.
Many Woodstock residents will remember Boris as passionate, devoted and committed to the practice of yoga. She founded the Woodstock Yoga Center in 2012.
“In honor of her life, and to give our community time to grieve, class at Woodstock Yoga Center is cancelled temporarily until further notice,” reads a message on the center’s website. “We ask for your patience & grace during this difficult time. We will update everyone once a memorial gather date and location has been set. Thank you for holding Barbara, her family, her friends, and our community in your hearts during this difficult time.”
Boris was ill as a child, suffered from allergies and couldn’t participate in sports. The Woodstock Yoga Center elaborated on her struggle—and triumph—with those allergies. Unable to pursue athletics, she discovered she was flexible, which led her to yoga in the 1960s. She took it up seriously in the 1980s after moving to New York City.
“She really took to it,” Brading said. “And she was good at it.”
Her passion soon led her to teach.
“She loved yoga,” Brading said.
Boris was a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor, dedicated to yoga asana, Indian philosophies and Sanskrit in her teaching, according to the Woodstock Yoga Center. Iyengar Yoga emphasizes the correct alignment of all parts of the body within each pose, according to the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles. She was also certified by the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
Ami Jayaprada Hirschstein of New Paltz studied with Boris for 10 years and recently reconnected with her. The two spoke just last week about working together.
“She was an amazing person and an amazing teacher,” Hirschstein said. “She lived and breathed yoga. We would talk shop or talk philosophy.”
She added with a laugh, “We were both Sanskrit geek-kind of people.”
One of the ways Boris deepened her practice was by traveling to India nearly every winter from 1994 to 2014. Her first trip abroad was a three-month journey to India in 1994, during which she lived in the jungle and tasted Indian food for the first time. The Woodstock Yoga Center describes the trip as life-changing, a formative experience that shaped her calling as a teacher.
Before becoming a full-time yoga instructor, Boris worked as a graphic designer and held several roles across companies, including art director for Condé Nast.
“She taught me tons of yoga things,” Brading said. “She taught me to be a better, kinder, nicer person. I watched how she dealt with people. She inspired me with her attitude towards life in general.”
A memorial service will be held on Nov. 22 at 3:30 p.m. at Mountain View Studio in Woodstock, N.Y.
John W. Barry is a reporter at The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.