Imani Grace (photo: Nathan Mitchell Photography and Pipkin Creative)

by The Parks at Walter Reed
guest contributor

The Parks at Walter Reed typically welcomes the community onto the green Great Lawn for dozens of events each spring and summer — but this year the fun can be experienced right in your living room or backyard. Their entire events calendar is virtual for now, with a focus on health and fitness options for the whole family, plus musical performances of jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and more.

The events team has partnered with local fitness instructors and musicians for free yoga sessions, interactive boot camp, and engaging music.

Saturdays at 10am, join fitness guru Gym Jonez for interactive, results-producing boot camp sessions.
Musical performances from Imani-Grace and Beth Cannon are live at theparksdc.com now, and Luke James Shaffer’s “Sunset Sessions” performance premieres on June 7th.
Don’t miss last week’s Kennedy Center Couch Concert presented with the Petworth Jazz Project and Eaton Hotel; the concert of Imani-Grace and Luke Stewart, with visuals by Pat Cain, was broadcast live for the first time from the century-old Boiler Plant!

For a more gentle workout, each Tuesday evening, join an instructor from Twist & Turns Body Fitness, a Ward 4 yoga studio owned by mother-daughter team Monica Abdul-Saleem and Ajeenah Abdul-Watts.

Monica Abdul-Saleem and Ajeenah Abdul-Watts — Ajeenah Abdul-Watts and Monica Abdul-Saleem

“My favorite thing about teaching yoga is seeing the transformation for people, either physically or mentally,” said Ajeenah, who has taught three classes at The Parks this season. “With adults, it may be something as simple as not being able to touch their toes in the beginning, or people telling me they feel calmer. That’s a major accomplishment!”

Monica encouraged Ajeenah to try bikram yoga at first, and Ajeenah came to love the high-energy workouts. After noticing the benefits of yoga and realizing that it was not very popular within the Black community, she wanted to share it with others.

Her true passion, however, is teaching yoga to children, and Twist & Turns is planning to add children’s classes in the near future. Ajeenah has taught at charter schools around the neighborhood for years.

“I really love teaching kids the most. With kids you see the transformation faster, especially in DC. I think the kids have a lot of stress — it’s hard for them to deal with different things. To see the kids be able to balance their emotions and use the techniques they learn is powerful.”

The studio opened in 2013 and is located at 5521 Colorado Avenue NW. Twist & Turns offers personal training classes, Zumba, yoga, and several fitness classes each week including the “6 AM Club,” a hardcore group of seven women who exercise at 6am three times a week.

“During quarantine, they’ve taken the dumbbells home from the studio so they can be ready for classes online,” said Monica, a retired DCPS teacher and personal trainer. “Even on holidays they still want to work out! I’m thankful for that.”

Both Monica and Ajeenah are native Washingtonians and have been long-time Ward 4 residents. Monica went to Howard University for her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and Trinity for her master’s in guidance and counseling. Ajeenah is a graduate from Trinity University with a bachelor’s in sociology and a masters in business.

This Tuesday's Instagram Live session has been postponed to next week due to the city-wide curfew. Please watch last week's class on YouTube and join Tiffany next week for the live class.

Visit theparksdc.com to watch past yoga classes, boot camp sessions with Gym Jonez, and musical performances by Beth Cannon and Imani-Grace. Each event is streamed on Instagram Live and posted to YouTube the following week.