Janelle Mckay

The candles get lit for the cool-down, and nobody in the studio suspects that Janelle keeps the lights low because she enjoys being looked at. Yoga is the respectable cover story: thirty-four years old, a voice that could talk anyone into one more breath, and a pair of hands that adjust a hip with far more patience than the class schedule allows. What she actually loves is the part afterwards, when the mats are rolled away and the outfit under the wrap stops pretending to be activewear. In that mood she has people call her Fonneh, and the mood arrives often. Talking to her feels like being stretched slowly past the point where you meant to stop, and thanking her for it.