Retired Forest Service worker discovers new purpose teaching yoga

Betty Kuropat inhales and exhales in rhythm with her movements, raising her arms high above her head and gently bending her front knee.

Dozens of silhouettes mirror Kuropat’s movements as she leads her students through a progression of yoga poses designed to tone the body and calm the mind.

“When you are at the front of the classroom you can kind of feel the energy of the room,” Kuropat said. “Sometimes, collectively, or individually, students will really get into it and get what we are doing. And I can see that and feel that.”

Kuropat, a woman who dedicated her career to taking care of the health of local forests, is now contributing her talents to improve the health of Flathead Valley community members in her retirement.

KUROPAT HAD an extensive career in the U.S. Forest Service, holding a variety of positions, first with the Kootenai National Forest starting in 1977, and later with the Flathead National Forest, where she stayed until retiring in 2012.

Throughout her career, Kuropat specialized in silviculture, a branch of forestry that focuses on the growth, cultivation and management of trees.

Kuropat enjoyed both her work and her coworkers at the Forest Service.

“It’s a fairly small group of people nationwide for a government agency,” she said. “They call themselves a Forest Service family — and it’s for a reason. You are all in it together.”

The retired silviculturist said she is grateful to have worked on the Flathead Forest.

“The Flathead is, of course, an amazing place and an awesome place to work with forest service because it’s so beautiful and so diverse,” Kuropat said. “When I was trying to get a job they called it the ‘retirement forest’ because once you get a job there you stay.”

After retiring — or what Kuropat refers to as “graduating” from the Forest Service — Kuropat deepened her involvement in yoga, a pastime she’s enjoyed for 45 years. Kuropat teaches yoga at the Wave and the Whitefish Community Center several times per week.

Whitefish resident Cheryl Jurgens has attended Kuropat’s classes at both locations.

“The reason I am in yoga is to increase muscle mass, to relax and to be more balanced physically and mentally,” Jurgens said. “Betty facilitates all of that.”

The good music and atmosphere at Kuropat’s classes keep Jurgens coming back.

“She’s a lot of fun,” Jurgens said. “She’s an expert who doesn’t take herself too seriously.”

Kuropat said her experience with yoga transcends beyond the mat.

“It’s not so much about the body movements as being able to develop self-acceptance and compassion and patience,” she said. “If you can practice that with yourself, hopefully you can develop that in your relationships.”

THE YOGI said her experience with the craft has helped to create balance in her life.

Balance is something that’s very important Kuropat, especially when it comes to managing her Type 1 diabetes. While living with diabetes does not define who she is, Kuropat said it is a part of her life.

“If I don’t follow the diet, exercise and schedule that I know is best, it can get out of control and I suffer consequences,” Kuropat said. “It can be hard to deal with.”

While life with diabetes can be difficult, Kuropat said she is proof that you can live a good life with a chronic disease.

“I’m healthy as can be. I do pretty much anything I want to. I think I manage it well,” she said.

When Kuropat isn’t on her yoga mat, she said she can often be found out in nature, being a “roadie” for her husband and best friend Edd Kuropat, who displays and sells his woodwork at art shows, and volunteering for the Native Plant Society.

Kuropat still has her hand in her work after retirement, offering forest consulting services and teaching forestry stewardship with the MSU Forestry Extension program.

While Kuropat keeps busy with a variety of activities, she said she is just as happy being alone in her cabin in the woods. To her, life is about achieving balance while keeping active.

“The more I age the more I realize activity is important, because you have to stay strong and keep your lungs fit and your heart going,” she said. “There’s a difference between being alive and being lively.”

Reporter Breeana Laughlin can be reached at 758-4441 or blaughlin@dailyinterlake.com.