How did you get into yoga?
As a little girl, I recall, late one night, hearing my mother’s heavily labored breathing coming from outside my bedroom door. I jumped up to check on her to discover she was doing yoga, and was sent back to bed.
Unfortunately, Mother didn’t choose to share this new interest with me and must have given it up, as I never woke to her I ujaiya breathing again.
Decades later, I was lured into Curves by my Tai Qi instructor who wanted a partner to help her loose some weight and get into better shape and took my own daughter, Célèste, along. I still remember my favorite part was the optional stretching at the end of the aerobic and low weight training part of the program. The sage twist, though it wasn’t called that, was the highlight of my workout and Célèste teased me because I held it and each other stretch the full recommended 60 seconds.
Soon when we became bored with the limited facilities. The had not been intimidating to us when we began, but our progress gave us the confidence to get memberships in a full gym nearby. This gym yoga classes were an exciting offering to Célèste but I explained that yoga would not be safe for my old lady joints. My silly ignorance tickles me, now, as I reflect on those fears a decade later, and a yoga teacher, myself.
Célèste finally cajoled me into taking a yoga class with her but I warned her she might be embarrassed when I couldn’t do the required poses. I was right about one thing, I could not even do child’s pose, which the teacher had suggested as a resting place to retreat to if things got difficult. Fortunately, the excellent instructor knew how to help me find that pose in my creaking old body and soon we were regulars in the class and I found comfort in the familiarity of several stretches like the sage twist.
How does your quality of life compare now compared to pre-yoga?
Today, my quality of life is enhanced by the yoga I do daily. I have more energy to enjoy the activities I love such as hiking in the woods and playing with my grandchildren. My stamina endures when I kayak or canoe and my thinking is clearer and more focused than it has ever been. I feel more full of life than even when I was in college.
What parts of the yoga practice have benefited you most?
My favorite part of yoga is the basics. I return to them often and continue to refine the many principles, integrating them into my body and my life. So, for example, if I’m forward bending to blow dry the back of my long hair, or over the sink as I brush my teeth or wash my dishes; I am attentive to my pelvis tilt, my breath and my lengthening spine. As drive, I do so sitting on my sitz bones, lengthening through the crown of my head.
Even in my relationships, I am able to be more present, patient and kind because of the basic principles of yoga. My own personal spiritual path is structured around the mindfulness of yoga and I often share these principles with my patients in my Chinese Medicine practice to enhance and empower their healing.
What might your life be like if you had not found yoga?
I find it objectionable to imagine my life without yoga, and it seems like an impossible task because it is so much a part of who I am. I do not think I would exist as who I am without the principles of yoga guiding me.
Why did you decide to do yoga teacher training and eventually a yoga teacher?
I never planned to be a yoga teacher. I clearly explained in the first go round of our circle of students in the class, that I was there to learn how to share poses with my acupuncture patients. I was nervous and felt very incompetent to teach even at first in our class practices, but my fellow student, Phylis Stewart, invited me to partner and practice with her in her home. We taught each other all the sun salutations over and over until we each felt confident in class. Soon I was eager teach and even felt confident, though extremely nervous, to teach my own classes when Anna asked me to create a Rise and Shine class.
