During the late summer of 2019, I found myself at the Wyoming Community Coffee, better known as WyCoCo, which serves the best Hug tea and plant-based cream cheese west of New York City. I was there to meet my friend David. We were discussing the upcoming Sunday school year at a local synagogue. My copy of the World Peace Yoga book prominently rested on our table—for a certain show-and-tell for guiding wellness and kindness to all including children from pre-school to eighth grade.
Meanwhile, I noticed a young man sitting at the coffee bar that faced the outside window. As David and I got up to leave, the young man turned around and—perhaps without quite introducing himself—said that he had been researching yoga teacher training programs in Cincinnati. The night before, he read about World Peace Yoga in Clifton. He wanted to know more.
So began my friendship with “K.C.”
A few days later, Anna Ferguson of World Peace mentioned that she heard from one Kevin Kless, a Latin language instructor, about teacher training. Since he introduced himself to me with just his initials, we guessed he was the same young man I met at the coffee shop.
Over time, I learned about his family, his young son Sam and his wife Rachel. Soon the couple would find out that they were expecting their second child, a daughter, named Miranda. He did join World Peace teacher training and his enthusiasm for the practice was inspiring—and so was his “bendiness.” He was a natural, a good fit for yoga.
K.C. was devoted to his studies. He completed teacher training in a year’s time, which not every student can do. But K.C. did despite his professional and family responsibilities. His practice really attested his devotion to teacher training. After graduation, he enrolled in advanced teacher training—and Anna asked him to join the circle of World Peace teachers to share his wisdom with those new and old to the practice of yoga. His classes were sessions of mindfulness, poses, and humor plus great music. The time spent practicing with K.C. was time well spent, time when no one thought about time. Who knew that time would be short?
In March 2022, K.C. suffered his first seizures. Physicians, specialists, and office visits had to fit into his practice. Still, he continued to practice and teach yoga—with the assistance of his teachers and students if necessary—for as long as his mind and body could handle it. And he and I gathered for coffee at WyCoCo and discussed yoga, music, and whatever shared interests we had. When it came to health, I let him bring it into the conversation and he never did.
K.C. is now under the care of Hospice of Cincinnati in Blue Ash—which is just a few miles away from me at this moment, as I write. That he’s that close is comforting. I spent some time by K.C.’s side on Sunday, May 5, which was truly an honor. I hope to see him again as long as he is still with us. In the meantime, it gives me comfort that a dear friend who is also a yoga teacher volunteers there and has visited him, bringing water to his room and the rooms of others at Blue Ash.
We guide yoga with the open mind of a beginner. K.C. always approached his classes that way. And though it became a struggle for him, he—we—never looked at it that way.
-M. Lori Reidel
