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What training impacts your yoga teaching?

 

I completed my RYT 200hr teacher training certificate in 2012. My initial training was in the now bygone technique of Anusara (an American yoga style with roots in the Iyengar tradition). Anusara offered a great system of yoga practice, but like many yoga traditions it met a swift end when faith in the system’s founder collapsed. Having been involved with Anusara at that time and witnessed the disenchantment of a global yoga community, I am wary of adhering to any teaching that resembles dogma. My training in Anusara was a wonderful foundation on which I will continue to build my practice and subsequently my teaching.  

 

Modern yoga continues to grow and change. New and diverse voices are shaping the evolution of how yoga is taught, interpreted, and experienced. My voice is one voice influenced by many. I believe that to be on the yogic path is to experience a lifetime of learning. 

 

 

 

What is your favorite thing about yoga practice and teaching?

 

When I first began practicing yoga asana (around the same time I moved to Athens in 2008) I was struck by just how great it felt. I have always been a physically active person (being involved in sports and frequenting the gym) but before it started doing yoga I did not approach exercise as a way to enjoy my body. Not only did I like the way I felt after a yoga class, but I loved the way I felt during the practice. 

 

Eventually, I was inclined to take a teacher training because I wanted to do more yoga asana. At the time I wasn’t sure I was ready to look outside myself in order to teach, but I tried it anyway. Now I can honestly say that I love teaching. When I am teaching I experience the power of being present and I love to share that with my students. 

 

 

What is your favorite thing about being part of a yoga community?

 

In 2020 we have all become familiar with the experience of swift, unexpected, and broad-reaching change. Along with the fear and uncertainty of this global pandemic, there has never been a clearer demonstration of how deeply we are connected as humans. 

 

One of the first things I did in quarantine was to set up a platform to live stream my yoga classes. I craved a connection with my yoga students/piers  in order to provide grounding in my life. It is certainly “not the same” teaching in a remote learning environment, but I have found new ways to connect with the yoga community as a result. I joined the Revolution Therapy + Yoga book club and I host a weekly Zoom meeting with several of my students.

 

The asana practice can be a powerful shared experience between a group of people. The act of practicing yoga together can help us to expand our capacity for empathy and love. Many of us in the yoga community are using this time away from the studio environment to envision yoga classes and spaces that are more welcoming, accepting, inclusive and accessible for every body. 

 

What do you like to do outside of yoga?

 

Outside of yoga? There is no outside of yoga.* 

 

(*This answer is meant to be humorous, but not flippant. Please inquire for more details.)