By Melissa Hoon

Photos by Tai Kerbs & Martin Rusch

It might be surprising to hear that seven years working at the legendary Los Angeles music venue Largo provided a training ground for the instruction of Yoga. But for teacher and Yoga at the Raven co-owner Tony Giuliano, this was exactly the case. From working at the door to running the office and then spending a few nights a week managing the intimate space for music lovers, Tony says he learned a number of lessons that helped him understand how to create a vibe for a Yoga class, informed his teaching and ignited his passion for running a studio. Throughout his life, passion for both artistic expression and self-inquiry are common themes. Whether pursuing painting, working as a professional musician, or teaching Yoga, Tony Giuliano has maintained a desire to stay true to his heart and cultivate love through all his actions.

The Rochester, New York native’s joy of learning has him along a seemingly winding path from artist to musician to Yoga instructor. “Teaching Yoga has made me a great student of life,” Tony says. “I think you continually have to be open to examining yourself and be able to articulate that in an honest and authentic way.” Currently, his ability to be in tune with his heart’s desire has helped him foster happiness as the co-owner of Yoga at the Raven, a Silver Lake studio that opened last year.

He traveled a winding road from Rochester to the Raven. After attending junior college near Lake Ontario in New York, Tony transferred to the University of California in Santa Barbara. His thirst for knowledge and desire for inspired an exploration of the US with his brother. A talented artist, Tony funded the trek by selling hand-painted T-shirts that reflected his interest in Native American culture.

While living as a painter in New York City, Tony discovered Kundalini Yoga through Ravi Singh.  He later moved to New Mexico where he earned a BFA in painting and met his wife, Maren, whom he lovingly calls “the caretaker of my intentions.” The two were instant best friends—a connection that continues to thrive 15 years later. They support each another in meditation, sitting for practice on their hillside rooftop and often traveling to meditation retreats together.

In 1997, the duo settled in LA. Tony and Maren reside in Echo Park in a 1928 Spanish-style home that Tony rebuilt himself from its Italian-inspired patio to the rooftop with a view upon which they meditate daily. In LA, Tony pursued his career in music as a songwriter and worked at Largo where, “It was like watching the great Yogis of music,” Tony says.  “I saw Elliot Smith, Amiee Mann, Jon Brion and so many talented folks who knew how to blow the heart wide open.” There is a connection between the Yoga and music. Tony says, “Music and teaching Yoga have a similar thread.  Each Yoga pose is like a song and each one holds different melodies and texture.”

He began taking Anusara Yoga classes at the Hollywood YMCA, and soon dedicated himself to studying under Anusara founder John Friend and Tantric philosophy scholars Douglas Brooks and Paul Muller-Ortega. Tony credits Yoga for helping him gear his life toward his destiny.

“Ask yourself if you are doing what you love. If you’re not doing what you love, close your eyes, go inside and listen,” Tony says. “When the minds settles, like in savasana or meditation, so often the whisper of the heart becomes louder and is telling you exactly what it desires. Yoga hopefully teaches us to listen. Most importantly, it allowed me to create more love in my life.”

Tunes that Inspire

1.  “Om Namah Shivaya” by Steve Gold

2.  “Prana Groove” by Stevin McNamara

3.  “Sunday Morning” by Todd Boston

4.  “Baba Hanuman” by Krishna Das

5.  “Hanuman Chalisa” by Shantala

6.  “Shema” by Josh Brill

7.  “All Alone” by Bhagavan Das

8.  “Raag Gaoti (Alap 1)” by Gundecha Brothers

9.  “Purna” by Steve Gold

10.  “Opening” by Wah!

Words of Inspiration

1.  Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. “I’ve read this book so many times it is taped together. A classic tale—so beautiful in its innocence, simplicity and wisdom.

2.  The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. “The ultimate book about unconditional love”
3.  Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.“This interesting and rich book is the story of a truly amazing man.”

4.  John Lennon: In His Own words by John Lennon.  “I love how [Lennon] encompasses the full range of human emotion in both life and song.”

5.  Play of Consciousness by Swami Muktananda.  “I love “Muktananda’s vivid description of his spiritual journey.”

Melissa Hoon is an Orange County-based writer who works at Chapman University and is studying to become a Yoga instructor. She lives her passion through service and travel through stints working in Vietnam, South Africa, and New Orleans when she’s not writing for LA YOGA:  http://about.me/melissahoon

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By Felicia Tomasko

Photos by David Young-Wolff

When asked about her greatest inspiration as a Yoga teacher, Briohny replies with her ready smile, “That’s easy,” she laughs. “Every minute of every day, I’m inspired by my family: my daughter Taylor, my fiancé Dice, my mother Pam, my father Peter… and my sister Ravi, whom I have yet to convince to step onto the mat!”

Her family is more than simply an inspiration when it comes to her relationship with Yoga, as members of three generations of the family frequently practice together. Her father Peter (who sports Bri’s same easy grin) can often be found in a Yoga studio taking one of Dice or Briohny’s classes. Bri’s daughter Taylor has learned how to flip her body into a steady handstand from her mother. And a few years ago, Bri began teaching Yoga to her own mother Pam. “My family helps me connect with the teachings of Yoga. For example, there is an element of fun, fearlessness, and purity in what my daughter brings to all the poses from handstand to savasana.”

Pam, Bri’s mom, found Yoga at the age of 60. About teaching her mother, Bri says, “It’s a learning experience for me to work with her, and to see how her body has changed over the five years she’s been practicing Yoga. Working with her has helped me understand how to approach bodies from the perspective of safety first.” Not that Briohny’s own practice or teaching isn’t otherwise safe, but when someone’s website url is handstanders.com, you get an idea of where their body may spend a great deal of time oriented in their practice — upside down!

Additionally, Dice and Briohny often practicing together, and are frequently spotted on the mat in each other’s classes, catching air and playing along for fun. This is when they’re not actually co-teaching or leading workshops and retreats as a team. The two are even combining a Yoga retreat in Bri’s former home country of Thailand with their upcoming wedding. And while some of their practice takes place within the studio, they also spend a fair amount of time on warm days biking to the green near the Santa Monica Pier where the acrobats and gymnasts hang around and trade techniques.

Before Bri’s life involved acrobatics near the Pier, an Equinox video with more than three million views, or time patiently spent in a studio instructing a variety of students, she had achieved celebrity as a pop sensation in Thailand. Bri was born in Sydney, Australia, where she spent the first three years of her life with her Australian father and Thai-Chinese mother, speaking both English and French (with her French-Italian grandmother). Then for the next eight years, she lived the American life in Woodland Hills and Topanga Canyon, until the ’94 earthquake inspired a sudden family move—to Thailand.

She began learning the language by singing Thai songs karaoke-style. Bri’s aunt encouraged her mother to bring the eleven-year-old with the unusual half-Thai, half-Caucasian look to a modeling agency. This seemingly simple decision led to Bri being featured in a slew of ad campaigns, including twenty commercials in one year. When Bri was twelve, after appearing throughout Thailand and Japan in print advertising for Bioré pore packs, she received a phone call from a record label wanting to cast her in a film.

At the time, Bri explains, record companies in Thailand were the ones who produced everything from soap operas to movies. When she was asked what she liked to do, her quick reply was, “I love to sing.”

Six months later, she cut her first album which sold three million tapes alone. “We don’t even buy cassette tapes anymore,” Briohny jokes. As her teenage pop star career moved forward (amidst rampant pirating of music), she began producing, even developing, a sub-label within the record company for her preferred hip-hop sounds. At the same time, she was living an exciting, yet grueling, touring lifestyle that took a toll on her health. She used drugs, partied “ridiculously,” developed an eating disorder (bulimia and anorexia), and had to lie about her age to perform in clubs. “My darkest time of abusing my body was from the ages of thirteen to sixteen.”

“When I was fifteen, I had a producer approach me asking me to host a travel show to Nepal. We shot for a week, but I stayed for three months, traveling through Nepal, Tibet, and India. I first found Yoga at an ashram in Nepal. From that point on, I was practicing here and there and then when I returned to Bangkok, I found a studio and kept practicing.” Her ongoing Yoga practice inspired her to start to change her lifestyle in small ways, such as getting up early to practice or questioning some of her actions, even though she continued the cycles of anorexia and bulimia until she became pregnant. Briohny credits her participation in Overeaters Anonymous and 12 -step programs along with Yoga with her ability to finally shift her addictive behavior.

When she learned she was pregnant, she stepped away from the limelight and left Thailand to raise her baby. “I’ve always liked to sing and perform music; it’s gratifying and the fans can be loving. But nothing is as gratifying as the love I have for my child and the feeling of holding my child in my arms and nourishing her. I’ve dedicated my life to her.”

After moving to Houston, Briohny and Taylor’s father worked together in the fashion industry. Bri became a retail buyer and later developed her own fashion line before the relationship and the fashion line ended. Her next move brought her back to Southern California and to a deeper investigation of the Yoga practice that had been a part of her life since the age of fifteen. Years of Yoga had helped Briohny find self-acceptance, and the practice helped her to prepare for the birth of her daughter and for motherhood.

Immersing herself in Yoga ignited an internal spark. “The first person who inspired me to think I could do this as a business while continuously cultivating becoming a better person for my family and everyone around me was Kathryn Budig.”

Briohny’s next step was a 200-hour 30-day teacher training immersion with Annie Carpenter, Kia Miller, Joan Hyman, and Bahni Turpin. She started out having to pay to rent spaces and teach before her Yoga teacher dance card began to fill.

When asked about other inspirations, Briohny mentions one of her current students, Nick. An accident caused by an exploding citronella candle led to third degree burns over large areas of his body, including his shoulders, upper body, arms, hands, and face. “He has a drive like no other,” she insists, and his recovery time has beaten all of the odds. He sought out Yoga, and she researched Yoga for people with burns.

“While I did my teacher training, Jasmine Lieb, Annie Carpenter, Lisa Walford, and Jeanne Heileman were my mentors. They showed me that just because you have a strong practice; it doesn’t mean that your teaching only has to be that type of practice.”

“Meeting Nick has helped me put my life in perspective; he inspires me every day, and reminds me why I am dedicated to these teachings.”

Throughout a life that has gone from the stage to the studio, Briohny reminds herself while she’s on her mat, “Who am I doing this for?” She often comes back to the importance of love, loving oneself, and connecting to family, as the core of the practice.

Look for Briohny Smyth on her Facebook page: Yoga with Briohny or find her on the web: briohnysmyth.com or handstanders.com.

Further images and work by photographer David Young Wolff can be found at: Davidyoung-wolff.com

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Noah Williams:Dedicated to the Practice

By Melissa Hoon
Photos by David Young-Wolff

Kirtan in the living room was part of Noah Williams’ North County San Diego childhood. His hippie parents and all their friends hosted these sacred music events along with Yoga and meditation classes, rituals, sweat lodges, and more led by Indian and Native American teachers. At the time, he thought this is what everyone did. It was only later when he realized just how unique his family’s way of life really was. Now 37, Noah began practicing Yoga at the age of eight; whenever he wasn’t on a surfboard or skateboard he participated in chanting and asana practice with his stepfather who had studied Yoga while living in India for several years.

At age eleven, unexpected tragedy struck, further inspiring his practice. While he and his younger brother were skateboarding, Noah witnessed his brother’s death when he was struck by a car and killed instantly.  Noah stood over the body wondering, “Where did he go?”  His mother pointed him toward religion, but after exploring various traditions, Noah had still not found the answers he sought.

“I didn’t want hearsay or to know someone else’s idea,” Noah said. “I wanted to see with my own mind what really happens after death.”

Noah began attending services at the Self-Realization Center in Encinitas on Sundays with his mother who felt it would help in the wake of the passing of her youngest son. There he became inspired by Paramahansa Yogananda, Kriya Yoga master and author of Autobiography of a Yogi.

On Noah’s quest to find his soul’s true purpose, he discovered silent meditation through Kriya and pranayama – the spiritual basics taught to children at the temple. Then at the age of 16, after a few years of silent meditation, Noah had a dream while camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the dream, he was given forceful, yet intangible, instruction to find prana or chi.  Upon his return home, he began studying Yoga and martial arts, including Tai Chi, Qigong and Tang Soo Do under Mark Rosenberg, the first teacher with whom he seriously practiced asanas.

“It was inspiring to meet Mark Rosenberg,” Noah said.  “He was someone who I really felt knew what I wanted to know.”

Rosenberg taught him more about asana, leading Noah to devour every Yoga book he could, including The Upanishads, which inspired further study to gain a better understanding of the soul. He began practicing in his hometown of Encinitas with Tim Miller, who was one of the first to bring Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’s lineage of Ashtanga Yoga to America.

“The primary emphasis in Ashtanga Yoga is the practice of asana,” Noah said.  “Then the focus becomes the movement of prana.  Then the focus is on controlling your mind.  Ashtanga Yoga is the integration of asana with perfect concentration, or meditation.”

When Noah met Miller at the age of 17, he committed to three years of practice to answer the question raised at his brother’s death; the question that started it all: “Where did he go?” After three years, Noah yearned for an experience beyond the physical practice of asana, so Tim suggested his own teacher, Pattahbi Jois. At the age of 20, Noah boarded a plane to India, where he studied with Jois for six consecutive months, when Jois was still teaching in a small room at the back of his house.

“Pattabhi Jois laughed because I was so young.  He just said to practice, practice, practice for a very long time.” When Noah told Jois he was a college student, Jois replied, “Don’t waste your life.  Yoga is real.  You come to me, I will teach you Yoga.”

“Slowly, I understood how the practice of asana was Yoga. Once I had that realization, he began to verbally answer my questions,” Noah said.  “I could feel Ashtanga Yoga was doing something, but I couldn’t really understand what. But that is what Yoga is all about – a lot of times we do not even understand because it is working on such deep levels of consciousness.  After daily practice for ten years, I began to have a deeper understanding of what I was doing and how asanas work on a deeper level, opposed to other exercise.”

At age 21 Noah began teaching Yoga in Los Angeles, as directed by Jois. A year later, in 1996, Noah opened Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Silver Lake with his then-wife and two of his students.  Always connecting first to his identity as a student, Noah’s primary motivation to teach was to finance his Yoga studies.  For the next 13 years, he spent six months each year teaching in Los Angeles and six months studying in Mysore with Jois.  He first brought Jois to Los Angeles in 2001 and was overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted to learn Ashtanga Yoga.  Noah spent the next three years teaching a daily four-hour Mysore-style class of 80 students, while also practicing five hours each day on his own.

During the onslaught that followed Jois’s first LA visit, Noah’s marriage ended, he lost his studio, and he learned that Jois was dying.  He traveled to Mysore to spend Jois’s last days with his teacher. While in India, Noah sustained an abdominal injury and was confined to bed rest, unable to practice Yoga for the next three months following surgery.  During this time (three years ago), Noah realized just how chaotic the mind is, and his appreciation for Yoga grew even more.

Following his initial recovery and Sri Pattabhi Jois’ passing in 2009, Noah returned to LA to a group of students who expressed their desire to practice with him by their frequent phone calls while he was on the road.

“My experiences [in recent years] showed me that things are out of my hands,” Noah said.  “LA is my home.  My family and students are here.  The only thing that makes you a Yoga teacher is your students.”

Noah is now happy to be back in Silver Lake teaching at Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam, housed in a dance studio at Hyperion, just north of Sunset Boulevard, Mondays through Thursdays from 7 to 10 a.m. and Fridays from 7 to 9:40 a.m.  Beginning in July, the hours will change to 7 to 11 a.m. He will soon open a studio at a new Silver Lake location.

“Yoga will manifest anything you desire,” said Noah.  “Yoga makes you happy, and really, what more is there than being happy?”

On Noah’s Bookshelf: His Titles that Inspire

The Life of Milarepa: Milarepa was a great Yogi, but he was also a normal person who made a lot of mistakes in his youth but still aspired to the highest realization of Yoga.

The Wandering Taoist by Deng Ming-Dao: This is the story of a boy who learned to master prana or chi.  His studies inspire me to practice.

Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of Buddha by Thich Nhat Hanh: The story of Buddha’s life.

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda: I feel a strong kinship to Paramhansa Yogananda since I grew up in Encinitas.  His presence is felt there, and his writing and deep understanding of Yoga are an inspiration to me.

The Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras:  The great books on Yoga philosophy.

Noah Williams can be found at the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam: ashtangayoganilayam.com

Melissa Hoon is an Orange County-based writer who works at Chapman University and is studying to become a Yoga instructor. She lives her passion through service and travel through stints working in Vietnam, South Africa, and New Orleans when she’s not writing for LA YOGA:  about.me/melissahoon

David Young-Wolff loves to tell a story in a single frame. Never satisfied with the ordinary, he strives to create exciting images with a unique twist. In addition to his assignments, he is currently working on two projects. One is coming to LA, which involves photographing people who are moved to LA from other countries. He is also shooting photos to illustrate an upcoming book, Navajo Mothers, Navajo Daughters. davidyoung-wolff.com

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When I was pregnant with my second daughter Ava, I thought I had learned the lessons of unconditional love. I would lose sleep, just watching my two-year-old Xenia slumber. I thought my life was so blessed; I thought I was truly living my life’s journey. But when I found myself crying, praying for guidance, I could feel a calling for additional changes and shifts. I could feel that deeper healing was needed.

From time to time, in those months, I would drive from Corona to Santa Monica to practice with one of my teachers, Saul David Raye. Being a weekend, the class was packed, yet with my unborn enlightened being in my belly; I would roll out our mat, set up our bolster, and drop in to the space. Class, of course, was amazing, as Yoga always is. But what is especially amazing about Saul is his ability to nurture, to infuse the practice with a powerful feminine energy, and to evoke the healing aspects of Yoga — the healing that may be crying out from any of us, the way it was crying out in me.

A few years later, when my children were four and seven, I enrolled in Saul’s yoga teacher training and embarked on an even deeper journey of healing, Yoga, consciousness, and the depths of the journey called Life.

In each and every one of his classes, Saul calls upon the elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether. As he expresses, “In Yoga, the maha bhutas (great elements) contain the essence of life from the cosmic to the microcosmic.” He is always encouraging people to connect viscerally with these forces and states that the means to do so is found throughout all of the world’s sacred teachings. “We are all alive inside a living field of intelligence that expresses itself through the elements.”

Saul’s approach is not based on accomplishing handstand in the middle of the room, holding chaturanga, or analyzing the precise geometrics of a pose. Instead, he is interested in teaching students about energy, reminding us that we are each comprised of energy.

I remember something Saul frequently said in class: “We often hear our friends say things like, ‘I am so stressed out; I need to go work out or take an intense class’.” Saul would pleasantly, humbly remind us of the real energetic option, “We go to work IN.”  In class, the “working in” comes from moments of spontaneous meditation, a constant encouragement to be in the space of the heart. As Saul often quotes the sage Sri Aurobindo, “All of life is yoga.”

Saul reminds students to connect and listen to the inner guru and he insists we are all teachers. To support this, he offers tools within the teacher training in subtle doses that continue to make sense over time. They have informed my own teaching. Throughout the past 11 years of owning a yoga studio in Corona, I have seen how many people come to yoga with expectations, searching for answers, longing for healing. Learning to hold this space is a profound practice, one that comes from a connection to love and continued inspiration of one’s own teachers. Saul models this, acknowledging the teachers who have inspired him throughout his life and whom he honors frequently for their constant influence. He insists that they have taught him the essential message of love, of the fact that we are all one.

Fully understanding love sometimes comes with some pain, or the necessity to go through some serious healing of our own. On this path, working with energy is vitally important. In my case, Saul offered techniques and teachings along with sharing ancient wisdom from variety of sacred mystical paths.

While some people enroll in a teacher training course with a purpose in mind, Saul, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily set out to become a teacher. He stood in front of the room for his very first class as many do—when his teacher asked him to teach. Although he felt he wasn’t quite ready, he trusted his mentor. “He told me to share what I know,” Saul recollects. “I still follow that and begin teacher trainings with that message… For me, a true teacher doesn’t try to teach, they allow what is inside them to flow and inspire others to their own greatness.”

In his own life, he is continually a student sharing his own life’s journey with humility while reminding others to keep their childlike mind. He constantly reminds us to soften, to operate more from the feminine energy as he says the collective energy on the planet now is a bit too masculine. When we do drop into this space, we are doing our part to enhance the “oneness.” Saul reminds us to look around and, “notice now more than ever more people are doing Yoga all over the world.”

The key now, according to Saul, is for yoga practitioners to connect to the living being of Mother Earth, to literally get grounded. He speaks from experience, as he lives in the mountains as part of his own effort to maintain balance. That connection with nature as well spending time in the ocean, with his family, in his own practice of yoga, and making music—these are the things that keep him grounded.

Saul’s love of music is demonstrated often, he finds that combined with yoga it creates magic. Whether he is leading a chant or a full-on kirtan, inviting musicians to play in his class, or taking the stage at Bhakti Fest, the tremendous power of the universal language to heal and transform is a frequent part of Saul’s teaching. He grew up in the music business, left it, and then came back to it through yoga, encouraging many of the kirtan musicians within the community, and even co-producing Dave Stringer’s first two kirtan albums, Japa and Mala. “There is tremendous power in conscious music to uplift, heal, and transform,” Saul says.

Music helps us get out of our heads and into our hearts. “Being in the energy field of the heart is deeply healing. Science tells us that the heart is over 5,000 times stronger energetically than any other part of our bodies.” This space of the heart, reminds us, as Saul says, “There is no finish line, no enlightenment to attain outside of ourselves. There is only Love.”

For more information about Saul David Raye, visit: sauldavidraye.com

Photos taken at Bhakti Fest  by Kristina Clemens and LJ LoMurray of Fluid Frame Photography

Leeza Villagomez is a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother, wife, student of yoga, and entrepreneur who is the director/owner of Yoga Den Health Spa, a holistic healing center in Corona, California.  Leeza loves sharing yoga and all its paths to finding balance in family, health, happiness and joy: yogadenhe althspa.com.

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When you see pictures of Lauren Peterson in Yoga, the book published by Yoga Journal, or watch her unbelievable YouTube videos, where she’s blithely moving through Ashtanga’s fourth series at the age of 53, you might assume she’d be a serious yogi with no time for fun and games. But if you saw her on The Ellen DeGeneres Show placing and removing a cowboy hat from her head with her feet while in Scorpion Pose, then you know she’s as fun as they come.

Lauren was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother came from a big, loud, Irish- Catholic family and her father was the only son to Swedish immigrant parents. Lauren and her family moved to California when she was little and she grew up exploring the hills, swimming, and spending most of her time outside with her sister, brothers, and a few dogs. That time began her love affair with nature and animals, which continues to this day. Her mother brought music to the house, so the kids grew up singing songs and playing guitar. Lauren loved Shirley Temple and Fred Astaire movies; when she saw productions of The King and I and Sound of Music, she knew she wanted to be a part of that world.

She started tap dancing at twelve. When she grew older, she moved back to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB), founded by George Balanchine, and acting at the Herbert Bergof Studios, with Uta Hagen and other amazing teachers.

The dance world was not all beauty and light, though. Lauren, who’d always been naturally thin and had never thought much about what she ate or didn’t eat, was told to “watch her weight” as she entered puberty. Although she’d watched her mother go on diets, Lauren never had much success limiting her food intake. That changed after a bad reaction to pain medication when she had her wisdom teeth removed. Unable to eat for a few days, she lost a couple of pounds. Empowered, she continued to restrict herself, becoming painfully thin, so much so that at the end of her first year at SAB, her parents were told she wouldn’t be invited back unless she gained some weight.

She then turned to books her dad (a religious scholar) gifted her: A Course in Miracles, the Tao Te Ching, and books on meditation. The ability to become present and listen to her body helped her learn to nourish herself and eat a healthy, balanced diet. She also opened to a new way of thinking, influenced by books, including Diet for a Small Planet. She stopped eating animals at nineteen and started to educate herself about the environment and sustainability.

In her twenties, Lauren was busy pursuing a career as a dancer and an actress. She was studying and doing theatre, commercials, and the occasional television and movie role. She also did some touring as a dancer and went to Japan for the third time in 1989. When her contract was up after four months, she stayed on to study the language and do some work for a group of artists. A year and a half later, she returned to the US with her two-month-old son Sashi, who was born in Osaka.

While touring, Lauren had casually started a personal Yoga practice that began with a cassette tape of a gentle Yoga class. Right away she felt at home, “Yoga felt like what I was waiting for; I was already reading books on teachings from the Far East. I was conscious of the environment, wanted to help people and was concerned about animals. The physical practice of Hatha Yoga fit in with my need to move. The philosophical teachings, especially the yamas and niyamas, tied in with how I naturally wanted to live.”

Back in California, she studied Iyengar Yoga with Herb Sandoval, and he took her to workshops with teachers including Kofi Busia, Manouso Manos, Aadil Palkivala, Patricia Walden and Lisa Walford. Wanting to soak up everything, she also did an intensive with Ana Forrest in Santa Monica. After her first led Ashtanga class with Maty Ezraty, she could barely lift her arms. It was difficult and humbling. Maty encouraged her to study with Chuck Miller in his morning Mysore class and that’s where she found her primary teacher.

Lauren had started to teach Yoga at Malibu Fitness, where she still is part of the regular schedule. As Maty got to know her, she invited Lauren to teach at YogaWorks, along with Steve Ross, Rod Stryker, Erich Schiffmann, Shiva Rea, and Seane Corn. She also continued to practice with Chuck, who taught her through the Ashtanga system’s fourth series. At that time, Lauren created The Yogi’s Companion, a practice CD. She created this labor of love at home with her father who taught her Photoshop; Lauren arranged and labeled (in Sanskrit and English) the more than 175 photos on the accompanying chart. The photos of Lauren, Sashi, and two students, ranging in age from 9-80, were taken in her living room. This was the last project Lauren and her father did together before he died from pancreatic cancer. It felt like a tribute to her dad when Yoga Journal picked The Yogi’s Companion as an Editor’s Choice.

When Sashi was 12, Lauren took him to Japan so he could get to know his biological father, Kobo. From that trip, Sashi learned to love Japan, as Lauren does. They returned annually; when Sashi was a high school junior, he asked if he could complete a year at an International School located in Kobe. With Sashi abroad, Lauren accepted offers to teach in Japan, which lead to offers from Hong Kong, Korea, and Europe. She will be heading to Japan again this May, just after Sashi graduates from Emerson College in Boston.

At the end of every class, Lauren guides her students in an invocation to  “show us what we need to see, help us say what it can benefit others to hear, help us to live our truth from our hearts, and help us to know that truth.” From a little kid who wanted to tap dance, to the laughing woman with a cowboy hat on Ellen, Lauren credits her Yoga practice with helping her to live that truth.

Lauren Peterson lives in Malibu, California with her little rescue dog, Koko, and her son, Sashi, when he’s home from college. You can often see her on her bike or traveling via public transportation. She teaches at Malibu Fitness, YogaPoser and Yogis Anonymous, where you can practice with her online: yogisanonymous.com. You can find The Yogi’s Companion and Lauren’s DVDs on her website at: yogacompanion.com.

Ally Hamilton lives in Santa Monica, CA with her six-year-old-son and three-year-old daughter, and their energetic puppy. She is the co-owner and co-creator of YogisAnonymous.com, where you can practice with her at the studio or online. You can find her blog at: blog.yogisanonymous.com

Featured clothing: The Aquarius Eco Leggings by Cozy Orange Yogawear, made from recycled plastic bottles. Yoga teachers get 20% off of Cozy Orange Yogawear thanks to their Yoga Teacher Discount program.

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Sharing Yoga on the Road

Yoga practice at the Gabriel household in Burbank (Guy and Michelle and their children, Seychelle and Dylan) has become a family affair, particularly  for Guy and Seychelle.

Guy’s enthusiasm for the practice is infectious—and had taken hold before he even completed his first class, when Center for Yoga on Larchmont was simply the Center for Yoga. His contagious excitement meant that when daughter Seychelle was only ten years old, she accompanied Guy to his first class as a student.  Newly minted teacher Scott Lewicki was instructing the Introduction to Yoga series when the father-daughter duo dropped in. In that moment, a trajectory was set in motion.

For Guy, who had been a long-time student of martial arts and at the time increasingly interested in the meditative aspects of the Eastern practices, the next steps involved pursuing yoga teacher training (first with Diane Beardsley at Center for Yoga) and studying Ayurveda at the California College of Ayurveda. “I started reading about it and it felt so truthful, so real.” An actor and precision car driver at the time, Guy still acts and drives while also teaching at Yoga at the Village in Glendale, TheraYoga in Montrose, for private students, and in corporate wellness settings including Universal, Amgen, and Disney under the banner of Plus One Health Management.

For Seychelle, that journey continued with attending a kids’ class. She says it helped her learn to focus and center herself, skills that have continued to serve her working life.

Seychelle caught the acting bug from her family—as a kid, she began doing commercial and extra work, participated in theater and choir in high school, and now has a burgeoning career as a working actor. Her resume includes guest stints on Revenge and Weeds, a starring role in The Last Airbender, and a regular gig on the Steven Spielberg-produced TNT production Falling Skies. While dad Guy clocked decades in front of the camera, her mother Michelle is involved in behind-the-scenes extras casting. Seychelle describes her extended family as, “extras royalty;” they appeared in films such as Grease and Lady Sings the Blues. An uncle is a stuntman, and Guy references a French great-grandfather who was a trapeze and circus artist.

Her yoga practice is integrated into her acting craft. Seychelle warms up by flowing through sun salutations in her trailer and extolls the benefits of warming up the body in this rhythmic way. Meditation also serves her on set; she enters the zone to get into character. “I’d love to see more actors realize that regular yoga practice makes a difference.”

Conversations with her parents reinforce her commitment to practice. “I talk to my parents a lot,” Seychelle says, “And they always remind me that whenever I arrive in a new place, to find a grocery store and a yoga studio. Yoga allows me to settle into my routine and not feel so uprooted.” She describes the studio as a refuge reminding her of home. When in LA, she attends Guy’s classes (even though he has a tendency to call Seychelle out by name), where lessons about the philosophy are heard  in context—and where he often brings out his guitar to serenade the students at the close of the practice.

Music is also a shared passion, in and out of the yoga studio. On road trips, when Guy or Michelle accompany Seychelle to and from location in Vancouver, a guitar, a harmonica, and a veritable songbook of tunes are traveling companions. Guy and Seychelle strummed together at Jimmy Hendrix’s grave on a recent trip, and the family’s Burbank home is frequently filled with the sounds of Guy’s gentle guitar picking. “I wouldn’t know how to play guitar if it weren’t for my dad.”  Seychelle’s love of music spills over into her enjoyment of a yoga teacher’s personalized class playlist;  the combined vibrations of music and yoga, Seychelle feels, create synergy.

The synergy is part of what Guy describes as the real practice of yoga: Connecting with nature. It’s why he loves what he calls “playing yoga” with Seychelle and Dylan, a ritual that’s been part of life since family camping trips. This includes informal sessions like practicing tree pose by a river or beneath the mountains, or side plank by a lake. On the road, the natural world nourishes the practice.

This idea of nurturing through practice infuses all of Guy’s teaching, as well as stocking of his Prius with simple Ayurvedic remedies to offer his students tools for the practice that are replenishing and rejuvenating. His hope—that people can find a sense of balance in their lives.

When Guy reflects on the path of yoga that he and Seychelle have taken, he expresses his fatherly pride as well as his satisfaction in seeing how the power of the practices have helped her to take care of herself and to be more present, on and off camera.

For more information about Guy Gabriel’s workshops, regular classes, and Wheels of Wellness Ayurvedic Prius, email: guygabrielyoga@yahoo.com or visit: yogaatthevillage.com or TheraYogaStudio.com.

Felicia Tomasko is the editor in chief at the Bliss Network. She first met Guy Gabriel when she was teaching yoga on the deck of the Queen Mary for the 2004 National Ayurvedic Medical Association Conference.

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The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga include powerful disciplines and practice; among the most familiar is the third, the asana practice. Many people can spend their entire lives sitting comfortably on this branch of Yoga, never striving to climb to the top, where enlightenment, or Samadhi, waits like a ripe apple waiting to be picked. For Caroline Klebl, the practice of asana is the vehicle on her path to Samadhi.

Caroline’s attraction to the path of living and breathing Yoga was apparent at a young age. Born in Germany to her Austrian father and American mother, she lived her early years in Vienna and moved to the US when she was 10. At the age of 14, she made the decision to be a vegetarian, and at 18, she found Yoga through the only Yoga teacher in Breckenridge, CO. “I had heard that to learn Yoga it was necessary to have a guru. I wanted to find my guru, my teacher.”

It was an immediate fit. “Asana practice is very tangible. It’s quite physical, it’s very real; over time you can see the improvement of the yoga postures. Unlike the various styles of meditation practice, where one may be uncertain of the result. When I practice, I’ve always had an incredible experience. You feel energetically, physically, and psychologically much better. I never stopped. The first time I practiced Yoga I loved it. I loved the experience.”

Even though her first teacher may not have been the guru Caroline was looking for, the power of that experience planted the seed that grew into a passion.

In 1999, she felt a need to pursue something greater than herself, and followed that passion to Mysore, India, where she studied under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois for four and a half months. “I was on a quest to find higher states of consciousness; I was inspired by Samadhi and acquiring Siddhis or special powers. I was always interested in philosophy and psychology and different types of spirituality. I wanted to experience some of the things I read about.”

Although Caroline was able to study under one of the most noteworthy teachers of our time, it didn’t always mean her setting for learning was always ideal. “It was quite difficult in India at times, it was not necessarily a serene environment. People were processing their own life experiences.”

When she returned to the US from India, she started to focus on teaching Yoga. She wanted to share the very positive experience she had practicing Yoga. She developed courses and taught led and Mysore style classes and taught her first workshops in Europe in 2002. During this time she also explored other styles of Yoga and learned from reputable Viniyoga and Iyengar Yoga teachers. She felt that the Ashtanga Vinyasa practice was very effective and that her asanas had improved quickly by practicing Ashtanga Yoga.

Caroline continued her Mysore practice diligently and soon returned to India to continue her studies with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. In the last few years of her teacher’s life, the main Shala, where increasing numbers were making the pilgrimage, became crowded. With Pattabhi Jois, his grandson, Sharath; daughter, Saraswathi Rangaswamy; and all the Yogis in the space, the atmosphere of class could sometimes be confusing. The master then invited Caroline to learn from him in a different part of town where he had a smaller number of students so he could teach her Advanced Asanas. “At this time I began to notice his moral strength and dedication to teaching Yoga asana….I think that was when I finally felt I found the teacher I had been looking for.”

After learning from Pattabhi Jois, she continued her studies by earning a doctorate degree from the India University of Alternative Medicine. Caroline’s thesis became her book, Ashtanga Yoga: the Primary and Intermediate Series. “I always wanted to write a book. It took me about seven years of it being in the back of my mind and I wanted to put it together.” She had previously presented the idea of writing a book on Ashtanga Yoga to Pattabhi Jois.

“He encouraged me to write the book. He also encouraged me to practice Yoga asana and to teach it. As a traditional Indian man, he also valued the importance of marriage. He asked me once, ‘When are you getting married?’”

Caroline hopes her book can be an inspiration for aspiring students, but emphasizes that no book or video can take the place of a real instructor. “You need a connection with a teacher. It’s a lineage in which the practice is passed down from teacher to disciple. After learning from Pattabhi Jois, I feel like I have the strength to assist people who come to my class with their own practice. I feel like I can pass on that same strength that he had. He was connected to life, and how to live correctly. His connection to the asana practice was simple and direct and definite. I can offer that to my students now.”

Caroline takes what she has learned and continues to apply it and share it as she teaches the 200- and 500-hour Yoga teacher training programs she developed. She knows the body is strong and capable of more than what most of us — even some of us Yogis! — realize. She teaches students from all over the world through retreats and teacher trainings, which she conducts in Los Angeles and in beautiful tropical retreat destinations. Her path of teaching and practicing yoga continues to push her to climb each limb, respect each discipline, and reach towards the tender fruit of Samadhi.

Caroline’s Five Pieces of Advice and Encouragement for a New Teacher:

1. Keep up a daily/regular yoga practice. As it is mentioned in the Yoga Sutras, “Sthira Sukham Asanam.” Asanas should be steady and comfortable or provide enjoyment.

2. Do not teach too much or overwork. From an Ayurvedic perspective, it is important not to use the body faster than the seven dhatus or tissue layers can be nourished. This can be accomplished by maintaining a healthy diet, not relying on stimulants to start or complete the day’s tasks, and getting enough sleep.

3. Ahimsa – Do not harm other beings.

1. Santosha – Continuously strive to maintain a content mental state.

5. Svadhyaya – Contemplate the sacred texts on Yoga, such as the Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

For more information on Caroline Klebl, visit: sourceofyoga.com.

Jessica Malloy completed her teacher training with Newton Campbell and Mark Devenpeck at Triad Yoga and Pilates. She teaches in Orange County at studios including Aesthetic Yoga at Aesthetic Climbing Gym and Shore Yoga in Newport Beach. Jessica enjoys playing outside and being in the sun whenever she can.

Photos by Jeff Skeirik/Rawtographer: Rawtographer.com

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“What do I do now?” Garth McLean asked his doctor.

On May 23, 1996, Garth lay in a hospital bed at UCLA Medical Center, basically unable to walk. What felt like a pinched nerve had quickly progressed into the loss of feeling from head to toe. His mind, however, remained as sharp as a tack. Garth remembers everything about that day. More specifically, the time — 3 p.m. — when he received the diagnosis from his doctor that included the words: Multiple Sclerosis. He felt his life change in an instant. “What do I do now, you know, for my physical discipline?” Garth asked again, first feeling relieved and hopeful, given the diagnosis wasn’t worse, then progressively fearful, anxious, and very much alone.

Up until this point, Garth had been the guy constantly on the move. He lived an active life: he’d relocated from the Canadian prairies to New York City to study acting with the legendary Sandy Meisner, then moved to Hollywood in the 90s to pursue a career in film and television. He was a self-proclaimed workout fiend with a love of spinning; he was also a keen student of the martial arts, having trained in Aikido style under the guidance of Haruo Matsuoka Sensei, which consequently led to a work opportunity with action movie star Steven Seagal.

But that was before. Now, things were off-kilter; he couldn’t even balance on a bike. Garth’s doctor suggested yoga and swimming — swimming would keep his body cool (MS doesn’t necessarily fare well with heat), and yoga would help manage his stress. Garth longed for high-intensity exercise, but given his diagnosis, he decided to give yoga a try.

“I was blessed because that evening, some friends who were visiting me in the hospital recommended Iyengar Yoga,” recalls Garth.  “The Iyengar tradition uses props to access proper alignment so the body is given the opportunity to realize its potential,” he explains. The following week, he headed to the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles (IYILA).

Within two weeks of practicing under the guidance of the late Iyengar teacher Karin O’Bannon, Garth remembers the numbness in his body slowly giving way to a buzzing feeling. “It felt like my pager was going off in my calf and in my back,” he says. “It was a pinching and then a buzzing sensation… like something was reawakening there.” Excited, he courageously decided to test how his body would stand up to his old routine of spinning. A sweaty class at the gym left him feeling good, but by the end of the day, he couldn’t feel his body again and ended up back in the hospital.  It was a lesson waiting in the wings – he understood he needed to cultivate patience and respect for his body in order to heal. He returned to IYILA, began a daily practice, and progressively welcomed the feeling back into his body. Since that day, he’s kept at it.

A couple of years into his practice, relieved for the transformative effects yoga was having on his body, Garth began to feel inspired by his journey with MS. He wanted to give back to the yoga community and share his experience with others. Though he never gave up acting, he desired to become a yoga teacher. “I wanted to help others deal with the nightmare of MS,” says Garth. He enrolled in a three-year teacher training program through the Iyengar Yoga Association of Southern California (IYASC) and became certified in 2001.

Garth’s biggest joy of teaching lies in his students. “What I love seeing is when it lands,” he says. “They get it. They get how yoga can actually transform their lives in a positive way. I love seeing when that happens…” By way of analogy, he explains, “I sometimes use the image of the metal silver. It is already a perfect, wonderful element. But if we don’t polish the silver, it tarnishes. If we continue to polish our practice, whether we are faced with a challenge or not, we continue to uncover that light within. We sparkle and shine.”

One of the highlights of his yoga journey was the first trip he took to India where he met with BKS Iyengar. “I was excited, hopeful, and a bit apprehensive to meet this legendary icon of yoga,” Garth recalls. “I told him what I’d been dealing with, and how the yoga practice had been having such a profoundly positive effect on my course of MS under the guidance of the teachers I’d studied with in LA.”  Iyengar looked him straight in the eye and said, “Every day you must walk that fine line between courage and caution.”

“I let those words guide me to this day,” says Garth.

Allowing his wound to be his message, Garth shares the gift of Iyengar Yoga around the world. He offers regular workshops and therapeutic workshops for people living with MS and their teachers; he works with individuals facing such conditions as Parkinson’s, Epilepsy, and Muscular Dystrophy.  The work can also be embraced by those who may be recovering from an accident or who have difficulty moving. As well as working with people with diagnoses, he teaches workshops including intermediate level practices. Additionally, he teaches regular classes at YogaWorks Westwood and Tarzana, and at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles. In 2011, Garth and some fellow Iyengar teachers established Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people manage diseases and conditions through the practice of Iyengar yoga. Additionally, they take part in research dedicated to the therapeutic benefits of yoga.

Thanks to his practice and a relentless drive, Garth has managed his MS and has been in remission since 2001 (he still has residual loss of feeling in his right leg and foot from an episode in 2001). He has even been medication-free since 2003 on the proviso given by his doctor that the lesions on his brain are monitored annually through an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan. His most recent scan showed that the lesions on the left side of his brain have reduced in both number and size.  Now a Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, Garth commented on his own practice, “Out of necessity, I initially learned asana and got back on my feet through yoga by using props. To this day, I am constantly inspired to practice in the environment around me and encourage others to do the same, whether it’s on the mat, on the street, or in the heart of LA!”

These days, Garth can not only balance on his bike, but he’s back to cycling. He travels the world, maintains a strong yoga practice, and is currently working on his one-man play about his journey with MS titled, Looking for Lightning. His life and teaching demonstrates what it really means to live the balance between courage and caution.

For information on upcoming workshop dates, check Garth McLean’s website, yogarth.com, or follow him on Twitter @yogarth.

Amy Gartenberg is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica. She is also the founder of the blog, CestCaliforniaVie.com where you can find healthy recipes, workouts, and daily musings.

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For Nancy Norby, a barre teacher for almost three decades, core strength goes far beyond the physical. A solid center — whether in class, at the barre, or in life — is paramount for success in all things. This may be why Nancy’s creation, Yoga Barre, works on so many levels. On the surface, it’s a challenging workout that combines cardio, stretch, and strength training. When held in a heated room, where the temperatures can reach 95 degrees, it’s also a profound and cohesive muscle conditioning class that remains authentic to a variety of disciplines, including ballet, modern dance, cardio, and yoga. Yoga Barre demonstrates that all movement practices, regardless of distinction, share some common ground at their core with the mind-body connection, or the brain’s ability to “speak” to the muscles and create harmony. Peeling back the layers, while also celebrating the differences, is where Nancy thrives.

“I have a passion for getting to the origins.” A history major in college, Nancy divided her time between academics and dance, and eventually landed an opportunity to study classical ballet in Russia. Following graduation, Nancy continued her classical ballet training with Ehrling Sunde at the United States International University in San Diego. Her director, Paul Hart, was the former director of The Royal Ballet, and entertained his class with stories of the great Russian dancers, including Rudolph Nureyev and Natalia Markova. “Dance is very much taught through stories. The best teachers are always great storytellers.” said Nancy, who often weaves snippets of history throughout her own classes.

This background in ballet technique, along with meticulous alignment, is integral to Nancy’s creation of Yoga Barre. Throughout the class, Nancy includes dance fundamentals and utilizes ballet terminology, such as plie when the legs are bent and port de bras when working the arms.  “After taking a ballet class, my body felt strong, but my mind felt at ease. I tried to duplicate this idea with Yoga Barre.”

Ballet led Nancy into her career as a barre teacher. While taking a ballet class in her twenties, Nancy noticed a classmate who looked particularly strong and centered. Intrigued, Nancy asked what she did differently, which was  how she learned of the Lotte Berk method, a fitness regime that combined dance and conditioning to create long, sculpted muscles. Soon after, Nancy flew to New York City and trained with Lydia Bach to learn the Lotte Berk method. “It was very different from today,” Nancy recalls “There was no formal certification process. I simply trained day and night at an old brownstone on the Upper East Side, where three floors of classes were held simultaneously.” She smiled, “Back then, we taught with giant red balls and music on record players.”

The Lotte Berk technique contains its own interesting history, beginning with Lotte herself, a German modern dancer who studied with the legendary Mary Wigman in the 1930s.  Lotte was an eccentric and flamboyant feminist who developed the technique solely for women in the spirit of liberation. Although svelte and muscular, Lotte faced physical challenges when a dance injury left her with eight fused vertebra. Her method was developed with the consultation of an osteopath. “The Lotte Berk Method is orthopedically designed to keep the core strong and the back supple. It’s ideal for dancers, but helpful for everyone.” Nancy explains. After studying in New York, Nancy returned to Hollywood to manage the only Lotte Berk studio in Sunset Plaza, which she later went on to own. At the time, Nancy was the only licensed instructor of the method, and owned the only barre fitness studio outside of New York City.

After decades of teaching the Lotte Berk method, Nancy was invited to create a sequence for Hot 8 Yoga, which granted her the unique opportunity to add Yoga to the blend of techniques. “I have a very choreographic mind,” says Nancy. “I love designing sequences, and then constantly improving them.” The use of asana in addition to cardio and stretching gives the class a meditative quality and yogic feel in the midst of fast-paced sequences. For example, Nancy uses downward dog to warm up the hamstrings, child’s pose to rest, and plank for arm and core strength. The class helps increase joint flexibility and enhances recovery time for weight lifters, runners, and elite athletes.

“The three components of stretch, strength, and balance develop an intelligent muscle.” Nancy explains. “The barre elements can be combined with any workout. Beginners are welcome as this class educates you and encourages you to go at your own pace.” In keeping with traditional yoga practice, Nancy leads a savasana at the end of class, which offers a final moment for reflection and peace, something rare for any cardio or dance class. “Any time you breathe, move or think, there is spirituality going on. You can’t separate your spirit from your body.”

Spirituality and breathing continually keep Nancy centered through trying times. She has six children, five of which were delivered at home. Her youngest daughter, Grace, was born with Down’s Syndrome, and underwent heart surgery at ten months. “She teaches me how to be comfortable in my own skin,” says Nancy. Motherhood has developed her perspective on her own practice and has given her new insights into her own body and capabilities. “Giving birth allowed me to experience an inner wisdom. It allowed me to let go and trust my body’s inherent wisdom. That has changed my teaching, too.”

Today, Nancy stays busy with Yoga Barre, which she teaches at Hot 8 Yoga in Santa Monica, and also at Revolution Fitness. She practices hot yoga regularly and also enjoys traditional ballet class after she drops off her children for school in the mornings. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, Felix, and her children, who are also involved with dance and yoga. She is currently holding Yoga Barre teacher training workshops at Hot 8 for anyone looking to learn this unique fusion of disciplines, and also to find strength at their core.

Learn more about Nancy and Yoga Barre at Nancynorby.com or check out the schedule at hot8yoga.com

Kiara Kinghorn is a writer and dancer who lives in Santa Monica. She holds a BA in English and a BFA in Dance from UC Santa Barbara, and is also a 200-hour Sphota Yoga Teacher Trainee.

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You know how sometimes you meet someone for the first time who immediately feels like a good friend? That was my feeling when I first met Sommer Thome, an energetic and talented Canadian now living in Los Angeles. We met at a gathering of yoga teachers and students; I was inspired to attend her class and eventually became one of her devotees.

In addition to teaching yoga, Sommer teaches dance and writes a popular blog, yogawithsommer.com, where she shares ideas for living a greener lifestyle as well as some of her favorite vegan recipes.

Born in the late 1970s in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Sommer began ballet lessons at the age of six, but eventually lost interest. When Sommer was eleven, Paula Abdul’s riveting tap dance in the “Opposites Attract” music video reignited her interest in dancing. Her parents enrolled her in tap lessons, and quickly added jazz, ballet, and hip hop. “I was hooked!” Sommer admits.

After graduating from Simon Fraser University, Sommer worked with several contemporary choreographers and dance companies in Vancouver, including the hybrid butoh-modern dance company, Kokoro Dance. As the years passed, she spent less time performing and more time teaching.

Her dedication to her students comes naturally. Sommer reflected, “The thing I enjoy most about teaching dance is the opportunity to be a creative and supportive part of each child’s development. When I see a shy little person finally able to express themselves freely though dance, I’m over the moon!  On the other end of that spectrum, when I have a bit of a wild child come to me, I’m delighted to see them learn to calm and control themselves. I love to see my students connect to their own dance vocabulary, and the obvious sense of accomplishment it that instills in them.”

Sommer continued, “The kids I teach may not choose to become professional dancers, but if I can inspire in them an appreciation of art and their bodies, then I am proud of the job I have done.” Garri Dance Studio owner, Megan Baade enthused, “Sommer fuses her knowledge of dance, yoga, and healthy living into all of her classes. Her playful teaching style makes the learning process fun and exciting, which develops happy, dedicated young dancers.”

Sommer discovered yoga while still deeply committed to dance. “My first exposure to yoga was Ali McGraw’s Yoga Mind & Body, led by Erich Schiffmann. I remember following that tape in our living room and yearning to connect with something deeper.” Sommer truly fell in love with the practice when she found her teacher, Eoin Finn. “He lit that fire in me and inspired me to commit to my practice and start on my path of growth and exploration. Eoin used to run amazing classes out of a place in Vancouver called Kits House – like a community hall. The classes were dubbed ‘all levels, all good’. His classes were such a full experience, he would have us laughing one moment, then experiencing tender sweetness the next, uncovering something profound, and then laughing again!”

She continued, “When my husband Rich and I first moved to LA in 2009, I started practicing at Yoga Blend and it started to feel like a second home. I took the 200-hour teacher training with owner, Christy Marsden, in January of 2010. She became a dear friend, teacher and mentor; by January, 2011, I was teaching my first class at Yoga Blend. I’m now approaching my third anniversary as a yoga teacher there.”

Marsden was quick to share her mutual respect and love for Sommer, “Yoga Blend is dedicated to creating community and Sommer is a huge part of that vision. She is funny, charming, sincere, a delight to be around, and an excellent teacher.”

Sommer explained what she loves about teaching yoga, “It’s an honor to create an environment of support at the yoga studio; a place where we can set aside our gadgets and worries and plug into something deeper that truly feeds us. I love that each person who comes to my class has made a conscious decision to be there.” She added, “It’s such fun to be the orchestrator of adult playtime. There’s often lots of laughter. I love creating my own class playlists, and I’ve heard that I often surprise my students with my song choices,” laughed Sommer.

During my first class with her, I couldn’t help but smile at the descriptive mental pictures she creates to coax the class into various poses. “Imagine you have a big red clown nose, and you’re drawing little circles in the air with it.” Or my favorite, “Move through your sun salutation as though you were inside a lava lamp.” She explains, “I love to use imagery and analogy and found this amazing book, Dynamic Alignment through Imagery, by Eric Franklin. He is a dancer/choreographer who studied visual imagery to improve human alignment and movement. I started thinking about the subtle energy within postures and how to engage the mind in the body’s movement. That and incorporating the breath are the essence of yoga.”

Sommer met her handsome actor/writer husband, Rich, while still in college in Vancouver. They married in January 2009, and Rich started traveling to Los Angeles in pursuit of work. During one of his prolonged absences, Sommer began to explore vegetarianism and veganism. She explained, “My sole companion when my husband was away was our Australian Shepherd, Hudson. A question began to arise in me: Why do I love one animal but eat another? Vegetarianism was familiar territory – my mom has been a vegetarian since before I was born, and I spent my teenage years as one. Now, as an adult and a spiritual seeker, I have come back to this issue with a different perspective. I have decided to try to live my life as an ethical vegan.”

Rich is now also a vegan and both of them share a commitment to help out in the Los Angeles community: Rich has participated in Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals for the past two years, while Sommer has led the “Free to Breathe” campaign in 2011 and the 2012 Yogathon for the National Lung Cancer Partnership. This past year, Sommer led a group of volunteers from Yoga Blend during the Great L.A. River Cleanup, which turned out to be lots of wet, muddy fun!

Sommer still visits Vancouver often, and enjoys connecting with her friends, family and former dance students. When she returns home to sunny Los Angeles, she appreciates returning to her own yoga practice, her teaching and precious time at home.

Find Sommer’s recipe for “The Bomb” Kale Ceasar Salad here.

Jayne McKay is a writer, photographer and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. When she isn’t working on her new film about travel, Jayne loves to hike, read, explore and enjoy her daily yoga practice.

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By Julie Buckner

On a Sunday morning in late September, Annie Carpenter approached me in class, “Julie, I notice your knees are moving into hyperextension. You need to lift the arch of your foot and work to press your calf forward, even in Virabhadrasana One.”  Now, every time I practice Warrior One, I hear Annie Carpenter.

Her voice resounds throughout the yoga community in Los Angeles; she’s a teacher’s teacher. “If you haven’t practiced or trained with Annie, your teacher, or your teacher’s teacher, has,” a well-known instructor quipped. “There are only two degrees of separation between Annie and everyone else doing yoga in LA.’”

Come January, after nearly two decades of teaching in LA, she’ll be moving to the Bay Area with her partner of ten years, Sam Lehmer, and teach at Yoga Tree. She promises to come back to visit often, and to continue offering her trademark 200- and 300-hour SmartFLOW teacher trainings here.

I sat down with Annie the day before her 56^th birthday at her home in Venice, within walking distance (she doesn’t like to drive) from Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, where she’s taught for the past four years.

“Why do I hear your voice in my head?” I asked. Her answer, “You know, I still hear Martha Graham’s voice. Voice is one of the most vital tools a teacher has; it allows us to communicate who we honestly are.”

She continued, “I don’t like to make things too flowery. I use very simple, clear and direct language, in much the same way that a Sutra is short and memorable.”

Annie has practiced yoga for almost 40 years. She started as a troubled teen; her Southern parents sent her to yoga to set her straight. When she was a Graham dancer and teacher in New York in her 20s, she studied Integral Yoga with Swami Satchidananda. Later working as a professor of modern dance at a small Midwestern university, Annie practiced Iyengar Yoga and also earned a Gestalt therapy degree. In her late 30s, she became disinterested in “grading people for art;” and yoga, rather than dance, became her dharma.

Leaving her job and marriage behind in 1995, she came to Santa Monica to study Ashtanga “at a time in her life when change was the right thing for her,” said former YogaWorks owner, Maty Ezraty, who was one of Annie’s first teachers in town.  In 1997, she completed teacher training with Ezraty and Lisa Walford.  “It was,” remembers Walford, “a stellar group of characters,” including Natasha Rizopolous, Russ Pfeiffer, and Karen Voight.

“Annie was a great student; one of my best,” Ezraty said in an interview from her home in Hawaii. “Yoga was in her skin. I knew she was going to teach.”

Asana and meditation are daily practices for Annie. For six years, Insight LA founderTrudy Goodman has been Annie’s meditation teacher. Annie brings, “the same level of dedication, integrity and open-heartedness” to meditation that she does with yoga – with “a beginners mind,” said Goodman.

“Because I practice and because my practice is always changing, I continue being creative and innovative in terms of how I arrive at the aims of classical yoga,” Annie explained.

This approach is the basis for Annie’s SmartFLOW system.  “People come to my training because they want to work hard. They want to understand the practice and themselves,” she says. Insisting she’s presenting “methodology instead of formula,” according to Annie, “method implies possibility, exploration, inquiry,” allowing “every student at any level at any time of their life to consider the same questions, pursue the same goals.”  Her method also gives teachers, “creativity while still staying true” to yoga.

SmartFLOW grew “organically” from Annie’s understanding that “bendy people, young people, old people, stiff people, or people in chairs,” need a practice that will last a lifetime. “I don’t care if they ever get their feet behind their head. My hope for my students is that they can pay attention and be present to whatever comes, with great acceptance and love.” Presence and attention are major themes in Annie’s work.

Best known for focusing on anatomical alignment, Annie’s teaching ensures safety. But alignment also helps practitioners build capacity for “presence.” “Why do we care about alignment?  It’s a way to learn about dharana, taking a single point of focus, then expanding your awareness to multiple points, leading to samadhi: All things present at one time.”

Another hallmark is sequencing. She emphasizes practices that “express certain intentions and create specific effects.” She explains, “The key to my sequencing: Build awareness in a relaxed state and move more and more deeply in a singular vein. Disarm through relaxation and open through a steady build of awareness, then find power and freedom through more advanced asana. Finishing poses bring the body and mind back to quiet, peaceful stillness.”

“She’s sneaky,” said Jeanne Heilman. “She’ll tell you to ‘bend your knee, bend your knee more,’ and then you walk out of class and can barely get to your car.”

Walford said Annie’s most significant contribution to teaching yoga is showing that, “flow can be effectively taught, attending to safe alignment/good biomechanical principles, and stimulate the student emotionally and spiritually.”

With a reputation for being self-disciplined and demanding of students, what few people see is that Annie can also be “playful and silly,” said David Lynch. “She’s also a goof-ball with great jokes and perfect timing,” Heileman said. Ezraty: “She’s a ham.”

As with anyone who’s complex and subtle, there’s always more to the story. People say Annie is harsh, critical, and mean; she’s been known to make people cry. I asked her about it. “My job as a classical yoga teacher is to help people pay attention,” she said. “And while meanness doesn’t help that, being insistent and unrelenting does. Sometimes it feels mean to people because that process is so challenging. I do hope and believe though that they’ll recognize I have so much compassion, because I’m still in the middle of it, and always will be.”

“Annie can be hard and stern but it comes from a place of deep, abiding love of the practice and caring for her students,” said teacher David Lynch. He shared a story about a class years ago. Annie was teaching headstand. “I automatically went towards the wall. She asked ‘Where are you going, David?’ You’re done with the wall.’ She sent me to the middle of the room. Annie knew it was time for me to take the training wheels off,” he said. “She was right.”

“Annie pushes everyone to their edge, which is where we do our best work,” said Kasey Luber of Big Happy Day. Annie’s response, “I’m very comfortable with edges.”

Another student said with concern, “I’ve felt a cold distance, a separation.” But, said Annie, “If you want to be a certain kind of teacher, you don’t get to be friends with your students.”

“Someone recently told me, ‘You’re like the best kind of mean mom. Tough, clear, honest — but underneath, you’re loving,’” Annie recounts. She is a motherly figure for many yogis in LA. “Annie touches people deeply, sustained over a long period, like a parent,” remarked Clio Manuelian.

Anticipating Annie’s departure, there’s lots of discussion about her “softening” over the years, attributed to several things: re-establishing herself at Exhale after YogaWorks; her meditation practice; her relationship with Lehmer; and simply, time.  Heileman explained, “There was always a deep, sweet, vulnerable part of Annie that most people didn’t know. Time led her to step into her own voice, and that helped her soften in public.”

I asked Annie how she’s feeling about moving away, knowing she won’t be teaching as many weekly classes. “It’s producing a lot of personal anxiety for me. But, gosh, I need a break. I’ve been pushing really hard for a long time. I’m interested in creating space and trying to be open to whatever comes up.”  She continued, “I have a feeling that for the first six months, I’m going to practice like crazy and be sitting gobs. The message of my 50s is to come into better balance.”

With a quivering voice and teary eyes, Tiffany Russo captured the essence of Annie’s gift. “She teaches us everything that yoga’s about, all of it, in an hour and a half.” Annie Carpenter teaches the yoga of transformation.

Annie is beloved and revered by students and teachers, many of whom she’s guided for years. “She’s more than a teacher, she’s a mentor, and that’s why people continue to come back to her room, day after day, year after year,” Russo said.

“On the mat, Annie is the voice in my head. She directed me with a gentle force to teaching. I will miss her, but feel her work with me is deeply imbedded,” Patty Pierce said. The teacher always speaks from within.

Annie Carpenter can be found online at: anniecarpenter.com

Julie Buckner is a yogini, writer, mom, public affairs and marketing consultant, and owner and CEO of InYoga. She recently attended Annie Carpenter’s teacher training program: inyogacenter.com. 

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I love Yogi Cameron. There, I said it.

In fact, I love him so much that I deleted my favorite episodes of Law and Order SVU on my DVR so that I could fill it up with more episodes of A Model Guru, his reality show produced by Veria Living Network. In each episode, he takes on a new client challenged by a health issue; using Ayurveda and yoga, he gets them on the road to recovery.

Some of us may remember Yogi Cameron, aka Cameron Alborzian, from Madonna’s high-production music video for “Express Yourself,” where he appears as a steel worker who, well, expresses himself sensually. He was also featured in one of Guess Jeans’ most memorable print campaigns from 1988-92. In fact, he was one of the first male supermodels, working the runway for such notable designers as Versace, Gaultier, Dior, and YSL. Yogi Cameron is beautiful to the point of distraction—in the physical sense, yes, but what radiates even more comes from within. His stunning good looks are eclipsed by his peaceful energy and brilliant presence.

Yogi Cameron was born in Tehran to an English mother and an Iranian father. The revolution broke out when he was ten years old and his parents quickly sent him to boarding school in England. Having had a close family life, the move was a big change. “It was an impactful moment that showed me that even if you have all the love in the world, something else can come along in life and change your circumstances dramatically. You have to trust something more divine than human beings.”

In 1986, after attending a sports college to study sports medicine, he was approached while walking the streets of London by a scout who asked him if he wanted to model. “I said, “Sure!” It was a time-filler which went on for 12 years,” Cameron explains. His success in modeling led him to a benefit show in South Africa where he met Nelson Mandela. This was another turning point in his life, “I looked around at all these great people in one room and thought, ‘We have come to this moment of transition where Mandela has just been freed from jail after 27 years, and has become the President of South Africa.’ He was a very peaceful man. I had done everything I needed to do in the fashion world. I needed to find my purpose.”

At first, he didn’t know what that purpose was. He worked in a restaurant for a spell, and then became a yoga teacher. Still searching, since he knew of Ayurveda, he found a school in Southern India and was accepted to their program. “I left Western life behind for about seven or eight years. I learned Ayurvedic medicine. I learned the yogic path and was taught by a guru. I decided to come back here five years ago because my guru, Dr. Vasudeva, the guru of Arsa Yoga, sent me,” Yogi Cameron explains, “I didn’t want to leave because my teacher was there. I thought ‘I’m here and I’m happy. And I’m happy with just being happy.’ And my teacher said, ‘That is why you have to go. You were a model not out of choice; you were given that face so that you can influence Westerners in a way that I can’t. You can influence young people, old people; they will relate to you.’”

Despite his reluctance, once in the US, Cameron’s new career path unfolded before him in a way that was in alignment with his yogic path. He currently has a roster of celebrity clients and has made appearances on TV shows including Dr. Oz, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Today Show. He makes over people’s lives with sincerity on A Model Guru.

When I asked him how Hollywood has affected him, he smiled and said, “It’s a great place to do your practice. Spiritual practice isn’t something that requires you go hide. You can live your life. If you are a Himalayan monk, you live a different life, you have different challenges.”

The effect of Yogi Cameron’s spiritual practice is clearly evident, largely is due to discipline. He says, “Discipline is the backbone of progress. Make something important to you, and you will get it done. If you don’t make it important, it won’t be. If somebody’s life is football and it’s important to them, then they didn’t miss the Super Bowl. They were there, and they probably prepared for it. They watched the pre-game, but they missed a whole lot of other things. Make it important and you will get it done.”

The thing that I am most impressed by, as I sit with Yogi Cameron, is the same thing that makes him so compelling on A Model Guru—his presence. One of the most touching episodes is when he works with a young autistic boy. The compassion he shows, not only to this child, but to his family, is powerful. He articulates, “I didn’t treat him like he has a disease. It is just an energy shift. So I just tuned into his energy rather than have him tune into my energy. I looked to see where he was, jumped in there with that energy, and I interacted with him.” He continues, “As a society, we can be egotistical and will want to stamp our authority on things, forgetting that we are not experts. The Divine is the ultimate expert. It is within each of us; we’ve just got to use it, rather than say no, it has to be done this way. We don’t ultimately know how it should be done, so we just jump in, and we move, and the Divine moves within us.”

Humility, Compassion, Discipline, Humor—Yogi Cameron embodies it all, making him even more beautiful inside than he is on the outside.

Yogi Cameron’s teachings are available in his two books published by Harper Collins. The Guru in You is a primer of basic ayurvedic and yogic principles and a manual for incorporating them into everyday life. His most recent book, The One Plan: A Week-by-Week Guide to Restoring Your Natural Health and Happiness, is a step-by-step plan for embodying and practicing Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in daily life. You will also find a plethora of information on his website at yogicameron.com.

Daily Practice for 9-to-5ers

The greatest benefit of a career is the ability to incorporate personal routine into a professional routine. The greatest obstacle is that work and the commute take up such a large portion of the day—sometimes as many as ten or eleven hours. The following routine is suggested for those who work in a 9-to-5 job or something similar.

Morning
Wake between 5:00 and 7:00am. Leave enough time in your morning to have hot water, practice cleaning and oiling rituals, and to also practice postures, breathing, and concentration exercises.* This will likely require at least 45 minutes or an hour to practice with proper awareness and conscientiousness. If your morning commute schedule already requires you to get up intensely early and leaves you no time, attempt to at least practice breathing in the car, on the train, or in whatever mode of transportation you use.

Late Morning
If possible, try to wait at least three hours after waking up before eating, even if doing so takes place at work. It is ideal to wait before eating, for digestive strength increases with a bit of activity in the morning.

Afternoon
If you take a lunch break, spend at least five or ten minutes of it sitting in silence. This will help you to process your workload from the morning and center yourself to be fresh for the remainder of your time before going home.

Evening
If you don’t get home until 7:00 or 8:00pm, or even later, work a light meal into your commute so that you don’t have to eat so close to bedtime.

Nighttime
Try to spend at least ten minutes in silence before turning in for the evening, and build your willpower against destructive habits like an intake of alcohol or other stimulants, an excessive amount of time in front of the TV or computer, or even an excessive amount of time talking or reading. Go to bed between 9:30 and 11:00pm.

If you find that you have no time at all in your life, then the way you utilize the time in your life probably needs revising. There should always be time for health and spiritual endeavors.

• Cleaning and oiling rituals, postures, breathing, and concentration exercises, as well as “foundation-building practice,” are all explained in detail at yogicameron.com.

Dale Nieli (MSW, hypnotherapist) is a certified yoga teacher and fitness expert whose decades of study provide continual inspiration in her practice of guiding people in full-body holistic fitness. 

One of the most notable features of the RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology in Venice is the gong. It’s the only 60-inch gong in Los Angeles and the stories around it are the stuff of myth—mixed in with some truth. It takes months to make a gong this size; it was shaped by special order for Van Halen, but the band later changed their mind. Until Guru Jagat found it lingering on Sunset Blvd—“sad in Hollywood,”—as she put it, the instrument was waiting for the community that would collect and share space with its magnificent sound.

We could all say that the instrument of our own practice is waiting for just the right time to blossom. The time seems to be now for Ra Ma Institute founder Guru Jagat, who has taken up the challenge of sharing the sometimes esoteric-feeling practice of Kundalini Yoga (as taught by Yogi Bhajan) in a way that is relevant for the urban dwellers of LA. It’s no accident. Guru Jagat believes, “These technologies were developed for these times.”

There’s certainly a nod to the times, as the studio even includes ice cream cleanses (featuring raw coconut cream from the nearby Kippy’s), along with daily 4:00 am sadhana, a Kundalini practice staple. Guru Jagat teaches classes every day and is joined by a variety of other instructors who fill the all-day class schedule, including two of her teachers, Tej and Harijiwan. She offers special classes during the New and Full Moons, presides over a Sunday night practice and dinner club, and has hosted all-night practice and gong bath sessions (complete with slumber party). She is even partnering with Julian Schwartz on a burgeoning record label (RA MA Records). Guru Jagat wants the music to deliver the teachings to people who may never enter a yoga studio. Her plans are vast and include everything from fashion and jewelry collaborations to lecture series and online offerings, leading to the development of a full-service institute beyond a yoga studio.

The woman with a bold presence professes to love everything about the 80s wears Clippers T-shirts, embraces the Kundalini Yoga ethos of wearing white (toexpand her aura), and has a collection of big sunglasses. As she says, “Since I was small, the idea of understanding reality, as well as devotion and spiritual practice, were just a part of my life.” She was born with the help of midwives in a community in Colorado before growing up in Western Maryland where she and her family were the only Jews for miles around. Her brother joined the Hare Krishna community at the age of 13. Then, while she was living in NYC with an active ashtanga practice, Guru Jagat was introduced to Kundalini Yoga. Her next stop was the ashram in Espanola, New Mexico, where Yogi Bhajan was still holding court. Subscribing to Yogi Bhajan’s philosophy of making teachers and not students, she traveled further west to enroll in teacher training in LA with Gurmukh, Harijiwan, and Tej at Golden Bridge. She subsequently taught for 10 years at Yoga West. At this point in time, she professes to have more than 10,000 hours of study and training under her head wrap. “It’s intensive in this lineage — it’s not just about the credential or the certification; it’s about the transmission.”

Guru Jagat’s formal western education began in the CUNY system in New York (leading to her aforementioned intro to yoga) before she graduated from Antioch University. Her “good liberal arts education” of Humanities, English, and Poetry is revealed in the way she riffs off  literature and pop culture references when she speaks to the room at the beginning of class.

Before a sense of mission and calling inspired her to open the doors of the studio near Lincoln and Rose, Guru Jagat taught around town, and for an impressive roster of private clients. Like many people to make the leap, she found that opening RA MA Institute was “a monumental transformation for me.” As she puts it, “My whole consciousness, my whole nervous system reorganized.” It was a quantum leap, one she feels the community has supported. Coming together in community to practice Kundalini Yoga was always Yogi Bhajan’s intention, and that the teachings would be shared within families to accelerate the clearing of karma. RA MA Institute is that family.

To support herself as well as the collective RA MA family of practitioners, Guru Jagat rises between 3:45 and 4:30am to begin her own practice. “When I was an Ashtangi, I got up at 6:00am six days a week and thought I was hardcore. Little did I know what my next step would be.” The woman who says she’s never forgotten her first Kundalini Yoga class states that the experience was like stepping into an energy field beyond time and space. The effects have certainly lingered.

Curious About Kundalini Yoga? Here’s Guru Jagat’s advice for novices.

• Observe how you feel before you go into class.
• Observe how you feel after class.
• Whatever happened in between, don’t worry about it and don’t think too much about it.
• If you feel better or have more energy, something happened.
• Come again and see how it goes.
• Wear comfortable clothes—anything that you can move in. White is said to expand the aura, but you can even wear jeans to class if you like.
• The turban or head covering hits reflex points in the skull and helps contain the energy. It’s optional, but try it out and see how you feel.

Guru Jagat founded and teaches at the RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology in Venice.

Greville Henwood is a big kid at heart. If you head to his website you’ll find a gallery of him standing on his head, smiling, and teaching kids yoga.

This sense of wonder and joy has opened doors for him worldwide. Yoga began as a hobby, became a career, and a way to share his curiosity and marvel of life.

Greville has lived life as an adventure from the beginning. In 1985, he was an 18-year-old actor finishing up a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, England. As the production was coming to a close, Greville felt a new adventure was waiting.

When a friend invited him to live in Paris, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for adventure, growth, and fun. Greville moved in with a group of mime students at L’Ecole Mimodrame de Marcel Marceau. Each morning, they would rise and complete two hours of asana practice. Greville, who had explored meditation as a 15-year-old, was curious. Eventually, he was given Raquel Welch’s coffee table book of Bikram’s 26 asanas and he began to practice.

“I hated it at first,” confessed Greville, “But there was something in the book that talked about prana. It wasn’t just about breathing, but about truly connecting. If you tune in, your breath can help you connect; I knew this would help me understand the world.”

Greville continued practicing, becoming increasingly curious about yoga and its benefits. After living in Denmark for a year and a half, Greville moved to Los Angeles in 1987 and completed his first teacher training at YogaWorks. As Greville taught group classes and private sessions, his friends and clients noticed how good he was with kids. “You should teach kids yoga!” was a comment he heard on a regular basis.

Then one evening in 2004, while in Shanghai leading a workshop, Greville had a dream he was teaching kids yoga “That’s interesting,” he thought. The following night, he had a similar dream. “Ok, ok! I get it!”

Greville felt that this was something he was called to do. “I made it my mission, and almost immediately when I got back to Los Angeles, there was an opportunity at YogaWorks to teach kids’ yoga.”

YogaWorks sent Greville to a kids’ teacher training program and he was hooked.

“After that first training, I took three more, mentored other kids’ yoga teachers, and took courses in human development.”

Greville felt that something was still missing.

“Where do you show kids that this practice will accept you as you are?” he questioned. “Where do you show them that yoga is noncompetitive and that they will use it for the rest of their lives?”

Just then, fate seemed to step in yet again. Greville’s friend Naomi was looking for someone to lead a kids’ yoga teacher training in Japan since a last-minute cancellation forced her to find a replacement teacher. She called Greville, “Can you do it and do you have a manual?” To Greville, this was a sign:  The perfect opportunity to write his own program.

“The doors of opportunity opened and I had to walk through.” said Greville.

Twenty-four hours later, Greville was on a plane to Japan. His training program, GroovyKids Yoga, was born.

Today, GroovyKids yoga classes are 45 minutes long. Greville practices alongside the kids, creating a sense of community.

“I am always tinkering. After each class, I ask myself three questions: Did they have fun? Will they do more yoga? Will they come back?”

When leading trainings, Greville asks his students to connect with their childlike sense of wonder. He says, “Yoga gives you the chance to stop everything that is going on outside of you and have a consciousness of what is going on inside of you.”

Greville inspires future kids’ yoga teachers to think outside of their societal box. He says, we practice yoga to explore and to find out who we are inside. “During the trainings, I ask students if they can narrow down the moment when they stopped being a kid,” says Greville. “As humans, we give up something that is essential to feeling joy.”

Greville reiterates the importance of how teachers view the kids. His advice: “For 45 minutes of the day, see a bright shiny mirror. See them as the most important person in the world. Give the kids permission to be themselves.”

What Greville loves most about teaching kids is how naturally in the moment they are. “The kids constantly remind me what a privilege it is to be alive.”

Greville’s goal is to inspire in kids a passion and curiosity for yoga. He’s not concerned with whether or not they will return to his class. In fact, he never wants yoga to become a “have to” for kids. The truth is that when children feel forced into an activity, they very rarely want to do it. “If you plant a seed in fertile ground, it will grow, whether or not you are there,” says Greville.

Greville speaks with obvious humor and ease; his passion for life spills out over the edge and touches those around him. He channels this love of life to empower kids to be uniquely who they are and permission to be their extraordinary selves.

Learn more about Greville at: groovykidsyoga.com.

Amy Gartenberg is a yoga teacher, school teacher, and writer. You can follow her adventures online at CestCaliforniaVie.com

“The thing that got me hooked in yoga was when the impossible became possible.” –Jake Ferree

We each make our journey to yoga in our own way, and Jake Ferree’s may be one that is familiar to many of us. Brought to his first yoga class during a time in his life when he was facing personal challenges, the stillness of savasana delivered an a-ha moment: Jake noticed the negative, self-critical nature of his thoughts.

“I realized that I was speaking to myself in a way that I would never speak to anyone else. Then this simple thought came to me, ‘What would happen if you treated yourself as a friend?’ That thought completely changed my life and has been the biggest gift of the practice.”

When you first walk into Jake’s class, you can’t help but notice his muscular build, yet his love of fitness is more than just about building muscle—it includes the incorporation of spirituality and yoga. He has integrated multiple modalities, through his continuing involvement in weight lifting, along with personal training, yoga, breathwork, and Reconnective Healing, a program developed by chiropractor Dr. Eric Pearl.

Reflective of his own experience, Jake’s priority when teaching is to communicate that in order to gain a deeply-rooted connection to both body and practice, you must work from the inside out. “Because of yoga, I’ve experienced moments in my life where I am able to see things more clearly and handle situations in ways I wouldn’t normally have handled them.” He feels this comes from the basics of yoga practice, “Once you establish the connection to your breath, your perspective shifts, and you are able to see things more clearly.” Jake believes the most important benefit of yoga is the awareness that develops as a result of the practice—in all areas of life. Even when someone is introduced to the physical aspects of the practice, the spiritual has a way of “sneaking its way into a person’s life,” as Jake describes the phenomenon.

Jake gives an example of this in his own life, “I recently went snowboarding in Colorado and found myself able to connect with the breath as I was boarding. Once I did that, the whole experience was enhanced. I was able to take in everything that was happening all around me and fully appreciate the moment. I felt my movement connecting to my breath. It was is if I were on my mat flowing and connecting through a vinyasa sequence. Moments like that just sort of happen and I am able to notice them more and more.”

The power of those moments wasn’t necessarily something Jake could have anticipated while growing up in Reno, Nevada. But his love of fitness did begin when he was young and the weight room was a place to let go of negative emotions. “The gym was an escape for me,” confessed Jake.

While in his early 20s, Jake’s commitment to fitness led him to becoming a nationally certified personal trainer. He then owned and operated Elite Training, a personal training service that worked out of multiple gyms in northern Nevada.

Ready for a change, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 25 and began working as a personal trainer at Equinox. Not long after, Jake made the decision to cross-train in yoga simply to try something new. “Let me tell you, the first time I took a yoga class it kicked my butt,” Jake said, “I was used to lifting weights, but I never actually spent time stretching my muscles.”

Although Jake struggled to find a balance between strength and flexibility in his practice, he did not give up. In addition to his usual resistance training routine, he committed to yoga by going to class twice a week for a month. Not only did he become more flexible in his physical body, he also noted positive changes in the way he viewed life in general. Needless to say, Jake continued going to class even after his month-long commitment was over.

“In yoga, I had to confront my issues rather than escape from them.” There’s a payoff that Jake found in this process, “The beauty is that you learn how to deal with hardships and it helped me appreciate and learn to love myself.” His growing appreciation for yoga led to attending teacher training; he completed the YogaWorks program in 2007 while living for a stint in New York City. His love for LA pulled him back to the West Coast, and his return came with a commitment to teach.

Jake’s strong fitness background initially influenced the way he taught. With time and further practice, Jake transitioned from a strictly physical method of teaching to one that incorporates both mind and body. For him, it is very important to get people to notice what is happening on a deeper level versus what is happening within the physical pose. “The poses are wonderful and needed,” states Jake, “But what else is happening beyond that? That’s the essence I want to hit in my classes.” While Jake has taught at a number of locations throughout LA, he currently teaches at Aura Yoga on Sunset in West Hollywood, where he helps run the yoga department.

Jake assisted in the development of the color scheme for the studio’s specialized lighting system, one of the hallmarks of Aura Yoga. The lighting was implemented to create themed ambiance during practice connecting to themes and ideas such as the chakra system or the elements of nature. Linking specific themes to colors complements classes taught by Jake and other teachers at the studio allowing students to connect with their senses and surroundings, facilitating the work from the inside out. For example, filling the studio with blue light emphasizes the water elements flowing through life or the fluidity through practice.

We have all been hard on ourselves at some point in our lifetime. When the idea of who we think we should be outweighs who we really are, we form unrealistic expectations which can cause suffering. Jake’s emphasis on the practice of treating oneself as a friend, for example, is one way we can appreciate that we are capable of anything and that fitness is not only what we can lift physically, but how we can uplift ourselves mentally or emotionally. Through yoga, Jake summarizes, “I am more aware of my movements, my actions, my words. I am more aware of what’s happening around me. I am able to see things more clearly.”

Jake Ferree can be found online at: trainerjake.com.

On Facebook:

facebook.com/Trainerjakefitnessandyoga

Instagram: Trainerjake

For more information on Aura Yoga, visit: aurayoga.com. To learn more popular outdoor classes Jake leads, check out the Facebook page: Rooftop Yoga LA.

Kimberly Saracino is a 200 hour RYT and group fitness instructor who, when not on the mat, enjoys exploring the great outdoors.

I found a lump in my breast a few days after my birthday. Yesterday I received confirmation that I am fighting breast cancer. I contemplated sharing this on FB, and after an uneasy day yesterday, I woke up this morning and remembered who I am. 

I am a fighter! I am a teacher and I love what I do. So I will share this news. Not with a heavy heart or with sadness. I share this with all my strength, my energy and my power to fight this. 

I would prefer not to do this alone. I recognize that I don’t always ask or accept help easily. I ask right now, publicly for your help. I ask for your prayers, your positive energy, and your collective awesomeness to be directed to me to assist me in this fight. 

I welcome your loving energy and your support. I am so very grateful for the life I have. I plan to continue living it to the fullest every single day. 

I am teaching tomorrow Beyond Haute at 10:15 Haute Yogi Manhattan Beach I would love to see you!

Tiffany Friedman 

Facebook Status Update

February 27

Tiffany Friedman has never been a wimp. Strong, smart, and engaging, she radiates warmth and positivity. She’s one of those people who can see beyond the limits of what others can and then has the ability to take that vision to reality. She’s a master manifestor. And she’s unstoppable.

Several years ago, when Tiffany was busy running her husband’s cosmetic dermatology practice and raising their daughter and son, she began taking classes at the local Bikram studio up the street from their home in Manhattan Beach. A lifelong athlete, Tiffany loved the challenge of the heat. She also loved the way the yoga made her body feel. The only part she didn’t love was practicing in what was then an old, rundown studio. How does a woman with vision solve that problem? She goes home and tells her husband she wants to buy the studio and renovate it. With a state-of-the-art heating system, an anti-microbial floor covering designed for hot studios, modern locker rooms, and an expanded reception area with a retail boutique, Tiffany reopened Bikram Yoga Manhattan Beach, and it thrived.

In late December, 2013, Tiffany followed through on another vision. She severed ties with Bikram and rebranded her studio, Haute Yogi Manhattan Beach. She says, “This change had been coming for quite some time. Probably since 2010, I just found that I wanted more. A couple of years ago, I added an Express class (75 instead of 90 minutes) at the studio. It became popular. I began listening intently to my students. I rebranded to expand my business to encompass the wants and needs of my students. We love the heat and the benefits of yoga, but we want more variety, more passion, and ultimately, more spirituality.”

Within weeks of reinventing her business—adding classes, staff, workshops, and carefully walking her customers through the changes, she was hit with a diagnosis of breast cancer (BRCA-2 triple negative invasive). After an evening of soul searching, a reminder of who she is —at the core—was facilitated by her 14-year-old daughter. The week prior, Shelby’s friend had handed her a key with the word “fight” stamped into it. The friend’s brother had suffered an accident, and the key had been a symbol of strength and source of comfort throughout his recovery. Suddenly, she no longer wanted it and asked Shelby to take it from her. The following week, as Tiffany sat feeling devastated and disoriented by the news of her diagnosis, Shelby made the connection. She placed the “Fight Key” in her mother’s hand and  said, “Now, I know why she needed me to have it. It was really for you.” Tiffany’s been wearing it ever since.

Tiffany’s decision to go public was rooted in her values: transparency, authenticity, and humility. She admits that one of her biggest lessons in all this is to relax and receive. “I am having to learn how necessary it is to slow down, to stop taking care of everyone else at the expense of taking care of myself. This is a struggle that I will likely have to negotiate my whole life: finding a balance between doing and being.” Confessing to have refinished her floors the day after her last chemo infusion, she declares, “I really have a problem with relaxation!”

Tiffany is more than halfway through weekly chemotherapy infusions. Throughout her treatment, so far, she has continued to teach between three and five classes per week, and attends an additional two or three classes as a student. She says, “My staff and my students are so supportive and loving that being at the studio feels very healing. It requires a lot of energy for me to teach; I don’t know how to do it any other way. To cultivate balance and take care of myself, I am listening to my body intently.”

I met Tiffany 13 years ago when we were neighbors for a brief time. We lost touch and reconnected when I started taking her yoga classes a couple of years ago. I had no idea at the time that she would be teaching me much more than yoga. Following her journey (largely via Facebook) has been moving and inspiring. She’s traveled with her family to Mammoth and New York, taken day trips, run races, and attends her kids’ school functions. She has also let us in on experiences like cutting her long blond hair short to soften the blow of inevitable hair loss, and then shaving her head anyway because it was still too emotional to endure the shed. We witnessed the installation of her port to facilitate the injection of chemo. We all know about her “Chemo Wednesdays,” as Tiffany posts a weekly update from her infusion throne at the hospital. In spite of (or perhaps because of) her illness, she appears to come more and more alive.

Tiffany is my teacher. Yes, she is my yoga teacher, but she is also my teacher as a woman, a mother, a human being, and a fellow cancer survivor. She is a living example that although we often cannot choose our circumstances, we can always choose how we experience them. She has taught me about vulnerability and grace. Tiffany said she reinvented her studio because she wanted, more variety, more passion, and ultimately, more spirituality; it looks like she got it. The very principles it takes to get through one of her rigorous classes are reflected in her handling of her battle with breast cancer.

I asked Tiffany how her yoga practice has supported her, on and off the mat. This is her answer:

“My yoga practice is the foundation for my life. I have learned to simplify and prioritize. I have learned to do my best in all things, to rest, and to breathe. I’ve learned to listen, and to forgive myself, and be happy with where I am at any given moment. My practice allows me to be grateful for what I can do, what I have, and the abundance of love and support in my life. I have learned through my practice to really see myself and to accept what I see. I am certain it helped me a great deal with losing my hair. I have heard many women say they couldn’t look at themselves in the mirror after losing their hair to chemo. It has caused severe depression and anxiety. I won’t say it wasn’t a challenge for me. When I teach and practice in the room I have to see myself. I recognize my practice, my breath, and my soul. I can even appreciate when some postures look extremely weird and alien on me. I can laugh, I can love, and I can accept myself. I can sit quietly with myself and find comfort and peace. I am surprised at how I am handling the situation, but I know it is because of my practice that I am able to do so.”

Tiffany’s Vibrancy Juice

I drink this juice to help rid my body of toxic chemicals and restore health and vitality.

Prepare in a juicer or Vitamix.

1 green apple

1 bunch of kale (I like Tuscan kale stems)

1 cucumber

1 lemon

Small piece of ginger root

Broccoli stems

1/4 cup aloe vera juice

Tiffany Friedman can be found at:

Haute Yogi Manhattan Beach
3618 Highland Avenue
Manhattan Beach
310-802-0225
Haute-yogi-mb.com

Zoë Kors is the Managing Editor of LA Yoga Magazine, a certified life coach, existential detective and vortex surfer, and cancer survivor.  

Archive photos courtesy of the Iyengar Yoga National
Association of the United States, with the assistance of Eddy Marks, San Diego

Whenever one thinks about a famous personality or world figure, there is the perception that they are so famous and so busy that they couldn’t possibly be available for consultation, advice, mentorship or any other personal relationship. Fortunately for those of us who have had the privilege of studying directly with B.K.S. Iyengar, our experience has been just the opposite.

I met Mr. Iyengar through his book, Light on Yoga. It was so rich in detail, history, philosophy, direction and inspiration, that I knew I had finally met my teacher. At the time, I was studying with Indra Devi, one of the first women that Mr. Iyengar had accepted as a student. After many discussions of his book, she recommended that I try to make contact. Of course, in those days that was difficult. I continued to study using the book as if I had Mr. Iyengar with me.

Imagine the thrill when I learned that he would be teaching in Berkeley, California, in 1974. Of course the class was oversold and I was told not to bother making the trip. I went anyway, bringing my torn and battered book. He took compassion on me. As I was sitting in the hall looking through the door, he invited me in and I monitored the class.

The next day, I was used as a model for the medical therapy portion and given a sequence to do at home by marking asanas in the book. He invited me to come to Pune, India when I was able, so he could see the progress I was making in dealing with the effects of multiple sclerosis. It took over a year and a half, but there I was and I have been his student ever since.
No matter how elevated or famous a teacher is, you are still dealing with a man.

A man who is subject to all the trials and tribulations, the passions and disappointments, the joys and sadness of raising children, needing to make a living and follow the disciplines of practicing and teaching. What impressed me from the very beginning of becoming B.K.S.’s student was the intensity of his teaching. He holds nothing back nor monitors his attention to insure that you receive every part and parcel of his amazing knowledge.

When in Pune you are part of his family. You see him interact with his children and grandchildren. You witness the continuum that Geeta-ji and Parchant-ji are carrying on and their adoration of him not only as the head of that family and their mentor, but as a prime example of all that a man should be. Guruji gives unbending in his expectation of what one is capable of attaining. There is a constant edge of challenge. There is that piercing look that goes right through your bones, touching your very core of resistance. It’s mano e mano with compassion.

You shake, you sweat, you do. Yet you dare not congratulate yourself upon completing a standing drop-over in front of him. You wait until you are walking back to your hotel then stop in the middle of the sidewalk and slap your thigh, give a whoop and a little hop, and continue on your way with a big smile from ear to ear.

After reaching the level of proficiency that satisfied his expectations, Guru-ji directed me to begin teaching others like myself who are dealing with multiple sclerosis. My life’s path spread before me, and I have followed it without hesitation. What a gift to be able to be of service, to guide and teach and most importantly to bring honor to my teacher.

It was a giant step into the future. There were successes and failures, but there he was encouraging, advising, revising lesson plans, always at the ready to be supportive. Today, the adaptive yoga program for the M.S. Society has spread across the United States with Achievement Centers featuring yoga programs based on his teachings.

There is much talk about the footprint a man leaves behind, the legacy of a lifetime, the imparting of universal knowledge. I am very honored and humbled to say that I am following in the footprints of a truly great man.

Eric Small holds a Senior Level 2 certificate from B.K.S. Iyengar personally. He has developed the Iyengar Adaptive Yoga Program for the M.S. Society, traveling throughout the United States, instructing teachers and students in classes and workshops and at the Iyengar conventions. He is based at the Beverly Hills Iyengar Yoga Studio, Los Angeles, California.

The first time I spoke with Terra Gold, my immediate impression was of the kindness and warmth in her voice. This was several years ago, when one Monday evening I was greeted by a heartfelt email that she had sent out to over 20 yoga instructors requesting a sub for her 7am class the next morning in West LA because she had a cold. I immediately hit reply, if by 11pm no one came through, I would teach. Terra picked up the phone to call and to let me know that no one could fill in and she appreciated me stepping up to the plate. Her speaking voice transmitted the warmth and kindness, even through her head cold.  Even though initially I had thought I was offering support to Terra, since she needed a class sub, it was actually me who receive the support. I would open up to her that night about an event that almost took my life and changed my yoga practice forever. Terra’s wisdom and solid advice based on her own challenging experiences, helped me to make some sense of what had occurred and was one of the miracles that facilitated a pathway to my healing.

Months went by and I attended her class to bear witness to her singing, (since I had heard others speak of it with meaning). I can recall how her voice touched my heart and evoked feelings of gratitude and love for the life I have had.  I’m not the only one whose heart cracked open. Terra Gold is one of those rare individuals whom you always remember after meeting her. With eyes like Aphrodite—the Greek goddess—and an aura emulating the peace of Buddha. She’s a scholar with a singing voice so heartfelt and powerful that when she intones the Gayatri mantra, a cappella, at the beginning of every class, her voice dissolves the walls that block our own inner voices and Kundalini is subtly awakened in a profound way, like a mother awakening a child.

Terra’s teaching combines the influence of a deep family lineage with an immersion into a community of cutting-edge teachers and colleagues. Born in Scotland’s holistically-minded Findhorn Commune, and raised between California’s Marin County and Maui, Terra was introduced to many healing modalities early in life. Yoga therapy, acupuncture, healing through nutrition, and sharing sacred music emerged as a few of her favorites, and have become her primary modalities for sharing health and healing in the world.

At nine years old, Terra was introduced to Iyengar Yoga, as well as Tibetan Buddhism by her parents’ friend—a  yogi and Buddhist who studied under Kalu Rinpoche. “Hatha yoga and aspects of Tantra were becoming very popular amongst my parents and friends,” Gold reflected. “By the time I was 12, I was inspired to learn all that I could about yoga.”  Her dedication continued when she attended UCLA and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Arts and Cultures. At the same time, another well-known person in the yoga world was earning her master’s degree: Shiva Rea. As Shiva says, “As a student in my UCLA yoga class in the World Arts and Cultures Program, Terra was open in her cellular intelligence, heart, and awareness to the depths of yoga—and it is wonderful to see her flower as a yoga teacher, mother, artist, and a healer.” 

After graduation, Terra chose to stay in LA for many reasons. She was already teaching yoga to some high-profile people in the entertainment industry and Terra felt that LA would challenge her spiritually in ways that living in a place that was gentler, quieter, or less populated might not.  LA was a place where she could fully experience yoga practice and community, as yoga proved to be the steady stream that brought joy and equanimity, and helped curb her anxieties while living in a big city.

Terra’s interest in the distinction between yoga and yoga therapy began early on. Her body was yearning for the balancing principles of sthira (steadiness) and sukha (ease).”  Terra says, “When I started focusing on yoga for the sake of specific therapeutic healing -finding ways to specifically address my nervous system, endocrine system, and digestives issues, my body chemistry balanced in ways that were practical and useful for experiencing more ease in my life.”  It was at this point that Gold states, “yoga became yoga for me.”

After a serious car accident left her unable to practice or teach in the same ways, she delved even more deeply into exploring healing modalities. To gain a different perspective on how to understand the human body, she would fly to Hawaii and spend focused time doing human dissections. This was a certificate course developed by Beverly Hills chiropractor Dr. Marc Pick, in partnership with the University of Hawaii. Back in California, Terra returned to school to study acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, and somatic-oriented psychotherapy, until ultimately her life’s focus led her to Yoga Therapy in private practice.

With the mentorship of yoga therapist Larry Payne, Terra has gone on to co-create the curriculum and co-lead the Yoga and Healing Sciences Teacher Training program at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) with chiropractor and yoga therapist Eden Goldman. The program is now in its fifth year. She is also a faculty member of Larry Payne’s Yoga Therapy Rx Teacher Training Program, which celebrates 10 years at LMU in September, 2014. Terra fondly refers to Larry as the “Godfather of Yoga Therapy in the West.” Larry says of his colleague, “Terra is an old soul in a young body. Talented and gifted in many ways that help her serve humanity.” 

Throughout her continued commitment to the practice and teaching of yoga, Terra remained dedicated to one of her early loves: music. In late 2012, Terra released Sun & Moon: Yoga and Bhakti Groove Sessions. At the celebratory release party, Terra shared that the inspiration for the title track, “Sun & Moon,” was born from a pure stream of consciousness emerging from the rawest, real place within her at the time. Terra explained, “it was the theme of my life at the time of making this album, for its longing, its beauty and its complete expression of the cycles of birth, death and rebirth.” Gold says, “Chanting remains one of the purest pathways for ananda (bliss) that I know.”

After nearly two decades of living and working in LA, Terra, her husband Josh, and their 17-month-old son, River, have recently moved to Washington State. Terra taught her final weekly yoga class in LA on Father’s Day, 2014. After almost 20 years of teaching the Sunday evening yoga and meditation class at the Equinox Sports Club West LA, the attendees were unable to hold back tears of love expressed for the woman they had shared a yogic journey with for so long. Terra both entered and exited to a touching standing ovation. “This room used to be carpeted and yoga was just an add-in,” she shared with the men and women who filled the studio to capacity. “To see this transformation—how this space is now used exclusively for yoga—is truly amazing” Terra later shared with me that she found herself in a complete state of awe. “I was overwhelmed by the opportunity to share that ritual with so many,” she reflected. “After years in that room, I am grateful. Without it, life will definitely be different for a long time.” Along with her students, the city’s teachers have been impacted by her. Lisa Walford says, “Terra Gold is one of the most tenacious, vibrant and gracious students/teachers I have ever worked with. I wish Terra a smooth transition, and know that she will be missed.” 

Los Angeles will still be a significant part of Terra’s life and her presence here in the city remains strong. “I love LA but knew I would know when it was time to leave,” she offered. Regardless of what lies ahead, Terra explained “I’ve always trusted the divine order of life’s journey and part of my yoga is embracing the changes it brings with acceptance and an open heart.” With her frequent travels to LA to continue teaching, she will not be a stranger. This Fall will see the release of the result of four years of dedicated focus by Larry, Eden and Terra to compile a textbook: Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine: Where Ancient Science Meets Modern Medicine.

Terra’s commitment to practice, her genuine smile, and calm soul embody that place where gratitude and authenticity collide and unite with humility and happiness; where the sun sets into the horizon, meeting the rising moon. Terra Gold is, and always will be a sun and moon of the LA Yoga community.

Mark Devenpeck, with Co- Founder Newton Campbell opened Triad Yoga & Pilates in Newport Beach 12 years ago. While in West LA on the weekends, Mark teaches for Equinox Fitness.  He has worked with the integrative Medicine Department at USC and held the first kickoff event for CHOC’s complimentary alternative medicine department in Orange County. He looks forward to teaching at Bhakti Fest West for the second year in a row with Newton.

The impact of B.K.S. Iyengar as a yoga practitioner and dedicated teacher has influenced the totality of the landscape of modern yoga. We asked some notable students of Iyengar to reflect on their experience of Iyengar as a yogi.

What inspired you to study with B.K.S. Iyengar?

Chris Stein
I had been practicing yoga since the 1970s, and was searching for more knowledge about this inspiring science. I took my first Iyengar class at the Iyengar Institute, in the mid 1908s. During the class the teacher was so clear, that I could feel exactly where the pranic energy was moving in my body and mind. Standing in Tadasana was a revelation!

Marla Apt
I was first attracted to B.K.S. Iyengar’s integrity and the fact that everything he taught came directly from his personal practice. He told his students not to accept his teachings as dogma but rather to test everything in the laboratory of our own practice, as he had done. Before I encountered his teachings, I had only viewed yoga as a physical discipline, as some form of exercise. However B.K.S. Iyengar demonstrated that through the practice of asana and pranayama with unwavering attention, one can experience the full spectrum of yoga. He didn’t merely relegate these practices to preliminary or preparatory techniques but he treated asana and pranayama as the ultimate spiritual discipline. He did not take the subject lightly and demanded high standards of himself and his students.

Paul Cabanis
At the time Iyengar came into my life I was in great need of structure. Iyengar taught that freedom required discipline, and because my mind tended towards chaos, this was a welcome relief. It wasn’t that I hadn’t striven for stability in my own way, but Iyengar offered a better, healthier approach.

Rama Jyoti Vernon
In l968, Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, founder of the California Institute For Asian (Integral) Studies, put the book Light on Yoga into my hands. The author, Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar, affirmed my feelings that asana and pranayama were integral to the philosophy of yoga and that the seat of meditation could be found within each pose. Because in those days a teacher taught one or the other, philosophy or the physical practice of yoga, it was difficult to believe that the man pictured in the book was the same one writing about the philosophy.

Erich Schiffmann
During the summer of 1976, Mr. Iyengar was teaching in London and  because of my associations with Dona Holleman and Mary Stewart, I was able to attend his classes. The classes were packed, he had an enormous amount of energy, and that during Virabhadrasana I, the Warrior Pose, he came over and slugged me in the chin. Apparently, I was pulling my chin down too much. I never did that again when he was around. In spite of this, I was very impressed by this man. He was an extremely creative practitioner and teacher and I wanted to study with him.

I went to Pune, India, during the summer of 1977. I’d arrive at the institute every morning at seven to watch Iyengar practice. I observed him closely and wrote down everything he did. He was extremely creative and extremely internal when he was practicing. You could tell he was thoroughly immersed in his experience.

Can you describe your first meeting with B.K.S. Iyengar?

Lisa Walford
I attended the first National Iyengar Yoga Convention in San Fransisco in 1984. I was taking a pranayama class taught by one of Guruji’s staff teachers. We were doing backbends over a chair, and then lifting up into urdhva dhanurasana, to open the chest. Iyengar walked into the room wearing bright red shorts. He then exploded. “What are you doing?” his nostrils practically flared! “You will do what you will when I am dead, but not while I am alive! Think of their nervous systems!” He then proceeded to show how to set up for lying down supported Savasana on blankets to quiet the thighs. His might and vitality oozed through every pore of his smooth skin. We then had a fabulous class with his assistant.

Chris Stein
My first personal meeting with B.K.S. Iyengar was in 1993 at the Iyengar Convention in Ann Arbor.  I had the honor of cooking for this great yoga master. He is a pure vegetarian, only eating simple foods in the mode of goodness.  I was in the kitchen, over the stove and felt a strong energy behind me.  I turned around, spoon in hand, and there was this illuminating personality looking right over my shoulder, observing what I was cooking.  He was kind and compassionate, and gave me some very good recipes.  He talked about his wife’s wonderful cooking. B.K.S. Iyengar was refined in every way. Not just in the asana practice and teaching, but the way he walked, talked, the foods he ate; he was a true yogi in every way.

Scott Hobbs
It was at the 1984 San Francisco Iyengar Convention. I was in a class taught by Judith Lasater at the San Francisco Institute. We were in Virahbadrasana II when B.K.S. Iyengar swooped into the room. He looked straight at me and boomed, “Tell him to bend his knee!” Judith came right over and very nervously instructed me, “Bend your knee!” I did the best I could, but he was not satisfied. He took a rope off the wall and looped it over the top of my thigh and put his foot in the loop. Then I bent my knee to his satisfaction!

Rama Jyoti Vernon
In l970, after two years of devouring Light On Yoga, my husband and I traveled to India. One of my intentions was to find Mr. Iyengar. After three weeks of circuitous searching, we found him in Pune. At that time he didn’t have an institute and was teaching in a small home that could only hold seven or eight students.

At the end of the class, my husband and I were ushered in his tiny bedroom where he served us high tea while sharing his memories of teaching the Queen of Belgium, J. Krishnamurti and Yehudi Menuhin, the violinist. Tears came into his eyes and his voice was shaking as he reminisced about his late wife Ramamani who he planned to one day memorialize by building an institute in her name. I invited him to stay with us in the San Francisco Bay Area, California and teach the teachers. Very few people at that time knew who he was. However, I felt strongly that his genius of alignment and integration of philosophy with asana was the next step in all of our Yogic evolution. My husband and I started his first nonprofit organization and school for yoga teacher education in the US, not knowing at that time that one day his teachings would spread worldwide.

In the years you studied with B.K.S. Iyengar, can you describe a pivotal moment in your teacher/student relationship?

Paul Cabanis
He always taught what I needed and respected that at that time I was a better study by proximity than direct transmission. He would often address me specifically by conveying something I needed to learn to someone else directly next to me. He was very psychologically astute in how to handle different types of personalities. Also the times he touched me physically were memorable. He communicated a great deal more through touch than could ever have been said through words. And that’s quite astonishing, because his words were brilliant.

Rama Jyoti Vernon
One day when taking him to the airport I said, “Mr. Iyengar, after studying yoga with you, I realize that what I’ve practiced and taught before was all wrong.” He was surprisingly tender in his response, “Did you know it was wrong?” I said, “No,” shaking my head while choking back the tears. His voice was soft and loving, “Then it was not wrong.”
How has B.K.S. Iyengar impacted you as a teacher?

Lisa Walford
At his Institute in Pune, India, Guruji practiced every morning. Frequently he would come out of his pose to teach his assistants and senior teachers. Over the years it has been my privilege to watch and hear this darshana, his insight. He would often point out how the pose or the body part was ignorant, and lacked vitality or support. Almost always these insights were accompanied by a reference to a yogic principal, something from the Upainshads, the Bhagavad Gita or yogic anatomy. I realized that the pose is but a pointer to the poetry of conscious awareness, and how we can culture that in our lives. I recognize that to teach Yoga is to touch upon the miracle of the body as an organism that supports us to explore the ephemeral light of inner peace and freedom. This is grueling work, not a fantasy. Guruji taught me that yoga is about being free from my own fears so that I can work and serve.

Chris Stein
He taught us to always have humility in the face of this great science and art. He said, “Never forget that the pupil also teaches the master.”

Paul Cabanis
First and foremost by observing his practice. There was deep commitment and openness to learning from the body in balance with great will power of disciplining the body to shift it into ever different experiential modes. Then, in teaching, by his capacity to read people and respond to their needs.

What words of his do you remember when you practice?

Lisa Walford
“It is for you to find out.”

Chris Stein
I hear him say, “When your practice is imbalanced, the practice is physical.  Balanced asanas lead to a spiritual practice.”

Paul Cabanis
“You do not need to seek freedom in a different land, for it exists within your own body, heart, mind, and soul.”

What words of his do you remember when you teach?

Paul Cabanis
“Life itself seeks fulfillment as plants seek sunlight.”

Scott Hobbs
“Always watch your students. Give one instruction, build on that and then another. Do not talk fast!”

Garth McLean
His words to me when we first met,  “Every day you must walk that fine between courage and caution” are forever ingrained in my practice.  He underscored to “Seek alignment in everything you do…not just physical alignment.”

“If you have doubt, do the practice. See who wins.”

How has Iyengar Yoga changed your life?

Garth McLean
It has offered me hope on an initial landscape of fear and the courage to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles along with a teaching career I never imagined was even possible.

Is there a quote from B.K.S. Iyengar that you find meaningful?

Paul Cabanis
“The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.”

How will he be remembered?

Chris Stein
B.K.S. Iyengar was a man of great compassion.  He gave this knowledge of yoga to everyone, with no discrimination. He will always be in the hearts of every yoga practitioner for centuries to come.  His photos of asana are pure inspiration for yoga practitioners.  His writings on his life, the philosophy of yoga are there for all to study.  His style of teaching was dynamic, precise and pierced from the outer body to one’s inner core.  As he said, “Giving does not impoverish nor does witholding enrich us.”

Marla Apt
I don’t think that he would have cared to be remembered in name. It was never his idea to call his method Iyengar Yoga. To him, it was just yoga. However I think that he hoped to elevate the practice of yoga so that it would be used as a tool for inner penetration to reach true knowledge of the self. He worked hard to discover the deeper dimensions of the yoga practice and he freely shared the principles discovered in his explorations. He would want for those principles to guide future generations of practitioners. He said, “May my end be your beginning.”

What do you see as the legacy of Iyengar?

Marla Apt
Aspects of his work are being transmitted and shared in yoga studios, gyms, and in health facilities all over the world by people who have never even heard of Iyengar Yoga. Single facets of his teaching such as restorative asanas, work on the wall ropes, props, therapeutic practice, alignment orientation, prenatal yoga, et cetera, have spawned the development of entire systems of yoga. His work has seeped into all corners of the yoga world and beyond. While I am honored to give him credit while teaching Iyengar Yoga and I strive to realize the potential of his teaching, I feel that his legacy lives in the awakened consciousness and healing of countless practitioners around the globe.

It is rare to find a practitioner as dedicated as B.K.S. Iyengar. Rarer still is to find such a practitioner who is also committed to teaching and sharing. I feel that we are blessed to have lived during his time.

One moment, Keith Mitchell is a linebacker on a football field, wearing a jersey emblazoned with the number 59. In the next moment, he’s taken the hardest hit of his career. One moment, he’s an alpha male gladiator playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, in the next moment, he’s in a hospital bed with a spinal injury, paralyzed and helpless. This moment began the end of the professional career that he’d been in training for since growing up in Garland, Texas. Mitchell was an acclaimed player at Texas A & M before playing with the New Orleans Saints (where he was a Pro Bowl player in 2000), the Houston Texans, and then the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mitchell has now tapped into the same discipline that brought him success on the football field and applied it to his present career as a nonprofit leader, mindfulness and yoga teacher, and inspirational speaker. He’s traveling the country sharing his story  of a journey from paralysis to wellness. It resonates with Mitchell’s audiences that range from youth to veterans, senators and congresspeople, and professional athletes. While he longer dons the 59 jersey to play coliseums as an NFL player, his next play involves taking his message to coliseums—this month specifically to the LA Memorial Coliseum. On January 31, where he is spearheading the Mindful Living Health Expo & AltaMed 5K. (He’s partnering with AltaMed, the nation’s largest community health center and his own nonprofit Light it Up Foundation.)

In addition to the Mindful Living event, Mitchell has partnered with the Wanderlust Festival in 2015. He’ll be speaking in multiple cities at Wanderlust festivals and for Wanderlust 108—one-day urban events throughout the country.

LA YOGA sat down with Keith Mitchell, 59, to discuss the realizations and confrontations that arose from his extraordinary transformation.

LA YOGA: What was your emotional experience when you were paralyzed?

Keith Mitchell: It was a tragedy mentally. I went from physically capable to helpless, instantly. It’s unheard of, especially as that alpha-male gladiator sports character. When you’re helpless and vulnerable, you need assistance to do everyday things. Asking for help was something I was not accustomed to. Naturally, you go through states of depression, anxiety, and think the weirdest thoughts. I was trying to understand why it happened, and certain things were just not adding up or making sense at the time.

LA YOGA: Is that when you were introduced to yoga and meditation?

KM: In the hospital, someone suggested “conscious breathing.” With conscious breathing, I realized that we have to heal ourselves. I got into reading books like The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm and listening to Alan Watts, it was like a yoga practice of the mind. As these books expanded my mind, I started the process of healing which allowed me to go further into my yoga practice. I started studying with some amazing teachers and my yoga practice kept building. This period of my life was gearing me up for the work I am up to now, because I needed that time to heal physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

LA YOGA: Do you find similarities between yoga and meditation practice and your athletic career?

KM: I think of meditation as being in the zone. I like to live life in the zone where there is no good or bad; it just is. When I played football, my most amazing games were when I was in the zone. To live life in the zone is when everything feels like you got the playbook right.

Your meditation is your playbook. Stillness nurtures the soul. I like to be in that zone when I’m focusing and then when I’m functioning in the world.

The world is going to hit you with all kind of things, so if you’re not in that so-called zone then you’re going to have a more reactive personality. You’re going to have more of the fight or flight mechanism, instead of a state of calm.

LA YOGA: Who are your yoga influences?

Keith: Well, my biggest nonliving influence is J. Krishnamurti; I’ve read a lot of his books. My living teachers are Tracey Rich, Ganga White, Chinook Wusdhu in Dallas, and Dana Baptiste, who is a good friend and teacher of mine.

LA YOGA: How do you approach teaching yoga to athletes?

KM: As an athlete, you’ve built up a lot of trauma within the body, often a traditional yoga practice is not going to be necessarily the best fit for a person who has all that trauma housed into their bodies. I really enjoy working with athletes and figuring out which style of yoga will be of most benefit. It’s important build them up instead of break them down.

LA YOGA: What have you learned teaching youth?

KM: Young people are going to be the next leaders of the world. We can get these guys into practices that create a more conscious flow in the development of our world. I had an opportunity to lead a group of kids ranging from ages five to 10 who were living in homeless shelters with their family. Later that night, I received a call from the teacher who was with them at dinner, and they told me that all the kids around the table were saying when I grow up I want to be this or that after I worked with them. I had goosebumps to hear them talk like that.

LA YOGA: What do you wish you knew as a youth that you know now as a result of yoga?

KM: If I knew then what I have learned from the practice of yoga, I feel I would have made me a better student and individual. Maybe I wouldn’t have made some of my mistakes so terribly; I would have made them gracefully.

LA YOGA: What can we expect at the Mindful Living Health Expo & 5K?

KM: We are going to take over the whole grounds of the LA Coliseum with the most amazing yoga teachers in the country. The Mayor, the City Council, and the LAPD is coming. We are going to have a whole day focused on what mindfulness feels like.

I want the day to be like first time I got on the yoga mat and came out of savasana thinking, “What the heck was that?” When we have that realization, we realize we want it more.

For more information on Keith Mitchell and his projects and teaching, visit: KeithMitchell59.com and follow Keith on Intagram: keithmitchell59; Facebook: keithmitchell59; Twitter: k_mitchell59

For more information about the Mindful Living Health Expo & 5K, visit: altamed.org/5K