Yoga Teacher, Author & Entrepreneur
How does doing yoga make you feel?
Yoga makes me feel grateful and magical. The magic happens in between the postures in yoga just like the magic of any journey happens in the journey itself. You don’t climb the mountain just to get to the top, up climb the mountain for the wealth of experience and the depth of relationship along the way. Pay careful attention to how you enter each posture, appreciate every stop you make along the journey. When you get to the pinnacle of the posture and you’re ready to exit, don’t rush. Exit each posture with the same level of integrity that you entered with. Don’t run down the mountain after you put so much effort into the climb or rush the journey home. Savor every step, especially the ones that seem like obstacles because the magic of yoga, like the magic of life is in the spaces between what we are reaching and working for.
How long have you been doing yoga?
I’ve been practicing Ashtanga Yoga six days a week for more than 14 years.
Why did you start doing yoga?
I started yoga as part of a search for how to live a more peaceful life. My journey into yoga has been about strength, and that has always been a spiritual one for me. How strong do you need to be? Strong enough to believe in yourself against all odds and to stay the course no matter how it takes. You need to be as strong as your dreams are big and beautiful. Whenever I thought I could not possibly be any stronger I would come to Mysore and my teachers would tell me that I had to be stronger. They pushed me beyond any notions of complacency or self-satisfaction that I might have had. They were tough on me in the exact way that I needed and I am stronger for it now. If you can press up into a handstand don’t stop there, get stronger, see if you can go up and down a few times to test both your balance and strength. Be humble and let the practice make you stronger every day, in every way.
What is your favorite type of Yoga? Which type are you best at?
Ashtanga Yoga.
What don’t you like about yoga (if anything)?
Practicing early in the morning.
What do you love about yoga?
Yoga has immense power to heal and transform you if devote yourself to the full experience of the practice. I love that yoga is universal and that everyone has to put in the work themselves if they want to experience the results.
How often do you do yoga?
Six days a week
Do you eat before or after yoga? What do you usually eat?
I eat after yoga, not before. Usually it’s breakfast after practice so that means fruits, juice, coconut water. Sometimes muesli, oatmeal or toast.