Do students chant in your classes?

We open the class with a Sanskrit chant. Sanskrit is the ancient language of India. Yoga is native to India and started there three to 5000 years ago. The reason to do the chant is to really make a transition between our day-to-day life and all the things we might stress out about and our practice – our focus on yoga and the internal journey. It’s a nice bridge from where we’ve been all day to this time for ourselves.

The chant is not religious in nature. I’ve made a mindful decision to stick with chants and meditation practices that are yogic in nature, that do not reference any deity or religion. I personally incorporate some Aramaic Lord’s Prayer chanting and meditating in my practice, but I choose not to bring that to class. We stay very focused on yoga in its own realm. Following the chant, I have a philosophical focus, which includes things like study of the yoga sutras, a look at the eight limbs of yoga, chakras and various other esoteric, philosophical elements of the practice that, once again, tie your mind and spirit into a physical practice. I also have a physical focus, which could be anything from working specifically on the spine where every class looks at the postures in terms of what’s happening in the spine and to the spine and learns to manage the energy and the alignment of the spine to the force of gravity on the human body and how to get a perspective on that. We also study human anatomy and the systems of the body - particularly the bones and muscles - and go a little deeper into how we are made. One of the important things we learn in my classes is how we're made - biomechanics, kinesiology, anatomy - and how we function - how the yoga postures and work with yoga affect the different systems.

How is yoga effective?

Most people come to yoga for flexibility, but I think people learn very quickly in my classes – and are surprised by – how much physical strength you need and develop and that it takes muscular strength to have balance and it takes strength, balance and flexibility for many of the poses. Most of the poses I would say you are working all three of those elements simultaneously because even as you’re stretching a muscle, you’re using it to keep from falling over so there’s strength and balance in that muscle as well as length and flexibility. In the time it takes to practice a pose we hit all three of those foundational elements of fitness: strength, balance and flexibility. We also work a lot with the breath and how the breath affects stress level and strength, balance and flexibility.

Yoga has become quite the fitness fad over the past several years. What’s the difference between your yoga studio and what someone might find at a local gym?

I think the primary distinction is that my classes are yoga workshop-inspired. By that I mean as opposed to just going through the paces, which more conventional classes and gyms do, we stop and take a look at the biomechanics of yoga and the difference between practicing poses with a lot of mindfulness as opposed to what is more natural and instinctive that may not be the most effective way. So we really take time in my classes to look at points of alignment and the reason why it’s so important to practice with a particular focus and a particular awareness of what’s going on in your body. My classes are Iyengar-based and the Iyengar system of yoga is very focused on alignment and the approach is very precise and can be more therapeutic in nature depending on its application to the individual body. So in my classes we stop and talk about why you lift your leg from this point of the body rather than another point in the body and how we tend to be naturally unconscious in a pose in this way, that we want to engage a part of the body that gives people form. Form is important for everything and that’s true for weight lifting and aerobics or anything else.

Are students surprised at first when they come to your class, which is slow and methodical and focused as opposed to a class that may just run you through several different poses very quickly?

I think they’re both surprised by the fact we stop and talk about it, look at it, analyze it and that most people will leave feeling like they’ve gotten a good workout. That’s the key to it. You can go through the motions of yoga just like you can go through the motions of lifting weights or being in an aerobics class, but when you add the layers of knowledge and form and awareness to your body and you get a much more effective workout over the same period of time. So a lot of people leave my classes knowing they’re going to be a little sore the next day, even though we’ve taken the time to analyze the process.

How are your classes structured?

Classes last an hour and a half – we start with a chant, work on the philosophical side and then go into a specific element of the physical focus. We will end the class with five or 10 minutes of what’s called savasana, which is relaxation and a very important element in yoga where you lie down and rest and give the body time to assimilate what you’ve learned in class and also to release any remaining stress or tension accumulated from the day to refresh and energize.

How long have you been practicing yoga?

Off and on since I was 18 and then I got very serious about it in 1998 and began to teach and be trained to teach. It’s been a very, very important part of my life. I have no doubt in my mind that I’d be “crippled” if I didn’t do yoga. I’ve worked through many stressors and imbalances and old injuries – from cheerleading and things like that – and have actually healed many of those things in my body and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Are you surprised about the popularity yoga is experiencing? Do you think it will continue?

I think it will continue because the world is not getting any less stressful and the more the world challenges us to have some sense of peace and equanimity and good health in our lives, the more people are going to be willing to give alternative methods of working with their bodies a try. I think we’ve seen that with acupuncture, massage therapy, craniosacral therapy – all kinds of alternative modes of preventive measures to stay healthy.

Do you have students with physical limitations or sickness who find relief through yoga?

I have a broad range of students. Many come with knee problems and shoulder problems and back problems and they’re more than willing to modify as I instruct them to in class in a pose that will be helpful to them. I teach a lot of patience with your body and being willing to work through so students feel better when they leave than when they came in. That’s the greatest gift of yoga.

Do you offer different class levels?

I do. I have basic classes for those with particular physical issues – who might be dealing with herniated discs or rotator cuff problems or knee problems and those are the most common injuries that I see. I have a beyond basics where we work a little more rigorously in the postures and then the vinyasa classes are what’s generally called “flow” yoga and those are the most rigorous classes I teach but there again we spend a lot of time on the form so that as we flow through we’re getting the most effective workout we’re capable of. Vinyasa generally translates to “flow” – flow of the breath, flow of the body though the poses where the postures are linked one to the other through movement and it’s a constant moving class.

Is there anyone who shouldn’t take a yoga class?

Absolutely not, but I do strongly encourage people with physical issues – herniated discs, recent surgeries, knee problems, shoulder problems – to take personal, private sessions before beginning a class. It’s real important that people who have had a lot of impact trauma to their bodies and long-standing injuries take it slow and learn how to modify for their bodies and their particular issues. They need individual attention and individualized programs and ways of entering into the practice that then they can be safe and not worry about hurting themselves further in a class.

Would you say it takes an open mind to enter a yoga class and one needs to stick with it though several classes to understand how it works – particularly since our culture is always in such a hurry for everything?

Absolutely. Yoga is a thousands-year-old discipline and you’re not going to get it in an hour and a half class. You have to give it time. It’s not a 30-second sound bite, it’s not even a 30-minute news show. It’s a life-long practice. I think for people who stick with it for a length of time, yoga becomes a very important way of coping and enhancing their lives – which is something that just doesn’t happen over night.

I’m also a massage therapist and a craniosacral therapist and there’s no doubt that the anatomy I’ve learned through those disciplines, the perspective on the human body and how it operates and what’s possible to understand about the human body, has influenced my teaching tremendously. I know it’s made me a better, more informed and more effective teacher, particularly in terms of how powerfully subtle things can be.

What is CranioSacral Therapy?

Craniosacral therapy was developed by Dr. John Upledger. It is a very light touch, a subtle but powerful calibration of the central nervous system, based on the way the sacrum and the spine and the cranium all house and protect the central nervous system, the spinal cord and the brain.

How do your three practices interconnect?

Many of my students come to me for both massage and craniosacral therapy. It goes back to one of the basic fundamental foundations of yoga – that we are really self-responsible. We are responsible for what we experience in life, how we experience it and we have a certain measure of responsibility of command over how we respond to life and to our health. Yoga is about self-responsibility and massage and craniosacral therapy are ways of healing and allowing oneself to be healed.