How did you first come to end up in a yoga class? What brought you there, were you reluctant and how did you feel after your first class?

My first yoga class was in a studio in Montreal- but I barely remember it honestly. While in grad school I had decided that in order to manage my IBS (which was making my life almost unbearable) that I would try Yoga. A friend suggested it, and I will admit some ‘I want to be like her’ was involved. I bought a Seane Corn DVD and practiced in my jammies on a quilt between my desk and my bed. It wasn’t pretty.

We shopped around the city for the perfect yoga teacher and found him at the YMCA of all places. Sigh- Jim from the UK. He had such a lovely accent and wasn’t bendy at all. It was great. Although my yoga buddy was *the* most gumby-strong person, for some reason I never felt insecure of bothered that I wasn’t an asana-perfect yogini during those first classes. It wasn’t until Jim had to return to the UK that I realized the instructor (for myself) makes all the difference in how I feel about my body and my experience during a yoga class.

Tell me a little about your life before yoga. How is it different now you practice regularly.

Hm. My life was… more stressful. During my undergraduate degree I pushed myself pretty hard to keep up my scholarship. It involved a lot of IBS and a lot of weight loss, which was pretty scary. During the summers I bartended right up until my last year in my masters degree (when I did what I considered a cushy research assistant job). So no real vacation for six years.

Through both degrees I also had two catastrophic and one not so great relationships. The first and last were doozies and I have no idea how I came out of them intact. During that last relationship I became nothing- and for a whole year thought this was a normal way to live.

My life is much more active and aware now that I practice yoga. I’m much better at handling emotional stress and my IBS is extremely manageable. Although using techniques off the mat to deal with anger has been tricky, I find myself stopping and simply experience my surroundings so much more. I also value my body and my Self to the point that I cannot even believe that girl in Montreal four years ago was me. I think Andrew played a big part in that, as did Yoga.

What style of yoga do you find yourself drawn to practice (and teach if you are a teacher)? What teachers and other mentors have influenced you along your path?

I am one of those ‘my practice has evolved and changed’ persons. I started with Ashtanga, power vinyasa flow because that’s what my friend liked and because it suited my Type A personality. I still really like a strong vinyasa practice, but Ashtanga’s strict posture sequence really irritates me… (haha, sorry!). I’ve been trying to find balance and have been appreciating yin type classes that force my mind and body to slow down and increase mindfulness and patience. It’s been challenging, but I see the benefits in my vinyasa practice already. No more popping in and out of postures for me.
An obvious first teacher would be Seane Corn- listening to her speak about yoga off the mat and yoga asana as a moving prayer really influenced and inspired me.

While living in BC, surprisingly enough, my colleagues and families have taught me many things about what is important in life. I have never been so influenced and changed than from working with children with special needs and their families.

Every yogi has one favourite and one least favourite asana. Tell me a bit about yours.

My favourite asana is downward dog. Crazy, I know. (Nope, I love down dog! – Rachel) I remember when an instructor said that downdog would become a resting pose and I thought ’she is effing bonkers’. However, as my practice and strength increased there is nothing more satisfying than a really great downdog. It’s been fun to feel my heels slowly work their way to almost touching the floor over the years and to finally feel at home in this inversion.

My least favourite asanas are the revolved triangle-half moons. They are so difficult and they make me feel so awkward and insecure. I am unhappy every single second that I’m in them (even with blocks) and I feel completely ridiculous afterwards. Not one benefit noted. I also am not a fan of shoulderstand. It doesn’t make me happy, it’s uncomfortable and often it will have this weird anxiety-increasing affect.

How do you live your yoga off your mat, every day?

I think my job really is a part of my yoga in every day. I love my clients and helping to open that conduit of communication between parent and child. These families teach me what love and patience really means.
As my yoga means connection with Earth and the Goddess, living a sustainable life is also how I try to bring yoga off the mat. I think this question is one that I’m still working on how to truly bring to life though… as is our Journey.

Eco Yogini is a Paediatric Speech-Language Pathologist living in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada (one site quoted her as a UK blogger hehe!). She has been practicing yoga for about five years now and loves it. She hearts music, the environment and her family and is a firm feminist

Follow her blog here!

(Flo and her furbaby Chai)

How did you first come to end up in a yoga class? What brought you there, were you reluctant and how did you feel after your first class?

I was always interested in the concept of yoga. I had several books that I never read and eventually lent out to friends.
Well, after a very emotional time in my life; where I felt as if I had little control or stability; I found myself in a place where I was searching harder than ever for “something”. I was going through therapy for my emotional issues and I was searching for something to let go of the physical tension I felt in my body. I started with group fitness at a local gym. The classes were okay but I eventually found myself bored. I decided to bite the bullet and try the 6:00pm yoga class. Quickly I realized it was not easy yet I felt “okay” and “good” after.

That class led to my yoga craze. I was taking yoga at the local gym 2-3 times a week. I then turned to the web to search out more information. I found several Yoga studios (within 40 miles driving).

I tried about 4-5 different studios; really in search of a place/studio I could buckle down and truly practice with.
I was overweight and had a ton of physical and emotional issues; but I knew deep down that this was what I needed.

Tell me a little about your life before yoga. How is it different now you practice regularly.

Well, as I previously said, I had been through some very intense and emotional strains. My life consisted of a lifestyle that was self-centered and unhealthy. I was on a path that lead to guilt, misery and depression.

I am not saying my life was horrible by any stretch of the imagination, I mean I had purchased my own home by the age of 23.  I had a new car, a brand new husband…..what else could a girl ask for?!!   But, deep down there was this emotional imbalance I had suffered with my entire life. I was searching for internal Peace I suppose.

When I finally decided to try and work on my “issues” I began a whole new approach to life. Yoga has helped me in ways I do not think I can put into words. And unless you’ve experienced something similar anything I write or say will only seem like an infomercial for yoga. But, I truly believe and have seen the benefits of a daily yoga practice of not only asana but pranayama, meditation and study of spiritual texts. My life prior to devling into this yogic path was a maze and I had no map.  (I think we all know what Flo is saying here! – Rachel)

Now that I have a groundedness beneath my feet, I feel as if the world has given me a compass.

What style of yoga do you find yourself drawn to practice (and teach if you are a teacher)? What teachers and other mentors have influenced you along your path?

When I first started practicing I found myself in love with Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois. I practiced Ashtanga for 2 years. In May of 2009 I took a 5 day Vinyasa Teacher training with Stephanie Keach at the Asheville Yoga Center. She inspired me in a different way to other teachers I’d practiced with. Late in 2009 I was enrolled in the Asheville Yoga Center 230hr teacher training program. This program was nondogmatic and brought in teachers from all styles including Anusara, Ashtanga, Viniyoga, Phoenix Rising, Kundalini, etc… I currently find myself drawn to the Vinyasa styles such as Flow, Ashtanga and from time to time I enjoy Yin. I feel that yoga changes with our bodies and our stages in life. It is important to step onto your mat and tune into what your body needs.

My most influential teachers that I am forever grateful to would have to be: Stephanie Keach my amazing teacher and inspiration forever and always. Shala Rain, an amazing and inspiring teacher who embodies grace and compassion. Nicole Hopman who I consider to be a beautiful Bhakti Yogini and my truest friend on this path (Hey, Nicole if you’re reading! – Rachel). Marsha McNeight is an amazing Ashtangi here in Atlanta, she is always encoraging me along the Ashtanga yoga path. I’ve also have the pleasure to learn from Manju Jois, Kino MacGregor, Tim Feldmann and Dharma Mittra.

However, my husband, Fur baby Chai and family are my daily teachers and I would not be on this path without their love and support.

(Flo and her teacher, Stephanie Keach)

Every yogi has one favourite and one least favourite asana. Tell me a bit about yours.
Oh Goodness! Recently for me my least favorite yoga asana has to be Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana from the Asthanga yoga Primary Series. A friend reminded me that the poses we dislike the most are our current teachers. These two poses (which go hand in hand) are intense for me. I believe the intensity is built up around fear: fear I will break/crack my elbows, I will rip a hamstring, I can’t breath, etc… it is an extremly intense set of postures for me at the moment.

Hmmm, my favorite asana currently would have to be backbending. It is love/hate. Mainly because the feeling after backbending is like a rush. My body feels clean and renewed. However it is extremly intense and you tetter on the edge of uncertainty while doing dropbacks with your teacher. It is a point in my practice I do and do not look forward to all at the same time

How do you live your yoga off your mat, every day?

Yoga on the mat prepares me for off the mat. This is a part of my practice I still struggle with and work on daily. You can bend your body in the most beautiful asana and have stability and ease there. But how are you once you are off the mat face to face with uncertatinty or with someone or something you dislike?

That is the key to this practice. Letting the kindness, compassion, ease and grace flood over into our daily interactions with everyone and everything. My husband and I are vegetarians, and this is part of my yogic path as well. Ahimsa in my personal deifinition is non-harming. To people and animals.

This is just one aspect. Trying to live a yogic lifestyle is not easy (tell me about it! – Rachel). Trying to remember that judging others has no room in my life or my heart. Trying daily to plant the seeds of kindness and compassion in hopes of relieving past karmas.

Flo is a yogini, blogger, yoga teacher and dog lover.  She teaches in Atlanta, Georgia where she lives with her husband and her bulldog, Chai.  She blogs over at Southern Yogi

How did you first come to end up in a yoga class? What brought you there, were you reluctant and how did you feel after your first class?

On the recommendation of a friend around 10+ years ago. I’d been working as a semi-professional belly-dancer and had to stop due to a chronic toe injury. I wanted/needed something to fill the gap, and so my friend suggested his yoga teacher’s classes.

Interestingly though, around eight years before that, someone had suggested I try yoga but back then, it was just a word.

What made me decide to go to a yoga class the second time it was suggested? I think the friend who convinced me spoke about yoga much more passionately, which made me curious.

So I booked into a term-long beginner’s course. I don’t recall a lot about that first class, but I do remember how packed it was! And that to fit as many people in as possible, the mats were lined up drill-style, one mat’s width distance apart.

To be honest, I don’t think I really “got it” in that first class, or even that whole first term of doing yoga. I certainly didn’t get an immediate “high” from those early classes, but I liked them enough to keep going back. It was a start!

Tell me a little about your life before yoga. How is it different now you practice regularly.

Well, I’ve always been sporty/active. My earliest organised activity was jazz ballet, followed by sailing (my dad is a yachtie). Then I spent ten years of my childhood years doing synchronised swimming. After that came belly-dancing, which quickly turned into a second job for me, performing all over Sydney.

Once I started going to yoga, I was an on-off practitioner for many years. I first met my Guru – Dharmanidhi Saraswati – in 1998 but didn’t start studying seriously with him until 2001. My studies with him were more heavily focused on yoga philosophy, Tantra and meditation. He still had us practicing yoga asana of course, but outside of my time with him, I didn’t have a very committed yoga practice.

Towards the end of 2008 I started looking for options in terms of studying yoga, and in 2009 I completed a 500 hour Hatha yoga teacher training program. So I guess you could say I’m committed now!

Now that I practice regularly… EVERYTHING is different. My relationship to my body and mind have changed dramatically (and continues to do so!).

My yoga practice is now the main way I check in with myself physically, energetically and emotionally. If something is off, most times I notice it in my practice first.

I know there are people out there who have either a yoga asana practice OR a meditation practice, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned through stepping up my asana practice, it’s that they enhance and complement each other very much.

The balance between yoga asana and meditation I’ve developed for myself has enabled a much stronger and more complete opening of the heart chakra than I think I could have experienced otherwise.

And I feel like I’m finally doing what I always wanted to do, even though I didn’t know exactly what it was that I wanted beforehand!

What style of yoga do you find yourself drawn to practice (and teach if you are a teacher)? What teachers and other mentors have influenced you along your path?

Before my yoga teacher training, I had quite a lot of background and experience with Hatha yoga, taught in the style of my Guru. So when it came to yoga teacher training, I was guided by those experiences and that is the style I am beginning to teach.

Over the years I’ve also taken classes in Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram and Vinyasa styles. Ashtanga and Iyengar are okay, but they don’t really grab me. Bikram is NOT for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who asked me, either. I’m not a fan of yoga in heated rooms. I don’t think it’s necessary, not to mention the impact on the environment!

I am quite drawn to the Vinyasa-style flow though, so that’s something I’ll probably study in the future (to be able to add it to my teaching style).

Towards the end of last year I went to a free demonstration class of Shadow yoga, and I was almost magnetically drawn to it! It’s a very traditional form of Hatha yoga, so it works very well with my existing training and practice. I am very much inspired by this practice! (One of my teacher trainers was a Shadow yoga practitioner.  I’m keen to try it again soon – Rachel)

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to attend a weekend workshop with Mark Whitwell, who was trained in the Krishnamacharya lineage. Besides my own Guru, he is he the most impressive yoga teacher I’ve ever met. He offers a fairly unique perspective on yoga and spiritual practice, and is quite simply a wonderful person to spend time around.

Of course, my Guru is my most important and enduring influence. The reason I have a Guru at all is because I was fortunate enough to meet him – I wasn’t searching for one. He inspires me so completely, in every aspect of being a human being and a sadhaka. I see him around once a year; usually in retreat format for a full complement of yoga philosophy, meditation, puja, asana and oh-so-many other practices. It’s kind of hard to write about those experiences concisely!

Every yogi has one favourite and one least favourite asana. Tell me a bit about yours.

I’ve always loved Hanumanasana – probably because I learned the splits as a child and kept up my flexibility. But also, there’s an incredible earthiness about it, as well as a fantastic sense of freedom. I love imagining myself flying like Hanuman!

How do you live your yoga off your mat, every day?

As part of my studies with my Guru, there’s a set of precepts as well as certain vows that I endeavor to live by (nobody’s perfect of course!). They cover every aspect of living – body, speech, mind and conduct.

They are mostly centered on having compassion and love for others – all people – without preference. Most of it is just about being a good person, but instead of allowing my actions to stroke the ego (E.g. Gee, I’m such a good person for doing that!), the motivation is meant to come from the heart, and not be about “me” in any way.

There’s a bunch of little things I try to do regularly like:
• Giving my seat up on public transport;
• Giving money to people on the street who need it;
• Buying The Big Issue (a magazine sold by the homeless);
• Smiling at people in the street/on public transport;
• Not feeling the need to push ahead of other people no matter how much of a rush I might be in;
• If I’m driving (a rare occurrence since I don’t have a car), I let people in front of me.

In terms of bigger picture things, I also work-work-work non-stop on my achilles heel – anger. We all have our own particular weakness and for many people, anger is it! It’s the first place I go – or used to go – when agitated in some way. But through my studies and practice, I’ve learned to take a much wider view of the world. It’s not just about me, and this affords me the space to NOT react the way I used to. In fact, these days I’m more likely to laugh than find myself getting angry!

Right now I’m also planning some volunteer yoga teaching work. I’m doing it because I feel there’s lots of people who’d benefit from yoga BUT they’d never be able to afford yoga classes and/or might find a yoga studio intimidating. I’m about to write a blog post about what’s going on, so stay tuned!

Svasti (a nom de plume) is a newly minted yoga teacher, having recently completed a 500 hour Hatha yoga teacher training. She is also a survivor of assault, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which in part was healed through yoga (combined with appropriate therapy). She lives a somewhat vagabond life in Australia and is mightily passionate about all aspects of yoga.

Follow her blog here or her Twitter feed here!