The love of teaching

I realized two things recently:

1. I don't like blogging, but I am being pushed by friends and the forces of modernization to keep up with social media and web 2.0 (frankly I'd rather be in the wilderness with a stack of books and no cell phone reception, that's why I may still end up in New Zealand).

2. I really enjoy teaching yoga. Every class gives me a bit more confirmation that this is what I should be doing (so maybe I'll eventually move to New Zealand and open a studio there).

I don't know what to do about the first, except that I am going to treat it as a task, a must-do, so that blog icon on my website can at least serve some sort of purpose. I hope my Youtube videos serve a better purpose, so stay tuned for more videos.

The second realization is a much happier one, because at least I know I'm not pouring my heart, energy, and time into something absolutely useless and mind numbing (like my previous job in Investment Banking).

Recently one of my students gave me the idea of starting a “Meetup” group catered toward athletes. “You’re an athlete, you’ve been injured, and look what yoga has done for you!” she said, “why not share that with the communities of runners, bikers, lifters and everyone else who love fitness but keep getting injured?”

So I listened to her and started a “Yoga for Athletes” group via Meetup.com, just as an experiment to see if it would actually take off.

17 people showed up to the first session, and wow, what a treat it was to meet everyone! There were cyclists, triathletes, martial artists, runners, ex-fire fighters… the list goes on. The energy was wonderful, the people were amazing, and it further confirmed my belief that yoga can heal and bring people together.

The class was bigger than I had anticipated and the time just flew by. I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone, but from the few I spoke to, the same recurring themes of knee pain, lower back issues, tight shoulders, hip soreness came out as certain as the sun and moon. I nodded and smiled to myself, not because these people were in pain, but because I’ve heard and experienced all of this before, and because I knew yoga would do wonders for all of them.

Afterwards I answered questions and demonstrated stretches and simple exercises to do at home. The gratitude expressed to me was so genuine and heartwarming that I knew I had to continue doing this.

So I am on a mission – to use the practice of yoga to heal others, to share what I know unselfishly, and to help anyone who comes to my door.

How it all started

I once told a yoga teacher I had bad sciatica, and her response was: "don't worry, yoga will fix you."

I have never forgotten her or how my first yoga class changed my life. I was twenty-five and had trouble getting out of bed. Two herniated discs in my lumbar spine that led to such terrible sciatica that I could no longer do anything without feeling that jolting pain and numbness.

But yoga did fixe me. It got rid of my sciatica and opened up a whole new path for me.

I developed a fascination for movement at an early age, through playing sports and practicing martial arts. After my injury I became even more interested in studying anatomy and the human body. Through meditation and my own yoga practice -- testing postures, working specific muscles, pushing my own limits, using breath work, my passion for yoga bloomed.

When I first became a teacher, I was amazed at just how many people suffered from back problems. I had no idea my mother had mild scoliosis and my father's spinal stenosis eventually forced him to get surgery. In every class I taught there were at least two students with already identified spine ailments, and several others with bad posture, knee issues, shoulder pain, headaches, and conditions that are directly related to the spine.

Sadly, most people are not aware that everything relates back to the spine.

So it all fell into place for me. A small epiphany came one day when I adjusted a student in Warrior I. Just a slight tilt of the pelvis, more engagement in the quadriceps and the pinching feeling was gone. She was so ecstatic that she was on the verge of tears.

“My back always hurts in that pose,” she said, “but for the first time today, the pain went away and I felt SO strong!”

And that is when I began building back care techniques into each one of my classes. It wasn’t difficult at all, because for one, most yoga postures emphasize lengthening of the spine and proper alignment; and two, I had done so much spine work over the years that it came naturally.

I have so much to be grateful for. Yoga has healed me, given me hope, and set me on a mission to share my passion and knowledge with others. A friend once asked me: “don’t you get sick of saying: ‘step your right leg forward’ or ‘lift your sternum’ time after time?”

I thought of all of students I have been able to help, all of the people whom I’ve turned onto this wonderful journey of yoga, and the only answer I gave her was a big, contented smile.