Yogi Spotlight: Rob, Western North Carolina
Yoga can go far beyond the mat, and extend into daily life. We’re bringing you a Yogi Spotlight series where our clients and corporate yoga students share their journey and love for yoga and wellness. We are excited to start the series featuring Rob, a 73-year-old lawyer who is an advocate for wellness, and a dedicated yoga student who has started his journey with us in early 2020.
When did you start practicing with YogaHub?
I started in March 2020 with Emerald Necklace classes offered by YogaHub and then continued with YogaHub's Monday night classes. These were the crazy early days of the pandemic, and your lesson series helped me calm down and get grounded. (That series was on YouTube for a while but I can’t find it now.)
When/how did you start practicing yoga?
I started my yoga practice in about 2000 in our local wellness center, with a very nice teacher who unfortunately had little or no training in yoga. My practice went to a new level about 2008 when we first spent a week at the Sivananda ashram in the Bahamas. We learned that yoga involved not only exercise but also breathing, relaxation, diet, and meditation! We learned reverence for the traditions and legends of yoga. I studied with Arjuna, a Boston native who had been a direct disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda. We continued yearly visits to ashrams in Nassau, Montreal, or Grass Valley CA. We learned the importance of experienced, committed teachers. I have great respect for the Sivananda tradition. I realize there are other traditional modes of practice, with much to offer.
The next step was to complete my RYT200, in October 2016. With the pandemic in March 2020 came regular virtual lessons, notably with Ali Singer but also with other teachers from literally all over the world.
Virtual lessons are not the same as in-person, but they offer access to great teachers and compact formats which I can include in my schedule every single day.
What do you love most about the practice?
I love the sensations of physical well-being and mental alertness which come with regular practice. This week, for example, I had two major professional tasks (I am an attorney). I appeared in a superior court hearing and a mediation. Both mornings I got up early and prepared...by doing a full-body yoga lesson! Both tasks required complete concentration, both went well. Regular yoga practice is so enabling for both my professional and personal lives. Without yoga, I do not think that I would still be practicing law, backpacking, and bicycling at the age of 73.
What's your favorite/least favorite pose?
Totally up to you what you want to share:)) Arjuna teaches, and I agree, that a pose which is difficult or even aversive for me is an opportunity to grow. I have come to terms with headstand and plough and I am working on warrior III, though I do not claim great proficiency with any of them.