"1.HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING YOGA?
I have been teaching Yoga since 1996, when I enrolled in the Jivamukti Teacher Training Program with Sharon Gannon and David Life back when the original Jivamukti Yoga school was located on 2nd avenue and 10th street. Sharon and David encouraged us to begin teaching right away, so I rounded up some dancer friends and started teaching free Yoga classes. I had just graduated from NYU at the time, and was also pursuing a career in dance, as well as tending bar a few nights a week into the wee hours!!
2. WHAT LEAD YOU TOWARD THE PATH AND PROFESSION OF YOGA?
I have always been a movement junkie. Anything physical holds my attention, be it dance, running, or Yoga. I was originally drawn to Yoga as a modern dance student at NYU. I guess you could say I was drawn first to the physical aspect of it, and I loved the energy and vibe at that old Jivamukti space. There was so much Shakti there. After one class, I was hooked. I did not know at the time that I would become a teacher; I just knew I had found a form of expression that felt right to me, and the more deeply I went, the more interested I became. I quickly realized that there was more to the Yoga than meets the eye, and that the study of this subject is so vast and so varied that it would hold my attention for years to come. Over the years, as much as I remain faithful to the asana practice and the amazing benefits of it, I find that for me, the sitting practice is what I need to start doing more of. I have struggled to cultivate a seated meditation practice for years. But it is now finally getting easier and easier, and when I do sit, I feel the effects of that silence right away.
3. HOW DID BECOMING A MOTHER EFFECT YOUR TEACHING AND YOUR PRACTICE?
Well, the days are much much shorter!!! I am the mother of two amazing children- a 7 year old named Jack, and a 3 year old named Uma. I tell my prenatal students this all the time. That the journey of pregnancy, labor, birth, and then becoming a parent is a huge lesson in giving up control. If nothing else, we realize we are not in control. And this being that we have brought into this world, our child, is in many ways, our biggest teacher. From the moment of conception, it is often like a roller coaster ride of emotion to the nth degree. Every emotion seems magnified when it concerns your child. The deepest, greatest love you have ever experienced, along with perhaps the greatest joy, fear, anger, frustration, depending on what they are putting you through at any given moment!! As a practitioner of Yoga, and as a teacher, I try to take this intensity of emotion and teach equanimity amidst the intensity. I try to also use the constant state of “not-knowing” that I have gleaned from being a mother and try to carry that into my practice, my teaching, and my life. There is a great amount of uncertainty and vulnerability in the choice to bring a child into the world; to be fully responsible for the life of another can be quite overwhelming at times. But we learn as we go, and we also learn again, to give up, and to surrender to something bigger, and to have faith that it is all as it should be.
4. DO YOU FIND THAT YOGA HAS BECOME A PART OF YOUR LIFE AT HOME WITH YOUR FAMILY?
Absolutely, yes. I find myself reading a book to my son and explaining to him that the lesson or theme of the book is a “yogic lesson.” I often find myself explaining karma to them, explaining compassion, explaining service, and just that basic teaching “do unto others as you would have done to you.” They get this, and we always have teachers and other parents telling us that our children are thoughtful, kind, polite human beings, so I guess we are doing something right.
5. CAN YOU SHARE A HOME RITUAL THAT HAS BEEN HELPFUL TO YOU IN YOUR LIFE AT HOME WITH YOUR FAMILY?
I have been learning to play the harmonium, and the kids really love the chanting. The harmonium lives in the living room so that anytime I am inspired to play or practice, I just plop down and play. The kids were immediately drawn to the sound and the chanting and now they chant along. It has also been really nice because my son is learning piano, so if I am floundering trying to locate the ‘C’ key, he can help me!! I also try to emphasize that if mom is sitting and meditating early in the morning, that that should be respected. My kids wake up REALLY early, so it is difficult to “beat them awake” to be able to sit in the morning. I have tried to teach them the value of this quiet time in the morning, and they do understand it. In general also, they know how much I value movement, exercise, and healthful eating, and I can only hope that this rubs off on them and does not make them rebel when they are older!! With that being said, we are all about balance. My son loves watching TV and playing on the computer, and my daughter tends towards being a sugar junkie! I try not to forbid them from anything, and in some ways to respect their tendencies and preferences and give them space to find their own way.
6. WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU PLAYING IN CLASSES THIS SUMMER?
As always, I am really into Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Krishna Das! I have also been playing Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman (of course!), KD Lang…basically, songs with yogic themes.
7. YOU JUST LAUNCHED YOUR NEW STUDIO, KAMA DEVA YOGA; ( DURING AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN: I LOVE YOU FOR THAT, BY THE WAY) CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE NAME?
The name KamaDeva means “God of Love.” We were going to go with KamaDevi, to be more feminine (Goddess of Love) but KamaDeva just sounded better! My good friend, and an amazing teacher in her own right, Kelly Morris, actually came up with the name. She threw a bunch of names at me and as soon as I heard that one I knew that was it. What the name means to me is that in many ways, LOVE is the aim of this practice. To reach a state of unconditional love, to reach a place in yourself where you realize, as Swami Satchidananda says, that “you are LOVE personified, you are JOY, you are BLISS. It is your birth right, and your true nature.” Tapping into that source, cultivating great compassion for all beings, and then every action being motivated from that place? Now that is HUGE.
8. WHAT INSPIRES AND EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT YOUR FIRST SEASON AT KAMA DEVA YOGA?
It is always exciting, come Memorial Day weekend, to see the faces of those students you have not seen since Labor Day! And especially for me this year with the new studio, it is very exciting to see that my old students are finding me more and more every day. That makes me feel really good as a teacher, to realize that some students are actively seeking me out. I am also loving all of the new faces. We are attracting a lot of beginners to this new studio, which is phenomenal, as the more people I can turn on to this amazing practice, the more I feel I am serving others and doing my job!! 9. PLEASE TELL US ANYTHING YOU WISH TO SHARE ABOUT SPECIAL PROJECTS AND EVENTS YOU HAVE COMING UP SO WE CAN SHARE WITH OUR AMERICAN YOGINI SITE VISTORS, AND RETREAT GUESTS.
We have so much going on at the studio this summer! I am teaming up with Lars Svanberg from Main Beach Surf and Sport in Wainscott to offer some evening kayak or paddleboard sessions in which we will paddle across Georgica Pond in silence, and then have a short asana practice on the beach along with a seated meditation as the moon rises, and then paddle back by the light of the moon. The first time I ever did this with Lars was actually about 10 years ago and I never forgot that magical feeling of being out on the water in the darkness, in the silence, and how at peace I felt. It was really profound. I want to share that experience with the KamaDeva students, because many people don’t even think about going out on the water at night!!! We also have some great workshops at the studio this summer. Stan Woodman, a great Ashtangi who moved to Greenwich a few years back with his wife, yoga teacher Gina Norman to open Greenwich Yoga will be coming on July 17 to teach a workshop. We also have Elena Brower, owner of the extremely popular Vira Yoga in NYC along with Nikki Costello, who is Jivamukti, Anusara, and Iyengar certified!, will be co-teaching a weekend workshop in August."
 | del.icio.us |  | digg |  | reddit |  | newsvine |  | yahoo
|
