About

I started practicing yoga in 2000, when I was 50. The signs of aging are more obvious now, and I’m more determined than ever to get a totally solid yoga practice that will carry me through until the day I die.

In our family we are all as stiff as boards. When I’m really assiduous about my practice I can touch the floor in a standing forward bend, but not always. So you won’t find me writing about those really difficult asanas that are only accessible to the truly flexible. My mother could barely tie her shoes over the last 10 years of her life. Yoga is going to prevent that from happening to me.

I am a student at Yoga Center of Lawrence. I’ve been fortunate to have exceptionally skilled, careful, and patient teachers. Iyengar yoga is focused on alignment, sequencing, and timing. Recently I read the comment that Iyengar yoga is distinguished from other schools of yoga because of its use of props. This struck me as beside the point. Props have been invaluable for me because they allow me to get the benefit of poses that I might not otherwise be able to get into without injury. The important thing (to me) is that props provide proper alignment.

I began teaching restorative yoga in around 2009, after I had been ill and only able to practice in the most minimal way. Restorative yoga restored me, and I wanted other people to have more of it, so I took Judith Lasater’s restorative teacher training.

In 2011 or so I began teaching Pranayama. I didn’t mean to start down that path. I asked the then-owner of the Yoga Center if they would start teaching Pranayama, and she said, “You do it.” So I did. I am not on the Iyengar certification path, because it’s more than I am able to do. My Pranayama training consists of reading everything I can get my hands on, and trying to go to every workshop I can, and practicing everything.

Any errors herein are mine and not those of my teachers, to whom I am deeply grateful.