Yoga in the Queen City
my mat to stay healthy and fit. Basically,
I practice yoga so I don’t loose it when
things don’t go the way I imagined.
Which yoga teacher has made the
biggest impact on your life?
The lovely and masterful Rod Stryker,
founder of Para Yoga, has been my
teacher since 2001. My life has changed
so much for the better because of his
lifetime commitment to share these
ancient teachings.
What inspired you to teach?
My yoga practice began as a place to
work out then it quickly turned into a
practice of being non-reactive to stimuli.
I really needed that! My lifelong plague
of panic attacks went away shortly after
I began yoga and meditation. I thought
that if I could share these practices with
just one other person who suffered
from stress and anxiety, it would be
worth spending my life doing.
How has your practice evolved over
the years?
My practice has been a mixture of ease,
pain, peaks, valleys and plateaus. It’s
been a culmination of sweetness and
incredible fun, ego-driven intensity
and the place I can humbly bow to
when life’s “life-ing” me. It’s now
become part of the way I breathe.
Three words that describe your classes:
Uplift, inspire, connect.
Favorite pose!
Goodness, after breaking (the doctors
called it “destroyed”) my ankle six
months ago, every single pose is my
favorite right now.
So now that you’ve been introduced to some of Charlotte’s best and
brightest yogis, what are you waiting for? As Grace so wisely states, we
can all benefit from a practice that helps keeps us “strong, flexible, happy
and healthy.” Check out a studio near you, and happy OM-ing! n
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PEACHY