27 Things to Know About Yoga: Meet the Pros: Les Leventhal

To ensure technical accuracy & a personal perspective, I extensively interviewed a selection of yoga teachers for my 1st book, 27 Things to Know About Yoga. Those same yoga teachers are back – this time, talking about their own yoga journey, how yoga has changed them, what they wish folks knew about yoga … and more.

A very dedicated yoga teacher & passionate human being, I’m honored to say that I know Les Leventhal personally. In 2006 & 2007, I worked at a great yoga studio in San Francisco, California called Yoga Tree. As the front desk manager, I signed-in students for classes and, in the case of Les’ classes, mini-hordes of avid practitioners. Trained primarily in the Forrest style, Les is a fantastic example of how yoga can truly change your life & brighten the lives of those around you.

Victoria Klein: How were you first introduced to yoga?

Les Leventhal: I was first introduced to yoga at a gym. I was a weight lifter, about 30 pounds heavier than I am now, and I was experiencing lots of injuries and not stretching or doing anything healing at all in my life at the time.

What changes have you noticed from practicing yoga (physical, mental, … etc.)?

Some of the changes I have experienced in my body are fewer injuries (in fact, almost none) and I’m very mindful about practicing before I teach so that I am warmed up and ready to demonstrate. Other changes include my awareness of other people and their needs and my interesting ability to hold space for folks when they are going through challenges. I have also become aware of occasionally not holding that same space in a high regard for myself which is such a great part of the fluctuations of the mind and self judgment in my moments of maintaining my humanness. I’ve become more aware of balance in all things.

Which yoga pose is your all-time favorite & why?

Honestly, anything arm balancing because it defies gravity and I’ve always been a kid who likes to break the rules and there’s still that part of me that says, “Watch me get away with this”.

Why do you think there are so many misconceptions about yoga?

Ego, competition, injuries and occasionally the ads and pictures that depict an airbrushed atmosphere of perfection which is not most folks reality.

What one thing do you wish everyone knew about yoga?

That it opens us up to being truthful with ourselves and others and that we get to be flawed, imperfect humans and share with others who we are in those moments.  I want people to experience that yoga can create a sacred space that allows us to exist exactly as we are and then if we see something we want to change, we can do that from actual experience and not just from thinking about it.  To me, this is perfect.

[Images courtesy of Les Leventhal]

27 Things to Know About Yoga: Meet the Pros: Natasha Rizopoulos

To ensure technical accuracy & a personal perspective, I extensively interviewed a selection of yoga teachers for my 1st book, 27 Things to Know About Yoga. Those same yoga teachers are back – this time, talking about their own yoga journey, how yoga has changed them, what they wish folks knew about yoga … and more.

Featured numerous times in Yoga Journal magazine & star of Yoga Journal’s Step-by-Step DVD series, Natasha Rizopoulos is one well-established yogi. Before yoga, she was a ballet dancer, social worker, and Harvard graduate. Combining the classic Ashtanga and modern YogaWorks styles, Natasha is a delightful example of an approachable, intelligent, and caring yoga teacher.

Victoria Klein: How were you first introduced to yoga?

Natasha Rizopoulos: A friend brought me to an asana class and I was instantly hooked … It was reminiscent of the best of my days as a ballet dancer, without some of the negative aspects that had caused me to stop dancing.

What changes have you noticed from practicing yoga (physical, mental, … etc.)?

All the usual suspects: I sleep, eat and move through the world will much greater ease. I feel better in my physical body, but even more important, I feel better in my own skin and have clearer perspective about who I am and what matters in life.

Which yoga pose is your all-time favorite & why?

Probably Adho Mukha Svanasana [Downward-Facing Dog];  It opens and strengthens the body in all the best ways, provides the benefits of a mild inversion, and can be held for many minutes at time thereby focusing and quieting the mind to great effect.

Why do you think there are so many misconceptions about yoga?

In the States, we are very fitness focused and in some ways body-obsessed, so it makes sense that for many people asana (postures) have come to represent Yoga.  But if you practice postures without understanding the bigger picture of Yoga (all the other limbs) your experience of Yoga is very narrow and can become distorted.  It’s like thinking that Times Square is New York City … Times Square is in New York, and is certainly an important part of the city in addition to being one of the first parts of the town that newcomers visit, but if that’s your only experience of New York it will give you a skewed perception of the city and you will miss an abundance of other elements that are equally, if not more, rich and rewarding.

What one thing do you wish everyone knew about yoga?

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE TO DO YOGA AND YOGA IS NOT ABOUT BEING FLEXIBLE.

[Images courtesy of Natasha Rizopoulos]

27 Things to Know About Yoga: Meet the Pros: David Lurey

To ensure technical accuracy & a personal perspective, I extensively interviewed a selection of yoga teachers for my 1st book, 27 Things to Know About Yoga. Those same yoga teachers are back – this time, talking about their own yoga journey, how yoga has changed them, what they wish folks knew about yoga … and more.

Dividing his time between teaching in the United States, Europe, and Brazil, David Lurey was a major inspiration for me, both as a yogi & an environmental advocate while I lived in San Francisco from 2006-2009. David is a co-founder of the Bay Area-based Green Yoga Association, which works to foster a strong connection between ecology & Yoga. During a recent 9-hour train ride, David told me about his crossover from hotel management to traveling yogi, why shoulderstand pose is his current favorite, how yoga has made him stronger inside & out … and more.

Victoria Klein: How were you first introduced to yoga?

David Lurey: After graduating from the University of Denver with a business degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, I moved to San Francisco, CA to work for the Hyatt Hotel Corporation as a food and beverage manager at the Hyatt Regency SF.  After a few months of stressful work, long hours, and quite a bit of management/employee tensions, one of my employees noticed my stress level and invited me to take a class he was teaching for his Yoga Teacher Training where he needed some students. Jamie Lindsey is his name and I am eternally grateful for that invitation!

The class was an Ashtanga-based class and I had one of those moments in savasana where everything felt blissfull.  My body was finally relaxed, my mind at peace and I could just be as I was without external influence.  Then Jamie introduced me to Larry Shultz (who was his teacher) at It’s Yoga in San Francisco who became my teacher for about 6 years.

My asana practice quickly became an integral part of my life and it helped a lot with the daily physical and mental challenges of hotel work until I realized that I was no longer served working there.  I made the jump out of operations and worked for a food and beverage software company for a few years and switched my yoga practice from mornings to evenings and was feeling stronger, healthier and happier.

After three years of computer work, I again realized I wasn’t living to my full potential. In 2001, I completed my first teacher training with Larry at It’s Yoga and began a new life path as a Yoga teacher.

What changes have you noticed from practicing yoga (physical, mental, … etc.)?

I have been practicing yoga since 1995 so it’s a little hard to tell what is a direct result of my practice and what is a result of maturation in my body, but in the first few years, I lost about 8-10 pounds and gained a lot of internal strength.

My first years of asana practice were Ashtanga-based and there was lots of pushing and building strength.  In 2004, I began studying with Eddie Modestini and Nicki Doane, who helped me in softening the intensity of my practice and finding new openings in the subtleties.

Longer-held postures, lunges and inversions became part of my regular practice and the strength became balanced with more flexibility and integration of prana into my being.  I have been a traveling teacher for the last 5 years and without my practice, I could not survive with the rigors of the road, so I also feel that my ability to live in my body fully has been a big change over the years.

Which yoga pose is your all-time favorite & why?

Well… I am a Vata Aquarius and any question that asks my “favorite” anything is instantly met with: “it depends!” (when, where, why, with who, etc…).  Currently, my practice feels incomplete unless I experience the many benefits of Salamba Sarvangasana.  The effects of the inversion stimulate my heart and throat, the chest opening and neck release always awakens my physical body. There is an energetic quality of bringing my head to my heart which also draws me to this pose and when I come down from it, an all pervading union occurs and I remember why I practice yoga.

I also love standing poses and feel that they prepare me very well for full engagement of the legs while upside-down and the perspective of seeing my body always amazes me!

Why do you think there are so many misconceptions about yoga?

There is a tendency among humans to see the surface of something and assume that is all there is.  We have many expressions to help us move forward from that: “don’t judge a book by its cover”, “it’s only the tip of the iceburg”, “beauty is only skin deep!” … but people still see Yoga only by what is represented in the mass media and those who are only practicing asanas.

I am content with the exposure of Yoga in magazines, television and movies since it acts as a doorway in.  The challenge, however, is for people to look beyond just the physical benefits of the practice (which they will gain regardless with continued practice) and discover that Yoga is an entire lifestyle code that flows in all aspects of life.  With the idea that it is just exercise, misconceptions about the totality of the practice of Yoga arise.

What one thing do you wish everyone knew about yoga?

Yoga is a journey from the gross to the subtle (so says Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (2:27)) and this has been my experience.  Through the gross living in the physical world, we open up to our inherent connection to all beings on the planet, the planet itself and the life force flowing through it.

The path of yoga is unique to everyone and when we practice Yoga in all we do, we establish deeper connections to ourselves and to life force creating a richer and more pleasant human experience.

[Images courtesy of David Lurey]

27 Things to Know About Yoga: Meet the Pros: Frank Jude Boccio

To ensure technical accuracy & a personal perspective, I extensively interviewed a selection of yoga teachers for my 1st book, 27 Things to Know About Yoga. Those same yoga teachers are back – this time, talking about their own yoga journey, how yoga has changed them, what they wish folks knew about yoga … and more.

An interfaith minister & certified yoga teacher, Frank Jude Boccio is not only intelligent – he is wise. Chatting with him for just a few minutes makes a person feel truly alive & connected to the world around them. Along with studying Ayurveda & rehabilitation therapy, Frank has trained in numerous yoga styles, including: Anusara, Ashtanga, & Kundalini. Based in Arizona & teaching around the world, Frank has also written a wonderful book titled Mindfulness Yoga – a seamless interweaving of yoga & Buddhist mindfulness meditation.

Victoria Klein: How were you first introduced to yoga?

Frank Jude Boccio: While I was still in High School, curiosity drew me to read a few books on Buddhism and it just seemed to make sense to me. However, I was as yet not motivated to practice. Then, when I was around 20 years old, with a young daughter and a marriage that was already experiencing problems, a friend suggested I try Yoga to ease my stress.

I will NEVER forget my first shavasana [corpse pose]! It was an experience that whet my appetite for more. However, after several months, I began to notice that while practicing yoga, and for some short time after I would feel peaceful and blissful, but outside of yoga class, the rest of my life still felt chaotic and extremely stressful. In fact, the discordance between how I felt while practicing yoga and the rest of my life caused me mental pain!

At that time, I read how the Buddha had studied with two of the great yogis of his time and found that as long as he was in a deep state of concentrated meditation, he felt blissful, but soon after coming out of meditation, he would again feel stress. That was when he decided to go out on his own and re-discovered the meditative approach that has come to be called ‘mindfulness.’ It was reading about his experience, and recognizing how similar it was to mine, that led me to begin Buddhist meditation, which I now see as simply a form of yoga itself.

What changes have you noticed from practicing yoga (physical, mental, … etc.)?

An interesting question as I just participated in a university study on Mindfulness Practice. The most telling, and transformative change I have experienced over time is that I am not as reactive to external conditions as I once was. I have found a degree of freedom from conditions, so that my happiness and peace are not determined by others and external situations. I experience a lightness of being, so that even difficult situations are accepted more openly and freely, and I do what I can and let go of the rest. I smile more freely at my own foibles, not taking myself so darn seriously. As I tell my students, “Life is too important to take seriously: En-lighten Up!”

The meditation and physical practices (including pranayama and asana) have also helped keep my body and my immune system strong; I rarely get sick. And thankfully, at 54 I am still feeling limber and don’t experience any of the joint or muscular aches that so many folk my age — who do not practice some form of hatha-yoga — seem to experience.

Which yoga pose is your all-time favorite & why?

In some ways, this is a bit of a challenging question. Honestly, taking Patanjali’s aphorism to heart, that asana (posture) should be stable and easeful and done with the relaxing of effort in order to experience coalescence (samapatti) and the over-coming of being ‘plagued’ by the pairs of opposites (Y.S.: II; 46 – 48) I would have to say either a comfortable sitting posture OR shavasana. The reason is that in such postures, as we say in Zen, ‘body and mind are dropped’ and a deep sense of peace and joy arise.

Interestingly, my first yoga teacher would often say (and now I also share with my students) that shavasana is the most challenging posture to ‘master,’ and while many beginners scoff at that and think I’m kidding, it is true in many ways. Shavasana is NOT about ‘nap-time.’ We are asked to literally let go of body and mind and stay alert. That degree of ‘letting go’ is very difficult for us contemporary humans, and often when the body is at ease, we tend to drift off. But the meditative state is one of relaxation AND alertness.

Now, other than these, I think Warrior Two is perhaps my favorite ‘active’ hatha-yoga posture because it feels so strong, grounding and opening all at the same time. Long ‘holds’ in Warrior Two allow me to watch my mind’s reactivity to discomfort, while still maintaining the stability that other more contortionist postures do not allow. Staying in the posture cultivates the heart of the ‘warrior-bodhisattva’ so that I can cultivate a greater capacity to stay present with whatever life throws at me.

Why do you think there are so many misconceptions about yoga?

At least one reason for some of the many misconceptions about yoga relate to confusion as to the various definitions of the word “yoga.” When I teach the History and Philosophy of the Yoga Tradition, I note that the first use of the word “yoga” to describe a mental discipline of ‘yoking the mind and body’ dates to about 1000 BCE. From this time on, Yoga (with a capital Y) connotes any psycho-physical-spiritual discipline with its origins on the sub-continent of what is now called “India.” There are many forms of yoga, and for most of its history, yoga meant meditation (raja-yoga), and later devotion to the Divine (bhakti-yoga), selfless service (karma-yoga), and investigation (jnana-yoga).

Confusion really begins when we speak of yoga as a philosophy or darshana. The school of Classical Yoga, one of the six forms of ‘orthodox’ Indian philosophy rests upon the work of Patanjali in his Yoga-Sutra, which dates from around 200 – 300 CE. This is over a 1,000 years since the word ‘yoga’ was first used to describe spiritual discipline. Several centuries after Patanjali, the Tantra-Yoga movement spread across India, and it was from this movement that Hatha-Yoga (forceful-yoga) arose. But even then, the postures of hatha were primarily sitting postures, as any cursory view of The Hatha-Yoga Pradipika will show you.

Ironically, many of the movements and postures of contemporary Hatha-Yoga are less than 200 years old, and were very much influenced by the British calisthenics movement! Sadly, when Yoga was brought over to America, the physical practice of asana was emphasized till we’ve reached the point where for most Westerners, the great richness of the Yoga Tradition has been reduced to asana practice! Mark Singleton, in his wonderful Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice goes into great detail about this history.

What one thing do you wish everyone knew about yoga?

I wish that everyone would know that yoga is sooooo much more than just the physical practice — as wonderful as that is — so that they could more greatly appreciate just how powerfully transforming it can be. The freedom yoga offers; beyond the flexibility and strength of body to the flexibility and strength of mind it cultivates, is beyond conception. If we have too narrow a view of what yoga is, we end up short-changing ourselves! Yoga… it’s beyond conception!

[Images courtesy of Frank Jude Boccio]