As I continue my story of the evolution of BL, I would like to take this week to highlight some of the teachers who have played an integral part in our yoga program. Now, of course, we have had many great teachers over the past 20 plus years of BL yoga, but today I’m just focusing on a handful of them who have a long history at BL and who still play an integral part in our current yoga program. Here are a couple of their stories…
As I previously mentioned, Steve was the very first yoga teacher at BL, starting back in 1998 teaching yoga on the fitness side. For 24 years he as been the anchor of our yoga program and has helped so many students restore range of motion through his gentle and therapeutic approach to yoga. He taught me to “listen to my students” and to formulate my verbiage and flows based on what I learned from watching and listening to them. Great advice that has stuck with me.
Oh and then remember I mentioned on social media, that Ricky started at the previous BL years before me (1985 to be exact)…but it wasn’t until she was about to turn 50 that she decided it was time to teach yoga. I remember her sharing that she wanted the challenge of learning something new to keep her brain young as she entered this new decade. Ricky was in the very first group of BL yoga trainees back in 2003 and then started teaching yoga in 2004. She has been a wonderful addition to our yoga team and our managerial staff ever since as well as supporting me and BL in SO many different ways over the years!! Oh and on a personal note Ricky and our families have been dear friends for these past 25 years as well!!
Herb…wow this is a great story. Back in 2002, my daughter Brittany was working at the Starbucks on Orchard Lake road. I would go there to get my paperwork done or read while spending a little time with Britt on her breaks. (Thus my current Starbucks addiction.) One day, Herb was sitting outside and saw me reading a book about yoga and simply asked…”so what is yoga?” Well, of course the rest is history. I told him to come experience for himself and not only did he start practicing yoga, he signed up for the teacher training in 2005. Oh wait there’s more…he actually has Body Language Yoga tattooed on his arm in Sanskrit (the original language of yoga). Needless to say he’s a lifer!! You can still find him every Sunday morning at 8:30 am teaching Better Backs!!
Let me divert for just a moment to list the teachers who are currently on staff who have gone through Body Language’s yoga teacher training program. Here we go…Claudia, Ricky, Robin, Eva, Herb, Jamie, Jen, Kari, Kim, Micaela, Morgan, Nicole, Shawn, Tanci, Toni, Donna, Jenna, Kris, Lynn, Tanya, Victoria, Brie, Dave, Britt and even Chris (yep it’s true!) Wow!!
So along comes Ronda in 2005 and she has taken training from another yoga studio and has a bit of a different style. Recognizing this, she told me that she very timidly scheduled a feedback session with me to see if her style would be a fit at BL. Needless to say, BL welcomed Ronda with open arms and over the years, I feel like we have learned so much from each other. I worked with Ronda a bit on hands on adjustments as that was not included in her training, and she has shared with me and so many others, her expertise on the psychology of yoga. Ronda has become a huge part of our yoga teacher training program offering workshops on Theming, Ayruveda, Nidra, Anxiety & Depression, Enneagram and more. You never leave one of Ronda’s classes without a message to carry with you into your day!! So glad you got out of your comfort zone and scheduled that feedback Ronda!!
Jamie went through BL’s teacher training in 2009. The reason Jamie and I remember the year is because her daughter, Riley, is 13 years old and Jamie showed up 4 days after giving birth for the second half of teacher training. I was so surprised to see her but knew right then that she was passionate about teaching yoga. That commitment to BL and to yoga has surfaced in so, so many ways over the years. A little trivia about Jamie is that she used to do stand up for Second City Comedy Club. The number of students who consistently flood her classes are a testament to the way she weaves humor into her classes and makes each class playful yet heartfelt. I love that Jamie really makes an effort to learn her students’ names and will often be heard using their name during class to offer encouragement. Needless to say, Jamie has been a huge asset to our BL line up as well as to our teacher training program for the past decade plus!!
Shawn stumbled into BL in 2007 and decided to go through teacher training in 2010. She recently shared with me that she really didn’t go into the training with expectations to teach, but just loved yoga and wanted to learn all she could. Like many yoga and fitness teachers, she has a “real” job (the one that pays the bills) as an analyst. Like Jamie, she remembers the timeline based on an emotionally charged moment as she found out she was pregnant with her daughter Sydney the day she did her post training feedback. In addition to teaching 4 classes a week at BL, Shawn leads a couple of workshops for our teacher training program. She has fast become one of our student’s favorites over the years and we are grateful to have her a part of our Team BL.
Lastly, I wondered if you knew that 4 out of 5 of my immediate family are Yoga Certified…
Dave went through BL’s training back in 2004 and has taught for BL on and off for years. His main reason for doing the training was to be available as a sub as he often witnessed first hand how hard it was to find subs early on. His claim to fame ended up being his creative poems and his amazing foot rubs.
My daughter Brittany went through training in 2009 ish and in addition to being on the yoga schedule, she taught teen yoga and helped run the desk for awhile. Then her “real” job of teaching elementary school and being a mama took up all her waking hours!!
When Brie (my youngest daughter) isn’t busy traveling around the world as an event planner, you will still find her name on the yoga schedule as a sub. Brie was only 7 when I bought BL so she has grown up surrounded by this amazing community and feels like she has lots of second mamas!! When Brie did her feedback for teaching yoga at BL, it brought me to tears. I love the fact that she shares my passion for yoga and for BL. Once in awhile I am even able to talk her in to teaching Zumba with me!! Brie also helps out at the desk and was hugely instrumental in helping us develop our on demand class library! I refer to her as my baby girl…others call her my mini me!!
So there you go…now you know a little more about some of the integral players who have been around for a while and who have helped to make up the yoga program at Team BL!!
