Yoga is the union of the mental, physical, and spiritual body. As long as you can think and breathe, you can do yoga. Often I hear people say, “I’m too old for that; I just don’t have the flexibility for yoga; I can’t focus enough; I need something more active.” To the contrary, these are the exact reasons yoga is there for you.

I began doing yoga when it was not particularly popular. The Beatles had been doing “Transcendental Meditation” in the 1960’s and were following their guru(s). Timothy Leary and Ram Das (formerly Richard Alpert) were experimenting with LSD, traveling to India, and following gurus. This was all I knew about yoga.

I began doing yoga when it was not particularly popular. The Beatles had been doing “Transcendental Meditation” in the 1960’s and were following their guru(s).

But in 1978 when I was only 28 years old, I met a devotee to Swami Rama, founder of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and closely affiliated with the Yoga Meditation Center of Minneapolis. After starting classes in a small studio in Hopkins, MN, this woman changed her home into a yoga center in Minnetonka, MN. For the next 20 years, I worked at being a devoted student of traditional Hatha Yoga, studying all aspects of this tradition and adopting it as an integral part of my lifestyle.

My family tried to cooperate, which meant my children and animals frequently watched me and asked to participate in my home practice. I learned early in my practice that one could not allow the distractions of children or animals to be an annoyance, but instead embrace them and fold them into the practice. Having a son with autism tested this theory to its limits. Yet, to this day, when he interrupts me during my practice, I still allow it to happen, knowing he is a part of this practice and a check on my patience. My dog, on the other hand, lays in complete serenity next to my mat throughout my practice, offering me the same serenity she is enjoying.

At the Minnetonka Yoga Center our classes were approximately two hours. As we entered the center, immediate silence was required: shoes off and straight to the yoga room, which was the center of the house. Attire was loose fitting cotton clothing, usually a yoga tunic as you might see a guru wearing. Anything that was not cotton, such as leggings like we wear today was considered unacceptable. The skin needed to breathe!

The first 20 minutes of class were usually devoted to a short lecture (often humorous and always inspiring) by our teacher, followed by savasana and 45 minutes to an hour of asana. Once we completed our asana practice,our first steps in preparation for meditation were taken. For the next 20-30 minutes, we would again lie in savasana and then move into our sitting meditation, which would begin with Nadi Shodhana (the channel purification exercise) followed by various breathing techniques and finally into silent meditation.

This practice pattern was always the same. This ensured the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of yoga were always combined in the teachings of the class. Music was seldom used and viewed as “ear candy” by the devotees. Our practice was both strict in discipline of the body as well as of the mind. We were taught the yamas and niyamas, the first two rungs of ashtanga yoga and the gateway through which one must pass in order to enter the path of yoga.

Yoga was different then. But I loved it. I longed to go to the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania and to India where so many of my yoga colleagues had been privileged to visit.

A year after I started yoga, I moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where I was disillusioned by what I perceived as “Americanized” yoga. I would have no part of it. So I bought a book by BKS Iyengar (“Light on Yoga”) and began doing my own yoga practice at home following his techniques as best I could. When I would return to Minneapolis for work, I would attend my Minnetonka Yoga Center classes. It was during that time that I received my mantra, which to this day has never been spoken to anyone. I wanted to remain strictly in the Eastern Indian yoga traditions. After four years of flying back and forth from Missouri to Minnesota, I returned to Minnesota full-time and resumed my full-time practice with my Minnetonka yoga teacher.

As the years passed, I moved to other states. It was when I was living in the Philadelphia area, that I was introduced to several varieties of yoga. I began hanging out with an amazing group of women who loved yoga as much as I did. It seemed like there was a yoga studio on every street corner. We called ourselves “the Yoga Six.” We loved experimenting with different studios. I most loved going to New York City and trying studios there. During this time I was introduced to vinyasa, bikram, power yoga with Beryl Bender Birch, kundalini yoga (a favorite), ashtanga, anusara, Shiva Rea’s trance dance, and other eclectic yoga.