About June 8, 2008
Welcome to the blog and website of a Detroit-bred, California-seasoned yogi doing my best to squeeze the juiciness out of life. I feel it can be Balanced. Fun. Inspired. Loved. Real. Rockin. I feel the practice of yoga allows us to have our cake and eat it too. I readily admit that the practice of yoga might be something very different for me, than it is for you. Your yoga practice might be rock ‘n roll, art, food, babies, knitting, or bowling like the dude. For me, it is keeping my head screwed on while traveling and working hard sharing technology and yoga and whatever else comes my way. I work full-time in an office, ride my bike as much as possible, and sometimes eat too much queso dip. I have wine with dinner, I sometimes lose myself in difficult situations, and am doing my best to live life to the fullest. I have a feisty side that makes me smile sideways. This is a forum for sharing thoughts on yoga and life and everything in between from the eye’s of a lover of life.
My Yoga Inspiration Statement
I practice yoga because it hurts so good. It makes me feel at home in my own skin. It is teaching me how to get out of my head and be more present. It is one of the few activities in life where I can turn off my overactive mind, stop living in the past or future, stop thinking about coulda shoulda woulda. Yoga has brought such positive changes in my body and mind that I can’t really describe in words. It has taught me how to feel more joy in my life no matter what my external circumstances seem to be. It makes me want to be a better version of myself. It makes me smile. It makes me love better. It is teaching me how to be more authentic and honest in my life. I love watching people change through the practice of yoga. It has helped me realize that I am truly blessed. It has shown me the difference between conversing and authentic listening. It has given me the opportunity to gaze into the eyes of one hundred complete strangers and feel complete compassion and love for them that I didn’t know was possible.
Bio of a Roxtar
Originally from Downriver Detroit, Michigan, I (Roxtar) have been practicing yoga of various styles and frequency since 2001. It has been a slow, yet steady love affair, starting with beginner’s classes once a week until I moved to California in 2004 and discovered Bikram’s Yoga. The repetition of the sequence and low cost helped me realize that maybe this was more than a short term love affair, maybe yoga was more than a phase or a trend for me. It changed my body, my relationships, my mind, and I found that my favorite place was at the yoga studio, whether I was sick, tired, broken hearted, struggling with grad school, or struggling with life in general. I was lucky to be able to attend classes at Yoga Journal Conferences for work and try many styles of yoga which pushed me to my edge and made me more sore than I knew was possible. Some of the most amazing teachers I’ve ever practiced with stole my heart for good. I eventually ended up in my first teacher training where I studied Iyengar and Purna Yoga with Camille Thom in Boise, Idaho. I recently returned from a Power Vinyasa Yoga training with Baron Baptiste in Hawaii and Vinyasa Yoga training with Shiva Rea in Venice Beach, CA. I also greatly enjoy practicing with and learning from many of the awesome teachers in the SLO yoga community. I enjoy fusing together the many styles I have studied for an all encompassing class that challenges your body, moves your stuck emotional energy, clears your mind, and inspires you to seek and live in truth, all while jamming to some rocking tunes. I believe that yoga is the answer to good mental and physical health, whether you practice it once in a while, once a week, or once a day. It has complemented everything else I do in my life, physically and mentally, and I believe it can do this for anyone. I teach Vinyasa Yoga at Smiling Dog, and some free yoga classes to my fellow desk jockeys at MINDBODY, Inc.