I first discovered Astanga Yoga in 1998, in Calgary.  I hadn't been all that enthusiastic about trying it out, but I fell in love right away; with the fluidity of the movements, even when I preformed them awkwardly.  With the focus and attention paid to every placement of the body.  But most of all, I loved the way it made me feel.  Energized, but calm.

 

It was later that I really started to love it for other things.  For it's strength, for instance.  This was a soft strength - powerful, but flexible; like a tree in the wind.  A strength that was designed, inherently, for the movements of my own body.  In time I came to love yoga for the health that it brought me, the energy, the strength, the focus.

That love of yoga has taken me pretty far.  It coalesced and took shape in the early days before I left Calgary: talking of yoga, 'playing yoga', experimenting with asanas with Calgary's youthful and excited yoga community, attending every workshop with every visiting teacher that I could.  And it sent me out into the world.

One of the places it took me was India, where I've spent nearly a year studying Astanga Yoga.

 

It was a lot of being jumped on, twisted, squashed and pulled into poses.  It was a lot of stumbling through the morning chant.  A lot of the words, "No Rob, not like that, like this."  And watching him effortlessly move into a perfect demonstration of whatever I was struggling with.  A little frustrating at times...

 

I started this trying to describe myself.  But you know what?  I can't really. I can give you facts and information, but not the essence of self.  Some of that information - my experience as a teacher and student of yoga, can be found by clicking the link below: