Well, I’d like to say I’ve been practicing yoga since I was a kid, but that’s only partially true; to be honest, it’s a bit of a stretch. The truth is I remember my grandmother practicing yoga at her Fresno, California apartment in front of her living room television set when I was a fresh three- or four-year-old little girl. I spent a lot of time with Grandma while my mom was working as a welder, a manicurist, an insurance salesperson, or another one of a number of different jobs she experimented with so we could get by. I was mesmerized by the sleek, vibrant colored leotards and graceful figures that my grandma imitated. She encouraged me to follow along too, especially when it was time to do the “sponge”, or what I know now as final relaxation. What a brilliant way to get a rambunctious child to calm down. I remember how limber I must have been and how effortless it was to do the full lotus. That was my first brush with yoga, so in a way I was being honest when I wrote that I’ve been practicing yoga since I was a kid.

Unfortunately, I did not continue my practice regularly until more recently, but I did return to yoga multiple times over the years since attending those first televised classes with my grandma. I took more classes with my sister at the local community college in Prescott, Arizona. I also had an excellent yoga experience in Flagstaff at a quant downtown studio. Finally February of 2011, I started attending an evening yoga class twice a week at the Clallam county YMCA in Port Angeles, Washington. I’ve always left yoga classes tranquil, revitalized, and buoyant.  I’m hooked. At the beginning of the summer I took the first step toward earning my certification as a yoga instructor.

I’ve read some snarky comments on other yoga websites and yoga blogs about people who have only been seriously practicing yoga for a couple of years, and how dare they think they’re qualified to teach others to do yoga. All I can say is that some people are just natural teachers. We have a knack for deconstructing complex ideas for the general population and for encouraging transformation in our students. I happen to be a teacher in my day job, so it’s only natural to imagine I will be successful moonlighting as a yoga teacher.  Through my own positive experience, I want to share yoga with anyone and everyone who will open their minds and bodies to it.

Since I am taking my practice to a different level, I thought it would be interesting to document my own transformation from a yoga student to a yoga teacher. Sort of like Eliza Doolittle transforms from a Cockney flower girl into a fair lady, in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion … hence the title “My Fair Yogi”.