Yoga is my life, it has created silence--in my heart, my life and my mind. When I teach, I hope to share that light with you. I love yoga and I love teaching---how much more can I be blessed than to share these gifts with you.
I started doing yoga when I was 14, living in Lincoln, Nebraska. A middle school friend was reading a yoga book and said to me, “You look up tight, I think you need this more than me”. Therein began my love affair with yoga poses (Hatha) and meditation. For many years I just imitated what I learned in books. My first official yoga class--with a formal teacher--was many years later, in New Orleans while doing post-graduate studies. After New Orleans, I moved to Ann Arbor and began studying with the honorable Laurie Blakeney. I discovered Integral Yoga quite by chance while attending a silent retreat at Satchidananda Ashram--Yogaville, Virginia. There began the depth of my second pathway to yoga.
Swami Satchidananda, his yoga and his teachers showed me a new way to view the world and my relationship with it. This was the beginning of the first glimpses of how to love myself. I learned ways to do yoga in a “kinder and gentler” way. I discovered ways to start to quiet the critical judgmental thoughts ever present in my head. These lessons were the most important gift ever in my life. I strive every day to live and model these truths more and more.
In January 2005 I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to India where I studied Integral yoga, meditated and prayed in the very steps of Swami Satchidananda. In my bones I felt like I had arrived at home.
It is a wonderful blessing to have many deep connections in life....And my newest commitment is with a group much closer to home--in Bath, Michigan. The Self-Realization Meditation Healing Centre. Joanne and Paul embody self-less love and service. May I learn to live my daily life more like them in the coming years. They provide a calm and safe space to meditate and commune with nature.
With all this talk about yoga you might want to know what I do for fun. I have the two funniest dogs in the world, Poppy and Piglet, who bring me hours of laughter and good walks in the woods. I also love to cook--particularly for other people. I have an affinity for film--particularly Japanese. And I love going to New York City to visit my family! I enjoy reading mysteries--currently reading a fun Yoga mystery (I know I am obsessed), entitled “Corpse Pose” by Diana Killian.
You can reach Maryann at the downtown Lansing YMCA Wellness Center, which is located at 119 N. Washington Square, Lansing, Michigan (www.ymcaoflansing.org) or through her website.
