Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo courtesy ann richardson

Yoga students turned instructors

By melissa fowler

mjfowler@vwc.edu

Hatha, Asana, Savasana, Namaste. If these words do not sound familiar, you probably haven’t been one of the approximately 600 students who have taken Yoga at VWC over the past five years.

Ann Richardson started teaching yoga at VWC about five years ago. She has had about 60 students per semester. Her class always fills up fast and has many requests for overloads.

“Several students re-take the class,” she said. “These are the students who have benefited the most from the practice.”

Yoga is a journey. It is more than an Asana, or physical exercise; it is a discipline and it is constant.

“Yoga is a time where people can let go and be free of the chaos in this busy world we live in,” Richardson said.

Two students who have taken the class multiple times and really felt the impact of yoga in their lives are Krista Carilla and Dan Castan. They decided to take their passion for yoga further by becoming certified yoga instructors at the 200-hour level.

The certification program is taught by Richardson. They go to class one weekend a month for six months at Inlet South Fitness. There, they practice or observe classes taught by Richardson and other teachers to compare different teaching techniques and styles.

They are also taught the benefits of each posture, how to adjust others, anatomy, yoga sutras and the Sanskrit language. They are tested on everything they learn.

Carilla and Castan had the opportunity to attend a national workshop with Beryl Bender Birch, creator of Power Yoga and Graham Schweig, a local philosophy teacher.

Carilla started doing yoga because she thought that taking it at school would help her de-stress and become more flexible. When she got into yoga, she wanted to share what she had learned with others.

“I want to be a teacher to provide an opportunity for others to experience what I have in yoga,” Carilla said, “to leave the stresses of the world outside the door and take time to focus on themselves, to collect the energy and peace they attained in class and use it in their daily lives.”

Carilla doesn’t know exactly what kind of yoga to teach, but she does know she wants to work with children.

“I feel a calling to get involved with children,” she said. “I think if we get people involved with yoga at a young age, they will reap the benefits the practice brings, be better citizens and have a kinder impact on the world.”

The hardest thing that she has had to learn is eliminating her ego and staying present.

“We tend to dwell in the past or worry about the future,” she said, “when all that truly matters is the here and now.”

Through yoga, she has learned to relax and know that her actions and reactions make a difference.

She hopes to spread this knowledge on in her teaching.

For Castan, yoga started as an easy credit and a way to meet girls.

“I needed an extra credit,” he said, “and I heard it was an easy class. And I would be the only guy.”

Castan became addicted to the benefits of yoga. He also wants to teach to help people share his experience.

For Castan, yoga truly is a lifestyle.

“I do the Asana part of yoga about four times a week,” he said, “but I actually practice yoga every day.”

The best moment in the class for him so far was meeting Birch.

“It was amazing to see about 40 other yoga teachers coming to learn from Beryl,” he said.

Once he is certified, Castan wants to teach in northern Virginia.

“I want to teach part time and see where it takes me from there,” he said.

Carilla and Castan are not the first of Richardson’s students to become yoga certified.

Lindsay Sands, student accounts coordinator, took Richardson’s class when she first started at VWC and also wanted to become a teacher.

“I wanted to share my experiences with everyone else,” she said. “Ann is my guru.”

According to Richardson, Carilla and Castan have characteristics of a good yoga teacher.

Castan shows dedication to his Asana practice and has an understanding that he can easily translate to help others.

Carilla is passionate with her practice on and off the mat.

“Her energy is wonderful, and it is evident that she loves it,” Richardson said.

Carilla and Castan show dedication and an eagerness to learn.

“I see both of them – in time – being fine teachers,” Richardson said. “I am very proud of them both.”