This weeks yoga story is about Liz Vartanian, a charming yogini who loves cartwheels living in Austin, Texas.
I found yoga almost by accident, although if you ask my mom, I’ve been doing yoga since I was five. Truly, I came across yoga while I was in Massage School, although it was more referred to as stretching before giving a massage. I was an 18 year-old, giving up to six massages a day at least four days a week, down-dog was a great way to open up my shoulders and hands before getting to work!
Fast forward eight years and you have a burnt out massage therapist, exhausted by “giving” my all to those who would just go out and hurt themselves again. This was great for business, but tiresome for someone who wears their heart on their sleeve and gave all to each person she worked on. Technically, my first yoga class was Alan Finger’s “Yoga Zone: Introduction to Yoga.” I watched it so much on VHS that after 6 months it died and I still may have the sequence memorized. For years I had a home practice before ever walking into a studio.
In 2004, I moved to Austin hardly knowing a soul. I found a local studio and decided to make a real effort to learn yoga.
Of course, now I know that the "learning yoga" happens every day, every time you hit the mat. I’ve grown to appreciate the feel of the classroom, the energy and love that can swirl in the room when every one is breathing and moving at the same time. It also allowed me to meet new people and rediscover a wonderful sense of who I am. My yoga practice has seen me through big moves, big changes, and the small in’s and out’s of the day and when I (finally) decided to take my teacher training in 2010. I knew that it was my turn to give back to the practice that I leaned on so much.
A few of my favorite things about yoga are:
Vrksasana- Tree pose: every time I do this pose it’s different, because my balance varies day to day. For me, if I want to know how in balance I am, I root that foot down, fly my arms and that gauge is pretty easy to read.
Laughing: who says you can’t laugh in yoga? Or at least smile through the things that are hard! We all fall, we all struggle with one pose or another, why not laugh at yourself a little, I always feel better when I do.
Heart Openers - back bends sometimes shoulder openers, anytime you arch your spine and lift your heart, for me, someone who wears my heart on my sleeve (or out on my chest), it’s no wonder I love them. It’s a good reminder sometimes to get out of my head and back into the warm gooey-ness of my heart.
Liz can be found head standing, flipping her dog, and chatting it up with her online yoga kula on Twitter and her awesome blog Yoga Betty.
Namasté,
Fast forward eight years and you have a burnt out massage therapist, exhausted by “giving” my all to those who would just go out and hurt themselves again. This was great for business, but tiresome for someone who wears their heart on their sleeve and gave all to each person she worked on. Technically, my first yoga class was Alan Finger’s “Yoga Zone: Introduction to Yoga.” I watched it so much on VHS that after 6 months it died and I still may have the sequence memorized. For years I had a home practice before ever walking into a studio.
In 2004, I moved to Austin hardly knowing a soul. I found a local studio and decided to make a real effort to learn yoga.
Of course, now I know that the "learning yoga" happens every day, every time you hit the mat. I’ve grown to appreciate the feel of the classroom, the energy and love that can swirl in the room when every one is breathing and moving at the same time. It also allowed me to meet new people and rediscover a wonderful sense of who I am. My yoga practice has seen me through big moves, big changes, and the small in’s and out’s of the day and when I (finally) decided to take my teacher training in 2010. I knew that it was my turn to give back to the practice that I leaned on so much.
A few of my favorite things about yoga are:
Vrksasana- Tree pose: every time I do this pose it’s different, because my balance varies day to day. For me, if I want to know how in balance I am, I root that foot down, fly my arms and that gauge is pretty easy to read.
Laughing: who says you can’t laugh in yoga? Or at least smile through the things that are hard! We all fall, we all struggle with one pose or another, why not laugh at yourself a little, I always feel better when I do.
Heart Openers - back bends sometimes shoulder openers, anytime you arch your spine and lift your heart, for me, someone who wears my heart on my sleeve (or out on my chest), it’s no wonder I love them. It’s a good reminder sometimes to get out of my head and back into the warm gooey-ness of my heart.
Liz can be found head standing, flipping her dog, and chatting it up with her online yoga kula on Twitter and her awesome blog Yoga Betty.
Namasté,
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