Martin Lubell

Having been mildly depressed for 10 years in my previous life, my wife, Beth, had been steadily recommending that I start yoga. Even my father, Harold, who passed away at the age of 92, had been practicing simple yoga moves, but it never transferred to me ... until my friend, Ron, a Marine Corps veteran, lent me a beginners yoga DVD by Elena Brower. It was hard for me to even follow the DVD for 10 minutes, not only because of the physical effort, but also because taking time out for myself seemed impossible, and... breathing didn’t even yet come into play!

I began taking classes with Tracy Heck, Jaimie McDaniel, Joie Schmitz and Travis Reimer at The Studio on Liberty in Wooster. With them, I came to realize the centrality of breathing to the practice of yoga. I learned to evenly breathe through my nose, and let it flow throughout each pose. (Easier said than done, of course! At the beginning, I had to breathe through my mouth often.) At the same time, I used the breathing technique to meditate. A few times a day, when I feel things are getting a little crazy, I take a few ujaii breaths (it’s like whispering, the air resonating at the level of the Adam’s apple), and think of my mantra in French: “(inhale) On fait (exhale) ce que l’on peut.” = “(inhale) One does (exhale) what one can.” If a thought pops up in my mind, I acknowledge it, and then let it go, and concentrate again on the air passing through my throat chakra, like music or waves... I do not feel depressed anymore!

I am very happy that I took the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training class with Annie Yoder, Andy VanDeusen, and Emily Moorefield. I was not expecting to teach, but, for my practice teaching, I gathered a group of men (and some women) into a class I called “Beer Belly Yoga“. These were folks who listened attentively to my passion for yoga, and were curious, but were slightly intimidated. Their excitement about the class inspired me to continue!

After having taught yoga for a year, I traveled a bit and I didn’t continue practicing because unfortunately I only did yoga when teaching. When I ran into the YogaBody program (thanks Lucas & Camilo!), I feel like it helped me get more in the habit of practicing on my own, because it got me stretching 15 min a day, which is what I really needed to do!

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