Featured Practitioner
Name: Jill Campbell
Age: Infinity
Occupation: mother, yoga-teacher, singer, and acroyogi.
What brought you to Ashatanga and Acroyoga?
I was dabbling in whatever yoga class came my way (not really knowing or noticing any difference between practices) for years and then I connected with an Indian teacher in Beijing who initiated me into Ashtanga. it was the first structured practice that I recognized and followed. After coming to Montreal I looked for a studio… that’s how i came toAshtanga Yoga Montreal.I’ve since practiced many forms of yoga, yet I always come back to Ashtanga.
Acroyoga was a part of my life long before I considered it Acroyoga. When i was living in China I began exploring very basic hand to hand movements with a circus base. I then took an intro course with Eugene and Jessie in Montreal where I saw the parallel and fusion of hand to hand and Acroyoga. When I returned to my then home in Mexico, I was performing short routines (occasionally) at hotels and resorts. My partner and teacher, Pancho, taught me many different balance possibilities and he really helped me to challenge my fears, advance my skills and put on a stage face. So with all of that, after returning to Montreal, I waited patiently until my second child was born to dive back in to Acroyoga with Jessie, Eugene, Costa and the whole gang. Everyone who I have ever worked with, has taught me something and helped me to develop my skills… thank YOU.
How long have you been practicing yoga?
I’ve practiced yoga for over 11 years now (hard for me to believe i’m old enough to say that!) and AcroYoga (in some form) for 4 years.
Why are you attracted to Acroyoga?
Ahhh, the joy… the fluidity, the continuity, the possibilities, the creation, the communication, the connection, the compensation, the… understanding (all my i talking) and undoubtedly, the attention (my me talking).
How do you benefit from yoga in your life?
I’ll try to keep this short.
Yoga is a space where I explore myself. it’s those moments away from the incessant unchecked thoughts, the ingrained behavioral patterns and the bombardment of stimuli and distraction. When I’m flowing through asana I have no choice but to be present, aware and, more and more often, conscious both of body and mind. When that clarity exists I’m able to connect with that peaceful place of spirit, that knowledge of something divine that I am a part of and that is a part of me.
As an aid in unlocking and understanding my own consciousness, the philosophy of yoga acts as my base, my doctrine. I look to the eightfold path and to the radiance sutras for inspiration and guidance.
Of course yoga is my way of life also. I am able to make a living sharing yoga practice with people. It is a joy to love your ‘work’, to be spreading good, and to be getting paid to do it.
Has Acroyoga helped change your yoga practice?
Physically, Acro has made me noticeably stronger in my core and my shoulders, so my asana practice has become more advanced where I use that strength. I also look at ways to incorporate skills I need for Acro into my asana practice so I have become more experimental.
Mentally, acroyoga has allowed me to cultivate and maintain focus and presence. Because that presence is so necessary in acro (a must to avoid any crashes) I’ve begun to identify with it and it has become more accessible while asana-ing. I find myself locking into a dharana mindset with more ease.
What are your goals in yoga and acroyoga?
Professionally,I am becoming world famous and soon I will travel round and round and round and round the globe meeting people and introducing them to yoga and acroyoga. I guess this is the first step – Acroyogi of the month!
Personally, I’d like to explore more creative expression using Acroyoga and Yoga as my tools. Deep down I would love to perform choreographies and create my (our) own music for the pieces.
What inspires you?
Seeing people at peace with who they are, what they’re doing and where they’re going. Seeing that quite confidence that just says ‘I’m me, hello’
What is your favorite music, who are your favorite musicians?
I’m a huge Sarah Harmer fan and I love to put her music on and sing like a maniac in the kitchen. I like a lot of different music… I especially connect with something when I know the artist ( Mirabai Ceiba, Dharmas, Appalachia Rising).
Mostly though I love jamming and making our own music. who can say it better than we can?!
What is your favorite book?
At the moment I’m exploring (with delight) the Radiance Sutras. I spend most of my reading time with my 5-year old daughter, so… we read the Peter Pan Winter Tale (en francais) often and we had a blast reading Despereaux, a mouse tail.
How do you envision the perfect yoga studio?
It is a place that builds community, embraces differences, empowers self-discovery, invites innovation, stimulates creativity and attracts understanding.
Way to go AYM!
Any words of wisdom?
‘Awaken into the steady joy of that which is always everywhere’ – Radiance Sutra
Name: Natalie Brewster Nguyen
Age: 30
Occupation: artist, educator, bodyworker, chef, and acroyogi.
Natalie’s website
What brought you to Ashtanga and Acro Yoga?
I found Acro Yoga with a good friend and yoga teacher who had heard of an Acro Yoga teacher doing some classes in Tucson. We went to one of his first classes in the area, and were immediately hooked. We’ve been playing ever since. I don’t have a strong foundation in Ashtanga-I’ve primarily practiced vinyasa flow yoga, hatha, and anusara in the last few years, but I’ve made it a point to attend classes all across the spectrum and study many forms of yoga.
How long have you been practicing yoga?
I started practicing yoga when I was pregnant with my daughter, about 4 years ago. I had taken classes here and there before that, but yoga became a serious practice in my life during pregnancy and particularly post-natal. It was a beautiful space to take some time away from my child, and be in my body.
Why are you attracted to Acro Yoga? –
I think that in some ways I’ve always been a base. I love to fly too, but basing in acroyoga combined so many of my great loves-movement, art, therapeutics. I am also attracted to acro yoga because of the sheer beauty of the practice, and the connection with another human being. The ability to give someone the freedom to fly, that is an amazing gift.
How do you benefit from yoga in your life?
Yoga keeps me grounded, centered, and in my body. When I spend too much time away from yoga, I feel it in my heart. Yoga forges connections for me. It is a place to discover and rediscover the things that are important in this life. It is a place to practice devotion, commitment and humility.
Has Acro Yoga helped your yoga practice?
Acro Yoga completely changed my relationship to yoga, and to the body. I felt that for the first time I had something concrete to train towards. I want to be as strong and solid as possible to be a better base. It has helped me build my commitment to a daily yoga practice. I have never been a gymnast, acrobat, or even an athletic person. But the ability to both base and fly has given me something indescribable that allows me to relate to the physical world in a new way.
What are your goals in Yoga and Acro Yoga?
I want to be the best teacher that I can be, because I learn best by teaching. Also, hand to hands! I’d love to be able to do hand to hand work one day. And I think it’ll happen. It doesn’t feel insurmountable anymore.
What inspires you?
All the many people who give their lives for justice, the visible and the invisible. People who combat racism and bigotry in every form. People who live courageous lives without demanding recognition. People who take the time to learn and study and change their opinions. Everyone who teaches and learns compassion and begins to dismantle their own privilege.
My kid, and all the amazing children and radical parents I see around me who do it just a bit differently. Beautiful art, performance, humor, and courage.
What is your favourite music? Who is/are your favourite musicians?
Jazz, blues, hip hop, classical, folk and traditional music from all over the world. Bhangra, revolutionary songs, and really cool kids music.
What is your favourite book?
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Bomb The Suburbs by William Upski Wimsatt
This is way too big a question.
How do you envision the perfect yoga studio?
In my head, the perfect yoga studio is not a place of perfect harmony but a place where the practice of yoga with a discussion of cultural sharing and appropriation, history, and social justice. A place where dynamics of race, class, gender, sexuality, and religion can be acknowledged and people can own and recognize the ways in which we fail (and of course, we all do) to be open and inclusive. Where an interest in the reasons that we fail can be a part of our practice.
Any words of wisdom?
Devise innovative ways to navigate the world.
Drink real water, eat real food, and make sure folks around you got the same. Dig beauty. Don’t take it personally.
If you don’t tell good jokes, surround yourself with people who do.
Name: Lu Clarke
Age: 26
Occupation: Ashtanga, Acro and Thai Yoga Massage student
What brought you to Ashtanga and Acro Yoga? – My type A personality.
How long have you been practicing yoga? – I dabbled in various types of yoga as a teenager but have been practicing Ashtanga seriously for two years and Acro for about six months.
Why are you attracted to Acro Yoga? – Acro leaves room for creative freedom: A beautiful contrast to Ashtanga, which is considered a very traditional form.
How do you benefit from yoga in your life?
My practice has taught me that breath plays an important part in all aspects of my day: At work, in class or during conversations with friends and loved ones.
Has Acro Yoga helped your yoga practice? – Through Acro I’ve gained strength, flexibility and confidence in my body and practice.
What are your goals in Yoga and Acro Yoga? – I’d like for my practice to continue being the most beautiful part of my day.
What inspires you?
The creative flow and movement within each of us.
Any words of wisdom?
When at a loss for words draw from the poetry of others:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to seek only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau (Walden) –
“The character of your existence is determined by the energies to which you connect yourself… By holding to that which is refined and subtle, she traverses refined and subtle realms… She enters the world lightly and without attachment and in this way she can go anywhere without ever leaving the center of the universe…” – Victor Hugo (slightly adapted from Les Miserables) –
“I think Heroic deeds were all conceived in the open air, and all free poems also, I think I could stop here myself and do miracles, I think what ever I shall meet on the road I shall like and whoever beholds me shall like me, I think whoever I see must be happy…” – Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass) –
Name: Costa Koutrokois
Age: 38
Occupation: Child Care Worker/ Educator, Social Circus Instructor, Massage Practitioner, Personal Trainer, Born Again CLOWN!
What brought you to yoga?
Pain is a great motivator! It enables us to cross bridges that we may never have had the courage to venture over. It creates moments of vulnerability that open us up to changing our lives. That change is what brought me to yoga and to the inspiring human beings that make yoga what it is. Yoga is just a word, but it is brought to life by the breath of each unique and special one of you who have expanded its horizon to include those on their pursuit toward their truer-self. Thank you all for including me on this wonderful journey!
How do you benefit from yoga in life and in work?
It has provided me with the freedom to prevail over many obstacles in my life. Through my practice, I have discovered a space where I can explore my body and express my findings with youth at risk. Using SOCIAL CIRCUS, YOGA and the ART of ACRO-YOGA I have been witness to extraordinary moments in the lives of the youth I work with. They have dared to venture out of their life circumstances and become wide eyed inspirations. Each of their realizations about themselves and the world around them, those moments of “A-HA” that we have shared together have contributed to making me whole and part of the fantastic group of compassionate and caring people that I work and play with today.
Why are you attracted to Acro- Yoga?
Acro-Yoga brings us closer to one another and to ourselves. It provides a means for experiencing the world anew and gaining perspective from different angles and points of view. Within each movement is a creative effort to capture and express our understanding, feeling, thoughts and ideals in a cooperative effort to bring to life the essence of what we believe to be the Art of Acro-Yoga. As we let go of our expectation of what it should be or look like it takes on its own life and gives birth each and every time to something new. Acro-Yoga is a fun-filled way to explore, connect and create while sharing in the joy of play. It has captivated me for all these FUN-tastic reasons.
Has Acro-Yoga helped your Yoga practice?
Acro-Yoga has given purpose to my practice. With each breath and posture I am eager to see how it will evolve both my practice and well-being.
What are your goals in Yoga and Acro-Yoga?
My goal is to combine Yoga, Acro-Yoga and Massage into a mystic space where growth and an awareness of self can take place for each person interested in reaching out and exploring their world through movement and play.
What inspires you?
I am inspired by the simplicity of being and the power we have to create and play.
If you ruled the world what would you change?
Myself. Lead by example!
Any words of wisdom?
Walk to the beat of your own drum.
See everything through the eyes of a child.
Remind yourself to be grateful.
There are no absolutes! Change is everywhere therefore you can change at any time.
Work less, love more and play every day!
Namaste.
Name: Bernard La Rochelle
Age: 38
Occupation: Air Traffic Controller
How did you come across yoga?
One busy, work-filled Saturday morning as I was starting my day scanning the TV channels to find the weekend’s local news, I came across the Yoga Zone on the health channel. Filmed on the ocean side in beautiful Grand Lido Sans Souci in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, it seemed like a wonderful way to start the day…so I joined in, and I haven’t stopped since.
What brought you to yoga?
A close friend of mine had been practicing yoga for quite some time and had talked briefly about it…it seemed like a great compliment to my then busy, unbalanced, less than grounded lifestyle.
How do you benefit from yoga in life and in work?
The two go “hand in hand”…yoga has brought a calm, grounded, and more balanced feel to my life and my work. It has enabled me to better stay focused and more importantly let things go with a comfortable ease.
Why are you attracted to Acro-Yoga?
The “playing” aspect of Acro-Yoga was hugely appealing…and the confidence, trust and balance it develops within us.
Has Acro-Yoga helped your yoga practice?
It has most certainly helped my yoga practice in very subtle ways. I believe the most important aspect has been the trust it has built in myself and in those with whom I have the chance to practice.
What are your goals in yoga and Acro-Yoga?
No goals really…just practice, learn and have fun while “hanging” around or on other people.
What inspires you?
Nature. The beauty of nature, the simplicity of nature, and the groundedness of nature.
What is your favourite music? Who is/are your favourite musicians?
I don’t have a single favourite type of music, I am all over the “charts” when it comes to listening preferences. One of my favourite musicians is Sting…his music has been in my collection since I can remember. Great lyrics and always an interesting mix of musicians accompanying him.
What is your favourite book?
“The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. Very easy to read and yet extremely rich in symbolism. Very appropriate at this time in my life.If you ruled the world, what would you change?
We need a little more respect for the earth and each other.
How do you envision the perfect yoga studio?
I believe every studio brings a little something different to everyone…but most importantly to offer an open area where one can be free to practice yoga, discover yoga, and simply be surrounded by those in the yoga world.
Any words of wisdom?
What I have learned from my experiences is the importance of letting things go.
