I started doing yoga in 1997 after I tore the meniscus on my left knee during the California AIDS Ride. A friend of mine suggested I try yoga as a way to rehabilitate. I was dubious since I thought only girls did yoga and pretzel-like flexibility was a pre-requisite (especially worrying since I couldn’t touch my toes).

Much to my surprise, I was hooked from the very first class. My first teacher was Bryan Kest. God love him for offering such a fun, challenging environment… it was exactly the perfect start for me into this beautiful new chapter of my life. Bryan’s message about striving to be a better person really resonated with me… but to be honest the thing that really got me going was the butt kicking I received. I don’t think I had ever sweated so much in an hour and a half… and given my competitive nature, being in class with so many people doing all this stuff I couldn’t dream of doing, I was hooked.

For the next few years, all I did was take yoga classes… pretty much all day long. My friends would say, “You’re going to yoga, again?” I was a little obsessive. I’d take at least two classes a day. From Bryan to Anthony to Sue to Sara Ivanhoe to Eric Schiffman to Gurhmukh to Steve Ross to Diana Beardsley to Maty Ezraty, it was an amazing time of learning and playing … and sometimes even pushing so hard I’d end up hurting myself.

Then, in the summer of 1999 I took a John Friend workshop at Yoga Works in Santa Monica. I had just completed the Yoga Works teacher training that spring and had started teaching at the then brand new City Yoga in West Hollywood.

Like so many who come across John, I knew there was something different the moment class started. Not only did my body feel healthier after the practice than ever before, the things he said in class about living life to the fullest as a way to show gratitude and honor to God opened my heart in a way that was nothing short of transformative. Although I will always have gratitude for the immense offerings from all my initial teachers, I knew that I’d found somebody I really wanted to follow.

For the next four years I pretty much did just that. I followed John just about everywhere he went. Almost once a month I was on a plane or in my car to go wherever John was teaching. Along the way were quite a few yoga adventures with Desiree Rumbaugh, who, like John taught me so much. And there were so many other great teachers. It was a time to soak up as much as I could.

In 2003 John certified me as an Anusara Yoga teacher while on the top of the mountain at Inner Harmony. I’ll never forget that day. My studies those few years inspired a stronger, more heartfelt commitment of time and energy than anything else I’ve ever done and I vowed to honor John and all my teachers by truly and consistently offering only the best I had.

From that point my love for teaching has only deepened. Honestly at first, I thought of teaching as a way not to wait tables any more to support an acting career. But especially after I was certified and specifically following a weekend yoga therapy retreat with Desiree… where I got such a sweet taste of how wonderfully rewarding helping people with Anusara Yoga could be, I realized that this is what I was meant to do.

I started working quite frequently with injured people, finding that almost nothing was more rewarding and nothing improved my teaching more, even for the most advanced classes, than therapeutics did.

In April of 2004 I opened Yogainsideout. My teaching had been going quite well at City Yoga and I felt like it was time I stepped up to the next level and offer my own take on a yoga studio. It was, in a word, surprising. Who knew how much was involved in starting a business… not me. But fortunately the other thing which took me by surprise was how many rewards came with all the stress. I’ve never felt as proud as I did on those days when I looked around that tiny little studio, crammed with some of the sweetest people on the face of the planet, and realized what we’d created. I say we because I had a lot of help, from the people who gave me seed money to the teachers and students that so loyally showed up long before it was popular, I’ll always be grateful.

In March of 2007, I closed Yogainsideout and started teaching workshops around the country. While I loved having the community of the studio, the chance to meet yogis from all around the U.S. and eventually around the globe, inspired me to a whole new level.

My hope and faith is that yoga continues to grow. All yoga. I believe with all my heart that, ultimately, spirit is in charge and whether it’s in a gym or an ashram, peace, joy and love can happen.

Seek the highest, find the deepest and do your best to ride the waves of grace.

Blessings to all.

Ross

Press

• Yoga Journal Article – Play Ball – February 2009
• Yoga Journal Article – Ground Traveler – November 2009
• Fit Yoga Article – Living From the Heart
• Anusara Yoga – Currents – Teacher Spotlight