When I first lived on my own, at the tender age of 17, I acquired a copy of the most excellent Sivananda Companion to Yoga. Alongside Massage, I read both these books cover to cover over and over again. I studied the meridians from my massage book, and compared them to the chakras in my yoga book. And that's about where I left it for ten more years. In the interim I practiced both classical ballet and hardcore martial arts, but stuck with neither; one was too feminine, the other too masculine.

Finally, when I was 27 years old, I became fed up with my life, and thought perhaps that yoga might be able to transport me to a new place. I began a serious personal yoga practice in my home, having only the book to guide me. This practice brought me into clarity and helped me make the major transition I was seeking. I was on the verge of attaining a full viparita salabhasana backbend, which, according to the book, was the only asana which requires a strenuous, pulsed power movement. Then suddenly, my transition was complete, and I left yoga alone for many years. I married, moved to San Francisco, and had two children. Thank you Sivananda Center. You gave me foundation.

In the summer of 2007, just after sunrise, I was wandering about the streets of Mysteria, the mountain home of Transformus: the southeast regional burn. Under a huge and beautifully sculpted white tent, a yoga class was beginning. I myself was about 3/4 way through my very first ever acid trip, and was compelled to join the class... my very first group yoga class ever. I just realized this second, it was two firsts together: and what happened next was nothing short of a miracle.

A girl by the name of MelMacPink led the class. She sat in the precise center of the tent, and an intimate group of yogis and yoginis were perfectly arranged like spokes on a wheel, radially aligned to face towards her. MelMac talked about energy and chi and chakras as we went through the asana flow, and with the magical influence of the acid, I could powerfully feel the precise movement of the energy, both within my body, and even more amazingly, as improvisational ley lines manifested between all the humans present. MelMac had a brilliant intuition as a teacher, and the class was mind blowing for me. It was as if all those years of book practice finally made sense, in the flesh. And the instruction was so deep and personal and manifest, it was *nothing* like the purely technical exercises I had been working on before. This was *life!* Thank you MelMacPink. My very first yoga teacher.

That same day, I met in the flesh a woman who I had been corresponding with for quite some time, an avid hooper and yogini. Over the next several months we practiced yoga together in the mornings, often with the assistance of videotapes and DVDs. Caroleeena had a great intuitive sense of musculo-skeletal alignment, and energy flow. She really emphasized "heart forward", as well as the way to apply proper force down the pads of the index finger all the way down through the palm. Heart Forward has been the best single piece of advice I've ever gotten in yoga. It works for posture, and it works for energy, and it works for life. Thank You Carolyn, for heart.

One video in particular was magical: Seane Corn: live from the San Francisco Yoga Conference. Seane talked a lot during her practice, which was strange to me, since I was used to quiet, slow meditations. Her words were strong and powerful, and touched deep emotional places within me. They lent context and intention to the physical. I also learned to laugh and let loose during Seane's teachings, since at times, with her deep Bronx accent, she reminded me of an Army drill sergeant, and I simply had to break out laughing. Laughing is great yoga. :) Thank you Seane. for meaning.

Coming back home to Atlanta, I was drawn to Jai Shanti yoga school, which is truly the heart of yoga practice in Atlanta. So many roads led to Jai Shanti! I was literally guided there by no less than 5 different paths, all converging. So one morning, I showed up for class bright and early at 8am. It was great! Our teacher was a girl named Sandy Angotti, and she was very skilled. Her teaching was so casual, it took me off guard. And then it was fast. And intense. And then just as my legs were about to collapse, it was slow again: child poses and corpse poses were allowed to run their courses, at least 5 minutes each. Thank you Sandy. for fun.

My next yoga experience was at the Hoop Convergence in Carrboro NC. By this time I was beginning to see yoga in all life. In other words, to move through life as if it was one huge vinyasa flow. What my books had mentioned, but only classes and practice could draw out, was that the *breath*, or pranayama, is the foundation of everything. If you are breathing, ergo, you are alive. I was starting to move through life, intentionally breathing, consciously moving, gracefully flowing. It felt good.

This yoga class, my third formal teaching, was led by Sandhi Ferreira, a hoopdancer and teacher of the Jivamukti method from New York. Sandhi was a true expert on alignment, and spoke in detail about micro-adjustments in the muscles and skeleton, which made massive differences in how the poses effected my body. She also helped me realise how much control we have on the granular level, down to working individual muscles in the feet and abdomen which I had never even considered before. Sandhi's intense practice, again intimate with maybe only ten people there, left me in a state of complete bliss. I went to the park afterwards and just laid out and chatted with my new hooper friends. Later during the convergence, Sandhi turned me on to the Flight Manual, a visual reference to acroyoga, also known as partner acrobatics or adagio. I've written separately about this incredible art form; lets just say that it is the funnest practice I have ever encountered, combining trust, balance, strength, and play. Thank you Sandhi for new beginnings!

After that I was on yoga fire, and took several more classes with Sandy at Jai Shanti, concluding with a teaching by William Huffschmidt, the owner, to the live musical accompaniment of Shimshai. Bill's practice was deceivingly simple: during it, I felt even a little unchallenged (it was sorely lacking in my two favorite practices, backbends and inversions)... but the next day, I felt it... and the day after that, and the day after that! These were *deep* muscle sorenesses, near the bones. He truly knew what he was doing! :) Thank you William for your care, and all the energy of your wonderful Jai Shanti, and the Thai Massage guidance too!

This brings us up to the Summer 2008, the time of this writing. My first day in NYC, and with a little pushing, I biked over to Jivamukti School to see what was up. That very minute, Eve was starting an intimate class, me and 5 women. The class began with chanting mantras out of some textbook that everybody but me had, and I thought, "uh oh, what have I gotten myself into?" But Eve was nice, and let us do a call and response kirtan, and soon enough we moved from chanting into a fairly vigorous vinyasa flow. The peak of all this was a shoulderstand with coaching to "keep the legs active"... this was new to me; I always used to just kind of stack the bones. And then, as we held our shoulderstand, Eve read passages from the Bhagavad Gita. 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes. My legs started to shake. Amazingly, I had never held shoulderstand so long. In the end of class she turned out all the lights and only a single candle glimmered faintly in the back of the room. It was a fairly sublime moment. I closed my eyes and felt like I was flying freely over Hong Kong, as Eve's chants filled the space. Thank you Eve for your firm guidance and powerful voice.

Which brings us to the present moment. I gleefully bicycled the 12 blocks back home, locked up the bike, sprinted up the stairs, and expressed thanks for the gift of yoga, bike, and life.

So that's how it all began. SuperThanks to all my teachers past and present and future. Stay tuned, fellow travelers :)