Om Kripa Patra Rode

My journey began at a Hatha yoga class with Ricky Middleton in Maryland in 1988, where I was living at the time. After a few classes, I knew that one day I would be doing this; teaching yoga, I just didn’t know when and where. I continue practicing Hatha yoga and ventured soon into the Iyengar tradition. During that time, I was dancing and performing classical ballet and later also did some bicycle racing on the east coast of the USA. Yoga helped me develop tremendously in both these disciplines.

I moved to Miami Beach in 1988 and found Ashtanga yoga; the perfect combination of stillness within movement. It was then that I decided to devote myself completely to yoga, received a teacher certificate from Wayne Krassner and started teaching. As my soul yearned for artistic expression, I was also creating metal sculptures, but soon yoga took over and I was teaching full time.

For the next 7 years, I travelled across the USA to study with various talented teachers and eventually went to the land of yoga: India! I met my Master on the first trip to the Himalayas and he taught me meditation. I return yearly to study philosophy and devotion in his holy presence. After my daughter’s birth in 2005, yoga holds an even deeper meaning; it brings healing.

My philosophy in a nut shell: I feel there is a divinely creative energy in all of us, yoga helps me to get in touch with that energy. Its movement leads me through life and makes me evolve, yoga gives me the strength to stay true to that path. With every breath, I am reminded of this divinely creative energy within, and yoga gives me the tools to share that awareness with others. I remain full of reverence and gratitude for this thousand-year old tradition and wish to continue studying and sharing it for as long as I breathe.