Posts In: asana practice

Part 2 of how Yoga One founders Amy & Michael Caldwell turned their love story into a thriving yoga community! ? Read Part 1 here.

“After living on an uninhabited island in Fiji for four days, we returned to the main island Viti Levu where we met a man whose parents owned an apple orchard in Australia. Months later and wanting to make some extra money to fuel our backpacking adventures, we traveled to Stanthorpe and began a two-month grueling and glorious time as apple pickers. 

At the crack of dawn, we rose like zombies and made our way to the orchard. There we fired up the tractor and rumbled to our assigned paddock. For the rest of the day, we frantically scaled up and down ladders grabbing as many apples as we could and then unloaded them one bag at time into the trailer bins. At night, we returned to our cabin, hastily made sandwiches for the next day, enjoyed a quick dinner and went to sleep.

If there was any spare energy, we would read a section of “Fit for Life” by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. We had become vegetarians a year or so before and were trying out veganism and food combining. The book also suggested we do yoga and there were some super simple stretches included. After picking apples for ten hours a day, ten days in a row without a break, the handful of poses felt tremendous. And that was the genesis of our asana practice. Perhaps in retrospect, we had already begun our yoga practice by becoming conscious of our diet and lifestyle; the poses helped to further expand our awareness. 

Once you turn on to something you often see it all around you. As we traveled from country to country, we found additional inspiration to deepen our practice. By the time we got to India, we knew yoga was something we wanted to embrace more fully, and we began an earnest practice, study, and discipline. During a ten-day Vipassana meditation near Bangalore, we first heard the mantra, “Start again.” – Amy & Michael Caldwell

?Stay tuned for Part 3! ?

Cool. Jimi Hendrix, the Fonz and Nam Chantepie. The type of guy that upon first impression oozes a style, a charm, a persona… and the best part? The more you get to know him, the cooler you realize he is. Come take his Level 2 Vinyasa Flow on Thursday evenings at 6pm. Check out our full class schedule here.

1. What is your favorite style of yoga? 

Hatha Yoga. I like taking the time to really get into the pose and experience the alignment, muscular engagement and extension. Although I do enjoy flowing through a fun and interesting sequence, my home practice is more about exploring individual poses and the slow, deliberate transitions between them.

2. What first attracted you to yoga when you began your practice? 

I was living a rather sedentary life, and had just ended a toxic six year relationship. Never having taken a single class before, I looked to yoga to help me transition back into the gym and get back into shape. What I actually got out of my first three months was a clearer head, a lighter heart, a freer spirit and a 30-pound lighter body, and I forgot all about the gym. Yoga lifted me up and showed me so many things I never expected or knew I could find on and off my mat.

3. What is your favorite yoga pose right now? 

Handstand. I’ve been committed to a daily handstand practice for almost a year. Only within the last 2 months have I finally found a sense of weightlessness and engagement in my handstands.

4. What pose is still the most challenging? 

Ustrasana (or camel pose) has always been a challenge for me. I have a nagging shoulder impingement that keeps me from fully drawing my shoulders back, so it is difficult for me to feel ease or opening in this pose. I almost always modify with my hands on my hips and squeezing a block between my thighs.

5. If you were an animal, you would be: Probably a monkey. Mostly because I’m a goofball and love inverting!

6. Describe what yoga means in your life using just 6 words: peaceful centered space to grow from

7. What might your students be surprised to learn about you? 

When I was three years old, my mom and I tried to escape from Vietnam. We were caught three times and sent to prison each time. So technically, my students are being taught by a multiple offending ex-con. 🙂

8. Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for new students? 

My first week of yoga, I had the honor of taking a class with Yoga One instructor Amy Freeman. Towards the end, I was really struggling and almost gave up on yoga altogether while unsuccessfully trying urdhva dhanurasana (full wheel pose).

Amy came up to me, gave me blocks to modify my pose and said, “It’s ok, you’re doing great. Think of where you’ll be a year from now.” Those words have stuck with me. Those are the words I think about every time I move into camel pose.

Yoga is not about achieving the perfect expression of the poses, it’s about incremental improvements and the humility to take a step back whenever your body needs it.