You were born with potential.You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.
--Rumi
Cassandra's Story
Greetings! Well where do I begin? Let's begin with my first experience as a young child I would hear the bell ring at the end of recess and I would run across the playground just to make my heart beat as fast as it could. The reason for the racing heart? So I could focus on slowing my breath just to see how long it would take to slow my heart beat. Weird that at such a young age I was practicing yoga and didn't even know what yoga was at the time.
Yoga was first introduced to me in 1998 when I was searching the internet for a form of exercise that was geared toward my horoscope. Funny, huh? This horoscope page mentioned that for me yoga would be idea. So, I went and bought a book on yoga and I started my own practice at home.
After a few months of following the instructions in the book I started wondering if I was doing the poses and breathing techiniques correctly. The next day I found a wonderful studio, a great teacher and amazing support under the teachings of Catherine Rogers. First, I started taking classes and going to workshops then finally Catherine talked me into becoming a teacher. So, in 2000 I became a Registrared Yoga Teacher at the 200 hour level.
Teaching came naturally and I have been doing it ever since. This is my first yoga studio and I am so grateful that I was able to take over the space from Stephanie Young the previous owner. Stephanie you will be missed!
The future for me is to obtain my 500 hour from Shiva Rea. She has been my teacher now for the past eight years. In 2010 I will be making a few trips to California to see her and finish up my hours. It will be amazing to spend the next year working towards this goal and bringing back this knowledge to all of you.
Someday I hope to share with you trance dance and lots of fun vinyasa movement set to rockin' music to set your soul and heart free but until then enjoy just riding the wave of your own breath.
Love ALL ways,
Cassandra
Mary Anne's Story
Yoga has come in and out of my life several times. I was first introduced to yoga in elementary school by a teacher who had a home practice. I remember doing shoulder stands and some leg lifts but not much else and it didn’t stick. As I got older I became interested in group exercise for fitness. I started doing dance aerobics in the early eighties and loved it so much I became an ACE certified "aerobics" instructor. Around that time I tried yoga again, taking a class at a local gym. Once again it was not the right time for me. As I became more interested in wellness and fitness I went back to school and received my Masters degree in physical therapy. After I started working as a physical therapist I noticed that I was having neck and back pain and my stress level was high. I decided to try yoga again. The third time was the charm and I found myself hooked. The combination of strength, flexibility and relaxation was the missing element in my personal fitness program. It was only after I had practiced yoga for several years that I came to appreciate that yoga was more than just a physical practice encompassing physical, mental and spiritual elements.One of my former teachers encouraged me to become an instructor. I started my training with YogaFit in 2007 and have been teaching yoga for 2 years. I will finish my 200 hr training in January to become a registered yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance. I am currently working towards combing physical therapy with yoga and becoming a certified yoga therapist. I am thankful to Cassandra for giving me this opportunity to share my love of yoga with you.
Love and Blessins,
Mary Anne
Emma's Story
My journey with yoga began several years ago and has grown into the passion that it is today.
I have always been fascinated with the connection of the mind, body and spirit. After finishing college with a B.A. in Theater I realized my desire was to work with people not see them on a stage! I searched for several years to discover what truly made me happy and throughout this search I re-discovered yoga. I became a massage therapist and enjoyed working on clients, during this time I was having great change in my personal life and was seeking an outlet for stress and energy. I began to take classes at first for a workout or an escape but then something began to shift for me, and I started to experience who I was through self acceptance. I feel so many of us are so harsh with ourselves and for me yoga was the one place I knew being me was better than o.k., it was as it was meant to be- perfect. The change is my attitude about myself and the world around me began to shift and I knew I wanted to share this with others. My teacher training is 200 hr level with an emphasis in hatha and vinyasa flow. I feel movement through the breath initiates our movement in yoga and also in life.
Yoga is acceptance of the here and now, that means who we are in the here and now, without judgment or anger. This is what I wish to share with others, that who you are and where you are is what the universe has planned for you.
As a new Little Rock transplant, I am honored to be able to share yoga with you and am looking forward to calling Little Rock my new home. Many thanks to Cassandra for welcoming me in to The Floating Lotus and for allowing me to grow.
Always Goodness~
emma
