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Q&A with Amy Stuart
What inspires you?
Story tellers who describe our capacity to love, to heal and to live through joy and pain.
When did you begin practicing yoga?
October, 1991
Why did you begin practicing yoga?
I had been a runner, and my knees were bothering me. Doctors suggested stop running so much or you may need surgery. I tried different sneakers, different ground, shorter runs, different step and nothing seemed to relieve the achey pain in my knees within 1/2 a mile of running. So I stopped running and started practicing yoga.
Tell us about the evolution of your personal practice ?
Vinyasa and Iyengar styles created my foundation. Then, I learned primary series (April, 1996). Kathy introduced me to second series and together the Ashtanga sequences and breathing inform my personal practice and my teaching practice.
Which teachers inspire you? Why?
Leanne Carey, because she taught me about the relationship between breath and movement. Frank White, because he encouraged endurance and persistence. Noah Williams, because he taught me primary series. Steve Walther, because he taught me the creativity and beauty in vinyasa. Erich Schiffman, because I found my breath and lost my body in his training. Kathy McNames, because she taught me practice is play is practice is thanksgiving is practice is prayer is practice is love is practice is breath is practice is life is practice... Scott York, because he teaches consistently, steadily and with fine tuning attention.
If students walked away with just one message (or two or three if you don’t want to limit yourself) from your class, what would it be?
Listen to your breath.
What are some other yoga related passions or things you are studying at the moment?
I think it is all related. Specifically, my work with the local chiropractor over the last year has contributed to what I know about the spine and how to breathe and hold postures that support it. Students have remarked my instruction in this area has helped them move through poses "So, my lower back doesn't hurt." Yaaaaa.
Do you have a life outside of yoga?
Yes, I enjoy time with a man named Mark and his two girls, family, friends and my dog Sadie. I work at the Community College of Vermont with amazing students, instructors and colleagues. I walk my dog, swim at the lake and hike in the mountains and care for some plants and flowers in and around my home in the spring and summer. In the fall and winter, I walk my dog, stare at the lake, hike in the mountains, tend to fireplace fires and house plants inside my home and teach a college course.
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