My children are very lucky. Their parents love what they do for a living. The same couldn’t be said about my parents. My wife Caitlin, who is a childbirth educator and post partum doula, and I relish the ability to discuss our work together and feel incredibly lucky that we always look forward to going to work.
I started teaching yoga and have had many great teachers along the way. My first training was with Cindy Lee and Jennifer Brilliant at OM Yoga Center in 1999. I studied for two years with John Friend, the creator of Anusara Yoga, and credit him with teaching me the basics of what I do today. Two yoga therapy trainings in particular were extraordinarily helpful for me.
However, sometime in 2002, I got off the train and began to learn on my own. I have always prided myself on being an autodidact, due to some weird limitations in my brain chemistry—I just feel more comfortable learning by myself. Over the years I taught myself to do many things; carpentry and woodworking (that didn’t work out so well, but I still have all of my fingers); I also taught myself to cook, which worked out very well, especially for my friends and family.
When it came to yoga and walking I dove into books. The beauty of our world is that anyone can learn anything if they are so interested. A number of people have asked about books that I recommend, other than my own, so I have included a snap shot of two of my book shelves.
The only book that is near and dear to me that isn’t in the picture of the books on my shelf is Anatomy Trains by Tom Myers. Below is a short list of my very important anatomy books:
Rolfing, Ida Rolf
Human Movement Potential, Lulu Sweigard
Taking Root to Fly, Irene Dowd
Anatomy Trains, Thom Myers
The Body Has Its Reasons, Therese Bertherat
Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga, Ray Long
Thieme, Atlas of Musculoskeletal Anatomy
The Endless Web, Rosemary Fietis
Light On Yoga, B.K.S Iyengar
I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj
There are a ton of others that I have bought over the years that are in storage. It is my belief that everyone should know how his or her body works. Knowing the design and function of the machine you inhabit will help lessen the likelihood of it breaking down over time.