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Nobby's Yoga Life Story
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As I remember it, this is my account of my yoga journey that started back in 1981 in Dayton, Ohio.
I was introduced to yoga because my small circle of friends was involved with yoga. My first encounter with a nationally-known teacher was with Sam Dworkis at the Holiday Inn in Springfield, Ohio in 1982. To this day, I remember him with his overflowing energy, smiling from ear to ear, in a squatting position, wearing a black tank shirt. I did not know anything about yoga except for doing various poses, but he got me hooked on yoga. From the get go, I felt deep inside of me that yoga was more than doing poses. For the next several years, I attended his workshops as often as I was able, while having my career as a system analyst for a large corporation.
Shortly after I met Sam, I was introduced to yoga activities in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Through Yellow Springs, in the early 1980s, I started attending Judith Lasater’s workshops. I have the utmost respect for her teaching and, as long as she continues to hold her workshops, I plan to attend. Though I now reside in Missouri, I make frequent visits to Yellow Springs for workshops sponsored by Patricia Schneider – my homecoming trips.
As fortune would have it, in the fall of 1989, I was asked to take over a yoga class in Yellow Springs. Then my main yoga teacher, Sam Dworkis, encouraged me to take on the challenge. I called my yoga class, “Nobby’s Kindergarten of Yoga”. Today, it is still called the same, and I have learned many reasons why we want to be kindergarten students. For one, in my yoga practice, I remind myself to be a beginner with an empty mind to receive whatever I am ready to receive.
In the late 1980s, I embarked on a new training for Trager Technique. However, during my third level of the certification process, I decided to suspend my training and instead, realizing I needed to improve my body awareness, focused on yoga. From the Trager Technique experience, however, I chose to take with me to my yoga practice Milton Trager’s quote, “What could be even lighter, softer and freer”. I made it my mission to search for a lighter, softer and freer way in my yoga practice – I am still on this mission.
In the summer of 1991, I spent a month at the Kripalu Yoga Center in teacher’s training. How fortunate I was to have a manager who allowed me to take time off from work providing I spent a limited time on the phone each day supporting the system for which I was responsible. I suppose it was the beginning of virtual office which is so common today. Kripalu was a dream place to submerge in yoga life. When we completed the training, there were many tearful eyes not wanting to leave that ideal place to do yoga. But I was ready to return to the world to begin sharing my experience as a certified yoga teacher. Near the completion of certification, we were asked to write a letter to our self, and this is what I wrote:
Dear Nobby,
Together, let’s have the journey of our lives.
We’ll travel toward lighter ourselves.
We’ll travel carrying the LIGHT shining through us, so that,
the rest of the world can see us.
Simply, let the world see who we are.
Together, we’ll make all things our new experience.
We’ll live for new experience each moment of our lives.
We’ll have so much to live for – won’t we?
Let’s HAVE FUN with what we do.
Let’s SHINE like nobody’s business.
Let’s LIVE each moment of our lives to the fullest.
We, Nobby, will have the time of our lives together.
Love,
Nobby ..
Throughout my teaching experience, I have tried my best to live up to this letter I wrote. My intention has been, and always will be, to make the yoga experience available to all.
Not long after I returned from teacher’s training, one of my yoga students introduced me to the Alexander Technique. She said to me, “watching how you teach, you might be interested in this technique.” Without any prior knowledge, I dove into the technique. Today, I call myself a big fan of the Alexander Technique. Since 1992, I have continued my study by attending a workshop each summer.
Around 1992, again through Yellow Springs in Ohio, I was introduced to Angela Farmer and Victor Van Kooten from Greece. Ever since, at every opportunity, I have attended their workshops in Yellow Springs. Among other things, they helped open my eyes through their program called, “Teacher’s Un-training”.
In the spring of 2000, our family moved to a little town, Owensville, Missouri with a population of 2500 plus. Needless to say, in order to spread the practice of yoga, I had to reach out to nearby communities. As it turned out, I received the unexpected blessing of meeting varying students from all backgrounds and different social makeup. Also, here in Owensville, I have started a weekly chair yoga for people unable to get up and down from the floor. In one respect, it is nothing like yoga, but on the other hand, it is everything about yoga. I have learned so much about the hidden meaning of yoga from this class; as an example, yoga is all about getting connected.
Pursuing a lighter, softer, and freer approach to yoga practice brought me to Tai Chi practice. Because I just started taking class in September of 2012, I don’t claim to know anything yet, but again, something deep inside of me tells me that I am on the right path. I am finding out that this ancient practice naturally brings mindfulness to my practice. I am just scratching the surface, but I am becoming aware of the richness and depth of this work.
It seems as though I have found three practices that are completely compatible. By deepening my practice in all three areas and by doing my best to integrate these three practices, I feel I can offer a very unique yoga class.
Many students have came and gone ending up pursuing other modalities. My dream is that one day I am able to refine my teaching skills such that I can meet each student’s need no matter what they bring to my yoga class. I realize I have a long way to go to reach my goal, and for now I live the questions trusting that the answer will come in the future.
Live the Questions Now: I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. by Rainer Maria Rilke -
Through my practice of yoga, I have been blessed to meet countless number of teachers, yoga teachers, Alexander Technique teachers, Tai Chi teachers, and many others. Most of all, throughout the years, I have been blessed to have shared my yoga experience with numerous students, and they have taught me so much. I am very grateful for the opportunity – they are indeed my true teachers. In the years to come, my wish is to continue expressing my gratitude in the class. For my students, I don’t have all the answers, but I invite you to practice yoga with me and sometime in the future will be an answer you have been looking for.
I was introduced to yoga because my small circle of friends was involved with yoga. My first encounter with a nationally-known teacher was with Sam Dworkis at the Holiday Inn in Springfield, Ohio in 1982. To this day, I remember him with his overflowing energy, smiling from ear to ear, in a squatting position, wearing a black tank shirt. I did not know anything about yoga except for doing various poses, but he got me hooked on yoga. From the get go, I felt deep inside of me that yoga was more than doing poses. For the next several years, I attended his workshops as often as I was able, while having my career as a system analyst for a large corporation.
Shortly after I met Sam, I was introduced to yoga activities in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Through Yellow Springs, in the early 1980s, I started attending Judith Lasater’s workshops. I have the utmost respect for her teaching and, as long as she continues to hold her workshops, I plan to attend. Though I now reside in Missouri, I make frequent visits to Yellow Springs for workshops sponsored by Patricia Schneider – my homecoming trips.
As fortune would have it, in the fall of 1989, I was asked to take over a yoga class in Yellow Springs. Then my main yoga teacher, Sam Dworkis, encouraged me to take on the challenge. I called my yoga class, “Nobby’s Kindergarten of Yoga”. Today, it is still called the same, and I have learned many reasons why we want to be kindergarten students. For one, in my yoga practice, I remind myself to be a beginner with an empty mind to receive whatever I am ready to receive.
In the late 1980s, I embarked on a new training for Trager Technique. However, during my third level of the certification process, I decided to suspend my training and instead, realizing I needed to improve my body awareness, focused on yoga. From the Trager Technique experience, however, I chose to take with me to my yoga practice Milton Trager’s quote, “What could be even lighter, softer and freer”. I made it my mission to search for a lighter, softer and freer way in my yoga practice – I am still on this mission.
In the summer of 1991, I spent a month at the Kripalu Yoga Center in teacher’s training. How fortunate I was to have a manager who allowed me to take time off from work providing I spent a limited time on the phone each day supporting the system for which I was responsible. I suppose it was the beginning of virtual office which is so common today. Kripalu was a dream place to submerge in yoga life. When we completed the training, there were many tearful eyes not wanting to leave that ideal place to do yoga. But I was ready to return to the world to begin sharing my experience as a certified yoga teacher. Near the completion of certification, we were asked to write a letter to our self, and this is what I wrote:
Dear Nobby,
Together, let’s have the journey of our lives.
We’ll travel toward lighter ourselves.
We’ll travel carrying the LIGHT shining through us, so that,
the rest of the world can see us.
Simply, let the world see who we are.
Together, we’ll make all things our new experience.
We’ll live for new experience each moment of our lives.
We’ll have so much to live for – won’t we?
Let’s HAVE FUN with what we do.
Let’s SHINE like nobody’s business.
Let’s LIVE each moment of our lives to the fullest.
We, Nobby, will have the time of our lives together.
Love,
Nobby ..
Throughout my teaching experience, I have tried my best to live up to this letter I wrote. My intention has been, and always will be, to make the yoga experience available to all.
Not long after I returned from teacher’s training, one of my yoga students introduced me to the Alexander Technique. She said to me, “watching how you teach, you might be interested in this technique.” Without any prior knowledge, I dove into the technique. Today, I call myself a big fan of the Alexander Technique. Since 1992, I have continued my study by attending a workshop each summer.
Around 1992, again through Yellow Springs in Ohio, I was introduced to Angela Farmer and Victor Van Kooten from Greece. Ever since, at every opportunity, I have attended their workshops in Yellow Springs. Among other things, they helped open my eyes through their program called, “Teacher’s Un-training”.
In the spring of 2000, our family moved to a little town, Owensville, Missouri with a population of 2500 plus. Needless to say, in order to spread the practice of yoga, I had to reach out to nearby communities. As it turned out, I received the unexpected blessing of meeting varying students from all backgrounds and different social makeup. Also, here in Owensville, I have started a weekly chair yoga for people unable to get up and down from the floor. In one respect, it is nothing like yoga, but on the other hand, it is everything about yoga. I have learned so much about the hidden meaning of yoga from this class; as an example, yoga is all about getting connected.
Pursuing a lighter, softer, and freer approach to yoga practice brought me to Tai Chi practice. Because I just started taking class in September of 2012, I don’t claim to know anything yet, but again, something deep inside of me tells me that I am on the right path. I am finding out that this ancient practice naturally brings mindfulness to my practice. I am just scratching the surface, but I am becoming aware of the richness and depth of this work.
It seems as though I have found three practices that are completely compatible. By deepening my practice in all three areas and by doing my best to integrate these three practices, I feel I can offer a very unique yoga class.
Many students have came and gone ending up pursuing other modalities. My dream is that one day I am able to refine my teaching skills such that I can meet each student’s need no matter what they bring to my yoga class. I realize I have a long way to go to reach my goal, and for now I live the questions trusting that the answer will come in the future.
Live the Questions Now: I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. by Rainer Maria Rilke -
Through my practice of yoga, I have been blessed to meet countless number of teachers, yoga teachers, Alexander Technique teachers, Tai Chi teachers, and many others. Most of all, throughout the years, I have been blessed to have shared my yoga experience with numerous students, and they have taught me so much. I am very grateful for the opportunity – they are indeed my true teachers. In the years to come, my wish is to continue expressing my gratitude in the class. For my students, I don’t have all the answers, but I invite you to practice yoga with me and sometime in the future will be an answer you have been looking for.
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Nobby's Yoga Life Story Yin/Yang - Ha Tha
Chapter 2 |
Since I shared my yoga story back in 2012, there have been some Ah-Ha moments worth
sharing. I just want to remind readers that this is simply my take not necessarily
following the conventional yoga teachings.
The time flies when you are having fun. It has been not even four years since I decided
to dive into the practice of Tai Chi while continuing to teach yoga. The more I practice
Tai Chi, the more I am convinced that yoga and Tai Chi can and are completely
compatible. Not only that there are definite connections between them.
What I teach is hatha yoga – through practice of poses to attain union. Hatha is a Sanskrit word.
I found the following explanation on the Yoga Journal web-site:
What Does Hatha Mean?
The word hatha means willful or forceful. Hatha yoga refers to a set of physical exercises
(known as asanas or postures), and sequences of asanas, designed to align your skin,
muscles, and bones. The postures are also designed to open the many channels of the
body—especially the main channel, the spine—so that energy can flow freely.
Hatha is also translated as ha meaning “sun” and tha meaning “moon.” This refers to the
balance of masculine aspects—active, hot, sun—and feminine aspects—receptive, cool,
moon—within all of us. Hatha yoga is a path toward creating balance and uniting
opposites. In our physical bodies we develop a balance of strength and flexibility. We also
learn to balance our effort and surrender in each pose.
Interestingly enough, Yin and Yang have the very same meaning as Ha Tha. Not only
that, a Tai Chi classic writing states “Tai Chi was born from Wuji and it is the mother of
Yin and Yang”. Wuji is very similar to Mountain pose. In our yoga class, instead of
thinking to balance the opposing forces Ha and Tha, consider a continuous interplay of
Yin and Yang.
For years, I have said yoga is to unite mind, body, and spirit. While it is very true, I find
myself shifting in thinking - thanks to my chair yoga group. Every Wednesday morning,
we sit in a circle of chairs. One day someone asked what is meaning of yoga. Watching
them visiting, supporting, and making plans for lunch while doing chair yoga, I had my
Ah-Ha moment at the end of the class. Yoga is about searching for connection. To
realize we are not connected is also part of the process.
Talking about the meaning of yoga, recently I read a description of Qigong and it fits our
yoga practice to a tee. Now this description has become my favorite. In “The Way of
Qigong” by Kenneth S. Cohen, he said that Qigong is both art and science and he goes on
to describe as follows: Qigong is an art because it is a conscious arrangement of posture,
movement, and breath that creates beauty in the human mind and body. It is also an art in
the sense of being a skill achieved by diligent practice. Qigong is a science because it
includes the testing and investigation of healing techniques through centuries of trial and
error and careful observation. If you replace Qigong with Nobby’s yoga, you get the
description of my class.
Currently, I am preparing to become an instructor for Tai Chi Fundamentals. I hope to
complete the process within two years. Meanwhile I will continue to practice Tai Chi
Yang Short Form and wait for my senior teachers’ blessings which would allow me to
teach.
In the previous segment of my yoga story, I ended with the following comment:
I have been blessed to have shared my yoga experience with numerous students, and they
have taught me so much. I am very grateful for the opportunity – they are indeed my true
teachers.
Here is yet another Ah-Ha moment - how 先⽣生 is so fitting to my teaching. 先⽣生(sensei)
is Japanese word for teacher. The literal translation is “one who practiced before or one
who was born before”. However, ‘⽣生’ also means ‘student’ in the Japanese dictionary.
So, in my book ‘先⽣生’ is ‘student who practiced before’. I am just a student like you –
I just happened to have practiced yoga a bit longer. I am so blessed to be surrounded
with students who are willing to be on this yoga journey with me.
April 2015
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Nobby's Yoga Life StoryScratching the surface - Tai Chi
Chapter 3 |
I feel I am at another fork in the road to the mountain top of my life journey. Did you know that
my name in Japanese means to climb, like to climb the mountain? No matter which road I
choose at this juncture, it will lead to the top. I feel it is a good time to change the name of my
yoga teaching to "Nobby's Yin/Yang Yoga: journey back to child ".
Why do you want this name? - you might ask. This is just another progression of my quest
started back in 1992 - based on Melton Trager's quote 'what could be even lighter, softer and
freer?'. Our yoga practice has never been static, but it has always been evolving. Yin and Yang
are two opposite forces like positive and negative current in electricity, one does not exist
without the other. Describing our yoga practice in terms of Yin/Yang is a new and exciting
approach in studying yoga. I am not sure anybody has ever attempted this new way to describe
yoga practice. So far, in exploring yoga poses, we have labeled Yin: cool, inward expression,
release of muscle, quiet feeling, restful, ease of breath etc. And we have labeled Yang: heat,
outward expression, stretch of muscle, active feeling, live, little labored breath etc. We will
continue to classify our practice this way. We will see where this Yin/Yang talk is going to take
us. When we cultivate ease in doing yoga, we are indeed returning to child.
I am beginning my sixth year of practicing Yang Style Tai Chi Short form, also known as Chen
Man-Ch'ing Short Tai Chi form. I am finding that even though I am just beginning to scratch the
surface on Tai Chi, it has influenced my yoga practice and that influence is positive. Most
recently, I have adapted some phrases from Tai Chi class and here are a couple: "not so fast" and
"stay loose". In yoga class with poses which are familiar to us, it is useful to remind ourselves
of the phrase 'not so fast' instead of going right to the pose. 'Not so fast' allows us to think back
on all that we have talked about, to apply what will work for us at this present moment. Yoga is
a mindful practice and by applying 'Not so fast', we can be more mindful in our yoga class. Even
in a simple spinal twist pose, we can find ourselves going into a deeper twist when we find a way
to stay loose as long as we can. As a matter of fact, it is not just my experience, but many of us
have noticed that we can actually go deeper in the twist with ease. I am so blessed to watch a
beautiful twist unfold in front of my eyes - a benefit of being a teacher. It fits just right in our
long journey searching for 'what can be even lighter, softer and freer'.
Now that I am a certified instructor of Tai Chi Fundamentals, it is time to spread my wings to
share this work just as I have done with teaching yoga. My mission is to make this practice of
Tai Chi available to all who wish to take advantage. The road I am choosing is to adjust my
teaching schedule to include classes for Tai Chi Fundamentals. It is an exciting time for me -
figuring out the way to share both yoga and Tai Chi Fundamentals with all regardless of abilities.
Thank you for listening - happy practice.
Nobby
my name in Japanese means to climb, like to climb the mountain? No matter which road I
choose at this juncture, it will lead to the top. I feel it is a good time to change the name of my
yoga teaching to "Nobby's Yin/Yang Yoga: journey back to child ".
Why do you want this name? - you might ask. This is just another progression of my quest
started back in 1992 - based on Melton Trager's quote 'what could be even lighter, softer and
freer?'. Our yoga practice has never been static, but it has always been evolving. Yin and Yang
are two opposite forces like positive and negative current in electricity, one does not exist
without the other. Describing our yoga practice in terms of Yin/Yang is a new and exciting
approach in studying yoga. I am not sure anybody has ever attempted this new way to describe
yoga practice. So far, in exploring yoga poses, we have labeled Yin: cool, inward expression,
release of muscle, quiet feeling, restful, ease of breath etc. And we have labeled Yang: heat,
outward expression, stretch of muscle, active feeling, live, little labored breath etc. We will
continue to classify our practice this way. We will see where this Yin/Yang talk is going to take
us. When we cultivate ease in doing yoga, we are indeed returning to child.
I am beginning my sixth year of practicing Yang Style Tai Chi Short form, also known as Chen
Man-Ch'ing Short Tai Chi form. I am finding that even though I am just beginning to scratch the
surface on Tai Chi, it has influenced my yoga practice and that influence is positive. Most
recently, I have adapted some phrases from Tai Chi class and here are a couple: "not so fast" and
"stay loose". In yoga class with poses which are familiar to us, it is useful to remind ourselves
of the phrase 'not so fast' instead of going right to the pose. 'Not so fast' allows us to think back
on all that we have talked about, to apply what will work for us at this present moment. Yoga is
a mindful practice and by applying 'Not so fast', we can be more mindful in our yoga class. Even
in a simple spinal twist pose, we can find ourselves going into a deeper twist when we find a way
to stay loose as long as we can. As a matter of fact, it is not just my experience, but many of us
have noticed that we can actually go deeper in the twist with ease. I am so blessed to watch a
beautiful twist unfold in front of my eyes - a benefit of being a teacher. It fits just right in our
long journey searching for 'what can be even lighter, softer and freer'.
Now that I am a certified instructor of Tai Chi Fundamentals, it is time to spread my wings to
share this work just as I have done with teaching yoga. My mission is to make this practice of
Tai Chi available to all who wish to take advantage. The road I am choosing is to adjust my
teaching schedule to include classes for Tai Chi Fundamentals. It is an exciting time for me -
figuring out the way to share both yoga and Tai Chi Fundamentals with all regardless of abilities.
Thank you for listening - happy practice.
Nobby