Tracy has been practicing at Waynesville Yoga Center regularly for about a year and, as of this post, has attended a whopping 199 classes!! That is at least one class every other day! Tracy was one of our January Challenge Winners, making it to 22 classes during the month of January. We love Tracy and her commitment to yoga! If you miss Tracy in class, you’ll be sure to catch her on her Harley-Davidson! 😎  Thank you, Tracy, for being an inspiring part of our community!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

I first practiced yoga when the Australian Co., who employed me, started a life balance program, which included a gym membership. I took every class offered, yoga being one of them. Hooked!!!

I moved home and took every yoga class the Fitness Center offered. This is when I discovered Power Vinyasa and the real work began!!

Yoga led me to a fit and healthier body. I started lifting weights, so I could build upper body strength in order to properly complete the plank series especially repetitive chaturanga to plank poses and challenging yogi push-up series. It also led me to clean eating.

Reducing stress has become super important to my well-being and a goal. Every yoga class successfully gets me out of my head, at least for that hour, life seeps back in shortly after, but I feel the release I just experienced counts for something instead of continuing to build….I cannot imagine my world without yoga. Yoga feels good to my body, I thrive on the challenging poses, it takes soreness out of my muscles from lifting, relieves my stress-induced headaches, and reminds me how to breathe deep and slowly.

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

Fave styles are Power, Vinyasa, and Ashtanga. Fave classes [at Waynesville Yoga Center] are Vinyasa Flow and Myofascial Release although I love them all!

What’s your favorite pose and why?

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

Tara has been a student of yoga for almost 25 years. Tara is a registered nurse having worked in pediatric ICU, now pre and post-operative care, is a licensed massage therapist, and is John Barnes trained myofascial release (MFR) therapist and specializes in this gentle modality of freeing fascial constrictions. We are so grateful to have Tara on our team!

Our fabulous Jake interviewed Tara! Take a look and listen in the video below!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

I first became interested in yoga after my firstborn, so that would be 28 years ago! I was just stressed and not adjusting to motherhood well and I knew I had to do something. I started with doing tapes with Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden. After about a year of a home practice, I took my first yoga class and was hooked with the different energy that a class provides vs. doing tapes.

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

I was fortunate that my first teachers came from a varied background and so I was introduced to many different styles and lineages including Iyenger, Anusara, and Ashtanga. I also was introduced to restorative yoga early on in my yoga path. I can honestly say, I enjoy them all and they all have a time and place both long term and short term. What I mean by that is that in any given week what your body and psyche need can be different as well as looking at the larger phases of your life.

What’s your favorite pose and why?

Oh, easy. I LOVE down dog. It has so many benefits going on from hip opening to shoulder strength to elongation of the spine. It feels soothing to me.

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

Well, if I’m not working in my second and third jobs of nursing and massage therapy, you most likely will find me outdoors doing many things I love including hiking, whitewater kayaking and mountain biking. You also might find me taking a post lunch nap with my dogs. 🙂

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

Bonnie has been with WYC since the early days. We adore having her in class and having her in our yoga community is an absolute treat! Thank you, Bonnie!

Our fabulous Jake interviewed Bonnie! Take a look and listen in the video below!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

I was a jogger in my 30s and 40s and started aerobics in my 50s. My journey with yoga began in my 60s and has become an essential part of my life as I am now in my 70s and approaching the milestone of 80 in 2023. Yoga has definitely helped me physically with flexibility and balance. Also, as an artist, it provides me with time for reflection and sometimes I even get an idea for a new work of art. I also tend to get myself overextended with volunteer work, family etc. and yoga helps me slow down and think about what is important.

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

I like flow classes as think this helps me maintain good mobility and planks etc. are strength building.

What’s your favorite pose and why?

In my early yoga days, I would say half moon. Today, I would say it is between pyramid and camel…I can still achieve these poses.

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

Work in my stained glass studio making panels and other works of art featuring stained glass. Also, involved, as a volunteer, with HART theatre as a Past Board President and Fundraising Chair and Planned Parenthood as a past Board Chair. Another favorite activity is walking Lake Junaluska.

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

Kirstin has been teaching AMAZING classes at Waynesville Yoga Center for years! Join Kirstin for Flow and Yin every Thursday at 10:30 AM and for Mixed-Level Flow every other Sunday at 12 PM. Thank you, Kirstin!

Our fabulous Jake interviewed Kirstin! Take a look and a listen in the video below!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

The first time I took a yoga class it was a disaster. And not just because I signed up for it with my boyfriend at the time. The teacher was rigid, and there was no space to be a learner. She criticized every pose I came into, from the very beginning. Apparently I could even do Child’s Pose wrong. I abandoned the class after about three sessions. And the boyfriend not long after. It was more than ten years later that I had the guts to try it again. A friend was becoming a yoga teacher and was offering some free classes. She invited me to come try it, promising that the experience would be different. It was. She taught with grace and humor, and showed me that I didn’t need to be flexible, or already know how to do the poses in order to practice yoga. This sweet woman is still a dear friend and I tell her regularly how much I appreciate the gift of yoga she gave me. I’d been an athlete most of my life, playing soccer and Ultimate Frisbee, and stretching very little. Yoga was the physical balance I needed. I learned over time that it was the spiritual and emotional balance I needed, as well. I have, at times, wandered away from my practice, and every time I’ve come back, I’ve discovered again that I need it for so many reasons. I love what yoga teaches me about my body, about patience and letting go of outcomes. Practicing yoga has helped deepen my spiritual life, which has helped me grow into myself more and more. There always seem to be new levels to get to internally, and yoga has opened those doors for me in ways I’m not sure I could have found otherwise. When I had the opportunity to be part of the first YTT class that WYC offered, I jumped in. I could not have found a better fit for me. The focus on fitting poses to our bodies, rather than forcing our bodies into “ideal” versions of a pose, was like an antidote to my first yoga experience. It gave me a path other than “perfection” to strive for, one that was more about understanding myself. I am deeply grateful to be part of the WYC community, as a teacher and as a student.

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

Honestly, whatever style I’m doing at the time seems to be my favorite. I know that sounds trite, but I mean it. I love paying attention to what I’m drawn to at any given time and following that. I enjoy teaching flow classes, and love Sun Salutations. Yin is wonderful for the deep work, both physical and mental, that it brings. I love the slower pace of Gentle and Restorative classes and the relaxing vibe of them. Recently, I’ve been in the mood for a challenge, and so have been enjoying Iron Yoga and Barre classes.

What’s your favorite pose and why?

That answer probably varies with the day, but in general I always love supine twists. They give me a sense of wringing my body out and I appreciate how small adjustments can target different areas.

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

I write every morning, mostly fiction. I love creating characters and stories and giving them voice. I also take pottery classes, which is beyond fun. My husband and I enjoy hiking and backpacking, especially with our two dogs, Artie and Sam. Said dogs also allow me to accompany them on morning walks or runs, which is a lovely start to the day. After several years of working as a chaplain in healthcare settings, I am enjoying now the different pace of life I have here.

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

I have a vast and eclectic storehouse of song lyrics in my brain, from 80s and 90s music to rap to hymns. When I get started singing, as my husband will attest, it is sometimes difficult to get me to stop until I finish the song.

Christina Kirkpatrick is our Featured Member!

Christina has been a member with WYC since 2019 and has been a wonderful part of our yoga community. Thank you, Christina!

Our fabulous Jake interviewed Christina! Take a look and a listen in the video below!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

I found my joy when I found yoga . I mean really found it. Life came back to me after joining WYC. I was stuck in my daily routine, going back to school and then trauma impacted my family. I have exercised and done yoga for years but never really practiced yoga. I am now in the pose in the breathe in my heart. I am so ever grateful for my yogi family and feel WYC brings me joy. I have decided to choose joy

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

Buti, iron yoga and Restorative, Jake’s and jams

What’s your favorite pose and why?

Plank – I feel so strong when I hold this pose. My whole body is engaged while breathing through each limb.

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

Ride my Harley, lift weights, roller skate, dance, hang out with my friends, hike walk/run play with my family

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

I talk haywoodian, it takes me 30 minutes to say hi. I also mispronounced sits bone and called it shitsbone

Jerica Rossi is our Wizard of Oz behind the curtain!

She supports WYC in scheduling classes, workshops, retreats, she runs the marketing for emails and social media, and she makes sure our community is taken care of! And she does all of this from several states over! We are so excited to have Jerica as our Featured Staff Member of the Season. Thank you, Jerica, for everything you do!

Our fabulous Jake interviewed Jerica! Take a look and a listen in the video below!

Tell me about your experience with yoga: how it began, where it has taken you, and how yoga has impacted your life.

My love for yoga began while I was interning at a sustainable living center in Thailand, where I was learning earthen building and organic farming after college. One of the other interns offered morning sessions in this gorgeous cob building as the sun was rising- and I remember feeling like I’d never been taller and more present; it felt like it’d cracked me open to more joy and strength. Since then, my mat and practice has always been somewhere to turn and I’ve loved taking it around the country and world on my travels, as it’s something that I feel enhances my embrace of a place. I moved around for the majority of my twenties, so yoga was also a place to feel at home while exploring and something to share with new friends along the way. Over the past few years, I’ve found myself interested in the philosophical side of yoga, energy work, Ayurveda, chakra healing, and expanding my flexibility. It’s a journey that will always be unfolding.

What are your favorite styles of yoga / classes?

I’ll take my yoga yummy, relaxing, challenging flexibly, or explorative. Hot yoga has been a great medicine during the winter, and restorative during the planting and harvesting seasons, but a fluid vinyasa with some great beats is my dessert- ya know, when you’re really IN the rhythm.

What’s your favorite pose and why?

I was a headstand junkie as a kid, and have always loved hanging about in Tree Pose, but ultimately it’s Goddess Pose. I love rocking it out and stretching my hips. It’s a pose that makes me feel like I’m aligned with my power.

What do you do when you’re not practicing yoga?

My partner and I live on a homestead and sell organic produce – so we’re always getting in the soil, going to market, trying a new dish in the kitchen, finding a way to process whatever we have that’s about to go to waste, or planning a little getaway. We live along a creek in the forest, so creek walks, wildcrafting, forest bathing and hammocking are always in order- unless I’m busy at work on the computer for Waynesville Yoga Center 🙂

Tell me something funny or unexpected about you.

I speak Indonesian and have lived, traveled, and studied on several of the archipelago’s islands. Around 23, I became fascinated by Jane Goodall and the great apes, which inspired me to go to Sumatra to see the critically endangered Orangutan. One of my fondest memories in Indonesia was hiking through the dense jungle, nervous that I might not catch a glimpse of the elusive creature in the wild. I began repelling down a waterfall and when I looked up there was a mama and baby on a limb watching me with their big ole human-like eyes- and then kissed. It was magical.