Happy new year, friends and welcome to our joyful experiment. The concept and inspiration behind our project is to truly understand, from each of you and yogis everywhere, What is the Yoga of You...
Our goal is to reach out to 100 yogis that inspire us to ask them each 5 interesting questions during a 10-minute phone call (old school way of connecting!). They may be the same 5 questions as today or they may not. This is an experiment after all and your feedback will help guide the questions, of course. We’re looking to learn, be inspired, enjoy conversation and explore fresh ideas from unique perspectives. This is just the beginning of what we hope becomes a really open discussion, path-generator and connector for all of us.
Our first interview is with Larry Thraen, owner of The Yoga of You. Since we work for Larry, he better be our first interview or else. ;) If you don't know Larry (which you probably do), you can check out his bio on the website right here.
I caught up with Larry for 10 minutes during a virtual lunch. He was enjoying lentil soup at home in sunny Houston, TX. I was 'iced in' at my home office in Madison, WI because, well....Madison, WI.
Hope you enjoy my 5 question conversation with Larry as much as I did.
Namaste, Amanda
5 Questions for Larry Thraen
Hi Larry. We've got your 5 questions for you. Remember you instructed me to develop my own questions. No giving me a hard time on the questions.
Yes and Yes. Let's see what you got.
Question Number 1: Can you talk to us about a particular “a-ha” yoga moment that led to a major breakthrough in your practice?
Great question. During a new type of class that I frankly thought was unchallenging, we did a particular sequence of poses and then repeated. The 2nd time I did the sequence, something just changed for me. I suddenly understood the “Why”......why we were doing the poses in a certain order. The connectivity and repetition had not made sense to me until that very moment.
I'm dying to know what class that was...
I'll email the details. The Yogi's last name is impossible to spell. Next question.
Question Number 2: What’s a misconception non-yoga practitioners have about yoga that kinda bugs or entertains you?
Probably the number one misconception is that yoga is for privledged white people. Anyone can do yoga, anywhere, any time. That's bullshit. We work with PTSD patients and underserved prison and school populations to teach self-regulation and techniques to achieve peace in their bodies and minds. The other annoying misnomer is that you have to be flexible in order to do yoga.
Question Number 3: How would your high school experience been different if all of your teachers were also certified yoga instructors?
Wow...it would have differed dramatically. I think my teachers would have been better able to keep their cool. I know they'd certainly would have acted more empathetically towards their students.
Sounds like you were a troublemaker Larry...
Seriously, rather than being taught to teach and learn just one way, we would have been introduced to dozens of different ways to learn and be directed to choose which one was right for us. I love that question. Obviously I think yoga for teenagers would also help manage bullying and other high school "shaming", but perhaps that is another blog...
Question Number 4: Do you have a guilty pleasure you’d like to share with us to prove that Yogis are people too?
I like Tequila a little bit on occasion...
Question Number 5: Care to recommend a recent movie, book or song that you thought was awesome?
I love the 3 genre choices from which to pick. I recently caught “The Mask That You Live In” on Netflix. -- It's a really thought-provoking documentary on the illusion of masculinity in North American culture. You should watch it with your boys. Everyone should watch it...
That's it. We're done. What'd you think?
Good work. That was fun. When you're done writing it all up and posting it on the blog, go ahead and round up Hope Wills and interview her. I'd love see her answers. You'll love her. She's fabulous.
Will do. I look forward to it. Catch you downriver. Namaste Larry.
Namaste Amanda.
Larry Thraen / Yoga of You is based in Houston, Texas. He’s currently finalizing curriculum with Dr. Andrea Paige (www. liveforvitality.com) for their advanced teacher training modules in Sri Lanka, Sweden and Greece. You can connect with Larry at www.theyogaofyou.com