In his early twenties, Ryan Burnes carried a mindset of invincibility and bravado instead of the authentic version of himself that simmered beneath. He initially found yoga through the recommendation of a chiropractor to deal with back pain from years of pick-up hoops, but later, as he discovered the mind-body connection, the practice “found him” and offered the insight he was seeking into how he should be living his life.

Ten tips from Derek to jumpstart your practice and get yourself on the path to becoming a stronger, wiser, and more balanced self before you know it.

Derek Sabori got into yoga as means to recover and balance out his jujitsu training and got hooked by the physical practice and the intellectual challenges in pulling off an advanced inversion called parsva bakasana – more commonly known as side crow pose. Soon his passion and appreciation for the benefits of yoga lead him to found a yoga apparel company called Kozm and creating a killer pair of hemp, cotton, and lycra shorts that have become an instant hit.

With three decades as a high school physical education teacher combined with thirty years of service in the Navy and Army Reserve, Craig Shimel has amassed a ton of perspective and knowledge around life, community, service, and fitness. In the mid-1990s he helped pioneer the integration of functional movement and yoga in youth fitness after teaching himself simple sun salutations exercises by watching Rodney Yee’s beginner’s yoga VHS tapes in his living room.

Bolsters, blocks, belts, chairs, and even walls can safely offer support for weak muscles and unstable joints as practitioners navigate nagging injuries and challenging yoga poses (“asanas”). Combined with an experienced Iyengar teacher, the use of props can also help unlock a subtle, unexpected awareness within. Today’s guest is Andi Wirz, a friend and native of Switzerland who has been teaching the Iyengar method for twenty years and led classes at two of the most respected backcare studios in the country, Samamkaya and Yoga Union.

I met Tom Strachan during the high-flying dot-com boom days in the early 2000s while working for Akamai Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was his passion and dedication to yoga that inspired many of his colleagues to try yoga, and thankfully I was one of them. In our conversation, Tom shares how Bikram yoga helped him cope with his early days of sobriety and speaks to the many benefits of having an on-going practice as he enters his 50s.

Bryan Wymbs is a lawyer in North Carolina who got into yoga over fifteen years ago. He shares his experience taking his first class at a local gym and how the non-competitive practice of yoga helped provide balance in his life, particularly in managing stress and focusing on the moment.