Former litigator and corporate banker Larry Drexler entered his first yoga class curious but apprehensive. He soon realized the impact and perspective that yoga provided within his work and relationships, specifically the place of power and autonomy residing between his breath and thoughts. “When you’re a litigator, when you’re a lawyer, you’re trained to be an attack dog. You’re trained to be aggressive all the time. And what I learned was by taking a breath and stepping back, that space gives you so much more – I stopped being competitive and started being collaborative. I became a better lawyer, colleague, and person.”

Growing on the ponds of Canada, Riley Cote dreamed of playing in the NHL and eventually made it. However, after five years in the intense role as an enforcer for Philadelphia Flyers, he realized he wasn’t living his true path. Shortly before retirement, he found yoga as a means to physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being. In this conversation, Riley shares his story of shifting his mindset from living in the competitive mode of fight-or-flight to exploring spiritual freedom through yoga.

Neil Taylor is many things – a musician, a meditation teacher, a yoga teacher, and a bodyworker. In this conversation, Neil shares how travel and lifestyle as a professional musician forced him to address health and wellbeing and led him to a meditation retreat that sparked his spiritual path. For Neil, yoga is about connecting with what is most important – our awareness. As he explains, “We all have a physical body, thoughts, emotions, and an underlying sense of consciousness itself. As we become aware of these different aspects of our human experience, we can become more skillful at navigating the inward path and tuning into what is more important.”

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.