Why Yoga works for me

After growing up in the Netherlands I lived for 17 years in Switzerland. I started my skin care business there which was my main occupation. Evenings I taught classes in jazz dance. When the skin care business and dance classes grew too big a friend of mine took over the dance classes.

At the same time I enrolled in a yoga program with a renowned teacher, Rita Nageli. I noticed that after just two months going once a week to yoga, I felt more flexible than I had been after five years of dancing eight hours a week. Contemplating on why, I knew it must have been the coordination of the breath and the poses (asanas) and the precision with which they were done.

Since my move to the U.S. in 1983 I have tried a variety of yoga styles. I was not aware that there were so many. All had some good, but I was so used to Rita's classes that I still kept looking for another teacher. In 1996 I went to La Jolla, CA on business and I heard about the Master Yoga Academy. I tried a class and I loved it. I wanted to learn more and deepen my experience. I enrolled in the teacher training program and studied with Rama, Master teacher and founder of Master yoga. Home of Svaroopa yoga.

Since November 1998 I have been teaching Hatha Yoga in the Svaroopa style, first at the Palos Community Hospital Fitness Center in Orland Park, and then in November of 2000, I opened Heaven on Earth Yoga studio in River Forest.

Marianne Steenvoorden