Teacher Feature: Joyce Owens, RYT 200

Get to Know Our Very Own Joyce Eickmeyer Owens

Joyce has taught at Yoga Among Friends since we opened our doors in 1998. She received her teacher training from White Lotus Foundation.

Her own "slow flow" style of yoga is gentle yet powerful. As an instructor and musician, she brings a harmonious flow of body, mind, and spirit to her classes. Joyce says, "When we value our bodies as rare musical instruments, we create our own music." 

Here are some fun facts about Joyce Owens in her own words:

If you could pick one song to play every time you entered a room it would be..."Any selection from the CD 'The Best of Wah.' "

In a perfect world, we would communicate via..."Person to person so we could see each other with our eyes, listen to voice inflection with our ears and reach out and give a hug if needed."

My favorite animal is..."I love all animals but my personality is more aligned with a lazy, chubby, laid back, furry-purry cat."

Favorite Pigout food..."Ice cream."

Last show I binge-watched..."I've never binge-watched anything, but I love British comedy and drama series, and I could probably binge-watch all the Poldark series.

A good book I'm reading.." 'Hearing Beethoven' by Robin Wallace."

Favorite place..."On the mat or on a piano bench."

When I'm not on a yoga mat, I'm..."Reading non-fiction, researching history and genealogy, piano, knitting and trying to find time to get my oil paints out once again."

My life mission is to..."encourage, honor, and uplift other people's talents and gifts through yoga."

The most important thing yoga has taught me..."At this point in my life, yoga has taught me to honor the aging process instead of giving in to the concept of getting "old." Aging is a natural progression of life and I want to be as strong, flexible, and open as I can be when along the way."

A pose I struggle with..."I can't say I struggle with a certain pose because each pose is new to me each time I do it no matter how long I've been doing it. Maybe I was late to class and I'm unable to throw the stress of that off. Maybe my sciatica is flaring up, but then maybe that certain pose I had been struggling with was spot-on and I said, "Wow!" out loud in class. Energy is different all the time.

A pose I love and why..."Plain ol' down dog. Love that pose and I don't know why."

My most inspiring yoga-related experience(s) has been..."yoga retreats at Good Hope in Jamaica."

The biggest reason I teach yoga is..."It took me a long time to find my voice in life. When an incredible musician friend and mentor passed away, I came to realize how many gifts of learning and knowledge of music he gave to me. At the same time, along came Laura Jane with her brilliance and yoga and opened a door for me that changed my life. With her encouragement, I found myself in California at White Lotus becoming a yoga teacher. I could no longer hold on to or keep inside the gifts I had received. I had to pass them on as best I could so they would live and give outside of me. I found my voice - and became a teacher."

I want my yoga students to...."Enjoy yoga. Enjoy what you can do. Enjoy the poses that feel good. Enjoy the poses you don't like. In music, it's practice, practice, practice. Same with yoga. Enjoy the practice - it's the practice that sustains us.

Find Joyce Owens on the drop-in schedule on Mondays at 10 am for Vinyasa Flow, L1. And on Fridays at 11:30 am for Yoga for Healthy Living. All levels are welcome.

Teacher Feature: Ryan Faye, RYT 200

Get to Know Ryan Faye, Our Universal Yoga Teacher

Ryan discovered yoga in his early twenties as a tool for stress and anxiety relief. Since then he has delved deeper not only into the physical practice of yoga, but also the mental and spiritual aspects. He has practiced and studied locally with Marina Lisjonok and Hersh Khetarpal as well as with internationally renowned yoga master, and creator of Universal Yoga, Andrey Lappa. 

Here are some fun facts about Ryan Faye in his own words:

If you could pick one song to play every time you entered a room it would be...
“Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

In a perfect world, we would communicate via…owls, like in Harry Potter 🦉

My favorite animal is.. a puppy 🐶

Guilty Pleasure…Chai Lattes

Pigout food…Falafel

Last show I binge watched….Watchmen on HBO

A good book I’m reading…”Tantra” by Geshe Tashi Tsering

Best Movie I’ve seen lately…A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Favorite place...Sedona, Arizona

When I'm not on a yoga mat, I'm…still practicing yoga

People would be surprised that… I have a huge vegetable garden

My life mission is to...attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings

The most important thing yoga has taught me is…flexibility of the mind, openness of the heart  

The cause/project I am most passionate about is…the spread of authentic yoga  

I am learning to…lucid dream 

My yoga role model(s) is/are?… Andrey Lappa, Marina Lisjonok, Lara Devine, and Hersh Khetarpal

A pose I struggle with…the Handstand

A pose I love and why…the Lotus. I experience the most peace in seated meditation.

My most inspiring yoga-related experience was….spending 300 hours with Andrey Lappa 

The biggest reason I teach yoga is...We learn best by teaching others

I want my yoga students to…experience deep relaxation and rapid growth

I am grateful for…this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you. Please come practice with me!

Find Ryan Faye on the drop-in schedule on Tuesdays at 7:30pm for Universal Yoga. All levels are welcome.

Tears to Laughter: May We Embrace All of Life

Practicing being human starts each day as I accept my limits and then try to expand my horizons with compassion and forgiveness for my struggles.  My soul is fully alive as I embrace all the emotions of living large.

I was brought to my knees as I grieved with the world for the loss of 157 lives exploding into a fire in Iran and the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his sweet young daughter, and nine other special beings. And my deep sadness wallowed over the passing of Ram Dass, my personal inspiration for 40 years.  

Life and death are constant, and yet we avoid the persistent fear that exists whenever we are reminded that our physical life is so uncertain. I am confronted with the fragile space between each breath as the conscious acceptance that death breaks our hearts open again and again. Being fully alive, I accept all of it and to offer up the deep moan, the bitter cry, and anger for the depth revealed in this empty space.

While collectively we embrace all the families, friends, communities, nations, and the entire world with loving empathy for the profound losses, each of us becomes greatly aware of our own mortality. Heartbreak is the gateway for initiation to the soul and to inspire a desire for greater effort into the journey of the heart. To become mindful in the present moment as this pain arises, as a purely human experience, is honoring the gift of being alive. Allowing the soul to cultivate deep compassion for all humanity is awakened through grief. To block, avoid, to push back on this sacred doorway only creates the mind to suffer more pain.

To inhabit the ease of releasing resistance is my daily practice. Falling into the grief allows for a profound unfolding of love to be revealed. I am fully in love when I embrace the impermanence of my life in this physical body. I’m only here for a short while in the grand picture of humanity and yet I have been blessed to live in this time and space with great self-love and to embrace it by nourishing my soul daily.

Death is also a part of living. I know this is not the conversation we invite nor is it a comfortable topic for the average day as we play our various, daily roles of identity and function. The mind resists any idea that brings up the shadow of our being. Stress will keep presenting itself in the moods of depression or anxiety and then the habits of hiding begin to form. All my additive behaviors flourish in secrets and tend to hide the light of my soul from shining.

However, I am choosing today and every day to embrace and celebrate the possibilities of miracles that are available in the presence of living fully in the NOW. I am waking to gratitude for this day and appreciate the sweet fragile spaces between each breath. I choose to live fully with each opportunity to tell someone that I care, I see you, and I am listening to your heart.

I must practice to remember that perfection is a curse of my need for love and not the ability to be the love. As I accept all of myself with all the faulty parts, I can embrace the wholeness for life. Only from this perspective can I see how to navigate the mystery with all its hardships and blessings. I choose to be in love with life with all the messy pieces. I practice forgiveness that I am human while knowing I have the ability to choose my thoughts, my words, and my actions.

Yoga is living in the presence of the mind’s attention to focus inward. It takes continuous practice to learn the tools that allow for the activities of one’s mind to become stable and focused in order to see clearly in navigating the various choices and challenges of daily life. Our many classes offer wonderful opportunities to continue thriving as the teachings must be experienced as a living transformation. Please check out all the upcoming workshops and classes we are proud to present!

May you be led forward for the highest good of all as you go about your crazy day filled with great joy!

With love and light,

Laura Jane