Yoga Teaching Philosophy


Yoga in Sanskrit, the devotional language of India means "union". At the outset of our journey into yoga we may be experiencing pain or stress. We may want to create a sacred space for ourselves, or we may want to learn how to improve the health and well being of our families. We may want to stay flexible and optimize our well-being. However regardless of what we seek from yoga, it will yield the same result, a depth of self awareness, serenity, and a continuing call to the infinite connection within us that makes all else possible.

Yoga is not a practice that takes us away from the world, rather, it is a practice that helps us accept the deepest parts of ourselves, and bring these parts back into the world as we find healthier ways to interact with our families and our communities.

Yoga was miraculously developed several thousand years ago by the ancient sages of India, as a system for complete well-being. Apart from the hundreds of variations of asanas that address all parts of the body and many breathing practices that exist, there were also guidelines developed for conduct in our relationships with one another, and for overcoming the obstacles in building building our practice. These are addressed in class. Yoga is non-denominational and can be practiced by anyone, at any level.

Training and Teaching Style
Alexis began taking yoga classes in 1992. She alternated between Integral yoga, Sivananda yoga, Kripalu yoga, and Raj yoga classes, taking between three and four classes a week for four years. In the process of learning asanas she began to practice a form of vipassana in 1993. She also began to practice kirtan (devotional chanting in Sanskrit) at Integral yoga each week in 1994. In 1998 she read The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion by Prem Prakash who directs the Green Mountain School of Yoga in Middlebury, Vermont. Reading this text which outlines the philosophy of bhakta yoga, or the yoga of devotion, was a turning point in her practice. She continued to attend kirtan, mantra yagnas, workshops and classes with Prem Prakash until he gave her permission to start teaching asanas in 2002. After seven years of continuous study with a variety of yoga asana teachers, Alexis met her beloved meditation teacher and guru Swami Probuddhananda, in Varanasi, India, in 2009. She has edited a book of his letters, With Love, Swami Probuddhananda, on Advaita Vedanta, considered to be the Mother of all yogas, the non-dualistic philosophy that all is divine. This book is being used to teach meditation at Benares Hindu University in Varanasi, and is beginning to circulate to students around the world.

Her style emphasizes coming back to the beauty and joy of the traditions of yoga, the simplicity of the message of hatha yoga, or the yoga of purification, and a respect for the comprehensive benefits of asanas, breathing practices and meditation in spiritual practice.

Classes are tailored for both beginning and intermediate levels.
A typical one hour class will include:

5 minutes of meditation
5 minutes of pranayama (breathing practices)
40 of asanas (postures)
7 minutes of shavasna (restorative practice)

Emphasis is placed on developing your practice at home, and sharing the obstacles and joys of building your practice in a supportive classroom environment.

New Classes:
Workshop Schedule in Randolph, Waitsfield, Rutland, Cape Cod and Pembroke New Hampshire TBA.

Mondays: 3:15pm to 4:15pm Rochester High School
Thursdays: 4:30pm to 5:30pm Rochester, Town Hall