Published in Sweat Equity Magazine, April/May 2016 Issue Baron Baptiste on teaching his first class: “I got forced into teaching my first class by my father, who was leaving town and wanted me to substitute. I didn’t want to, but I went and taught it anyway . . . . He pushed me over the edge of the cliff, and instead of falling, I flew.” Far, far away in a small rural town by the name of San Francisco lived a humble revolutionary family of five yogis (mother, Magna; father,

I understood suffering and sadness from a young age. My childhood wasn’t traumatic or more difficult than most, but I somehow had a level of empathy and sensitivity that was premature for my years. At age ten, I asked my dad why baseball players got paid millions of dollars, but children around the world were homeless and starving. I agonized over the fish he caught on a hot summer’s day when he took me out on the boat. I felt the pain of writhing worms on baited hooks, of lo

Published in Sweat Equity Magazine, April/May Issue “As a teacher and practitioner of yoga, it would make me immensely happy to see the media properly portray and embrace all the different body types and races that are actually practicing yoga.” Globetrotting yogini, internationally celebrated teacher, author, and founder of Aim True Yoga, Kathryn Budig is one of the most famous faces of yoga today. Her yoga career is an illustrious one, having entered the scene just 12 years

Taking a step away from the “norm” as defined by cultural, educational, or familial standards is rarely an easy task. You might find yourself negotiating a fine balance between your old “unknowing” self and the new, more inquisitive you. Questioning the meaning of life and challenging our assumptions of what is “real” demands a certain amount of courage and a level of awareness that aren’t readily found in the corner cafe or among common conversations. In a society where “thi