Main Content
YOGA & MEDITATIONOver the following five years, I attended every class with Mehrad that I could. I started attending intensive workshops and met Mehrad's beautiful wife, Michele Hebert. Michele dazzled me with her depth of knowledge of all aspects of Yoga. She quickly became my next teacher, as well as a great friend. I spent a great deal of time with Mehrad and Michele, and even worked for Michele as an assistant. Beyond anything else, they have taught me that Yoga is not something that you practice on a mat, it is a way of life that requires full awareness, presence and a sense of humor. For me, they are the greatest example of what a yogic life can offer: joy, peace, bliss, beauty, grace, and strength.Steeped in centuries of history and tradition,
Yoga offers a multitude of benefits for people of all ages.
In its simplest state, Yoga is an excellent system for
cleansing the physical body of stresses and tension.
In its most refined state, Yoga is a graceful lifestyle
that enhances every aspect of our life.
Lisa Murray: my Yoga story
I started practicing and studying Yoga in 2000. In the beginning, I practiced with my friend Kristine Marchus. We attended Ashtanga classes at The Yoga Company in Sonoma. I loved the intense physicality of Ashtanga. I appreciated the way the hard work felt in my body, and the deep sense of relaxation I felt when I laid down in Savasana at the end of class. When our teacher moved to Hawaii, the new teacher was Dr. Mehrad Nazari. From the first class that I took from Mehrad, something shifted in my practice. I found a greater sense of joy and peace than I had ever known - in or out of Yoga class. I quickly became hooked on both the feeling I attained in practice and also with an intense desire to learn more.
In 2004, Michele and Mehrad told me that they were moving back to SanDiego. Despite all I had learned, I was devestated and worried what would happen to my practice. Mehrad told me that they wanted me to take over teaching the children at Kenwood Elementary School, a program they started in 2000. I has honored and reluctant to take on the responsibility. I didn't feel ready to teach. My teachers assured me I was ready, and began training me. I began solo teaching the children in the late fall of 2004.
Soon after, another Yoga teacher friend announced that he was moving and asked me to take over his classes teaching in the 55+ community. Again, I resisted, but eventually agreed to try teaching the classes. In the years since, I have gradually added classes, and now teach an average of 17 classes per week.
Sharing Yoga with others is the greatest joy of my life. I feel profoundly grateful to get to share the teachings that have transformed my life into a daily celebration. I have been honored to receive teaching certificates in the Walt Baptiste Method of Raja Yoga from Mehrad and Michele and a certificate and Yoga Alliance credititation in Sherri Baptiste's Power of Yoga. My study over the last three years with Sherri Baptiste has been in invaluable addition to my education, and I feel blessed to be included in America's first family of Yoga. In addition, I have just been initiated into the Himalayan Yoga Tradition by Swami Veda Bharati and have begun a three year training program that will solidify and expand my knowledge of Yoga philospophy, sacred texts, Sanskrit, and other advanced practices.
I look forward to seeing you in class!
Namaste!
Lisa Murray