MP is for Mary-PattonCheck out my interview on Accepted.com!
I hate to admit it, but Americans have a pretty bad reputation of being overweight and lazy. In 2014 over 27% of us classified as obese, and it doesn’t show any signs of improvement. But despite (or maybe as a reaction against) this national ailment, a strong slice of us are becoming more health-conscious than ever before. The American fitness industry is worth $24 billion yet traditional gym memberships are declining as we find alternative ways to stay active, healthy, and motivated. In many ways our newfound obsession…
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For the talent show at the end of our six week yoga teacher training program, my friends and I decided to create a Rishikesh version of the ever-so-popular Pharrell Williams “Happy” video. . . I had such a blast filming these ladies in the Beatles ashram, alongside the Ganges River, and on the Laxman Jhula bridge. It’s good to know I’ll always have a fallback career as music video director/producer! A shame the video doesn’t convey how amazing the food is here, or how much cow poop there…
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On the mystical island of Bali in southern Indonesia is a town shrouded in jungle mist and good karma. You can’t throw a purple spiky dragonfruit without hitting a yoga mat, and you’d be more likely to find a Wall Street banker than non-vegan food. “Om”-printed harem pants and blessed crystal necklaces are on display in every shop window, and the restaurants have names like “Namaste” and “Atman”. This is Ubud, the mecca of all yoga lovers. Throw in the annual Bali Spirit Festival, and the town had…
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After some yoga in Koh Phangan (no full moon parties, fortunately or unfortunately) and a few days taking advantage of Anneke’s hospitality, it was time to keep moving on and head back to Koh Samui, my first stop in Thailand. This time I stayed on the opposite side of the island from where I’d previously been for Vikasa yoga, booking a small hostel in the Fisherman’s Village of Bophut Beach. This area of Koh Samui is known for its cute avenues of shops and restaurants, and a long…
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Even six time zones away from tiny Rwanda in East Africa, I was able to find a piece of home in Thailand! My Dutch friend Anneke was taking a three month sabbatical from Kigali to live on the island of Koh Phangan for a yoga course and some R&R, so she kindly offered to share her cute bungalow with me. I took the ferry from Koh Tao, hopped in the back of a tuk tuk from Koh Phangan port, and met up with Anneke at Agama Yoga. I…
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A Thai friend of mine recommended I go to an island called Koh Tao well-known for scuba diving and for being less well-known than its famous sisters, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. I wasn’t planning on going there – in fact, I’d never even heard of it – but when I was told Koh Tao also had a strong yoga community, I decided to make the trek out there. The ferry from Koh Samui takes you first to Koh Phangan (famous for the “full moon parties”), and from…
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While researching my first location to feature for Global Fusion Yoga, I read a lot about this new style of yoga which only recently emerged on the island of Koh Samui in southern Thailand. ‘A local style found only on this island? What a perfect way to kick off Global Fusion Yoga’, I thought. Little did I know that my five month journey would begin with some of the toughest yoga I’d ever done. After my first class with Kosta, the Russian yogi who created the Vikasa style,…
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Everyone always says to give your work/studies/personal projects 100% – what about 104%? (My apologies to all you rational mathematics hard-liners out there whose minds just exploded). And that’s just what my Kickstarter reached upon completion – 104% of funding with 53 backers! I was blown away by the enthusiasm of family, friends, co-workers, fellow yogis, even strangers. If someone couldn’t offer financial support, they shared my project on Facebook, emails, Twitter, posters in local yoga studios. And that’s what means the most to me; this project is…
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For the last two years I’ve been living and working in Rwanda, East Africa. While there I started teaching yoga and co-founded Yego Yoga Rwanda with my friend Allie. Our classes attracted Rwandans and people from around the world: Europeans working for the UN, Americans starting social enterprises, East Africans running regional companies. It was exciting to see how everyone’s different approaches contributed to a mixed yoga class; I was constantly learning and adapting my class to cater to the wide range of yoga styles that each individual…
