Interview with Linda

February 2004
by Linda McGrath

Linda is currently the chief spiritual guru of the studio. You may contact her at linda@yogasource.com.

Tell us about the first time you tried yoga…
A friend of mine in college told me about yoga, the next day I read an article in Vogue about this crazy hot yoga thing they do in LA and the day after I drove by YogaSource in Palo Alto . I took my first class that Sunday afternoon. It was Bikram with Erika. I walked in and saw Johnny wearing a YogaSource shirt, which gave him some authority so I told him I had never done yoga before. He scorned me and told me to grab a mat and make myself at home. I was completely amazed how great of a workout I got without really moving much at all. At the end of class, Erika thanked everybody, which I thought was really nice of her. Then she said “namaste”, and I thought – “This is when they start chanting and doing their weird stuff” but she just left the room. Everybody was laying there, blissfully spent and so I laid there too for a bit. I came back the next day.

What were your challenges when you first started? What was your most challenging pose back then?
Balance and strength, so probably Standing Bow. I could not balance on one leg to save my life. I kept thinking it was a trick I was trying to do but I couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds.

Do you do any other style of yoga? Other physical activity?
Consistently, I only do yoga. Bikram is still my main practice. I also do Ashtanga and Power Vinyasa, all very physical styles. I am one of those who need to speed up to slow down.

How has your practice changed since then? What elements of your practice do you find challenging now?
How much time have you got? The first year of my practice was all about “how deep can I go”. I wanted to impress myself and others, but I was all over the place. Then the breath came, and along with it, better focus. With better focus came better balance. One big shift was not going to full range of motion every time, but some days or some sets approaching the poses from the point of strength. The day I got that, it was like adding an entirely new dimension to my practice. Starting to teach added another one. From that point on, almost every practice has been dedicated to the understanding of the poses so that I could translate them back to my students. Doing other forms of yoga broadened my horizons a lot and strengthened my body in other areas. Another thing: the focus has shifted a lot more inwards with time. I don't need the mirror as much, or at least not in the same way. Instead I “feel” my way through the poses based on my weight distribution.

I went through a period of couple of years piling every single injury in the book, each teaching me the appropriate way to avoid it, so for a while my biggest challenge was learning to stay out of trouble. Thankfully, that's over. A year ago, I realized my biggest challenge was not within the poses themselves but learning to practice on my own. The energy of a class is so huge. When it's just you, a mat and no one else to watch or tell you what to do, having the discipline to carry the practice with the same focus and integrity is very challenging to me.

What is your pet peeve when you teach? When you are a student?
I'd like to say there isn't anything but I know it takes a lot of effort not to react to flexible people who push their flexibility. Probably because I used to do it, it's like a red cape to me, so some of them probably think I'm nagging to cramp their style. That said, there's nothing practicing won't teach a student over time, so in this case they either get hurt and learn, like I did, or they get hurt and stop practicing, which is really sad.

When I am taking a class… some teachers do the halted countdown: “for 5, 4, 3, look up, kick up, lift up, go up, 2,1…” I used to feel very cheated, but these are the kinds of things that stop to matter much as you practice more. But I do still get put off still when a teacher tries to be someone they're not. When they scream the Bikram dialogue at you and it's not their style. Or when they use anatomical lingo they don't understand. Honestly, you guys don't know how spoiled you are with the teachers you have.

How do you feel about variations in your class?
If they are done intelligently and for a valid reason, I am OK. If you have an injury, I'm OK. If you are ready for the advanced version, I'm OK. If you're just doing them because you're bored or you don't know how to get something out of the original pose, or you just want to show you're different, you'll probably get more out of learning to stick to the sequence.

What do you like to see in your students? What is it that makes you say “He or she has a great practice!”?
I really appreciate honesty. Many students get stuck in appearances. Not necessarily the way you appear to others; often it's to enhance how we perceive ourselves. Tighter people find shortcuts to make it seem they're going deeper. Flexible people compromise the strengthening aspect to show off their range of motion. I like to see students go beyond that. Students who are eager to discover their body and challenge themselves appropriately every given day. An eye for detail. That's something that usually develops with practice but you can tell some people get it from their first class. There's nothing between them and the mirror, no issues, no concerns. The focus of an adult and the curiosity of a child. It's beautiful.

What made you decide to become a teacher? What did you do for a living before that?
Kira was one of the teachers in Palo Alto . She came up to me one day after class and told me that I should teach. Christina, who owns the studio, and I had become friends and she thought it was a brilliant idea (Christina is the type of person who will support you and genuinely believe you are great even if you're worthless). They say that you're an instructor if you have students. The first class I taught was the Saturday 10am - the busiest class on the schedule, subbing for Johnny, talk about shoes to fill… for the first time in my life, I was considering alcohol before noon. Looking at the students, I thought “they're going to kill me! or at least never take my class again.” But they did. So I guess that made me a teacher. It still amazes me. I was working as a Portfolio Manager at a VC firm and a class a week was all I could teach at that time but it was the most gratifying experience for me.

From who have you learned the most?
I've had the luck to study with many great teachers. I have probably learned even more from my students. But the biggest source of enlightenment has been my own mat. I think that when it comes to yoga, by the very nature of the practice, that would be the case for everybody.

What experience do you want to create with your class?
I like for people to meet their optimal challenge on that given day in all aspects of their practice. When your body experiences high physical exertion, your mind becomes very open. I like to encourage that state and keep people there as I feed them key pieces of information. It's difficult, because if you push too much, people give up and you lose the class. If you ask too little, people may not get there at all. To find that perfect balance for everybody at any given point in the class, you have to keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake at all times.

Give us one pearl of wisdom…
The unexamined practice is not worth practicing. Don't just listen to your instructors. We know very little. You have all the answers. Question everything.