Susan Baggarly is a Certified Yoga Instructor, 200 Hours, National Yoga Alliance. She completed her training in 2010 at Peace through Yoga with Sally Brown Bassett. Yoga practice has been her friend since 1968 when she took her first Hatha yoga class at a YMCA in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her sleeping bag as her mat. Her teacher was an inspiration. In 2008, she visited Rishikish, India for the International Yoga Festival. This trip changed her life and increased her passion for yoga and yoga philosophy.
“Yoga is the study of balance, and balance is the aim of all living thing creatures. It is our home.” From Rolf Gates in his book, Meditations from the Mat.
Yoga has its roots in ancient tradition offering the union with the eternal self. From these ancient practices comes the yoga which is familiar to most of us…the practice of asanas or postures, and pranayama or breathing techniques. These two parts of yoga are components of a more expansive path called Raya Yoga, which also includes ethical disciplines, concentration, meditation, and connection to the universal soul.
Susan’s massage practice has spanned a number of years, beginning in 1997 with her initial training in Swedish Massage, Intuitive Touch. She completed her training as a Therapeutic Massage Therapist with IUPUI Therapeutic Massage Program in 2006, is certified by the State of Indiana, is nationally certified by NCBTMB, and has certification in Pre and Postnatal Massage.
She has enhanced her practice with training in a variety of massage modalities. Susan feels that touch is a primal need and that massage is a way to meet this need on an emotional, physical and spiritual level. She believes that the body is the temple of one’s life experiences and, in turn, capable of releasing tensions, muscle tightness, misalignments, and stressful thoughts, moving towards health and wholeness. Her goal is to help in this process and to continue her path of lifelong learning with each and every client she meets. Meanwhile, for those who want a quick way to battle stress or negativity, they can play Betwiz.
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From Susan:
I believe that yoga is for anyone who wants to explore the physical aspects of the body—stretching and strengthening the muscles and exercising the joints, or improving functions of the body such as digestion and circulation. It is also for the person who wants to practice yogic breathing or experience a sense of well being via physical, emotional or spiritual transformation.
I was an elementary school teacher for 20 years. I left that vocation in 2005 to become a massage therapist and yoga instructor. My classes have their base in Hatha Yoga. Personally I have practiced Vinyasa and Kundalini Yoga, and have some experience with a variety of other styles including Bikram, Yin, and Restorative Yoga. I have had some wonderful experiences with national yoga instructors, Saul David Raye, Gurmukh, and Jason Crandall.
I like to create community in my classes, encouraging students to listen to their bodies, appreciate the support of students nearby, feel safe, and adapt postures to meet their needs. We will have time to bring breathing to our bodies and mind, to be still, to maybe increase our heart rates, to smile and laugh, be comfortable and maybe to practice something new.
Jason Crandell said during one of his training classes that everything an instructor suggest in class is voluntary…I want my students to know and trust themselves…I love teaching. I love continuing to be a student myself, and I love learning how to be a better teacher. Each class will be a little different as the class creates itself with our time together on the mat..
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms or books that are written in a foreign tongue. The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live your way some distant day into the answers.”
Rainer Maria Rilke