Born to yoga

American Fitness, Sept-Oct, 2004 by D.K. Howe

Baron Baptiste is one of those yoga teachers who has achieved celebrity status. Many articles have been written about him; he owns Baptiste Power Yoga Institute--one in Cambridge and Boston; he offers workshops and teacher trainings around the country and last January, his second book was released, 40 Days to a Personal Revolution: A Breakthrough Program to Radically Change Your Body and Awaken the Sacred Within Your Soul (Fireside; $27)

Since the day he was born, yoga has been a part of 40-year-old Baptiste's life. His parents owned the Yoga and Health Center which, according to Baptiste, was the first of its kind in San Francisco, California. "Famous yogis would come and stay at our home and we would go to India often for research," he recounts. "Because I was always around yoga, I just kind of picked it up by osmosis."

From his own explorations through life's ups and downs (yoga is not the cure all we'd like it to be), Baptiste has evolved into a thoughtful, practical yogi. "The style of yoga I practice and teach, which I call Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, is ultimately a system of physical, mental and spiritual awakening that integrates the whole person on every level," states Baptiste.

In his latest book, he shares what he has learned so we too can open our bodies and minds. Baptiste's program consists of diet insight and planning; meditation and excavation questions as well as daily yoga practice, combining Eastern and Western philosophies in a practical way for modern America.

"The way [yoga] challenges our bodies, moves our stuck emotional energy, clears our mind and inspires us to seek and live in truth can be a catalyst for amazing growth," he explains. "The word yoga, in fact, means 'to join one point to another,' 'to leave one place, space, condition and move toward a better one.'" Baptiste helps us remap our minds and establish new direction so we can stop living in the past and open ourselves to new possibilities. He shows us how to create a stable and balanced foundation from which to flow in life.

You will want to read his powerfully written book more than once. His words are those to reflect on. For anyone willing to devote six weeks of his or her life to Baptiste's program, expect remarkable changes.