I was recently reflecting back in time after hearing my teacher, friend and colleague Cyndi Lee being interviewed by (another dear friend, colleague, and former Teacher Trainee) Francesca Cervero on her podcast, “The Mentor Sessions” about Yoga Teacher Training.

This good story starts in 1995 when I was taking yoga classes at Crunch Gym on West 13th Street where Cyndi Lee was teaching at the time. We, two dancers, became fast friends chatting in the hallway.

Back then, I was working full-time during the week as a personal trainer in homes and offices throughout the city. On weekends, I would go to see my Dad in Boston, who at that time was very ill.

I had been already been studying yoga for nearly 10 years and was incorporating it into my personal training because I loved it so much. I yearned to do a Yoga Teacher Training program to make it all more official!

But there were ONLY (2) Teacher Training programs that I knew about: (Can you believe that?)

1.  One option was a Jivamukti Yoga training that was taking place on weekends. This was not a possibility because I would not give up going to visit my Dad.

2.  The second option was a month-long training in the Bahamas (possibly a Sivananda training?) This, too, was something that I was unwilling and unable to do.

With no other prospects for Teacher Training that would suit my schedule and needs, I nervously reached out to Cyndi to ask if she would be interested in teaching me a private Yoga Teacher Training. 

I told her to take some time to think about it but she immediately said, “Yes!” When we met for our first training session (in her apartment!) Cyndi was totally ready with a syllabus, a reading list, and a take-home test.

So the question to Cyndi, “Would you be willing to teach me a private yoga teacher training?” set the ball rolling for what would become many years of OM yoga Teacher Training programs. In 2000, Cyndi officially invited me to become the Director of Teacher Training at OM yoga, a full circle moment.