Yesterday my friend and I setup our first over-Skype interview with Desiree Rumbaugh, for the Off the Mat Interviews project of ours. My voice sounds a bit digitized and odd… hopefully Todd can fix it or something.
I was interviewing her in advance of her upcoming Anusara workshop at Yoga Elements. Hearing the sound of her voice and the what she said left me spinning. I realized I felt quite impressed, and at the same time, immature next to her. Desiree opened up and let her heart show in this interview and the contents were amazing.
We discussed her spiritual alignment with the Anusara brand of Kashmir Tantric philosophy, which as she puts it, celebrates the body and the good in people . She relayed, with some emotion in her voice, about her twenty year-old son being violently murdered, the most difficult thing a parent could possibly go through in a life. Imagine putting your philosophy to THAT test! That people are “good”? Imagine coming through something like that and getting to the point of forgiveness. The self-healing effort (and reward?) must be tremendous.
I especially liked this:
Asking her advice for teachers, she said “when I walk into the room the first thing I ask myself is, ‘who here needs help?’ Quite a powerful place to come from as a teacher indeed.
IN a similar vein, I’d like to get inside the minds of the Amish people as well. They are a religious/ethnic community mostly in the east coast of USA who live simply, without the use of electricity or modern technology. They do not use automobiles. (sounds great to me, aside from being an internet fan) Perhaps you remember the news of a mass murder/suicide event in the Amish community. Publicly they forgave the man, immediately afterwards. Makes me stand in awe of people like this.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Care // Nov 6, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I am one of Adrian’s students in Teacher Training. I am feeling very luck that I have opportunity to learn many techniques from experienced Yoga teachers. About Desiree therefore,from Yoga Magazines from USA which I read every month. I saw her pictures and I said I wanted to look like this when I turn that age. And after reading the interview with Adrian up there. I have to admit and agree with him that She is amazed…! How she can be the same after the big lost. What, how and how long she took to get back and still look at things possitive… I can hardly wait to learn with her and see her in the person.
2 Care // Jan 29, 2008 at 3:26 am
After took her workshops, I am even more impressed. She was awesome. I love her techniques, good for core training, make you get strong abs and about the open hip sequence, She did great job. I remember the end of the class I felt like my pelvis bone got full stretching. Everyday practicing I still use her techniques to improve my asana practicing, and specially be able to do the poses easier.
Thak you .
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