Who are you and why are you writing this?
My name is Rebecca Jordan-Turner, and I am the president of Revolution Hot Yoga, Inc., and the Studio Director, Lead Teacher and Manager of Teachers and Programs. This is the (very abridged!) story of my yoga life, history, career and future and a glimpse of why Revolution Hot Yoga came to be.
How did you get introduced to yoga?
I was very lucky to be introduced to yoga at the time I was. I was living in New York City, where I had gone to become a “rich and famous fashion designer.” When that didn’t pan out so well, I found myself as a broke and struggling waitress, office temp, and freelance seamstress with a burgeoning drinking problem. I was directionless in my life and about to hit a very ugly rock bottom when I received what I can only describe as Divine Guidance directing me to leave New York City, urgently. It was the summer of 2001, and I left the city right before the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. I moved from New York back to Raleigh, where my parents lived, and I had no idea what I would do when I got there. I asked for further guidance from the Source that had told me to leave, and the wisdom I was given was to simply, “find a yoga studio, become a work study, go to teacher training.” I had never really done yoga before, although I had heard about it and attended a few classes sporadically with friends, so this was a completely out-of-the-blue concept, and a total one eighty for my life. So on September 19, 2001, I took my first hot yoga class in Raleigh, was hooked, and my life has never been the same since.
How did you decide to become a yoga teacher, and what was your path to teaching?
As soon as I completed my first class, on the mat in final savasana, I knew that I had finally found my calling. I had already been given the idea to go to teacher training, so as soon as class was over, I went home, got on the computer and started to research training. I went back to the studio the next day and offered my services as a work-study and told them I wanted to be a teacher. (Over twelve years later, I can honestly say that I’m the only person I’ve ever met who said that after their first class!) I spent the next 6 months living and breathing yoga, practicing almost every day, but with no idea how I would actually get to teacher training; it was one of my first experiences with living purely in faith. On March 24, 2002, the studio owner called out of the blue and said, “Babe – you still want to go to training? It starts in a week. We’ll send you.” So I packed my bags and went to California for a nine week teacher training program. I graduated on June 1, 2002, and I’ve been teaching ever since.
What has your teaching career been like?
Teaching hot yoga has been the greatest blessing I’ve ever been given. I’ve met some of the most amazing people, seen the most incredible transformations and learned so much. Teacher training gave me the tools to get started, but the process of learning to teach and learning about yoga has only continued and gotten richer and more rewarding every year. I’ve been able to teach in many different studios around the country and even got to go to Singapore for six months to teach there. My life as a yoga teacher hasn’t always been easy, and it certainly hasn’t been a straight and narrow path, but every time I get to go into the hot room and witness and guide practice, I know I’m in the right place doing the right thing.
How did your career lead you to open RHY?
My explorations in practicing and teaching guided me to develop a new hot yoga series based on the classic 26+2 series I had been teaching. It was what I needed for my own body, and in response to challenges, injuries and weaknesses I was seeing repeatedly in my students. I knew I needed a place to teach and practice this, and then my friend (and now partner) Jane Cable came to me with the idea to open a studio like this in Greensboro, and thus Revolution Hot Yoga was born!
What is your vision for RHY in the future?
We want RHY to be a place that is warm and welcoming, clean and beautiful, and to offer practices that suit all ages and abilities. That’s why we have classes ranging from Restorative to our “advanced” Practice Club. We want to meet our students where they are in their body, mind, and spirit, and love, nurture, and support them with good information and instruction so they can grow.
What is your life like now?
Thanks to hot yoga, my life is completely different than it was 12 years ago. I’m a happy, budding entrepreneur with a beautiful new yoga studio and the best business partners imaginable. I love my new hometown of Greensboro and all of the great friends I’ve made here. After years of searching, I’m finally home here. I was blessed to finally meet and marry the love of my life and we have a beautiful home and the 2 cutest dogs on the planet. Every day is a gift and I’m so grateful to have gone through this journey to get here!
 |
| Rebecca Jordan-Turner |
No comments:
Post a Comment