Meet our August YogaDownload Instructor of the Month, Ben Davis! Ben's classes are a powerful and accessible fusion of yoga and fitness. He encourages his students to become more aware, explore all facets and styles of yoga, and to trust in the process. Read on to find out more about Ben!
When did you start practicing yoga?
I took my first yoga class from a friend of mine in 2009. I had just finished yoga teacher training and needed to start teaching. After taking my first class, I was hooked.
What has yoga brought to your life?
Before I began practicing yoga, I smoked cigarettes, drank a lot of booze, and partied my ass off. I wasn't concerned with getting older and never gave much thought to how important my health would be in the future. But eventually I grew older, experienced a couple of health issues, and realized that being unhealthy leads to a greater unhappiness. If you suffer from poor health, it takes away from everything else you enjoy because all you can focus on are your health issues. So in order to let go of what I was using to self medicate, I had to replace it with something else. And that was Yoga.
Why did you become a yoga instructor?
To be honest, I became a yoga instructor because it was a way for me to take free yoga classes. Yoga was becoming a way of life but it can also be expensive so it seemed like the natural progression at the time.
What impact can a regular yoga practice have on a person's life?
A regular yoga practice will transform a person's life simply by making them aware that they are alive. However a regular yoga practice is not just found on the yoga mat. A regular yoga practice begins off the mat and is a process of becoming more aware of every aspect of life and the world we live in.
What advice would you give to someone that is just starting yoga?
Yoga is not a short story, a novel, or a trilogy books. Yoga is a library. A person does not understand yoga in six weeks. It takes years of study. I'm not trying to make yoga sound intimidating, but to illustrate that you shouldn't approach yoga with a time table of "getting it". Everyone who takes their first yoga class is like an ostrich with its head in the sand. But your understanding and view of yoga will be different a year from your first class and three years after that. So take it class by class and get lost in the process until you find your way.
What is special about the style of yoga you teach?
My approach to yoga is based on the situation or the individual. Every person has a unique body so everybody needs something different. I try to teach to the moment and hope that my style is accessible to everyone.
What is your favorite yoga posture to teach, and why?
What I try to help my students understand is how every pose that they create on the mat will ultimately guide them to the next pose. How the basic postures lead to the creation of the more complex postures. For example, understanding how chaturanga will prepare the body for arm balances like bakasana (crow) or eka pada koundinyasana (hurdler).
Please share some words of wisdom or advice for your yogadownload.com yoga students.
Explore as many varieties and styles of yoga as possible. Ultimately, it will improve your overall practice as well as your appreciation for yoga.
Do you have a favorite quote you'd like to share?
Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water;
But, for attacking the hard and the strong, there is nothing like it!
For nothing can take its place.
That the weak overcomes the strong and the soft overcomes the hard.
This is known by all…
But practiced by none. - Tao Tê Ching
What do you like to do "off the mat"?
Enjoy life with my family and friends.
Ben believes through understanding comes wisdom. As a teacher, Ben wants to help his students understand their bodies in relationship to the poses they create on the mat. Through this understanding, he believes he can help them find a more effortless yoga practice and improve fitness performance. Visit Ben's website here!
Practice one of Ben's Classes on YogaDownload.com