Rodney Yee, yoga teacher, is quite possibly the most popular and prolific yoga teacher in America. With over 30 home videos to his credit and countless appearances on mainstream media, Yee has a massive following among celebrities and regular practitioners alike.
The author of two books, countless articles, and an online yoga club – Gaiam – Rodney Yee is among the most influential innovators in the yoga world.
Rodney Yee – A Brief Biography
Yee was born in 1957 to an Air Force Colonel in Altus, Oklahoma. In high school, Yee trained as a gymnast and later, as a ballet dancer, performing in Oakland as well as Tokyo Japan. He studied philosophy and physical therapy at the University of Berkeley, California, but dropped out to pursue ballet full time.
It was during his time as a dancer that he first came in touch with yoga through the Iyengar yoga style in 1980. As a ballet-dancer, the flexibility and suppleness afforded by yoga impressed him greatly, and he pursued it fervently.
By 1981, he started learning yoga on a full time basis at the San Francisco Iyenger Yoga Institute and at the Yoga Room in Berkeley, California. By 1987, he’d started teaching yoga himself at the Yoga room – a blend of the Iyenger style as well as his own exercises. Soon after, he started his own yoga studio – the Piedmont Yoga Studio – in Oakland, California.
Rodney Yee found mainstream success in the 1990s and was soon elevated to the guru mantle. His following is far and wide, and he regularly teaches at the aforementioned Piedmont Yoga Studio, as well as his wife’s studio – Yoga Shanti, in NY (he is married to yoga instructor Collen Saidman).
Rodney Yee Yoga – Philosophy & Practices
In his own words, Rodney Yee’s yoga aims to “unveil the natural beauty of our spirits“.
Rodney Yee has released over 30 home videos, many of them wildly successful, and while each video targets a different set of exercises and is aimed at different demographics, they all have one thing in common: an approach that distills the essence of yoga into digestible, easy to follow forms, yet, does not sacrifice on respect for the heritage and traditions of yoga.
Rodney Yee yoga emphasizes the flow of energy through the body. For Yee, the body is like an unfinished work of art that can be chiseled and shaped into pure poetry (one of his books even has the title: ‘Yoga: the Poetry of the Body‘) with the power of yoga. The free movements of the body, therefore, form an essential part of Rodney Yee yoga at all levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Campaigner For Change
Yee’s yoga philosophy extends beyond the exercise mat as well. Yee has promoted an alternative, healthier lifestyle that shuns excessive consumption, extols the virtues of moderation, and being at peace with the natural world. As a new-age yoga guru, he also promotes the cause of environmentalism and veganism actively through his yoga classes.
Rodney Yee yoga has also embraced the technology frontier wholeheartedly through the web and in fact, was among the first yoga teachers to take his word and work to the internet and actively promote an online presence, long before others caught on to this new medium.
Rodney Yee remains one of the most influential yoga teachers in the world today with a following numbering in the millions. Through his home videos, books and online community, he has promoted a blend of traditional and non-traditional yoga that seeks harmony of body and soul as well as the virtues of a more balanced style living – apt for the environmentally fragile world that we are living in.
Useful Resources: Rodney Yee has produced an amazing number of dvds. One of the highest rated is Ultimate Power Yoga, which is challenging and will give you great results. Get it from amazon.com
Rodney Yee’s website
