Teacher Spotlight on Ellie Cook
Practice with Ellie
Ellie teaches Form & Flow Level 1/2 every Friday at 9:15 AM, in-studio and online. We sat down with this beloved teacher to find out how yoga has shaped her life.
Do you remember your first yoga class? What was it like? Why did you enroll?
I don’t remember my very first yoga class, but I remember some of the earlier ones. I enrolled because my husband and I were doing yoga together from a book, from Iyengar, and there was an Iyengar teacher at the YMCA, so I went to her. She was wonderful. She was from Texas, and had studied with Iyengar in India. She had red dyed hair and was voted ‘the sexiest elder in the valley’ or something silly like that. She was cool. I loved her.
Are there any preconceived notions you had about yoga that changed over time?
Until I got into Tantric yoga, I thought it was probably too much along the lines of the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. It felt as though I was never going to be able to transcend life and “rise above it all” and all that stuff… But the whole point of Tantric yoga is that it’s just a heart-centered practice, and that’s where it’s at. Iyengar yoga is wonderful for the forms, and he was a wonderful teacher… but I found much more when I discovered that I didn’t necessarily have to think about it that way.
How would you describe your teaching style?
I try to be as genuine—as much myself—as I possibly can be in front of other people. Most people are shy about speaking, and I’m one of them. But I like to tell stories, and I like to keep in touch with the roots of yoga, which is where most of the stories I tell in class come from. But you know, stories like Harry Potter are relatable, too, in terms of yoga, and stories like the Tolkien books. A lot of the ideas expressed in [Tolkien’s] books have a lot of yoga in them.
What have you gained from your yoga practice?
So many things. So many things. Besides the honor of being able to teach it to other people, there are a lot of physical benefits. I feel pretty young…. and I’m pretty old. At 76, I feel as though I could not be in better shape. Everything’s in [yoga]. There’s strength training, there’s training in reducing stress. There’s also an aspect of mental work that you do, especially as a teacher… if you’re really serious about it, there’s some self study, studying of the ancient texts, learning what they have to say, and gleaning from that what you want to use in your lessons. It’s fascinating. And then there’s the breath work… I think the Pranayama work I’ve found most helpful is from Doug Keller’s Refining the Breath. I recommend that book to everyone. Pranayama is fantastic. I’m a very impatient, “wanna-get-everything-done-right-away” kind of person, and it’s helped me to slow down. Yoga is really wonderful for me, in every possible way.
