Collective Spotlight: Corinne Andrews
Meet Corinne, a yoga teacher, yoga teacher trainer, and life coach! Corinne and her partner Matthew Andrews will be leading a Yoga Immersion and Teacher Training at Sanctuary, beginning October 2024.
Why did you want to become a yoga teacher and yoga teacher trainer?
In 1997 I was a college student at UMass unsure of why I was in college, who I was and what my purpose in life was. At age 19, confused and questioning “what is the purpose of the existence of creation and what is the point of the creation of existence”, yoga found me. Upon graduating BDIC with a focus on cross-cultural and alternative health and healing, I drove across the country and landed at the Mount Madonna Center in CA. I lived there for six months participating in their yoga, service and community program and returned the following year to take my first 200-hour YTT. After that training I said I would never teach yoga classes, but knew that yoga was my path and purpose in life. The teachings and practices of yoga helped me find my Self, my purpose, my devotion and surrender to the beloved divine one. I feel I was ushered forward by divine love to teach because it was what I loved the most in life and it was calling me into action. I went on to take many more trainings and have been teaching since 2003 and teaching teacher training since 2015. I still feel that divine love is ushering me forward into each day and I remain curious about what will happen tomorrow. Usually I walk forward with shraddhā/faith in the middle of my heart and sometimes riding waves of fear and uncertainty about the unknown and the amount of harm and injustice in our world.
What have you gained from this work?
I’ve learned so much about myself, human tendencies, energies, people, relationships, reality and how to continually practice surrender, trust and faith. I’ve learned to get out of the way as much as possible and let the stream of divine love lead my way. I’ve learned that while we all have many common experiences and stories and deeply benefit from truly being seen, heard and held compassionately, we are also very unique and require different expressions of practices and teachings at various times in our lives. I’ve learned that while people may say or act in one way, there is a whole complex universe going on within them. I’ve learned with each passing year that I am forever a sincere student of yoga and it is a gift and a blessing to be on this path and get to share and support others along their life journey.
What do you hope your students and clients feel after working with you?
My hope is that students and clients leave from a class or private session feeling more grounded, balanced and calm in their nervous system. That their bodies and minds feel more awake and alive as prana flows fluidly where it may have felt stuck or hardened before. And that they can digest life with more ease and acceptance - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I hope they can feel themselves more deeply, beyond all the roles, masks, habits, tendencies and addictions. That they feel inspired, hopeful and curious. I hope that they leave feeling a deeper connection to their most essential Self, the Divine One who goes by many names and an embodied experience of unity with all of nature/life.
How does your work inform your activism or understanding of the world?
I feel that I am a part of the revolution of consciousness. While outer activism is so important, spiritual activism needs to sit alongside outer activism. Our actions and activism needs to be fueled by and from inner spiritual awakening. Until we as people change our consciousness, we as people will continue with patterns of harm and injustice. We need to take responsibility for ourselves - to be honest, truthful, sincere, humble, generous, kind, and non-violent in every way, everyday. It is too easy to point the finger at others.
We need to take responsibility for the ways we are contributing towards harm in our everyday lives. This is a time of much fear and cynicism, but I haven’t given up on how life on earth could be as unity consciousness deepens and an expansive love grows. So my prayer is that we take the practices and teachings of yoga seriously - not just as something we do, but as something we live every day and every night. Seeking true unity with the Self, The Divine One and all beings everywhere. May we all learn to stand lovingly firm in Light, Love, Truth, Peace and Unity.
What's your favorite season of the year, and why?
I’m too passionate to have one favorite season. I adore autumn for the warm sunny days, the dwindling peaches and abundance of apples and pears, and the crisp clean feeling in the air. The high holy-day time, the last of the harvest coming in, the changing of the leaves and the way we practice letting go.
I appreciate winter as I turn within more and sit closer to the inner cave of my being. And I am extremely grateful to travel to South India (my other home) each winter and bring people there on pilgrimage.
Spring is so sweet as we finally move out of the long, cold, dark winter and into hope and rebirth. I love the swelling rivers and streams as well as every single bud, leaf, and flower that blooms, displaying magic.
And I love summer for its heat and sun, blueberries and raspberries. I enjoy the longer days, albeit slightly chaotic schedules that lose consistency, swimming in natural waters, open windows and more outside living.
I hike everyday with my beloved dog Asha and every season has majestic glory.
What has made you smile recently that you feel the need to share?
Motherhood has been a huge centerpiece of my life for the last 19 years. I poured myself into mothering as a sacred living yoga and it weaved its way into my work and teaching with the many years of Birthing Mama® (prenatal and postnatal yoga, toddler yoga, kids yoga, a 90-Hour PYTT and a published book). At this moment in time my eldest is graduating high school and my baby is almost finished 9th grade. I’m in awe of them. They are good, kind, caring, smart, creative, unique and inspirational beings. Yes, we’ve had plenty of hardships over the years and moments I felt like quitting the mama job. And at this moment in time, I smile everytime I think of them or witness them in action in their daily lives. They inspire me.
Corinne will be leading a Yoga Immersion and Teacher Training with her partner Matthew Andrews at Sanctuary, beginning October 2024. Learn more.
Read Corinne’s blog post: “Teach To Learn; From Love, For Love, With Love”
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