Teacher Profiles
Lisa Murray
BB: What do you remember about the first yoga class you went to, and why you did you decide to go?
LM: I was living in Nashville working for a company that gave temporary passes to a gym, and so I went to a yoga class. I was dating a guy at the time who was doing yoga. My big memory from the class was savasana, the teacher gave me an adjustment. He adjusted my shoulder blades and pulled my arm out so my shoulders were flat on the ground. How that little adjustment made me feel so much more comfortable, and that little bit of connection right away-that was completely different from anything I had ever done.
BB: Did you start going all the time right away?
LM: No, I didn't. I practiced a little with the boyfriend who practiced yoga. He had been practicing Iyengar yoga for quite awhile. He is a teacher now in Nashville. Once we (Lisa and her husband, Matt) moved to California eight years ago, that was when I really began to practice.
BB: Was this with your teacher, Mehrad Nazari?
LM: Yes, it was at Yoga Company (the former name of Yoga Community). I went to classes with Ramaia Collins. It was Ashtanga, and I loved it. I loved how strong he was, and what he was able to do. I enjoyed the athleticism of it. Krissy (Marchus, another Yoga Community teacher) and I started going to his classes. Krissy started her teacher training, and I was her Guinea pig. I did a lot of work with her. Ramaia moved back to Hawaii, and Mehrad took over his time slot at the Yoga Company.
From the very first class, I knew he was my teacher.
BB: How did you start working with Mehrad's wife, Michele Hebert also?
LM: It wasn't right away. It was probably two years before I even met her. I was taking classes with him, and he had a small group of people he invited to come to his house to practice on Sunday mornings. That's how I met Michele. I started going up to Harmony Ranch (their house) on Sunday mornings. At the time Matt didn't come, but he saw how my whole life revolved around these classes. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, everything was being fed by this. It was the highlight of my existence, so if anything got in the way, it was very upsetting for me. At some point along the way, Matt started coming with me on those Sundays. Within the first few times, he became as hooked as I was. That became our time that we practiced. He didn't realize at the time, since this was his first yoga, how fortunate we were to be invited into their home, and be as close as we were to them.
BB: Do you and Matt practice at home together?
LM: We do, we do. Not every day, more occasionally.
BB: Do you freeform it?
LM: Yeah, we've practiced together for so long, we can flow through for a couple of hours, and not even speak. We flow, and kind of make an agreement that one or the other will be leading. It becomes like a silent dance.
BB: How do you see yoga as a part of relationship?
LM: I can't imagine having a spouse who didn't practice. That would be very challenging. I did for awhile (before Matt began practicing), and there is a disconnect, because from the time when one sets off on what for me was a spiritual journey that will last the rest of my lifetime, if you don't set sail with that person, you're literally two ships passing in the night. You're growing in ways they are not if they don't jump on board. I think Matt saw that, saw how I was making positive changes in my life. Saw me noticing, "I don't need this, I don't need that," or more of this or that. All of these changes you are making are taking you to a spiritual place. You have to have that with somebody, or you start to float away...I would imagine that's just for me.
BB: You're an artist. How do you feel yoga informs your art, and vice versa?
LM: Art is a part of my spirituality. An extension of my emotional state and well-being, as is my practice. I think you can look at my work, and I am pretty transparent.You can see how I was feeling or thinking. If I am in places where my practice has been strong, or I'm working through something, that is definitely going to show in my art.
Right now, I've been in a dry spell for awhile, and yoga has helped me. In the past, if my creativity was temporarily turned off so to speak, I'd feel desperate or scared that it was not going to come back. In this particular dry spell that has been almost a year, I feel pretty calm. I am beginning to paint paintings in my head. I know they are coming back around, and my practice makes me calm, I don't feel like "I'll never paint again." I just enjoy this as quiet time, and express my creativity differently right now.
BB: What is your favorite yoga pose?
LM: Triangle. I love the freedom. When everything is in the right place, you feel the length in your spine. When it's done correctly, I think it is beautiful. I can feel my wings in it.
BB: What's on your iPod?
LM: Oh, I have tons of audio books on my iPod right now! Richard Reber, a book about vibrational medicine. Dr. Daniel Amen, Making a Good Brain Great . I didn't realize the brain has a consistency between egg white, and custard! I thought it had more texture than that. So, I am learning more and more about the brain. I have Pema Chodron's Getting Unstuck that I frequently return to. In my music category, I have Cyril Morin, who did the music for Ayurveda the Art of Being. I have a playlist I use at the gym for running, like It's a Beautiful Day. Things that Matt hates, like Justin Timberlake.
BB: What do you like doing "the rest of the time?"
LM: I like to read, listen to the audio books, I play with my dogs, walk them. They're so cute!
BB: Their names?
LM: Trixie, she is a miniature Schnauzer, and the young one is Louis (he's French), he is Dachshund and King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. We just measured them this morning, and Louis has surpassed Trixie in length!
BB: One more question. What is the main thing you'd want students to take away from your classes?
LM: Not to compare yourself to anyone else. Every body is built differently, and not to worry, doing yoga is a sacred space. Not a place you need to compare, or feel you are not doing something right. That it is a place to be safe being yourself.
BB: Thanks, Lisa!
LM: All right!