Len Gambin

Wednesday evenings at Yoga Community can be described in one word: Gorgeous! Gorgeous happens to be one of Len Gambin's favorite words of encouragement to his students in his 5:30 p.m. Wednesday evening Level 1 Hatha class, and rest assured, that's exactly the way his classes feel.

Len's Yoga Teacher Trainings with Alan Finger and his background as a massage therapist lend a knowledgeable foundation (and fantastic assists, you're sure to hear his "G" word before long about your practice) to what is truly a welcoming experience. He provides laughs, ease, creative vinyasas, kriyas (guided visualizations), and most of all, a way of making you fall in love with yoga.

Len's enthusiasm for yoga and life is entirely infectious, whether you're on the mat in class, or chatting with him about just about anything. The man radiates.

I recently sat down with Len and his wife, Sharone Peikes, following one such class.

BB: How did you first bump into yoga, and was it an immediate hit?

LG: Yes! I picked out a video from the New York Public Library, randomly. It happened to be by Alan Finger. I practiced with it every day. I was actually practicing in the nude!

BB: (Laughing) How old where you?

LG: Let's see, I was 31, I came into yoga relatively late. People had been telling me I should try it, I'd been resisting, then I figured if I could do it at home, alone. I loved it, and started to seek out the classes. With Alan Finger.

BB: Any other teachers?

LG: Douglas Stewart. He was on one of the videos. He became one of my mentor. He was incredible.

BB: Most memorable yoga moment, good or not so good?

LG: It involved being outside. Just doing yoga in Central Park. I would go there, and just felt really connected to nature.

BB: Did you take a mat?

LG: No, no, just on the grass.

BB: Cool Memorable yoga lesson?

LG: It was with Kofi Busia. He was the first person who encouraged me to get into Headstand. He was old school, vigorous, Do it Now kind of person. Get past your fear.

BB: Best thing you've learned from your teacher, Alan Finger?

LG: The importance of meditation, of going to that place of no mind. People have so many different ideas of what meditation is, and so did I, and I'm sure that will continue to change, but at this moment, it is to go to that place where you just are.

BB: That's exactly what I learned from one of my favorite teachers, Erich Schiffmann. Anything your parents taught you that you now see as "yoga?"

LG: From my father's end, I got the idea of discipline, which yoga is very much about. From my mother's end, I got the idea of pure, unconditional love.

BB: I could say those same things.

LG: I know, very male/female qualities. Yang and the Ying. (Sharone laughs in the background.)

BB: Your wife, Sharone, also teaches. What's it like, having a two yoga teacher household?

LG: It's inspiring, because sometimes we come up with little moves and shapes as we freestyle it. Also, I guess we understand each other.

BB: Is there anything you'd like to add, Sharone?

SP: With every relationship, just like a yoga practice, it is just that, a practice, you have to work at it. Relationships take practice, commitment. You commit to a practice, and you commit to a relationship.

BB: What is your favorite thing to do the rest of the time?

LG: Read. I read a lot. Eating well. Adventuring. I want to see the whole world.

BB: Me, too! How does yoga help you relish it more?

LG: I find teaching an adventure. Every time I teach, it is a journey I've never taken before. I love that about teaching, the improvisatory quality of being in a room with strangers, most of the time.

BB: Me, too What's your favorite quote?

LG: For awhile, it was a T.S. Eliot quote, "We will not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive back where we started and know the place for the first time." Which sounds like our spiritual journey, right?

BB: Excellent! That reminds me of one of my favorites, "To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees," Paul Valery.

BB: What's your favorite pose? Today?

LG: Savasana.

BB: Least?

LG: At the moment. I know I'll cause a little controversy, it's Trikonasana, triangle. [Note Dave Noyes favorite pose, above!] It irritates me (physically). I question what it does, other than irritate me. But I love watching other people in Trikonasana, it's a beautiful pose to admire.

SP: You're going to cause a shockwave in the Yoga Community!

BB: If you could only teach your students one thing, what would it be?

LG: I think what I'm trying to learn right now, which is, sublime self love.

BB: I think you teach that. You do teach that, Len.