get to know - sue

My word is perseverance. Shortly after taking the 12 steps to sobriety I found that walking was not satisfying my need for physical activity. It did reduce the stress of overcoming addiction, but did not address my quest for peace of mind and body.

After a year of extreme walking workouts lasting an hour and a half each morning before work, I discovered that my mind was still not at peace. My mind was racing through the walk without gaining any peace or tranquility.

I loved the physical release of walking but my mind was still on the track after coming back from 4 to 5 miles a day.

It took a morning jaunt to a garage sale that changed my life. The sale was on Elmwood Ave across from the Parish Commons building. I glanced over my shoulder and on the building was a banner declaring Bikram yoga beginning in a few weeks. My yoga experience up to then were a few high school community education classes led by a competent instructor but at a slow leisurely pace . Little did I know that that pace was to be intensified into an epic experience of communion with my body and mind over the next 17 years.

I wandered over and got the brochure which mentioned heat and movement. Bring water and a towel seemed unusual but intriguing. And so I did. I was the first and only student on that Memorial Day weekend. The owner, his wife and her father were the participants. Upon entering the room, my first thought was to escape NOW . I did not. I persevered through the class wearing shorts and a tee shirt which became drenched within the first 15 minutes.

With the guidance of the teacher I remained in the room which now I understand is 95% tenacity and 5% insanity. After the class, I was encouraged to come back as quickly as possible. And I did.

For the next 4 years I pursued the mindful, moving, meditation as thoroughly as I had pursued the drink in the past. I was becoming an aficionado , a personal marketer for the entire process, so much so as to antagonize and annoy my friends.

After a serious fire in the studio, I followed the classes to private residences and a smaller studio and even closer communion with fellow devotees.

A student there opened a new studio in Williamsville where I practice today. I am Yoga is not JUST a studio but a community of like- minded people who push their limits of perseverance by honoring their bodies through each and every class. This is accomplished without judgment or competition due to the teachers that have come before us. We are simply humans coming together, moving and breathing with intention and focus.

Now I have become a teacher, trained in the same 26/2 method which helped to save my life.

As a more “seasoned “woman my perseverance overcame my fear. This is said with much gratitude and appreciation for all that has been given to me. I have surely stepped into a 4th dimension of peace and mindfulness which will follow me throughout my remaining decades on earth.

It is with my mind on perseverance that I take my classes and teach with abandon what has been given so freely to me. I encourage any who doubt their strength to join me.

Namaste.

Sue Landel