Joseph Stingley

In the summer of 2003, I said goodbye to corporate America when I left my job as an Oracle DBA (database administrator). I started practicing yoga later that year and attended the Cooper Institute in Dallas, where I became a Certified Personal Trainer. In addition to the general Personal Trainer certification, I also received additional certifications targeting special population groups, including pregnant women, individuals with diabetes, and older adults – just to name a few.

I started out by providing training to individuals in their home and offices; however, it wasn’t long before the burden of carrying equipment (medicine ball, fitness ball, hand weights, etc.) from one place to another proved to be an inefficient use of time and energy.

It was at this point that I took a closer look at yoga and saw that I could instruct and train individuals without the need for equipment. I could help clients become strong, flexible, and balanced –both inside and out–with the practice of yoga. Around that time, many of my clients needed the inner, healing workings of yoga as much as its physical benefits. They needed to reduce their stress level and bring a sense of peace and calm into their lives: something one finds in yoga but not necessarily in a traditional personal training session. I’m forever thankful for having studied under the following teachers: Julie Little Thorne, Patti Plummer Lott, Baron Baptiste, Beryl Bender Birch, Desiree Rumbaugh, Jessica Jane (Young) Smith, Judith Hanson Lasater, Kelly Haas, Rod Stryker, Shanon Buffington, Stephanie Young and Steve Ross.

Within a short period of time, I was teaching yoga at various places, including fitness and rec centers, corporations, and government agencies. There is so much more that I could share with you! But there simply isn’t enough room to say it all. In closing, though, let me leave you with this: Daily, I ask God to reveal to me how I can serve the people in my community – the yoga community. I ask Him how I can reach out and care in a way that will demonstrate His love – sometimes with words and other times, without words. There is not a perfect equation for anything that God calls us to do, but it’s always exciting to go after our destiny in Him!