Paula Alexander

While a college journalism major, I was assigned to do a story about a community education yoga class. I fell in love with Yoga and have been practicing, at various levels of intensity, since. After successful careers in advertising, communications, and education I "retired" young. My passion for and involvement in Yoga grew. When the local yoga studio was closing, I asked the owner if she'd mind if I became certified as an instructor. She gave me a grateful hug and her blessing. I started teaching the students from the studio (who had become my friends) at a studio in my home (it was formerly a dance studio, turned into a trophy room by my husband) after my Level I instructor's class. I moved through the certification levels, earning my 200 hour RYT in YogaFit. My classes expanded. My husband's trophies moved upstairs -- we had Zen in the lower level and the Zoo upstairs. I could now fit 12 students in my studio. People started inviting me to teach for them. My yoga repertoire grew as I continued training in different "kinds" of yoga. I've been priveleged to study in workshop settings with "famous" Yogis including Judith Hansen Lasater, Erich Schiffman, and Barbara Kaplan Herring. I recently added Pilates certification to my fitness credentials to become more marketable. Plus, like Paul Simon says, "Why am I soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard." Pilates does help firm up that core. I include Pilates in some of my yoga classes and am comfortable teaching basic Pilates. I was trained in the Stott method. My husband and I love to travel. I'm not nuts about his hunting vacations, so I am applying to Fitnessprotravel in self defense -- I hope to combine my passion for fitness (which my husband shares) with our mutual passion for travel. I am an avid reader, a master gardener, and a published free lance writer (travel, gardening and yoga are my specialty subjects). I have traveled to Africa, Ireland, Mexico, Costa Rica, England, Belgium, France and throughout the US. I am active in the Owosso (Michigan) Community Players, having been on stage in three productions and produced two. I am scheduled to produce two more this coming season. I speak fairly fluent Spanish (it improves markedly by the end of my Mexican and South American vacations) and pitiful French (which doesn't seem to improve, but I continue to try). My husband I married in 1992 after an eight-year courtship. He has three grown children. We have four cats who don't mind (or often notice) if we travel. We are both outgoing and social, although we enjoy "alone" time. We live on a two acre property in semi-rural mid-Michigan and are anxious for a few mid-winter reprieves from knee deep snow and sub-zero temps.