Allison Dennis

PATH: I remember before I had ever even taken my first Yoga class...I was living in NYC, it was 1998, I was a struggling and auditioning out of work artist making a living as a personal trainer. I read about a program at Naropa University in Colorado where I could get a Master's degree in Yoga and Buddhist studies. I decided that was what I wanted to do, applied for admissions with a curious heart, absolutely no experience or prior knowledge, and got accepted. Months before leaving NYC and moving to Colorado, I landed a brand new Off-Broadway show (De La Guarda). I decided to take the show and not move to Colorado. I stayed with De La Guarda for a couple of years. It was amazing, I learned more about myself while in De La Guarda than I had probably learned in all my other years combined. The show was different from most shows. It was interactive and had a very clear purpose of shaking people up and getting them out of their heads, out of themselves, and into the moment. Then I hurt my back....herniated disc L5... I was out of the show, and soon to follow, out of a career I wasn't really sure I wanted anymore anyway. Unable to move around freely, I threw myself into empty journals, my guitar, and a very sobering sort of self inquiry. If I couldn't be who I didn't really want to be anyway...then who was I? I ended up asking these sorts of questions and writing songs until all of a sudden two years had passed and I had recorded two CD's of unabashedly earnest soul searching songs. After three years of physical therapy my PT finally okayed me trying Yoga. My dear friend Lana was taking classes at Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC, so I went to class with her and thought,"this is it". At the same time, I had also started reading "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda. My curiosity around the truth Yoga and meditation had to offer was increasing, and the excessive ambition that kept me needing to be on stage was diminishing. After a year of practice at Jivamukti and at Bliss Yoga Center in Woodstock, NY I took a 10 day silent retreat at the Vipassana center in Massachusetts. Then I decided to do a Yoga Teacher Training. I wanted to live on an ashram while I did my training, so I chose the Sivananda Ashram in Woodbourne, NY. Swami Sri Nivasananda and Swami Sadasivananda inspired me to sing and chant and play music for people of like mind. So I decided to make a radical life change. I quit playing music at restaurants and bars, I went back to school for Massage Therapy, and I went back for my Advanced Yoga Teacher Training. I realized that what I actually wanted to be able to do as a performer on stage was to help people wake up to quieter parts of themselves. I had a feeling I could get closer to helping people by learning all I could about Yoga, massage, and meditation and just sharing what I know. Funny how in a round about way... way back before my first Yoga class... I knew what I really wanted to do...I just wasn't ready for it yet. I'm so glad to be here now doing what I do. INSPIRATION: I am inspired by the reliable changeability of the moon, Pema Chodron, Swami Satchidananda, the change of seasons, listening to new music, my family and friends, my dog Strider, the many teachers I get to take classes from, the many students I get to teach, and the many teachers who taught me lessons that are still unraveling. FAVORITES FOR GROUNDING: Taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, and going inside. FAVORITES FOR KICKING IT: Laughing at Will Ferrell, eating ice cream and watching "The Simpsons", decaf mocha lattes, red wine and curvy conversation, cooking with my sweet man, downloading new music, walking in the woods with Strider, bonfires, and doing nothing. PRACTICE: These days my practice includes finding chants I learned while on the ashram and figuring out how to play them on the guitar. Then I sing along and look up the meanings to all the words I don't know. It's really fun. Then I read a little. Usually the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. My asana practice moves from sun salutations to really focusing in on a pose or two and opening up the areas where I feel bound and un-open. My most challenging pose right now is bound tree in half lotus...really tough for me. Anything in half lotus...really tough for me. My meditation practice is really a practice of being in the moment. I practice having my mind jerk me all over the place and then stepping in, taking control, and making my mind focus on something like the breath or the sensations in the body. INTENTION: To lighten up and let go of more every day. Allison is also our in house massage therapist. CYCo Massage page will help you find the healing you need.