Sage Rountree's website, sagerountree.com, gives details on her writing for Runner's World and Yoga Journal, her books, The Athlete's Guide to Yoga, and The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga, her DVD, and her podcast of short post-workout stretches. You'll find her workshop schedule and information about her coaching there. You can also stream a class with Sage anytime at YogaVibes!

For a taste of Sage's teaching style (or to deride her attempt at a flip off the 1m diving board), click to her YouTube channel.

PATH: I hated the first few yoga classes I visited. Yoga wasn't weightlifting, it wasn't aerobic exercise, and worst of all, it was hard. After trying out two or three classes at my gym, I decided yoga was not for me, and that was that—until my first pregnancy. In prenatal yoga, the poses were easier, my body was looser, and most important, I was ready for the mind-body-spirit(-baby) connection.

After my daughter Lily was born, I began training for my first marathon (four hours of unmedicated labor convinces you you can do about anything, and my time in that race was 3:59:41; my PR is now 3:39). Yoga kept me balanced through the training, and it helped me avoid most of the aches and pains that accompany high weekly mileage.

While pregnant again, I felt the urge to be a teacher myself. (With that hormonal mix surging, you make some decisions quickly and irrevocably.) I taught at Carolina for five years while earning my Ph.D. in English, and I missed sharing a subject I felt passionately about. With great support from my husband, Wes, and his family, I did my training in 2003–4 over ten months in Charlotte, beginning when my daughter Vivian was three months old, at the Bodhi Tree studio with Lesa Crocker and many of Charlotte's wonderful yoga teachers.

I've had the good fortune to combine two of my passions in teaching yoga for athletes and writing about yoga for Runner's World, USA Triathlon Life, Endurance Magazine, Yoga Journal, and other publications, as well as coaching triathletes and runners.

INSPIRATION: My students. They teach me what I need to know. My fellow teachers at CYCo., who help me continue my own study. The teachers I've studied with and talked to as part of my writing on pedagogy for Yoga Journal, including Sarah Powers, Leslie Kaminoff, Cyndi Lee, Doug Keller, Rodney Yee, Ingrid Yang, Sadie Nardini, Baron Baptiste, Beryl Bender Birch, Cora Wen, and Jean Couch. Each of them reminds me what a rich vocation teaching yoga is, and how worthwhile.

FAVORITES FOR GROUNDING: Long, slow holds, in Paul Grilley's Yin Yoga tradition. Swimming.

FAVORITES FOR KICKING IT: Moderate- to fast-paced flows, as well as static standing poses, especially balance work, to increase aerobic and muscular endurance. Trail racing.

PRACTICE: My own practice is interwoven with my running and triathlon training; it happens before, during, and after my workouts, as well as in standalone sessions. I hope to share the same with my students, giving them tools to incorporate into a practice of their own, even if it doesn't follow the traditional peace-and-quiet-on-a-mat template.

INTENTION: Sometimes yoga for athletes is yoga triage—we address the most pressing issues, usually tightness in the hamstrings, hips, and shoulders—to bring balance to the body and foster openness that will later allow more sophisticated asana practice. Sometimes we keep the poses basic; other times we build to deeper poses—Revolved Triangle, say, or Cow-Face with a forward fold, or Handstand. I want my students' yoga experience to inform and enhance their efforts both in sports and in life; in class we draw parallels between yoga practice and physical and mental endurance sports training. If students don't self-identify as athletes, that's fine! I don't teach athletic yoga; I teach yoga that helps bring body, mind, and spirit into balance.

CLASSES: Yoga for Athletes, Mondays, 6:00–7:15 p.m. and Thursdays, 5:45–7:00 p.m.

WEBSITE: sagerountree.com

Photo by Steve Clarke