Hooray for this month’s Curvy Seven feature, the wonderful Elizabeth Gallo! I’m thrilled to share her beautiful responses with you! To check out all of the features so far, click here.
What’s your yoga origin story?
My yoga originated with my breath, and I think my journey has been a path to discovering more ways to be one with it. I remember being a child with allergies and asthma, not breathing well. As a teen I worried about not being thin enough, so I ran each morning before school. It was dark and quiet — just me and the sound of my breath. I remember learning to sing and the power I felt moving my breath. I remember finding my breath at classes at Integral Yoga in my frantic, scattered twenties. I remember teaching my high school students to breathe to control their nerves before tests and how seriously they took it. I remember being pregnant, how the breath eased nausea and so much more. Times two. Breath is everything.
Who’s your favorite curvy icon?
Some of my curvy friends, for sure! In the public eye, though, I’d have to say Nigella Lawson. I love her look, her style, her cooking, and her embrace of the midnight snack.
What yoga pose do you love? And loathe?
I love Uttitha Trikonasana. I feel strong, stretched and bendy all in one pose. I feel the earth and sky, sun and moon. It’s accessible to everyone in one form or another, so I love to teach it, too! Loathe? Well, right now I loathe handstand. I love being there, but I hate getting there.
What advice would you share with other curvy yogis?
BE your yoga. On and off the mat. As often as possible.
As a curvy practitioner, it can be difficult to find your yoga home. Find a studio that not only welcomes, but celebrates you (and all kinds of yogis). This will make you want to go more often, explore more classes and different kinds of practices. Join up with the incredible curvy yogi cyber sangha that is out there on the WWW. Invite your friends to yoga with you. Practice at home. Find the yoga that is inside you.
What’s your favorite yoga resource?
In all seriousness, there are too many to name. My struggle is in choosing what to learn next, not running out of things to learn. Right now I’m enjoying the alignment-based Hatha yoga classes taught by my teacher Anna Winkler. Anna knows me, knows my practice and my life, and most of all knows her stuff. Her lineage is a mixed bag — Sivananda, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Ayurveda — (I like that!) and her teaching has incredible depth and breadth. In a class with her, there is just never enough time.
What quote inspires you?
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” – William ButlerYeats
Wild card: Anything else you’d like to share?
My deepest yoga belief is that yoga is not just for all people, it is all people. Even the most disenfranchised person among us carries this great light. Essentially, we are yoga — we just have to tap into it through practice.
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Elizabeth Gallo studies and teaches yoga in Maplewood, NewJersey, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters. A graduate of the ShaktiBody yoga teacher training program, Elizabeth also earned certifications in prenatal and baby and me yoga through Kelli DeFlora of Starseed Yoga. She has recently completed her chair yoga teacher training to further expand the populations with which she can share this practice. In addition to teaching public yoga classes, Elizabeth also volunteers with Newark Yoga Movement, an organization that provides yoga instruction to the students in Newark Public Schools. Elizabeth is an accomplished writer and contributes to Teachasana, the website for yoga teachers. You can read more of Elizabeth’s journey on her blog and follow her on Twitter @elizabethgallo.
