 Elaine Schuhrke
Canon City, CO
"I grew up in Colorado. We don’t have gurus in flowing robes standing on every street corner, and if we did, my mother wasn’t gonna let me talk to him!" Growing up in rural Black Forest, CO, Elaine’s first exposure to yoga was through books she checked out from the Penrose Library Bookmobile that parked in a church parking lot once a week. For a thirteen-year old, some of the pictures of asana and neti pot use were downright weird. Later, when she went to college in Greeley, she was introduced to hatha yoga practice by a devoted and experienced teacher, who taught more than just asana, guiding meditative relaxations that made Elaine feel as though she was floating above the floor.
Over the space of about a dozen years as a school teacher, she found that her intermittent asana practice helped her stay more centered and calm throughout the day. Knowing that yoga is not just a physical practice, she wondered how she could learn more about the spiritual aspect of yoga. Then a close friend told her that she had heard about a yoga class at Holy Cross Abbey in Canon City, a Catholic monastery. Elaine was incredulous; there was no way yoga would be allowed at a Catholic monastery! But then she saw an ad for the class in the Yoga Journal, with a cameo of Amrit Desai, and the question of how she would get to the training started popping up in her field of awareness, along with the image of Gurudev when she did her morning practice.
"How am I gonna get to that Amrit Yoga Teacher Training? Let’s see...maybe I could somehow get some extra days off..." This question seemed to work as an intention. Quite soon thereafter, Elaine found herself unexpectedly unemployed. After the initial shock, she turned her energy towards finishing her master’s at Colorado College and attending Amrit Yoga Teacher Training.
Prana works in mysterious ways! After the first day of the training, Elaine felt excited, as if she had stepped in over her head. But Gurudev seemed to know that these students needed things explained, and in simple terms explained what and how prana manifests and its healing effects. Still, Elaine sat up watching while others recited pranams, and promised herself that if anything was too weird, she’d bail out. However, the more she listened, the more it all made sense and often matched with her personal experiences. It was a great relief to continually hear, “Stop struggling...trust, relax” throughout morning sadhana, darshan sessions and during classroom work time.
She didn’t bail out. Elaine went on to finish Level I and II Amrit Yoga Teacher Training, Yoga Nidra Professional Training and many workshops offered by Kamini when she visited in Colorado.  Though she had been teaching yoga since she moved to Canon City in 1999, through her students’ encouragement and inner guidance, she approached Holy Cross Abbey about renting space for a yoga studio, and started teaching Amrit Yoga there year round. On approaching the local senior center, she found an interest in chair yoga and applied the Amrit Yoga technique to those lessons as well. Later, at Chandrakant’s suggestion, she approached the local veteran’s nursing home and was contracted to do Yoga Nidra with very advanced Alzheimer patients. The Secure Special Care Unit there asked her to teach yoga in a chair, but when all the participants fell asleep, she put on oldies dance music and got them up to dance with her.
"Of all the experiences, lessons, and teachings, the one that has stuck most with me is that of how to consciously let go, by deliberately drawing one’s attention to bodily sensation and away from distractions. To simply be present without judgment, not even of oneself: this is the amazingly simple practicality of Amrit Yoga that allows right action and right response to arise. Not that I’m a master at it. I’m practicing, headed in that general direction."
In 2009, Elaine received mantra initiation from Gurudev in our Lineage of Light. She currently teaches around Canon City on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is also available for private yoga sessions, Yoga Nidra, and Guided Meditation by appointment. Your first yoga class with Elaine is free!
Contact Elaine at (719) 269-1887, eschuhrke@juno.com, or learn more at http://www.amrityoga.org/eschuhrke/index.htm |
