The Blog

Power of the Heart: An Interview with Ross Rayburn

Posted on 08. Mar, 2011 by Katie Myer in blog, interviews

Last October, a few of us from District Kula took a road trip from DC to New Jersey for a fantastic teacher training with Certified Anusara Yoga Teachers Ross Rayburn and Amy Ippoliti.  Ross will be in the DC area March 11-13 for a workshop at Willow Street Yoga Center in Takoma Park, MD.  He generously spoke with District Kula about his thoughts on community, connecting to the heart of our students, and getting more men on the mat!

District Kula:  Ross, as an international teacher who is constantly on the road, how do you maintain your sense of community?

Ross Rayburn:  For me, community is rooted in what’s common or, more rightly said, what’s in common.   And since I’m blessed to teach in the Anusara Yoga community, I mostly hang out with other like-minded and like-hearted souls where it’s fairly easy to see what we share.

The other thing that mitigates the difficulties of traveling so much is the fact that I’m teaching something fun and healthy. I’m sure if I were doing something other than yoga, chances are it would be more difficult to bond with others and build community, much less a non-traditional global one.

Essentially and more philosophically, I believe we are all the same.  Sure it’s tricky sometimes to see it.  But yoga helps develop your vision to see more than just what’s on the surface.  And like any great endeavor, practice is key.  I’ve seen myself shed tons of old ideas and preconceived notions when meeting others who are ostensibly different yet who are in fact thinking and feeling all the same things I am.

On a more practical level, the answer is you have to do the work.  I’m certainly not the best at this, but good ole communication with friends and family and members of whatever community you connect with is quite simply the M.O. of making it happen.  In other words, you gotta show up!  And with technology today, you can be just about anywhere and find out what’s up and say hi.  You can probably guess that I’m thankful for Mark Zuckerberg.

District Kula: How do you connect to the hearts of your students, when a language barrier makes direct speech a more complicated option?

Like above, it’s really just about seeing through the differences like appearance and language to the energy people give off — in action and even in their words.  It’s a bit freaky when, after more than a week of teaching a training somewhere through a translator, I’ll be able to answer some questions without getting the translation. It freaks the students out! But honestly, it’s not magic. It’s really just getting in tune with them.

Don’t get me wrong; language can be a barrier.  I’m sure there is a loss of connection, and I miss out on some good, deep stuff because I have to use a translator.  But I easily feel more connected to some of my non-English speaking students than others that might happen to speak English.  I look at it this way: words are powerful, but the heart is exponentially more powerful.

District Kula: That’s lovely.

In your latest blog post, English Only…Really?, you reflect on the ability and willingness of other cultures to learn other languages, specifically English, and how it enriched their experience. What other cultural traits have you observed when teaching internationally that we can take further inspiration from?

Ross Rayburn: What’s super cool is that every culture I’ve experienced has very tangible traits I admire and emulate.  Not to be too “Mary Sunshine” about it, because every culture has their issues, but I can honestly say, every foreign culture has taught me how to be a better human.

Specifics? Well, it’s a bit tricky since it can sound like stereotyping.  But if that’s enough of a caveat, there are some fairly clear patterns.  For instance, John Friend always mentions the level of studentship in Asia.  It’s true.  To be fair, I’ve seen amazing studentship everywhere I’ve been, but the deep dedication to learning is super evident in Asia.

In Europe, let’s just say the line that goes: “Buy a car in Germany, Eat in France, and Make Love in Italy” is not exactly off.

I love how technical I’m free to be with the Dutch and the Germans. I love all the super nerdy yoga stuff, and so do they.  And in Italy…well, I think Italy might be the easiest place to teach, because all you have to say is something moderately poetic, and you hear, “Ahhh, mamma mia! That-a-wuza da mosta buuuuutiful classa” (say slowly in Italian accent for effect.)  In a word, I LOVE teaching in Italy! I can be my uber-cheesy, sappy self and everyone loves it!

But again, you can’t broad stroke it.  The only thing I can say for sure is that yoga is definitely useful for enhancing the good traits and refining the less than admirable.

District Kula: Ross, you are such an enthusiastic person and teacher!  How do you stay so upbeat and lit up while constantly on the move? What are your favorite things to do to take care of yourself on the road?

Ross Rayburn: Wow. Thanks.  That’s super nice to hear.  Although to respond a bit half jokingly and half seriously, I actually have to rein it in sometimes.  I get pretty passionate and excited when I teach and it can be a bit much for some.  I think if you look up super pitta in the dictionary, you’ll see my picture.

I heard once there is a happiness scale, and we pretty much live our lives within a finite spectrum of that scale.  If that’s true, I’m definitely blessed with being on the happy end of the scale. However, I also think it’s not absolutely fixed.  I think yoga and meditation can elevate your joy beyond any fixed position, and it’s a great method of fundamentally shifting your patterns.

On the flip side, I have had a healthy abundance of low, even dark days and depression-like moments. Being blessed with an amazing set of family, friends, and teachers helps tremendously to stay illuminated and jazzed.

What do I do day-to-day to stay healthy and happy? I work at it.  The list is actually pretty long, but basically it comes down to balance.  Balance in diet and exercise — yoga and other things. Balanced time — alone time, including meditation, and social time, including hanging with a variety of people even peeps that don’t speak yoga!

But the biggest strategy is gratitude.  I think that virtue is my greatest blessing.  My mom taught it from the time I was little and luckily, the universe has not yet conspired to make me forget this simple idea: that you can shift any circumstance with a counting of your blessings.

District Kula: As one of Anusara’s leading men, how do we inspire more men to get on the mat?

Ross Rayburn: And I always wanted to be a character actor (a joke for the Hollywood set).

I’m so glad you asked this question because it’s something I’ve been passionate about for a long time.  I’ve been pressuring my friends at Yoga Journal for years to put a guy on the cover, and — not that I had anything to do with it — they did this past month! Yee haw!!

Basically, the answer to the question for those of us who teach is we have to simply teach classes that guys want to attend.  Whether it’s the way we speak, or the way we act, the simple truth is that men typically hear things differently than women. Now, I know female teachers with tons of male students and male teachers who have mostly women in their class.  So it’s not strictly a gender thing.  My strategy is simply realizing who’s in class, men or women, and teach in a way that serves them.  Like any great art, we have to be super sensitive to who our audience is, in order to know if we’re “being heard” as a teacher or not.  I think many teachers simply don’t realize what their class actually feels and sounds like to the students.

One specific note, even if it’s trite — guys like to sweat!  Of course, it’s tricky in Anusara Yoga where we rightly have Attitude, Alignment, and Action as our primary parameters.  I’ve fallen into the “over-teaching trap” way too many times.  But it can be done.  Trust me, if you teach a solid, safe Anusara class that kicks butt, you will have more of both genders crossing the threshold.

District Kula: You have a true gift for teaching – not just rocking a room with asana practice, but specifically, teaching other teachers  how to teach.   That is a specific and unique skillset.  What advice would you give to teachers on the path to Anusara certification?

Ross Rayburn: This is an easy one! TEACH LIKE JOHN FRIEND.  Or teach like another master teacher who resonates with you.  And no, I don’t mean rote teaching.  I don’t mean sacrifice your individuality, and, for sure I don’t mean teaching from a less than authentic place (i.e. not knowing what you mean when you say something).  But, I figured out a while ago to just do all the great stuff he does!  I realized I didn’t need to reinvent the proverbial wheel.

I understand how some would respond to that.  I used to feel differently myself.  The main reason why someone would read that and respond with “yeah … but I teach my own style,” is our God-given desire to shine individually.  It seems like it goes against our instincts as creative artists to copy.  It’s totally rational to try to invent something new.

But the truth is, great teaching is based on a few simple things like sensitivity, clarity, and inspiration.  And John Friend is a master at it.

The coolest part is the paradoxical truth that when you’re great at the fundamentals that’s actually when your creativity and authenticity goes gang-busters.  My students don’t confuse my class style for John’s, yet when I’m teaching, I’m pretty much trying to simply emulate his mastery. In other words, I’m a believer in holding to masterful principles and trusting that your individual voice and your shri, cannot be contained.

District Kula: What poses are you digging on lately and why?

Ross Rayburn: I’m a little boring here.  I’m pretty much a handstand junky.  My friends all laugh whenever we’re somewhere cool, or even sometimes embarrassingly mundane, and I insist on a handstand picture.  My latest favorite was in the middle of the Champs-Élysées with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Other than that, I’m finally, after 14 years of yoga able to hit Valakhilyasana, although I admit that being in Singapore where it’s super hot and humid totally helps!

District Kula: What are the most effective ways to build community?

Ross Rayburn: As I mentioned above, I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer this question.  The experts on this subject are the studio owners and teachers that handle the much more difficult task of teaching tons of classes a week with the same group of students. In all honesty, I miss much about the days when I owned a studio and had the joy of seeing students make shifts. I love my life of global teaching, but I do miss that a bit.

To give you my best answer though: I would say the answer to building community is to be loving.  One of our axioms in Anusara is “every student is a gift.”  When you embody that truly, you don’t have to build community, it builds around you.

John told me once, when I was worried that no one was going to come to my new studio, “live your truth and be the magnet.”  It might have been the single greatest piece of advice anyone’s ever given me.

District Kula:  Powerful.  Thank you for sharing that advice with us today.

Ross, on a personal note, we were just blown away by your Level 2 Teacher Training that you taught with Amy Ippoliti, hosted by Emma Magenta of South Mountain Yoga last fall.  We continue to draw inspiration from that training to this day. Thank you for sitting down with us today and sharing more of your wisdom, humor, and light.  We are thrilled that you will be at Willow Street Yoga Center this weekend, March 11-13.  We look forward to seeing you there and rocking out on the mat with you!

Ross Rayburn is a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher based in New York. Formerly the owner of Yogainsideout in Los Angeles, Ross now travels internationally, teaching some of the most fun and inspiring yoga classes around. Ross started teaching in 1999 and was certified by John Friend in 2003. His classes are known for their clarity in the principles of Anusara woven into a challenging class that seeks to connect all levels of students to their highest potential. To learn more about Ross, visit www.rossrayburn.com.