Every now and then I go through all my papers and try to update my biography. It’s that old saw about writing your own obituary. Which never seems to get done.

But, for years, this blogging never seems to get done. And now I have turned on the faucet. While you are waiting for the next posts, you can check out the latest bio. It is found below this paragraph so scroll down.        More important, stay tuned for coming posts about Chair Yoga — aren’t they great ?  I borrowed them from Teri, the best Chair Yoga teacher I know. And I will soon be talking more about all that they can do. They only THINK they need the chair !

In fact, by default, I am learning a lot about using chairs as yoga props.  This is a normal part of my evolution when I like to hear myself say ( too often these days ) “It’s the old ladies who know how to teach floor poses because it takes a lot of experiences to tell enough stories and cues to keep students happy in floor poses long enough to accomplish something wonderful”.  Many of my students have hip or knee replacements ( or they need them and are trying to circumvent the whole surgical process). These folks like to sit down and stand up. So much better than up and down from the floor.  We call those the dreadful GET UPS in our circuit training class.

 

Roberta Strickler   Yoga Alliance RYT E-500                                                   Roberta Strickler began teaching hatha yoga in March of 1995 when there were only a few active yogis in Lancaster PA. So it’s not uncommon to find yogis today who recognize her with “You were my first yoga teacher.” Her teaching style began with her first certificate from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health In Lenox, MA, where she studied on campus for 28 days to earn a 200-hour basic yoga teaching certificate. Kripalu, then, was still an ashram and its teaching style was well-known for physical and psychological safety. The facility is now an international center for Yoga & Health. The Yoga program still carries a reputation for teaching teachers how to teach, more so than for promoting one style of yoga sequences and beliefs.

In 1999 Roberta met Suzie Hurley at a workshop about inversions and was instantly smitten by the new energy and the clear precise language of Anusara Yoga, which was founded by John Friend in 1998. Based on the yoga model established by BKS Iyengar, Anusara adds grace and heart to Mr. Iyengar’s emphasis on alignment. During the next year, Roberta studied intensively with Suzie at Willow Street Yoga Center in Takoma Park, MD ( and cooked for Suzie and her family to earn her board). Roberta completed nearly 300 hours of Anusara study with John Friend, Suzie Hurley, Todd Norian, Amy Ippolito, Moses Brown and more than 100 hours of “Yoga as Therapy” study with Doug Keller (www.DoYoga.com) and John Friend.  As her students age, Roberta has increased her study of physical alignment and posture with Doug Keller, most recently a week-long update in 2015. Knee replacement surgery in 2012 gave her an empathy for the need to enhance flexibility, through yoga therapy, following any joint replacement surgery ( or pre-surgical preparation).

In 1998, Roberta traveled to Mount Madonna, CA, to study Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with Jon Kabat-Zinn. She continues to incorporate the practice of mindfulness in workshops and classes, a dominate theme of her current teaching. During that era, Roberta team-taught MBSR in hospital education settings in both Lancaster and Harrisburg. She created a program of Yoga for Breast Cancer Survivors for St Joseph Hospital ( now Lancaster Regional ) and taught it for six years there.

In 2014-2015, Roberta returned to Kripalu to complete a 10-week program in Foundations for Ayurveda. Ayurveda, the sister science to yoga, looks at the basic constitution of each individual person and seeks to correct imbalances that lead to dis-ease and discomfort, through science of food, lifestyle, cleansing practices, and understanding through study of the Ayurveda principles, which include the 8 limbs of yoga.

Roberta teaches group and private yoga lessons, including one-on-one therapy consultations in Harrisburg, York and Lancaster.

Her personal hobbies are dominated by a passion for golf, gardening , and chess or independent films on those days when being outdoors is not an option.