Episode 9 | Erin Rose Ward | Drive Under The Water

Have you ever wondered about what your yoga teacher is really like outside of class?  Do you love yoga and want to learn more from teachers around the globe?  Are you a teacher and want to hear new and different perspectives on how to approach your classes?  Do you enjoy hearing and learning about the interesting people who make up the yoga community?

Everyone has their own, unique story.  Whether you practice and/or teach yoga doesn't matter.  The podcast offers compelling content and is more human-centric than yoga-centric.  Perhaps, the two organically interweave.

Andrew Gordon is the founder of Yoga Moves You, and the vision is tied deeply into Andrew's own journey into yoga.

Yoga found Andrew in 2002, and helped him drop 60 pounds, as well as give him a tool to deal with depression and anxiety.  After his father passed unexpectedly of a heart attack on 9/6/01, and the tragic events of 9/11/01, he was confused and suffered from PTSD.  A friend suggested a yoga studio close to where he was living on Long Island, NY.

The studio was and still is owned by a volunteer fireman, who came in to help out on 9/11.  He told Andrew how his yoga helped him to stay calm and focused through the chaos all around him that fateful day.  Andrew was changed by his story, and convinced that yoga would be the answer to many of his challenges.  It was, is, and always will be.  This is why he has chosen this path to share.

Before teaching yoga, and founding Yoga Moves You, Andrew was a radio host for nearly ten years.  He interviewed many people, including Will Smith, which was his personal favorite.  He explains, "Will was so down to earth.  He was comfortable in his own skin, and just had what felt like a chat with an old friend.  At the end of the interview, I asked him to freestyle rap over my beatbox, and he not only obliged-he knocked it out of the park!  I knew it was off the top of his head, because he asked me about the names of the members of my show, and the name of the show.  From then, he took the ball and ran with it!"  He goes on to expand on interviewing, "I have a natural curiosity about people, and their individual stories.  Everyone has one, that I love learning about them, because we are all special and matter.  Boring is a choice, and I seek to draw the interesting things out about people(and that doesn't matter if they were/are celebrities or not.)."

Andrew decided to leave radio in 2007, and go back to school for his Masters Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages(ESL).  He did that for five years and learned just as much from his students, as they learned from him.  He explains, "I may not have gotten to travel the world much on an airplane, but my students took me on a new trip everyday!  You can hear this innate fascination with culture and the differences AND similarities between all of us who share the earth."

The Yoga Moves You Podcast launched officially on November 30th, and is rapidly growing.  Andrew plans to continue to keep the content coming consistently.  It is his passion(among others), and feels lucky to get a chance to broadcast and interview people about life and yoga on a new medium.

Take a listen, and if you like what you hear, it always helps podcasts to subscribe, leave a review, and download an episode.  This allows the podcast to gain more traction in finding a larger platform for exposure.  This is a podcast that will uplift, inspire, and enlighten(you will likely enjoy some laughs as well!).