Sydney Fisher

Studios: Fit + Flow (Monday nights), Yoga retreats thru Soul Rise Yoga

Website: www.soulriseyoga.us

Sydney favors teaching a slower and deeper class appropriate for both beginners and experienced yogis.

O/E: How long have you been teaching yoga?

4 years

O/E: What were you doing before you were teaching?

My life was more hectic and it had that typical new york achievement based style where you always need to be doing something more or working on bigger projects with A-level clients. Now, it’s just like a yoga practice; I show up and I do the best I can. If everyone around me is running around like chickens with their heads cut off with overwhelming stress, I just don’t get involved anymore. I used to feel myself get trapped down that rabbit hole, I would come home and have anxiety attacks and now it’s just water under the bridge.

O/E: Why are you a yoga teacher?

I guess I never intended on being a yoga teacher, it just sort of came to me in a way. I had been helping my friend run her retreats (both teaching and logistics) and this studio [Fit + Flow] had just opened, a friend who knew my teaching style recommended I come here and so I did and i’ve been able to grow with them.

O/E: What’s your favorite part of teaching or practicing?

My favorite part of the over practice is that it permeates every corner of your life, I never feel like i’m going to come to the end. There is always something more to learn, something more physically challenging, mentally challenging, intellectually challenging, emotionally challenging and at the same time it’s totally to be okay with wherever you’re at. I can always go at my own pace.

My favorite part of teaching yoga is the energy I catch from it. On Mondays I rush from working all day to my night class and sometimes I’m so exhausted, it’s the last thing I want to be doing. I’ll start the class with a 2 minute meditation, we all arrive together… and when I leave my heart feels so full and I just feel so relaxed and released because of the energy i’ve caught from all of my students.

O/E: What do you do when you’re not teaching or practicing?

I work freelance as a producer and spend 3 months in the winter in Costa Rica. I hang out with friends and just enjoy my time. I like to hike a lot and i’m trying out surfing but I’m not a big athlete in other ways, in my down time i’m just really stoked to go lay in the grass.

O/E: What’s you’re favorite pose right now or a pose that you’re challenging yourself to work on? Handstand is constantly evading me. After completing pilates training last november I was able to get into handstand, the training brought everything into the midline and gave me awareness of my core muscles, it allowed my to safen up my yoga practice. If I don't practice regularly, my handstand is the first thing that goes.

O/E: Hot or cold?

cold

O/E: Fast or slow?

slow

O/E: Loud or silent?

loud

O/E: Black or white?

white

O/E: Mountain or Ocean?

ocean

O/E: Sky or Land?

sky