OK OK calm down! We know you’re excited. Firstly, we want to wish everyone who took part a huge congrats for putting your yoga out there and expressing yourself. Of the 3,000+ entrants, here they are the 5 finalists for the Yoga Journal Talent Search. And revealed they are, via YJ:
Left to right:
Vanessa Pattison
Style: Ashtanga
Teacher: Katyanna Ryan
Years Practicing: 8
Inspired By: “You’re too young to ache so much,” my husband told me at the age of 23. My scoliosis changed my body alignment to a degree that just getting out of bed was painful. This pain brought me to yoga classes, particularly the Ashtanga Vinyasa Flow.
–Finish reading her bio here (it’s long)
Casey Van Zandt
Style: Vinyasa
Teacher: John Friend
Years Practicing: 3
Inspired By: Yoga has helped me in all aspects of my life and has taught me to understand what it really means to feel centered and grounded. I LOVE YOGA!
Marcelo Tessari
Style: DeRose Method
Teacher: Professor DeRose
Years Practicing: 14
Inspired By: It’s a lifestyle. It transformed everything in my life. It’s almost the same as to change a black and white TV for a color TV
bottom:
Mark Gonzales
Style: Power Yoga (Vinyasa)
Teacher: A bunch from all over the SF bay area
Years Practicing:
Inspired By: For over a decade now, I’ve actively studied ideas surrounding the human potential, one of my favorite platforms being – yoga. I live locally in San Francisco and work as a Premier Power Yoga Instructor and Fitness Trainer for Google/YouTube and Crunch Fitness.
Shannon McGee
Style: Vinyasa
Teacher: Alex Austin
Years Practicing: 10
Inspired By: Yoga has inspired me to live an authentic life and to be the best me that I can be in each moment. It has helped me reveal my true light to others and be comfortable in who I am. My passion for the practice led me to be a teacher and I am so lucky to be able to share with my students how yoga can truly enrich your life.
Happy? Disappointed? We’re not super surprised by the results, and though we mean no disrespect to the finalists, we’re still not sure how all the votes/ stars were actually tallied. No matter now, your voting time is over!
From these five, Yoga Journal’s editors will choose a winner who will be flown to our San Francisco office and participate in a photoshoot to be featured in the pages of the September issue.
And now we wait with baited bated bhastrika breath.*
Meanwhile, cruise over to the YogaDork Gallery to see our winners! 🙂
*grammar is of utmost importance especially in advanced pranayama techniques.
——
Earlier…
how does one bait a bhastrika?
Wonder if they would have posted a picture of me practicing pigeon in a junk yard?
Doubt it…..
Three people wearing almost no clothes. Not much with the mixed races. Yeah, not surprised.
Svasti: Only 80% is WASP, only 60% female. When yoga in the US is about 97% WASP females.
@Svasti – nevertheless, Casey’s got the story, and Mark’s got quite the range of amazing alignment (or killer photoshop skillz!)
Still like the Yogadork Gallery better!
I ♥ Yogadorks!