The Yoga Master

Gary Waitt, western zone director of sales for Wausau Paper, based in Harrodsburg, Ky., considers yoga to be part of the fabric of his life.

Gary, who lives in Colleyville, Texas, went from being a black belt in karate to being a yoga aficionado. He practices yoga in the morning and in the evening whether at home or on the road, and usually attends a couple of yoga classes each week.

“My daily yoga practice provides a foundation for who I am now and who I am in the process of becoming,” said Gary. Gary’s move from karate to yoga was inspired when he experienced a torn hamstring about six years ago in a touch football game.

“Karate can scare people,” said Gary, “but yoga is not competitive. You don’t have to do odd or fancy things to experience the benefits of yoga.”

Yoga is a system of physical and mental practices that started in India over 3,000 years ago. The purpose of yoga is to help people achieve their highest potential, to experience health and happiness, and to improve the quality of their lives. To Gary, yoga is about improving his health, mental clarity and emotional state. “Yoga is the union of body, mind and spirit,” he said.

Gary’s yoga practices include doing mediation, stretching and breathing exercises. His morning yoga practices are more meditative, and in the evening, he does more difficult yoga.

“In yoga you learn proper breathing through movements,” Gary said. “You work towards breaking through the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual blockages that you have. What you’re trying to do is find your really good energies.”

Yoga is also very individual.

“There’s a ‘right’ yoga for you — it differs from teenagers who need to burn off energy, to older people who are interested in doing a more meditative style of yoga,” said Gary. “It all depends on where you are at your point in life. Certain yoga classes are right for certain categories of people. The other thing that it is important to know: you can integrate yoga into any religious background.”

Yoga has definitely impacted Gary’s life. Gary is now a vegetarian — or does his best to be — and makes environmentally-preferable choices whenever possible.

“Yoga has changed me…I would say improved me,” he said. “It has made me better able to live in the ‘now’ without the burden of the past or the worries of the future. It has made me more aware of others. I have become a better listener, and more understanding and compassionate.”

Practicing yoga also helps Gary to relax.

“Yoga provides me strength, flexibility and vitality, while at the same deepening my ability to find peace and calm,” he said. “It helps me to balance the stresses of the hectic world in which we work and live.”

Gary attends “power yoga” classes, which he says are a vigorous style of classes designed to develop strength, coordination, weight loss, flexibility and focus. Gary doesn’t recommend that beginners go to a power yoga class. Rather, it would be best for a beginner to start in a basic yoga class.

“These power yoga classes are challenging, to say the least,” Gary said.

At the beginning of each class the instructor suggests that participants set their “intention for today’s class.”

“The first thing that always pops into my head is ‘survival,’” said Gary. “But somehow I do ‘survive’ and always feel better for having explored the limits of my yoga practice.”

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at GretchenRoufs@aol.com.