Teacher Spotlight: Genevieve Gigandet

Our Teacher Spotlight Series continues with Gen Gigandet.

What inspired you to become a yoga teacher?

Attending yoga classes as a practitioner in several different contexts and environments (studios, community centers, college gym, corporate office setting, and outside at a music festival) has allowed me to see that a yoga practice roots deeply to grow into a life well-lived.  From learning the principles of yoga philosophy to polishing up my anatomy knowledge, during my teacher training I worked to understand well enough to share yoga with others.  

I felt called to teach to beginners who may not have accessed yoga before to see the practice as a tool to better understand the self.  I taught to people in recovery from substance use, in their daily treatment programs and this challenged my perspective to approach each class with a “beginner’s mind” myself.  I knew I had to keep building my skills and confidence to maximize my ability to have a positive impact on others!  

If I can assist someone in understanding how a consistent yoga practice can weave into the fibers of their life, I will encourage it!

In the summer months how do you most like spending your time outside?

I love tent camping and will try to go at least two times a year, during summer and fall.  Start with a good roaring campfire, add some yummy treats and comforting company, with games or conversation… these always add up to my most favorite experiences.

What’s something on your bucket list?

I want to travel and go on an outdoor rock climbing trip.  For the top-roping style I enjoy, I’d need to find a guide to anchor the routes, but I know I have the interest and determination to enjoy a multi-day hiking and climbing experience like that.

What keeps you inspired as a teacher?

Staying inspired for me comes from reading books or poems or social posts, preparing my class playlists, and attending yoga classes in multiple styles (Right now I am loving heated slow flows and sometimes engaging in challenging strengthening practices). I try to prioritize slowing down my life by walking outside often and trying to access different forms of healing and nourishment.  

I also remind myself that I practice yoga to be freer, and to see more clearly, not to participate head down in a corrupt and oppressive system.  Activists, writers, and teachers like Susanna Barkataki and Lama Rod Owens inspire me to stay true to the purpose of my practice and use the situations I am faced with in life as material to work with practicing presence and compassion for myself and others, even if it can be uncomfortable at times.

Any mantra or quote you live by? 

From Mary Oliver’s Entering the Kingdom:  

“The dream of my life
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees-
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention.”

I share this dream!  To truly become part of the environment I am occupying, not separate from it.  Later in the poem, the speaker is easily noticed by the crows and creatures, making her separate and stranger again, but that doesn’t take away from the dream experience she is able to have for “a little while.” I find this to be a hopeful and also honest understanding of the human relationship and responsibility to Nature.

You can find Gen on the schedule Saturday & Sunday morning at 10:30am for Slow and Hot classes.