Golden News

Body and Mind

Golden instructor uses yoga as a healing art

Christain Teaching

Photo by CHRISTOPHER STARK Iyengar Yoga Instructor Christian Leeby observes a recent class in his Golden Studio. Leeby, who has studied Iyengar Yoga since the mid-1980s, has traveled to India to learn from BKS Iyengar, the founder of this style of yoga.

By Emily Hois
February 15, 2007

Yoga instructor Christian Leeby of Golden has practiced Iyengar yoga for almost 20 years and never repeated a sequence, except for therapeutic purposes.

"I'm pretty sure if Iyengar yoga wasn't around, I wouldn't do yoga," he said.

"It's a very detailed style of yoga. People either love it or they have it."

Leeby started doing yoga at a weekend workshop in Sante Fe, N.M. His first experience was so enlightening that Leeby practice devotedly and became a certified instructor.

He has traveled to India four times to study under the legendary Yogacharya BKS Iyengar; founder of the yoga style.

As his studio in Golden, Leeby has helped patients overcome pains with the need for surgery.

"Christian's style of teaching yoga is truly unique," said student Johathan Spraque. "His motivation in the classromm couple with a deep understandig of yoga allow him to use yoga as a healing art."

Iyengar yoga is know for using props, such as belts and blocks, as aids to perform various postures, called asanas. It is a form of Hatha Yoga, which focuses on structural alignment and aims to unite the body, mind and emotions.

The first time Leeby practiced Iyengar, he described himself as a "90-ound weekling who could have been blown away."

To his disbelief, he held a front bend for 20 minutes.

"I started getting into my body for the first time ever," Leeby said.

I really liked the spiritual tradition of yoga."

Soon, he began attending massage school in Santa Fe.

He learned myofascial release, which is a mixture of massage technique and sretching. The therapy releases tension from the fibrous bands of connective tissue called fascia, which tailors to individuals with poor posture, physical injuries and emotional stress.

That led Leeby to study the related Rolf Integration, which focuses on alignment and fascia release. In 1991, Leeby graduated from The Guild For Structural Integration in Boulder.

He, himself, suffered from lower back pain and hunched shoulders from climbing and belaying.

"Your pain becomes your teacher," Leeby said.

Iyengar yoga has helped him medicate his own pain along with his clints' since Leeby began teaching in Golden in 2001.

Spraque suffered from back problems, which visits to his family doctor and chiropractor could only provide short-term relief.

With Leeby's yoga and Rolf Integration (a massage technique that focuses on the overall body alignment by freeing fascia or connective tissue — Spraque's pain dissipated.

"Christian corrected my back problems — something I never thought would be possible," Sprague said.

Cathy Lewis began seeing Leeby last August.

"My doctor suggested that go to yoga for relaxation exercises," she said.

Lewis suffered from fibromyalgia, had two back surgeries and experienced a "foot drop" where whe was unable to raise her left foot at the ankle.

Through poses and hip stretches, Leeby released her pereneal nerve, and she no longer must use a brace, she said.

"I was amazed at his professionalism, his attention to detail. It was the most positive experience I've ever had," Lewis said.

Kit Cohan had a similar occurrence.

She has been attending Leeby's classes for six years while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on both my knoees.

"I was unhappy with the slow progress I was making with conventional physical therapy. Christian showed me how to modify poses during my recovery period until I was able to practice at the same level as the rest of the class," Cohan said. "I truly felt after my surgeries that I would never again have a full range of motion or pain-free function."

Now she can do that and more — including skiing and mountain biking.

Cohan also has noticed how habitual yoga can provide relief from daily stressors.

"To me, Iyengar yoga requires as much personal discipline as the at required to study a martial art and is every bit as challenging physically and mentally," she said.

"And the personal rewards have been outstanding."

Iyengar yoga continues to reward Leeby, especially his time spent in Pune, India.

"Going to India is definitely like going right to the source," Leeby said. "India is the land of devotion — all you have to do is get on that continent and things will start happening."

He studied under BKS Iyengar and his family.

"It's so cool to be alive in (BKS Iyengar's) lifetime. The stuff he does, no knows how he does it — it's all nuts and bolts to him."

"Being around him and his classes is just the best instruction that someone in my eyes can find," Leeby said. "You've never worked so hard when you're in his classes. When you concentrate like that, there's a stillness that comes to mind."