Seattle Yoga News is on a mission to find and highlight all of the hidden, and maybe not so hidden, gems in the Seattle yoga community and beyond. We want you to learn about their experiences and perspectives, but also a bit more about their personalities, so we have a few fun questions for them. This week’s spotlight is turned towards Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo.
Seattle Yoga News: What inspired you to become a yoga teacher?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: After working in corporate tech-support, being laid off and then spending time as a stay-at-home mom I had to contemplate what to do next. I knew the corporate world had changed and I wasn’t willing to give up time raising my kids to work 60 hours a week. I had a long-time, but intermittent yoga practice, which I loved and wanted to deepen. Looking back, I realized I’d always been in some type of training role so I decided that I would enroll in a teacher training program to deepen my practice and maybe become a teacher. After the 200-hour training, I knew I wanted to teach yoga but I realized I’d only begun to scratch the surface and I needed more training before I could even consider being a teacher.
Seattle Yoga News: What kind of trainings have you pursued?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: I have completed 500 hours of teacher training with Theresa Elliott and Kathryn Payne of Pacific Yoga Teacher Training and have also been certified by the Curvy Yoga program. I have participated in several Iyengar Yoga workshops. I am excited to be attending Gary Kraftsow’s weekend workshop: Yoga for Anxiety & Depression in mid-May.
Seattle Yoga News: What is one piece of advice you always give your students?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: Yoga is a process. This comes from Patanjali’s sutra “yogas’ citta-vrtti-nirodah” (Yoga is the process of ceasing the turnings of the mind). The important part of this sutra is the emphasis on process. You’re not going to “get” a pose the first time you try it. In fact it may take years until you can do the “full expression” of the pose; and is doing the full expression of the pose the point anyway? Your full expression of the pose is wherever you are in the pose at that moment. Who’s to say that doing Trikonasana with your hand on the floor is better than using a block? Part of what yoga is to me is the process of learning how to move your body in a way that can become the pose and paying attention to those details along the way.
Seattle Yoga News: What is your favorite asana and why?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: Different asanas serve me at different times, so I don’t think I have a single favorite. My favorite pose is the one that I’m currently working on.
Seattle Yoga News: What is your favorite yoga related book?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: Yoga and Body Image by Melanie C. Klein and Anna Guest-Jelley. Not only did I enjoy learning about the role yoga played in the various contributors’ journeys to body acceptance, this book also helped me understand that we all have our stories; the events in our lives that have made us who we are in this moment. I aspire to teach yoga in a way that honors my student’s stories, meets them where they are at any given moment and gives them the opportunity to create a new relationship with their bodies.
Seattle Yoga News: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: I am a degreed Electrical Engineer.
Seattle Yoga News: Outside of the world of yoga, what are you really passionate about?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: Food. More specifically, how to think of food as medicine and to learn how to eat the foods that serve my body best. It’s shocking to me how much sugar permeates almost every food on the market, how addictive sugar is and how research is showing more and more sugar’s role in so many common systemic diseases.
Seattle Yoga News: Where can one take a yoga class with you?
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo: I teach several classes at Taj Yoga, a lovely, boutique studio in the Crown Hill neighborhood of Seattle. My newest class is Yoga for Curvy Bodies, which is designed to serve those self-defined “curvy” students who have not been able to find a yoga class where they feel they fit in.
We invite you to check out Kathleen’s page on the Seattle Yoga News event calendar for upcoming events and classes she is hosting.
Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo Bio:
Kathleen’s yoga teaching is rooted in her belief that anyone can do yoga and that all bodies are yoga bodies. She helps her students meet their bodies where they are in the present moment and encourages them to learn safe movement and awareness while challenging themselves, both physically and mentally. Her focus on anatomy and alignment is motivated by her continued curiosity about the human body and how it works. She is fascinated by the inherent connection between the body and the mind and how the practice of yoga strengthens that connection.
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