Community Spotlight: Wayne E.
At the Yoga Center of Columbia, we value our students and community, who help us to learn and grow as much as our experienced and skillful instructors! Today we would like to spotlight and extend our gratitude and support to long-time student Wayne with our new Community Spotlight series!
Wayne has been practicing yoga for 20 years, and completed YCC’s Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2024. He is a licensed psychologist and certified professional coach, and answered some questions below about his time, experience, and relationship to yoga and our studio. Thank you, Wayne, for your dedication and for being an important part of our vibrant YCC community.
What brought you to yoga, Pilates, meditation and/or qigong?
I was a BIG fan of the TV show Dharma and Greg when I was growing up and finally decided to give yoga a try! Thank you, Jenna Elfman!
What do you like best about your practice? Do you have a favorite concentration or quality in your study or practice?
What I love most about my practice is the community I have found with my fellow practitioners. A series of life changing experiences unfolded about a year after I began my practice. I do not think I would have survived (or recovered as my best self) without the community and care I received from yoga. As I often tell my teacher, "I like who I become when I step into your class."
Do you have a favorite teacher? If so, what do you enjoy about their teaching style?
Without question, Kelly Fisher is my favorite teacher. While my practice has been enriched and enhanced by all of my instructors, Kelly brings a quality of joy to her practice that is both infectious and inspiring. It is this joy that drives the discipline that makes her a superior practitioner and a trusted and cherished teacher. She has accompanied me through some of the most difficult journeys of my life. And she has enhanced my practice as a yogi, a therapist, a husband, a father and a person of faith. I consider myself blessed and privileged to be her student.
What have you learned or how have you grown since becoming a YCC community member?
I think my practice has helped me to become more flexible, both physically and emotionally. I once looked at challenges as something to be confronted and overcome. But yoga has taught me they can be invitations to learn, grow, reflect, and change. Becoming a member of the YCC community has also taught me that safety is not always found in similarity. Although I am culturally and ethnically different from many of my classmates, I have found a reliable sanctuary and faithful friends at YCC. I feel seen, celebrated, and valued. Something that is often hard to find and even harder to keep. Fortunately for me, there is YCC.
What is your most memorable trip or experience relating to your yoga, Pilates, meditation and/or qigong practice?
It would have to be a yoga retreat I attended in April 2023. The experiences I had that weekend led me to enter the Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2024. That program helped me to clarify and resolve a variety of issues I had been struggling with for years. It also brought a new group of friends into my life. People whose presence has added to both its depth and quality.
Do you have a favorite pose, quote, or mantra related to your practice? What is it and why?
“Everything I need is right here, right now.” It anchors me into the present moment; freeing me from the tyranny of the past and the burden of worrying about the future. It is a way of touching the eternal (the EVER PRESENT) while remaining rooted in (linear) time.
Do you have any current favorite books, philosophies, or teachers in your area of focus and what or who are they? If you wish, please explain in your own words below.
Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton has become one of my favorite books. The stories in that book continue to inform and shape the story of journey as a yogi. It has deepened my understanding of universal truths in ways that are both novel and deeply informative. It has expanded my worldview; making it more panoramic and inclusive.
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The Yoga Center of Columbia has been supporting our community's health and well-being since 1992. We offer yoga, Pilates, meditation, and qigong in four classrooms in Columbia, Maryland — in-person and online. Click for details or to register for our 100+ weekly Classes and our specialty Workshops !
