Question: What does your job entail?

Answer: I teach others to become yoga instructors. A yoga teacher, through techniques such as stretching, breathing, relaxing and concentrating, is trying to share with students a serenity and a sense of well-being in all areas of their lives — physically, mentally and spiritually.

Yoga is an ancient Indian discipline which, through breathing, postures and meditation, promotes physical, mental and spiritual wellness. It honors and respects the validity of all spiritual paths. It's a big toolbox — people can take whatever they want from it — the physical part, the relaxation benefits, the stress and tension relief, or reduction of injury.

Q: How did you get started?

A: In 1975, I had a friend in Fort Lauderdale who was healthy and centered. He said he was doing yoga, so I tried it. In 1976, I studied at The Yoga Ranch in upstate New York, and the weekend experience was so intense, I knew I had to put more of it into my life. I decided to take the yoga teacher training course.

Q: What was your job search like?

A: I spent 15 years living with my teacher, Swami Vishnu Devananda, who was one of the first to bring yoga to the West in the late-1950s. I lived in ashrams and yoga centers, teaching and doing management functions, but I wanted to go out in the world and share what I had learned. I settled in Lake Worth and opened my studio in 1994. Currently, we average 250 to 300 students a week, including the teacher-training program.

Q: What do you like best about your job?

A: I love helping people. They come to class with problems and pains, from those who've taken pain medication for years to those who are overstressed and want more peace in their lives. Yoga changes them in a dramatic way.

Q: What skills are required to perform your job?

A: An instructor must be sensitive and aware of a person's abilities, then guide the student to realize their potential. If I'm teaching someone and know they can do something, but they don't think they can, I try to inspire and motivate. There aren't any physical prerequisites to teach — you don't have to be able to twist yourself into a pretzel. A desire to help people and to accept a certain amount of responsibility are more important.

Q: What educational requirements are there to become a yoga instructor?

A: The national standard for yoga instructors is to take a Yoga Alliance certified training course. Yoga Alliance is a national organization, and Yoga and Inner Peace is a registered school that must meet the organization's requirements to train students.

The instructor course takes nine weeks and is free. (Note: A new class begins Sunday, Feb. 29. Call 561-641-8888 for more information.) But you must be a member of the studio and have a three-month membership. You go to class every day, which entails daily meditation, lectures twice a week and serious changes in lifestyle during the course.

Q: What compensation can someone expect?

A: It varies, depending on what arrangement you might have with the center where you teach, or if you have your own studio. Compensation can be excellent if you teach private classes, where the fees can be from $50 to $90 per session in one-on-one situations.

Q: What is the most interesting thing that has ever happened to you as a yoga instructor?

A: I started a free class for people with disabilities nine years ago. One student was a quadriplegic, is one of the most amazing individuals I've ever met. She was a yoga teacher before she became paralyzed in the early-1980s.

Her doctors said she wouldn't live more than five years. She told them she'd do what she wanted, and is alive today. She went beyond what the doctors said she could do because of the mental discipline of yoga. She is an inspiration to me.