What Students Are Saying About Rocky

I don't look upon the gentle class as a class where student come to be taught by a teacher. I see it more as a process. You are there as a participant with the rest of us except you know the subject matter better. We are not in competition and each one is finding their own way under your guidance.

What makes this process work so well is that your warmth, caring, and patience comes through very quickly and everyone feels at ease. You are also very conscious of an individual's needs and you respond to them as individuals, not just students.

In St. Benedict's writings on the development of monastic life in the 6th Century he understood that the required activities for Benedictine spirituality were challenging and that at one time or another all would fail in one way or another. His approach was that's ok - always we can begin again. I see that unspoken concept in your class.

...you have created a 'gentle' class in which no one realizes how hard they have worked until it is over.

You have created a safe and relaxing environment that allows individuals to be themselves, warts and all. There are not many places in today's world where that is possible. Congratulations.

Hi Rocky, Just wanted to say yoga was on the top of my “thankfulness” list on Thanksgiving. When times are rough, coming to class each week provides respite; when times are better, class is a wonderful jump start for home practice. What more can I ask? Thanks so much, Molly P.

"Rocky's Back Care Yoga Class is a different kind of Iyengar yoga class. It is different because the her focus is not on teaching the specific Iyengar yoga poses of a particular level - whether beginning, intermediate or advanced. Rocky's focus is on teaching modified yoga poses which support and strengthen backs that have been injured. The yoga poses are modified by using props. She teaches them through preparatory poses in incremental stages. In this way, students are able to access the benefit of certain Iyengar poses to strengthen the muscles of the back, abdomen and body.

Rocky leads the class by demonstration using her own body. While she is not a physician or a physical therapist, Rocky is knowledgeable about back problems from personal experience and study. She has had back problems which give her insight, patience and empathy toward her students and their different back problems. In class, she also refers to the information and yoga poses in the books 'Back Care Basics: A Doctor's Gentle Yoga Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief' by Dr. Mary Pullig Shatz and 'Yoga for Back Care' by Elise Browning Miller. In addition, she is respectful and sensitive to her students' different back injuries and concerns. Upon individual student request, she will tailor and modify the yoga poses to benefit students' specific back injuries. She asks about students' back pain whether past or current. She also states 'Don't do the pose if it hurts'.

I first hurt my back over ten years ago by lifting a box of cans the wrong way. The next day my back went out - I sat down and couldn't stand up. A few months later, I injured my back again when I was carrying a stack of books. The doctor whom I saw after the second injury recommended that I take a yoga class. I started with a gentle Iyengar class with Rocky. While I have taken gentle, level I, level I/II and level II classes with Rocky and other Iyengar teachers, for the past number of years I have stayed in Rocky's gentle level class. However, it has only been in this Back Care class that my back has felt appreciatively better. I've also gained a new energy to start taking more advanced level Iyengar yoga classes. I highly recommend Rocky's Back Care class."

I started in Rocky's class at age 70 to help me recover from back problems. I got much more than I came for. Not only is my back in excellent shape but my posture, my balance, my general well being is vastly improved. -- Beatrice D.

Thank you so much for all the help you have given me.

When I retired at the age of 76, I figured that it was time for me to have some healthy activity. I had previously had a few brief yoga c lasses the last year at my office, so I went to your introductory class, which I enjoyed so much that I promptly signed up for the gentle class and Yoga I.

All my life I"ve been terrible at any physical activity. I'm probably the only person who got a D in Gym at college, with perfect attendance -- I couldn't even walk on a board 3 inches high without falling off immediately. I never could get over the horse. I have never had any physical skills. You have been so patient with me. A classmate told me that when she had seen my performance when I started a year earlier she was sure that I wouldn't be able to "make it", but I had improved so much. I was thrilled. The breathing and relaxation exercises have made my sleep much better. After a year of having to hold on to the wooden f rame (Rocky, I've forgotten what you call it) I actually began to be able to do some standing excercises exercises without holding on. My posture improved.

I've recently had surgery, and whether or not I will be able at some time to do asana yoga again is very questionable. However, I gained so much from the breathing and restorative sessions that I plan to enroll in a pranayama class as soon as I am able to do so. And who knows -- maybe in a couple of years I will be able to do some asana yoga. -- Mildred M,