Perhaps you’ve seen Lindsey Corbett on one of your infrequent trips to the KAC, teaching students, professors and community members the intricate moves of Vinyasa yoga. She is a certified yoga teacher and Kenyon Fit instructor, and has the unmistakable air of a yogini. Poised and genuinely sweet, Lindsey told Her Campus Kenyon about becoming an instructor, her personal yoga practices, and her life here at Kenyon, all while standing on her head. Just kidding.
Name: Lindsey Corbett
Year: Junior
Major: Art History and Asian Studies double
Hometown: Okemos, Michigan
On-Campus Activities: Yoga instructor, Colla Voce, works in the visual archives
When did you start doing yoga?
When I was a junior in high school, so I guess when I was sixteen.
What made you decide to start?
I started because I was a really intense runner at the time, and I kind of used yoga as a supplement to my running. It was supposed to be strengthening and for flexibility, and I thought it would prevent injury so I could run farther and faster. That’s how I got into it.
In your opinion, what is the best part about yoga?
Ooh that’s a really hard question. Well, I don’t know, I think the reasons that people start yoga (like for me, mine was about fitness) you find once you get into the practice aren’t the reasons that you stay. So I don’t know – I love the spirituality of the practice. I love its history.
I hear that you actually speak Sanskrit.
Not as a language, but in my classes I’ll teach the postures with their Sanskrit name. And I know how to count to ten in Sanskit and that’s it, you know? Really small things.
Do you have a favorite pose?
Yeah, I love a couple. I love triangle pose, Trikonasana, and I love pigeon pose. I think those are my favorites. And I love being upside down.
Just… being upside down?
I love headstands!
Do you know the actual name for pigeon pose?
It’s Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. Eka is one, pada is foot, kapota is pigeon, and asana is always pose. That’s actually kind of why it’s my favorite. I really like the name!
When did you become a Kenyon Fit Instructor?
Last year I started. Right after my teacher training. I did a summer-long intensive [program] at the end of my freshman year. And so basically every weekend you’d be at the studio. Like Friday after dinner all the way through Sunday. Obviously with breaks, but it was intensive weekends and then series of classes throughout the week. So that’s kind of what it consisted of, and midterms and finals and lots of homework. I only just finished all the homework requirements over the summer. That was through a private studio back home. Now I am 200-hour certified and can teach at the KAC. At the KAC you also need your CPR certification.
Are there pros and cons to being a Kenyon Fit instructor?
Yeah there’s definitely a lot of that. When I teach at the studios back home, I generally will get between two and ten students in a class, so it’s a really small environment. It’s a lot more personal and I can look at each student and determine what they need, where their practice is, or just what they need from this given practice of the day. Here at the KAC, so many people come! It’s been better this year. Last year I used to get upwards of fifty people in each class and it just got to be too much. You’ll never reach the most advanced student, and you’ll never reach the least experienced student, which means that the way you structure your class just becomes really generalized. I have really enjoyed teaching at the KAC because I get a lot of the same people, and it’s been really fun to see their practices really progress.
How many times do you teach a week?
Just twice for an hour and fifteen minutes each.
Do you do a lot of yoga on your own?
I try to practice five times a week for at least two hours a day.
Okay let’s finish up with some more general stuff… Do you know what you want to do after Kenyon?
No I don’t. I’m sure grad school is in my future. I know I’ll take yoga to the next level to do my 500-hour eventually. That would be the advanced teacher training, so it’s an additional 300 hours. Immediately after Kenyon I’m sure I’ll just be bumming. You know, like every Kenyon grad.
What’s your favorite Kenyon memory?
Favorite Kenyon memory! Oh, gosh. I think the most fun going-out nights are always Horn Gallery nights or the VI. I love the live music. And then, this isn’t necessarily at Kenyon, but freshman year, two girl friends and I went on a road trip to the American southwest for spring break. That was cute.
What’s the #1 thing on your Kenyon bucket list?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I really want to get someone to ask me a Quick Complaint in the Collegian!
Finally, do you have any advice for beginning yoginis?
I’d say make your practice your own. We’re competitive because we’re human, but it’s so important to stop looking around the room and to realize all the cool things your body’s already doing, to take your practice as it comes and to honor your body for whatever its abilities are. I remember when I first started practicing, I’d get frustrated with so many postures – I was never a part of cool sorority of girls who could flip up into a handstand. It took me a long time to realize that’s not even close to what yoga’s all about. Yoga happens no matter what level you practice at.