Teacher's Spotlight: Fitzjoy Hellin

Please meet URY Teacher and Volunteer, Fitzjoy Hellin, who has been working with URY since 2012.  In a sea of all female URY teachers, and a fairly female dominant profession, Fitzjoy makes a statement.  Arriving on his motorcycle and leather jacket, he teaches almost every single week at Central Juvenile Hall.  Fitzjoy offers the boys unit a sweet mix of masculinity, strength, and power in a way that is grounding and nurturing, a much needed dynamic in our culture, especially in our education of young men.  We are so lucky to have him. 

Q: How long have you been working with URY?
Fitzjoy H: I started working with URY a few months after completing a 500 hr. hath yoga training in September 2012.
 
Q: What is your favorite quote?
Fitzjoy H: "There are those who give with joy and that joy is their reward."  by Kahil Gibran
 
Q: What is your spirit animal?
Fitzjoy H: I relate to elephants :) 
 
Q: Who is your greatest teacher or mentor?
Fitzjoy H: My greatest teacher has been Tony Sanchez whom took me out of the heated yoga studios and took the mirrors away for practice. 

Q: Tell us about how you began your yoga practice?
Fitzjoy H: After knee and back surgeries about 10 years ago, my running and martial arts practice routine did not seem appropriate anymore.
 
Q: What’s your mission as a yoga instructor? 
Fitzjoy H: To bring enlightenment and some feeling of peace and easy to people's lives. 

Q: Who are you trying to reach and why? 
Fitzjoy H: I love beginners. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into... just getting one new yoga student to start a practice is the most important gift you can give any individual. I believe this creates a start to a better environment to live in.

Q: What life experiences have you gone through that influences your teaching the most? 
Fitzjoy H: One is personal injury for sure, but equally important is the realization of self where you can find joy just being with self, and all the while being of service to others. Having worked in leadership in very stressful environments it is important to feel at peace when everything around you is not. In this state can you trickle that energy down to others around you. 

Q: What do you love most about teaching yoga?
Fitzjoy H: That moment where someone gets a posture or understands what yoga is all about.  This is a moment that is unexplainable in the curriculum of joy, which is why I love teaching yoga. 

Q: Why is yoga so important for the times we’re living in?
Fitzjoy H: People need to take a step back once a day to come to self and realize all the noise is not that important. By taking a step back you can actually move forward towards the achievements you are trying to get to.

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