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Liformers are a bunch of dedicated, joyful go-getters who inspire us daily with their creativity, honesty, and love of yoga. Our "Meet the Liformer" series gives you the chance to get to know them a little better, find out how they practice, and catch their enthusiasm.
Schuyler Grant is a world-renowned yoga teacher, the founder of Kula Yoga Project in New York City and the Studio app, the co-founder of Wanderlust and Commune, and a mother of three. She is known for her alignment-focused Vinyasa yoga that integrates Ashtanga’s breath-based flow with Iyengar’s precision.
Where are you from and where do you live?
I’m from Los Angeles, via Northern California and New York City. It’s a bit schizophrenic but also pretty much tells you everything you need to know about me.
How did yoga come into your life?
Yoga came into my life in a pretty roundabout way. My parents always practiced super old-school yoga (which involved Organic Stretching and a lot of belching) and the last thing I ever envisioned was myself as a yoga studio owner and teacher. But I suffered quite a lot of back pain since my early teens, and I eventually found my way to Yoga out of sheer desperation.
When 9/11 happened in NYC, I thought that being part of a collective of teachers opening a studio was a great way to give back to the city that I loved – I had no intention of being the primary business owner… But perhaps I should’ve learned how difficult it is to actually make a commune work from my childhood. A communal business is no easier! The rest kind of unfolded in its own illogical logical way.
When did you realise you were hooked on yoga?
When I was first practicing, I kind of hated it. I did it like physical therapy. I watched the clock. But then after a year or so, I finally hit the flow state. It was a little like falling in love. Feeling the narcotic of the breath movement elixir. Though my practice has changed over the years, the love affair continues.
Why do you practice?
To return to that forever challenge of “out of the head and into the body.”
When did you feel called to teach?
I can’t say I ever really felt called to teach. I was just good at it. And there weren’t many people who were teaching classes in exactly the way I really wanted to practice.
How did teaching transition into events?
In some ways, you could say that events transitioned into teaching. Or, more precisely, a place transitioned into teaching. I was producing a practice video for one of my teachers down in Costa Rica and I fell head over heels in love with that part of the world. I was not a teacher at the time, and I asked the couple that owned the retreat center how I could possibly come back to that spot again and again. And they told me to bring yoga groups.
I didn’t have yoga groups, but I had to figure out how to get one together. So, I did a training and started teaching one class a week on the weekends so I could put a group together for a New Year’s retreat in Costa Rica. That spot in Costa Rica is also the place where the idea for opening Kula in New York City was birthed, as well as the germination for Wanderlust.
Jeff [Krasno] looked around at what was happening there every New Year’s Eve, and asked out loud, “what if you did this, times 100, on a mountain top somewhere. With a bunch of great bands.” I would never have done that. It was an extremely male thing to do. (Sometimes having XY chromosomes has its benefits.)
