Sherri Durga Margolin

They are: Who you are? What you do? Why is it good for you? Who I am? My name is Sherri Margolin, aka Durga, and I am a certified and credentialed yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. My initial 360-hour yoga Teacher Training and Apprenticing began with YogaWorks in 2004/5. After that I enrolled in several other trainings in Los Angeles to expand my knowledge. My two most Teacher Trainings was through Loyola Marymount University where I studied under Larry Payne and obtained my credential in Prime of Life Yoga which is characterized by its holistic approach of adapting the practice of yoga to the whole person, considering a person’s age and physical abilities, and even a person’s energy level on a particular day. My second most recent Teacher Training was in 2022 and was Y12SR: The Yoga of Twelve Step Recovery which is a 12-step based addiction recovery model combined with yoga philosophy and practices connecting the “dots” between the parallels inherent in the wisdom of the twelve steps and the wisdom inherent in the yoga sutras. As of April 2023, I am enrolled in my second 200-hour Teacher Training through YogaMu and a 100-hour Meditation Teacher Training through YogaMu. As I get older and notice changes in my body and practice I realize that the constant is meditation and that yoga is between the years. As a writer I have written many times that anything is yoga if done with intention. Over the course of my yoga career, I have taught yoga to seniors in independent living facilities, teens, privately in my home, in a gym environment, and in community centers. What I do? I also take a holistic approach to teaching yoga. After twenty years of practicing and over fifteen years of formal study I will blend various techniques of hatha yoga (the physical movements) and breath practices with both the philosophy and quiet moments and/or longer meditation to create a feeling of connection to oneself. I have taught beginners through intermediate to advanced practitioners. Why is it good for you? I credit the name Om in the Home to my son, who at the time was twelve years old. It resonated. And I kept it. And so was born the philosophy behind Om in the Home. What is home? What does it mean to be at home? Home is where the heart is. Home is that sanctuary where we go-to after work, a place we think of when traveling or a place we look back on where we were raised. Home is an address that tells us, and others we belong somewhere, one we change many times over a lifetime. Home represents different things to different people emotionally, socially, economically, and politically. The importance of home cannot be underestimated. All beings have a natural right to have a place of harbor, a roof, under which they feel safe where they can go to revitalize and feel at ease. But what if home was not only a go-to place? What if you were already home? What if that home went with you wherever you go? Even when you change address. You moved into a home the day you were born and although that home grows older and changes as each day passes there is no changing address. This is an important home as well. Your body! This is one home that we want to feel safely harbors us – our selves. If we think of it that way- we take our selves with us wherever we go – we are always home- and when this home, the body, is vital, then it is easier to face the world around us and even create a more balanced external home life. What is Om? Om is a word that dates back thousands of years to the ancient texts of India, the birthplace of yoga science – the body of knowledge that combines the health of the physical body with clear thinking and a calmness of mind. Yoga is a wisdom science that teaches, through various practices and exercises, that when our thoughts are not in conflict with one another and our body is in working order there is complete harmony – oneness. In its most basic explanation Om is the first sound a baby makes – the hum- perfect and harmonious because nothing competes with it. Peaceful in its simplicity and unruffled, nothing disturbs it or the source of the sound. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could access that inner calm once in a while or at the very least know it is possible? Om chanted at the end of yoga class seals in the feeling of well being that is achieved throughout the class. In modern yoga-speak Om means harmony and well being, when we feel settled and at ease and our minds are calm and not agitated and our bodies feel refreshed and relaxed. What is Om in the Home? Bringing Om into our permanent home through the practice and understanding of yoga will help bring health and harmony into our lives and enhance our relationship with the outside world. Things may not always be perfect in our lives, but we can learn how to keep our inner and outer radiance and draw from the inner well where all remains undisturbed. Let Om in the Home bring the Om to your ‘go-to’ home, office, or my home ‘studio’ to teach you how this wisdom science can help you find the well being in both body and mind so needed in this hectic world we live in. I believe that no two students are the same and so I encourage all students to work at their own pace whether in a group setting or in a private setting. I offer suggestions for modifications to postures so that a student gets the most out their practice. Yoga is not competitive. Ego is left at the door. Everybody starts where they are and moves forward from that point without judgment from self or others. Even the most advanced students have their limits and there is no glory in pushing past those limits. The goal is not pain. I will always ask my students if they have injuries and modify from there. I’m here as teacher, mentor, and friend. We are all students. I continue to learn from my teachers who continue to learn from theirs. The word yoga means union, yoke, and join. I invite you to join me in bringing our inner and outer worlds together and finding the harmony that is the birthright of all beings. “Remember your body is your most auspicious home of all. Honor your body it’s where you live.” A word about Prime of Life Yoga: Prime of Life Yoga (POLY), based on the teachings of Krishnamacharya, as taught by his son, Desikachar, and created by Larry Payne, is characterized by its holistic approach of adapting the practice of yoga to the whole person, considering the person’s age and physical abilities, and even energy level on a particular day. POLY understands that people come to yoga for many different reasons and those reasons change as a person ages. Prime of Life Yoga’s focus is on the concept of function over form, emphasizing the concept of “forgiving limbs”. There is no perfect pose. What works for one person may not work for another. If it takes bending the knees to assume a forward bend, then that is your pose. Spinal freedom and movement take precedence over form and what the pose looks like. Breath is always used in coordination with movement as the focus on breathing frees up the wandering mind and allows for attention to the moment and the movement. Although, Prime of Life Yoga is a user-friendly approach geared to the over forty population the principles can be applied to any age group. Life is a journey, and each stage can be one of the greatest strength, vigor, and success. Please feel free to visit my Substack where I write and share more about yoga https://sherrimargolin.substack.com I offer group classes in senior assisted living facilities in the West Los Angeles area, zoom instruction, and private in-home instruction by appointment.