Introducing my Yoga ANGEL!

For the past 3 years Angel Carithers-Brownlee has been a Facebook Friend of mine who I facebook met from my illustrator friend Charla.  For 3 years I never met Angel -- but followed her journey with her Yoga studio -- Temple Road.  I knew Angel was a yoga instructor and I knew I always wanted to try yoga but was always tooooooooo scared and felt very intimidated to give it a try! I thought you had to be very flexible and young!

This past summer, I felt I was under a tremendous amout of stress working on my Texas Teacher certification, Steven going to Japan, and juggling book events. I finally got up my confidence to walk into Angel's yoga studio. I have to say ... it was one of the BEST things I have ever done!  Temple Road Yoga is a peaceful, wonderful environment and Angel is a loving, caring person and a phenomenal yoga instructor. She made me feel so welcome and took the time to help me work through some of my FEARS of yoga! Now that I'm back in school, I do yoga as much as I can at home and look forward to breaks when I can go to the Temple Road Studio!

Angel

Thank you Angel for taking the time to answer a few questions ....

Tell us about Angel -  First and foremost, I am a mama and wife.  My husband Brandyn and I have 5 children ranging in age from 14 to 22 years. The love of my family keeps me grounded through the busyness of life. I was born and raised in Arkansas, so the southern girl is always a part of me.  We have a large extended family and spend most of our free time coming together for good cooking, music and lots of laughter. Interestingly, I had the privilege of growing up in a broken home. My parents divorced when I was 1 year old.  This has proven to be one of the greatest gifts of my life! It is what I learned that love has no boundaries and there are no mistakes.


Have you done anything else besides YOGA? Oh yes! Many careers before landing on the yoga mat! Everything from Marketing Coordinator at a casino in Las Vegas to a
Cash Management analyst for an oil and gas company in Texas.  However, in every job, there was always an element of service.  Ironically, my first job at 14 was cleaning houses for several elderly ladies in our neighborhood. One of these dear souls was
grieving the loss of her beloved husband and she would ask me to stay for lunch and visit after I finished cleaning.  I could sense that she was quite lonely.  As we enjoyed our ham and cheese sandwiches, she recalled the times she and her husband shared together.  Inevitably, each time, she would break down and I could feel the heaviness of her pain. When I look back over my life so far, I feel strongly that we are born with the gifts we are here to share.

How did you get interested in yoga? Like many others, I became interested in yoga, after coming to the end of myself.  At the time, I was working a full-time job, while taking college classes at night, my youngest was 2 and we were building a home, so there was no breathing room in my schedule. I was physically, emotionally and spiritually spent and felt overwhelmed by life.  So one day on my lunch hour, I decided to try a yoga class at the YMCA. There were about 25 people in the class and I
had no idea what I was doing. Unexpectedly, when I laid down for savasana, the tears began to flow.  In an instant, yoga became "home to me" and from that moment everything began to shift.

How many years have you been a YOGI? I would say all my life, but technically practicing since 2002.

What are the best things about your job?  There are so many things that make my job wonderful!  Being a witness to someone letting go of tension in their body or mind is one of the things I love.  It is a great honor to be with another when they relax into themselves.  You can see the joy on their face and you know in some small way you are part of their journey.  It is also wonderful to see the light in someone's eyes when they overcome a limitation whether physical or emotional through yoga.

How did the idea of Temple Road come about? Temple Road came to me in a beautiful dream.  I've written about it on my website at TEMPLE ROAD YOGA

What inspires you? Courageous, open hearted people. Those who have gone through the fire and yet make the choice to stay open and move toward love.

What do you do when you are in the studio by yourself? I practice, pray and meditate. Sometimes I turn the music up really loud and stay in a posture on the floor for 20 minutes soaking in the breath and the energy of the space. Oddly enough, even when my husband and I are cleaning the studio, it is like a meditation.  There is a great deal of peace that flows through somehow.

Are there ever days you don't want to do YOGA?  No. The word yoga from the root "yuj" means to yoke.  In that sense of the word, I always want to have an experience of the Divine and I search for that everyday.  I do feel having a personal yoga practice is essential if one plans to share yoga with others on a deep level.  However, my yoga practice may look different each day.  Sometimes I may just do ball work, pranayama and meditation, while other days I may have a more active practice.  Recently, a question came across my radar during meditation - "What does love long to do through you?" so for the following week the main part of my yoga practice was putting that question
out there and seeing who showed up to receive the answer.   

Please share your favorite teaching YOGA story. Hahaha! This may not be what you had in
mind and it may be inappropriate, but (sometimes you just gotta laugh) and it is one of my favorites.  So one day in class we are working on holding cobra for an extended period of time to strengthen the back.  At one point I was noticing how gripped everyone's butt was and I had some concern for the stress around the tail bone.  So I (accidentally) said, "Okay everyone, do your best not to fire through your butt!" Laughter erupted and it was AWESOME!  
      I had to reply to this -- I feel Angel has a way to know when there is a lot of tension in the room and will say just the right thing to help everyone RELEASE that tension ... that is a GREAT story!!!

Temple Road was created to encourage and support our community, while offering a safe place for prayer, yoga and meditation. We may look different on the outside, but inside, we are all the same…sacred and loved. The practice of yoga is to help us see more clearly and ultimately, remember who we are.

Temple Road Yoga offers Yin Yoga, Chakra Based Yoga (Temple Road) and Beginner Flow. We also host "Rising Lotus" Yoga & Group Therapy for Women on the 1st & 3rd Monday of the month. A variety of workshops are held throughout the year for those who want to learn something new or deepen their practice.  For more information on classes, workshops and events visit -- TEMPLE ROAD YOGA

We are located on the west side of Fort Worth on 820N and White Settlement Rd. off  of  Expedition Drive across from The Home Depot.

Om Shanti!
xoxoxAngel

THANKS ANGEL!   I just had the pleasure of attending the Reiki & Restorative Yoga with Gong Meditation class. It was the most amazing 2 hours!  I can't believe that the GONG can sound so soothing and with the poses and breathing and Reiki I was taken to places I've never been -- it truly was a soothing and calming journey. I truly hope that Angel and Kenny will team up again -- I know I will be there!

If you've wanted to try Yoga -- give Temple Road Yoga, off White Settlement Road a try -- here is the link to their FB page Temple Road on Facebook

Kenny and his amazing instruments!!!!