At least one night a week, I go to a yoga class offered through Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Over the last year, I've gotten to know the instructor, Anja Bachmann, and I recently asked her to answer some burning-like-my-hamstring-when-I-try-to-stretch-it yoga questions for me:

How did you get into yoga? I was in high school and took a few yoga classes, but wasn't into it. My freshman year of college, I went to a small liberal arts college out of state and hated it. Yoga helped keep my mind off of being homesick. Their yoga teacher was graduating, and I was trying to find a way out of the food industry up there and decided I would take the summer intensive yoga teacher training in Richmond while I was home for the summer. The usual program is 9 months, and I did my RYT® 200 in 3 months. I never went back [to the liberal arts college] and started classes at VCU instead! Then, I was hired as a yoga teacher for VCU the following spring.

hat is your favorite pose? This is a hard one! It totally depends on my mood and whatever my body needs. Normally, chaturanga. It's normally thought of as a transitional pose and often overlooked, but done right it is so liberating. It makes you feel strong, balanced, and light all at the same time once practiced enough.