Beloved Peachtree Yoga Center teacher retires after decades of guiding, training students

Elizabeth Nix Smith talks to online students before her second-to-last class on Dec Photo by Cathy Cobbs On Dec Elizabeth Nix Smith who was one of the first instructors at Peachtree Yoga Center in Sandy Springs will wish her students blessings and love namaste for the last time Smith whose gentle self-deprecating humor and ability to make yoga a reassured and accessible practice for all no matter their skill level announced it s time for her to make room for the future generation of teachers I m ready to step aside from teaching and let the new crop of instructors to come through Smith explained I m stepping away from teaching but not who I have become during these last years Graham Fowler who founded PYC mentioned he met Smith when he was teaching at the Buckhead YMCA in which was the beginning of their decades-long friendship She first attended my class at the YMCA instead of the tai chi class she was also considering Fowler disclosed It was one of those small decisions that affect the trajectory of one s life and by extension a multitude of lives Fowler commented his trainee fit right in with Atlanta Yoga Fellowship an informal gathering of local yoga friends From then on Smith became an progressing participant in the group s regular potluck dinners and weekend yoga retreats in the mountains and at the beach From when we met I adopted him and he adopted me Smith declared When I think about who I was when I walked into that first class and what I am in current times I am a totally different person After Smith participated in Fowler s first and second yoga facilitator training courses at Fowler s home she began co-leading facilitator training courses with him The natural progression continued when Fowler decided it was time to open a brick-and-mortar location By the time I opened Peachtree Yoga Elizabeth was in on every part of it including when we went on a road trip up east to check out other centers for design ideas he disclosed From the beginning Elizabeth was there to co-lead professor training courses at PYC and to teach classes Her success was part of how we survived and thrived in those early days Smith revealed one of the things for which she is majority grateful is Fowler s constant presence and patronage during their three decades of friendship Graham Fowler and Elizabeth Nix Smith right after PYC opened Courtesy of Peachtree Yoga Center He introduced me to my husband and he married us and when my mother died he was at the funeral she stated I can t overstate the significance of Graham in my life Fowler and her students revealed they loved Smith for her quirky humor and made-up words that perfectly described certain changes in posture Elizabeth is not only an inspirational yoga instructor she also expanded my vocabulary In certain poses Elizabeth would tell us to move our hips just a snerch ' mentioned Susan Mitchell who has taken classes with Smith for two decades While that s not a precise unit of measurement we knew exactly what to do Smith joked that for years she considered that snerch was a real vocabulary word Ilona Moore who owns Peachtree Yoga Center Ilona Moore stated Smith has served her society with a steadfast heart and a spirit shaped by compassion civic duty and unwavering kindness Her dedication to the path of yoga has touched countless lives not only through her skill and wisdom but through the way she infuses every teaching with her love of poetry her curiosity for the world and her passion for expedition Moore reported Su Ellis another longtime yoga practitioner reported Smith s retirement is bittersweet for her and the entire yoga district Elizabeth is unique in her teaching style in that she is invariably challenging you to refine the poses and breath through the edge Her sequences are smooth and original never the same Ellis explained She has taught me to have a light spirit a sense of humor and fun while practicing yoga Moore commented Smith s long tenure at the studio has been a guiding light steady soulful and profoundly inspiring and our locality is richer because of everything she has poured into it Smith reported her retirement will allow her her husband and two cats to explore the United States in their in recent days purchased camper We discovered fairly in recent weeks that we love traveling in a camper van she declared While we don t know exactly where this is going to take us we would love to explore the eastern seaboard or take a cross-country trip to Utah She disclosed she will miss sharing poetry from her favorite writers which include Mary Oliver David White Rumi and others and being able to joke with her students where I usually get the largest part laughs Mitchell reported those qualities will be missed by her a great number of devoted students She is an exquisite lecturer who takes her yoga but never herself very seriously Mitchell commented I ll miss her guidance her poems and her effervescent sense of humor Smith recalled wise words from a long-ago educator which she took as inspiration throughout her training and teaching The greatest thing you can do as a yoga educator is to inspire in someone else the love of yoga she explained This is what I feel I ve done this is something that I m perhaps proudest of The post Beloved Peachtree Yoga Center professor retires after decades of guiding training students appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta