Batavia yoga teacher reaches beyond the basics

What first began as a physical therapy exercise for Linda Karl after her shoulder surgery soon became a life - and career - changing event.

It started out simply enough. After eight weeks of traditional physical therapy Karl still felt that she didn't have the same range of motion she'd had before her surgery. She decided to try yoga to see if it would help.

"I got back into yoga for physical reasons, but I knew about the mind-body connections and it just clicked this time," Karl said.

"I had a teacher who encouraged me to become a teacher. So, I became a yoga teacher at the age of 48, a later age than many people do."

Now 55, the Batavia native instructs more than 100 students a week, emphasizing the mental aspects of the practice. She also owns her own garden design business.

"I don't teach yoga as a fitness class but as a real holistic healing art," Karl said.

"People are so stressed out nowadays and a lot of my private students come to me for emotional healing instead of physical healing because of the style of yoga that I teach."

Karl teaches group classes at Elgin Community College, Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove and the Center for Integrative Bodywork in Sycamore.

She also offers private sessions out of her home in Batavia. For her private sessions, Karl instructs students in "Metta Yoga Therapy," a therapy she created herself and describes as "yoga centered talk therapy."

Karl also takes a trip to Chennai, India every year to study at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram yoga school. Karl says the trips have "deepened" her yoga practice.

"(Karl) was my first (yoga) teacher and I feel fortunate that I got the best one my first time out," said Kathy Millen, one of Karl's current students.

Millen has been taking Karl's classes for the past seven years. Since Karl began instructing her, Millen says she tries to do yoga every day.

"(Karl) teaches yoga as more than just a physical thing, she teaches it in all its facets. I've learned so much over the years."

Now Karl is inviting her clients and the public to take a similar journey to global yoga enlightenment. Karl is currently organizing a "yoga adventure" trip to Arusha, Tanzania in Africa where interested participants can take part in a three-day yoga retreat. Guests also have the option of going on a safari afterward or enjoying a five-day stay at a resort before the retreat.

The total cost for the three-day yoga retreat is $1,108, which includes food, lodging and yoga instruction. The optional safari or resort stay cost extra.

Karl will be donating $108 of each participant's fee to the Seva Foundation, a worldwide organization that is working specifically with ophthalmology clinics in Tanzania to prevent blindness.

"There are not a lot of international yoga teachers and I wanted have the Fox Valley yoga community offered this trip because it is so unique and special. This trip is literally a yoga experience of a lifetime," Karl said.

For students like Millen, the trips that Karl makes help to create a yoga class experience that is a cut above the rest.

"(Karl) has such a worldview. She talks about things that keep us intellectually stimulated throughout the class. She is very disciplined and knows her stuff. She inspires us all once a week." "One of the highlights of my week is to have that class," Millen said.

For information, visit lindakarl.net