Today we’d like to introduce you to Max Tayar.
Max, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Before I became a yoga teacher, I worked as a journalist, converted to Orthodox Judaism, got married and basically lived several lifetimes worth of ups and downs. Through it all, yoga has been part of my life- specifically the part that helps make me sane and happy.
I think people, especially Miami people, have ideas about what a yogi is, or how a yogi should look. As I get older, I want more and more to change those stereotypes.
I first got into yoga when I was 16. Growing up in Montreal, Canada my first contact with yoga was a class in a church basement taught by an elderly Indian couple. They were in their late 60s, and their skin glowed, they were strict, they were insightful, they opened doors in my mind and my body. I think that first contact with yoga helped shape my personal philosophy, which is that yoga is not about exercise. Yoga is not about cute workout clothes, it’s not about which studio you practice at, it’s not about how flexible you are, it’s not about how thin you are. Yoga is about unplugging from our lives and observing ourselves- without judgment. The reason yogis do all those warrior poses, lotus poses, and handstands is to exhaust the body, so they can sit in meditation or shavasana (corpse pose) and just BE.
Patanjali (the guy who wrote the Yoga Sutras, basically the bible of yoga) describes yoga as a method of restraining the fluctuations of the mind. You might get fit if you do a lot of yoga, and you might acquire a lot of cool yoga clothes but the most valuable thing you’ll gain by doing yoga is a roadmap to you. The more we stop and sit and observe ourselves, our thoughts, our motivations, the more calm and truly happy we’ll be.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been a smooth road. I got my yoga teacher certification, I applied to work at the studio that was closest to my house and was also hired at other studios around Miami. I like to think that my philosophy, great music, and fun yoga classes are what keeps students coming back, but a big part of it is being professional. Teaching yoga isn’t a hobby, it’s my profession. I always show up early, I always greet my students and welcome them in. I want them to feel that even though I’m teaching the class, this is their yoga practice time- no matter how much or little yoga experience they have,
I’ve been to so many unprofessional yoga classes in Miami that I know what is and isn’t helpful to students. Small things like asking if people are okay to be touched during class and starting and finishing on time are what makes people comfortable to show up to my yoga class, and ultimately, what keeps them coming back.
In Miami, there’s a vibrant and growing yoga community, but there are a lot of very inexperienced yoga teachers, and I think that’s a shame. Where are all the older teachers? All that life experience and yoga knowledge that isn’t being shared! I hope I’m able to teach and practice yoga for the rest of my life. Yoga isn’t about being young and flexible!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
I was trained in vinyasa krama yoga but I teach my own style of yoga. I’m influenced by Ashtanga, Iyengar, jivamukti and even yin. Each class I give is different, although this month we are doing Hanumanasana as the pose of the month! That’s full splits pose. The purpose of the pose of the month isn’t just to get better at one specific yoga pose, it’s also to create discipline and body awareness. Awareness of all the amazing things your body can do, no matter your age, no matter your weight, no matter what’s going on in your life. Full splits pose doesn’t have to look the same at 20 years old as it does at 50 years old. It’s my job as a yoga teacher to open doors in people’s bodies and minds, like that elderly Indian couple who first taught me what yoga can be.
What’s your outlook for the industry over the next 5-10 years?
I think that over the last few years so many new yoga studios have opened, think about it, every Miami and Miami Beach neighborhood has at least one yoga studio. Sometimes as in the case of Sunset Harbor in South Beach, there are over four studios in just a few blocks! The mindset of yoga being just for hyper fit 20 somethings in Lululemon leggings is going out the window. I think yoga studios will have to get leaner and become more inclusive to all types of yoga to all types of people in order to survive.
I have private clients who pay a premium to have me come to their home gyms and do yoga with them because they don’t feel comfortable going to a yoga studio. I think the sting of negative past experiences in gyms and fitness classes keep people from coming to yoga studios. If I had a nickel for every time someone told me “when I get fit I’ll come to your yoga class” I’d be rich. Don’t wait to “get fit” to come to a yoga class! Come to yoga to get some piece of mind, some acceptance of your body and where your life is… And you don’t need to be fit for that.
Contact Info:
- Email: maxtayar@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxtayar/?hl=en
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