Get to Know Carri Uranga
At Drishti Yoga Teacher Training we pride ourselves on developing personal connections with our students. We figure you may want to know more about your instructors on a personal level too!
Here’s a little more about Carri!
1. Where are you from?
I was born in Texas and lived there 28 years. When I was 12 my family went on a 2 week summer vacation to Colorado. It was then I knew I wanted to move away from Texas. It just took me a while!
2. Where do you live now and where have you lived in the past?
We just moved to Chicago this past December for my husband’s job. Since leaving Texas in 2000 we have lived in:
Vermont 2000-2006
Chicago 2008-2009
Toronto 2010
Philadelphia 2011-2012
Montreal 2012
New York City 2013-2015
and now back to Chicago!
Most of the moves have been due to Chris’ job, but when we initially moved to Vermont after Texas it was for a lifestyle change.
3. What got you into Yoga?
We returned back to Texas after hiking the Appalachian Trail in 1999. The gym I went to offered Yoga so I thought it would be great cross training since I never stretched on my own! The classes were 3 times a week, but sometimes the instructor wouldn’t show up. There were only about 3 of us students so we just started teaching each other and ourselves when the teacher wasn’t there. When we moved to Vermont in 2000 we lived with another couple that we had met while hiking the trail. The woman said she had signed up for this Intro to Ashtanga Yoga Series (Yoga Vermont with Kathy McNames) so I decided to do it with her. After that I took a Yoga for Skiers & Riders series and an Iyengar 6-week series. At that point my practice was mostly these random sporadic series or once a week as cross training. At the time I was heavily involved in soccer, the gym, spinning, softball, running, hiking, snowboarding and dabbled in some rock climbing. When Chris & I were traveling in Central & South America in 2006/07 (notice the gap in dates above) I met an Australian woman in Chile who wanted to do a Yoga Teacher Training in Mexico. I thought that sounded fun so we decided we would do it together. We met up later that year (2007) for a 1 month intensive!
4. How did you and your business partner Sarah meet?
We initially met in India in 2011 while doing a 200 hr. Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training, practicing and learning how to teach the Primary Series.
We then assisted our teacher on another Ashtanga training in Italy later that same year. Sarah led the Asana Lab portion of the training and I taught Restorative & Yin Yoga in the afternoons. We were also roommates, bonded over wine and quickly became friends!
5.Tell us about the birth of Drishti and what you are excited about regarding it’s future?
While we were assistants on the Italy training we also really connected with the students. There were 28 of them and almost all were telling us how much they enjoyed our teaching and specifically liked the way we worked together. We had both been teaching for a few years were excited by the challenge of taking it to another level with the trainings.
After hearing from so many students that we should create our own school we thought “Well, maybe we should!” I remember dreading writing the manual and submitting forms to Yoga Alliance. Now I love writing manuals and am currently working on a Yin Yoga Teacher Training manual for our 1 week 50 hr. training in August in Napa Valley!
For the last few years Drishti has only done month long intensives. We are looking forward to adding some smaller 1 & 2 week modules into the mix for more specific trainings such as Prenatal, Yin & Restorative Yoga. We have so many exciting ideas and plans, it’s just a matter of time and trying to get them all into the calendar while maintaining our home life. Just like the Yoga practice is a balance of strength and flexibility, we try and maintain a good life/work balance. We are both very balanced, authentic people and that definitely comes through in our teaching and the overall feel of our school.
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