NY Guides – Colleen McKinney
Imagine fitness & health being an effortless part of your day.
Colleen McKinney
Colleen is a certified yoga teacher, having completed 500 hours of training at YogaWorks in New York City. Her teaching style is influenced by two approaches: Iyengar yoga – which emphasizes precise bone alignment so that students can safely move in and out of poses; Vinyasa yoga – which utilizes the power of breathing to move the body and quiet the mind. Combining these two approaches, she helps her students increase body awareness and confidence, tone muscles and focus and calm their minds. She particularly enjoys teaching beginners, seniors, people who work at desks and anyone who says, “I can’t do that. I’m not flexible.”
Certifications
Certified Yoga Teacher (YogaWorks, New York City, 2008 and 2011), Restorative Yoga training (25 hours, with Jillian Pransky, 2012), Baby Boomer & Beyond training (yoga for seniors with Rama Nina Patella, 2011), CPR and AED (Automatic External Defibrillator Certified).
Specialties
Mat yoga focusing on the alignment of bones (Iyengar) and breath-initiated movements (Vinyasa), and chair yoga, based on the same principles.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Overcoming my fear of public speaking by becoming a yoga teacher. If I hadn’t believed in myself and taken the leap, I wouldn’t be experiencing the incredible fulfillment that teaching gives me every day.
Who do you admire?
Bill Moyers (for digging deep), Julia Child (for her adventurousness and humor), Helen and Scott Nearing (for being self-sufficient), Sandra Steingraber (for her articulate and fierce defense of the environment) and my teacher Chrissy Carter (for too many reasons to list here).
How do you want to be remembered?
As someone who cared, and, with love and compassion, did something about it.
When was the last time you cried laughing and why?
I would probably go back to Santorini (the Greek island). A few years ago I went with some of my best girlfriends that I was dancing with at the time. We stayed on the busy south coast, where the black sand beaches are. We drove four-wheelers around the island, and drove on the cliff sides as the sun was setting. It was one of the most memorable and liberating experiences I have had, so far removed from my life in New York. I have never been so excited by the freedom and beauty of a particular place.
When was the last time you cried laughing and why?
Talking to my little sister. Something to do with her comparing her sweet, orange cat, Ray, to a meatloaf.
What was the best gift you ever received?
Plane tickets from my in-laws to go anywhere in the world with my husband. (A fifth-wedding-anniversary gift, yet to be used!)