The Journal

Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: Jamie Ford Gretchen Karros, a yoga instructor at Webster, stands in warrior one pose in a classroom in Webster Hall.

Having returned from a three-week trip to Rishikesh, India, where she helped Swami Kriyananda celebrate 60 years of servitude, Webster yoga instructor Gretchen Karros has re-immersed herself in teaching.


In India, Karros stayed in an ashram, or spiritual community, where she chanted alongside seers and gurus. At Webster, Karros unfurls her yoga mat and teaches the discipline to students.


"Being on a yoga path means being on a path of self-discovery," Karros said. "I have been on a spiritual path for the last 20 years, and it is wonderful."


Karros set foot on the path after graduating from Webster in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She went on to earn a master's degree in counseling from Washington University. Karros briefly worked as a high school guidance counselor before deciding the job wasn't for her.


After completing her graduate work, Karros traveled to Big Sur, Calif., where she studied at the Esalen Institute, a humanistic growth center. Intrigued by alternative methods of healing, Karros enrolled in her first yoga class. Under the tutelage of Joel Kramer, a yoga guru who has written several books on the practice, Karros learned the rigors of the discipline.


Karros was trained in classical yoga, which she said promotes control of the mind, body and spirit. Classical yoga also teaches the history of yoga's origins. As a practitioner of classical yoga, Karros said she studied "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali," a book that contains 196 memorable phrases about the philosophy and practice of yoga.


"Classical yoga is all-encompassing," Karros said. "Other variations are not as holistic. They tend to ignore yoga's philosophy and breathing techniques."


Karros spent a summer in Big Sur before returning to St. Louis, where she began teaching yoga at St. Louis community colleges, including Forest Park and Meramec. Karros has taught beginning and intermediate yoga classes at Webster for seven years.


Denise Motta, a former physical education teacher, met Karros at Meramec, where both women taught. Motta enrolled in one of Karros' classes and quickly embraced yoga.

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