Three years ago, during challenging economic times Steve Landry, a contractor in Bend, had a new vision deciding to hang up his tool bag for a yoga mat. Like many in the home building trades, he considered changing careers during the recession and after 15 years the owner of River Bend Heating and Cooling reinvented himself as a hot yoga teacher. He took an intensive nine-week teacher training in Los Angeles, California and then spent 2012 teaching Bikram Yoga in California until he opened his own studio here last year.
“For me doing hot yoga, daily, gives me a reset and balances my other activities,” explains Landry. “I love paddle boarding and the balance training done in yoga complements riding on the river and lakes. “Mentally hot yoga helps me be patient in all of life’s areas, especially growing a new business. I used to be very stressed out, I can still run high on the go go go do do do side of things but I’m able to relax and be ok that I’m not going to change everything all at once, just like in the yoga class it takes time for your body and life to change.”
Landry said as HVAC mechanical contractor he had to observe how equipment worked and what failed to work and how to fix the broken machines. “As a hot yoga teacher I still use those thirty years experience of observing and correcting what’s broken only now I help people heal, correct and improve their body.
“The number one thing I have observed in the hot room is that our women are very stressed out, that’s one reason they outnumber men in yoga class. The have figured out that doing hot yoga regularly helps them de-stress, men are catching on slowly in the western world we live. I have men who practice here that are your blue collar biker guy, a farmer, computer programmer, motel owner, importer. But the largest demographic of my regular students are in some form of health care occupation, employees of St. Charles from every department come to me to take care of their bodies, reset their minds and keep them able to help others, that’s the most rewarding part of my new job the last three years, helping people feel better that help others feel better.”
Following his training and a successful internship, Landry has returned to his home in Bend to open his own Bikram studio.
Steve’s Hot Yoga
2115 NE Hwy 20, #106 Bend
Steve Landry: bendhotyoga@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/steveshotyoga
