April 24, 2017

Meet Addie deHilster of Spiral Path Yoga Center in Glendale

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Addie deHilster.

Addie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started practicing yoga back in the late 90’s when I was a stressed-out college student. I fell in love with the practice right away, but it took eleven years before it occurred to me that I might want to teach yoga, even though I had taught other things like music and even undergraduate college courses. After I took my first yoga teacher training, I just wanted to dip my toes into teaching without a lot of expectations, so I started a free yoga class in a park. Initially, I thought it would just be for my friends who were kind enough to help me refine my teaching skills, but it ended up being an ongoing class for a year and a half.

I branched out to teaching at other venues, like gyms and studios, and eventually had the opportunity to help envision and start up a yoga studio called TheraYoga with a friend, Samantha Joseph. We had both shifted our teaching to a very therapeutic orientation, and we wanted to offer students a space where they could explore the healing side of yoga together in group classes.

At the beginning of 2016, I became the new co-owner of this wonderful studio, and we changed the name to Spiral Path Yoga Center. Our new name is meant to capture the winding and often-unpredictable journey of the self-healing process (the spiraling path), as well as the deepening into a meditative experience through yoga. We want to put forth a kind of yoga practice that speaks to the whole human – body, heart, and mind.

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?
Being a yoga teacher as a profession is challenging, much in the same way that it’s challenging to make a living as an artist, or any type of freelancer. There’s a freedom in being your own boss, but it’s also a lot of work to get established and to create opportunities. You have to have patience balanced with determination, and a lot of faith in yourself.

Yoga and meditation have helped me learn to stay open to what will come. It feels so much safer and more secure to try to plan everything out, but I want to try to stay present here and now, even as I peek forward and envision the possibilities in my future or for the studio. I am in the process of learning how to make space for good things to happen on their own – without always thinking that I have to do the heavy lifting to make everything happen myself. It turns out I don’t have that much control over the universe! And yet, things have a way of working out.

Spiral Path Yoga Center – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Spiral Path Yoga Center is an independent, community yoga and meditation studio in La Crescenta, CA. We specialize in making yoga accessible to students of different backgrounds and ability levels, including those with injuries, chronic pain, or conditions that need special care. We offer a variety of classes every day to suit a wide range of different needs. Some classes are more active and strengthening, to challenge more experienced practitioners, while others are slow-paced, with a relaxing and meditative vibe. Everyone here is really warm and friendly, so it’s a very non-intimidating place to try yoga.

People particularly seek us out for our Yin Yoga classes and teacher trainings. Yin Yoga is a form of yoga that blends poses with Mindfulness Meditation and energetic principles from Chinese Medicine, similar to acupressure. Our Yin classes are a community favorite, and because it’s hard to find experts in this style, we’ve had students drive from out-of-state to take our Yin Yoga Teacher Training.

Mindfulness Meditation is another very strong influence at our studio. Because I’ve personally been practicing Vipassana (Insight Meditation, aka Mindfulness) for a decade alongside yoga, I wanted to bring these two practices together under one roof. So often, you have to go to a meditation center to learn to work with your mind, and to a yoga center to learn to work with your body. We know that this mind-body split is artificial, so it’s kind of crazy that we literally do these practices in different buildings! In my yoga classes, I weave in Mindfulness principles with the intention of introducing meditation through movement. We also have two donation-based meditation groups that meet each week, for people who want to learn the traditional sitting practice and explore philosophy. We find that integrating the practices of yoga and meditation enriches the benefits of both.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think the thing I’m the most proud of is the yoga education I’ve pursued for myself. I’ve taken over 1,000 hours of training to date, mostly in yoga therapy, biomechanics, mindful yoga, meditation, and Yin Yoga. Graduating from the Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was a big moment for me. Through that program, I got to study with some of my role models, and to complete 30 days of silent retreat practice.

I’m also extremely proud of the students who have graduated from our teacher training programs. I lead Spiral Path Yoga Center’s 200-Hour Teacher Certification, as well as our Yin Yoga Trainings. It’s always gratifying to watch our trainees work hard learning anatomy, philosophy, postures, Sanskrit terms, therapeutic concepts, and more. Then, to see them put that knowledge into practice teaching their own classes is a huge thrill.

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