My first yoga interview with my OM-boy, Jonathan Cronin
Why a Series of Yoga Interviews?
I’m lucky to know a lot of wonderful yogi(nis), like Jonathan Cronin, who are willing to let me (and you…and the world wide web…) into their personal relationships with yoga — why he started a yoga practice that includes Ashtanga, how he developed a home practice, and what yoga gives him off the mat.
This series will feature a variety of practitioners and teachers, emphasizing there’s no one way or “right” way to do yoga.
Check out the full People Who Practice Series here!
While yoga stories and experiences are certainly linked, grounded in the tradition of the practice, our individual relationships to yoga are as diverse as yoga practitioners.
Learning about people’s varying paths into the practice and about how yoga affects life on and off the mat, this helps us understand why yoga really can be for everybody and every body.
Jonathan and I were in IPY’s 200-hour teacher training in the fall of 2013. He is one of my favorite and most influential yoga teachers (I’ve been taking classes with him since 2014), has affected how I think about the practice as a student and a teacher, and it was Jonathan who encouraged me to stop dawdling and actually start teaching.
He’s my Ashtangi guru (Ashtanga is Jonathan’s daily practice). We’ve attended and also led workshops together. He’s a good friend, and I place high value on his many insights — yogic and otherwise.
Name & Age
Jonathan Cronin, 35 years old
When did you start practicing yoga?
I took my first class sometime in 2011 at my gym, but I really started regularly in 2012 when I found Vinyasa yoga.
How many years have you consistently practiced yoga?
I’ve practiced regularly for about 6 years, and after the first few months I began a daily Ashtanga practice.
How long have you been teaching?
I’ve been teaching for about 4.5 years, since completing training in February 2014 — first at some local gyms in the area, then at the studio where I did my training.
Why did you start to practice?
I was always overweight growing up, and most sports are difficult for me because of a vision impairment. In college, I started long distance running, and found that I really enjoyed it. I ran exclusively for years, until about 2011, when my running injuries were so constant and painful that I had to stop running and try some new things. I stepped into my first yoga class and have been practicing ever since.
What other kinds of physical exercise or activity did you do regularly before yoga? Have those activities been affected by yoga, and if yes, how?
Running was my priority before yoga [Ashtanga or Vinyasa], and I was hoping that the practice would help me get back into running regularly; but what really happened was that yoga became my priority, and running is just something I do for fun once in a while now. I also kickbox and weight-lift regularly, and in general, I feel like my endurance and range of motion have increased substantially as my yoga practice has developed. It just feels better to move; I don’t feel like I’m on the edge of injury or up against tightness in my joints all the time. Without a doubt, I feel better than I have in my entire life.
What does daily or weekly home-practice look like for you? What style(s)?
I do some type of practice at home every day, usually an Ashtanga-based practice from 6:15am-7:30am. Recently, I’ve been adding some Rocket elements to it (handstand transitions, chaining seated postures together), but it’s pretty close to a shorter Primary Series. Outside of home practices, I also spend a fair amount of time playing around with individual drills and stretches while I’m watching Netflix or something like that, or rolling out muscles with a roller or lacrosse ball. I find these exercises really valuable.
(February 2018)
Do you also practice in a studio? What style(s)?
I practice and teach at a Vinyasa yoga studio and really love the creative, flowing nature of Vinyasa; I like not knowing what is coming next, and being exposed to new things. The community of the studio is also wonderful: sharing, being inspired, learning from each other.
Is there anything you find challenging about either a consistent home practice or just practice in general?
A consistent home practice is so valuable; it’s something you can take with you wherever you go, you can bring your focus where you think you need it, you’re completely free from any outside influence. However, that flexibility also makes it easier to fudge a bit: when you know you can practice whenever/wherever, then it’s tempting to push it off. (“Oh, I’ll just do it later, then.”)
Having a set time where you practice, and knowing you don’t have a fallback time is very helpful for me. I know that the only time my home practice is likely to happen is before breakfast in the mornings.
After that, I’m at work, I practice at the studio, I teach, I get home and have to eat — there’s not really a space for it to fit in later, so I can’t use that excuse. That makes it much easier to get through that first rusty sun salutation during my Ashtanga practice at 6:15am.
For someone who’s just getting started with yoga (or a home practice), what advice would you offer?
Yoga is pretty different from other activities, in that you don’t want to push 110%. Let yoga start from a place that feels good; find that stretch that might be 80% of where you can go, and just stay there for a bit, leave a little room for the breath. And soon enough, sensation in that place will fade, and you’ll have to go deeper to find it again. You don’t have to torture yourself; the progression will still be there because intensity doesn’t really matter in yoga. It’s consistency that makes the difference.
What’s the biggest change — physical or otherwise — you’ve noticed since you started to practice yoga?
Obviously there are contortions and things I can do now that I couldn’t do before, but physically, I just feel better now most of the time. I don’t have the constant injuries I had before. I also feel much more patient and secure; everything feels very in-perspective, and I don’t remember being as content in life as I am now.
What’s your favorite pose…or poses?
I’m going to cheat and say not really a pose, but transitions between poses are my favorite. Jumping through, jumping back, transitioning between arm balances; finding a controlled way from point A to B is my favorite part of the practice.
What benefits does yoga offer to you, off the mat?
Beyond the typical things like feeling calmer, happier (you know, that boring stuff), I met most of my friends through yoga. Finding a community of people kind of looking for the same thing has brought a lot of wonderful people into my life, and that’s probably the biggest benefit off of the mat.
How do you find your ‘om’ when you’re not on the mat?
If I were to pick something that gives me a similar feeling to what I get from yoga (Ashtanga or Vinyasa), I’d say juggling (of all things). I’ve juggled for something like 20 years, and like yoga, it’s a practice where there’s always something new to learn, and has a similar meditative aspect to it. When I’m juggling or on my mat, and I’m really into it, I feel very in the moment and connected.
Check out Jonathan’s IG — @jugglingjon — to see his incredible Ashtanga yoga practice and, from time to time, some juggling.
