Just when the snow begins to pile up around the Wood River Valley each winter, yoga teachers Ryan and Paige Redman take a few lucky people to far-flung regions of the world to practice the Hindu arts of yoga. In the past two years, 30 Wood River Valley residents have traveled to India, Mexico and Costa Rica to study yoga and find adventure. For some it has been a spiritual journey.
Ryan is a Sun Valley native who began practicing yoga at age 12 following a back injury. In 2005 he returned to the Wood River Valley from a sojourn in southern India where he and Paige were married in a traditional Indian wedding ceremony in the city of Bangalore. Since then the couple have taught yoga and ayurvedic (traditional Indian herbal) medicine at various places in the valley.
"I feel that we are blessed to be doing this together," Ryan said. "In working together, Paige seems to be more heart centered. I am come more from the mind. I'd say we teach a classical form of yoga."
However, he added, "the essence of yoga cannot be taught. It has to be embodied. No matter what your practice is, yoga inevitably pulls you into yourself and toward your deeper qualities as an individual."
Ketchum real estate agent Tom Drougas embodied some of Redman's teachings last winter on the remote Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.
"The place was really fantastic," said Drougas, who has a degree in religious studies and is a five-year veteran of the National Football League. "There were monkeys all over the place, tree sloths, and amazing birds. We were 30 miles off the grid in the jungle."
Drougas and several other yoga practitioners from the Wood River Valley practiced several hours each day in the tropical rainforest at Tierra de Milagros retreat center, eating organic food and exploring the tropical coast in between classes.
"Ryan never fails to emphasize the 'end game' of Yoga, which is to perfect your meditation practice," Drougas said. "I believe this is what the asanas, or physical postures, are all about eventually, to learn to just sit."
The focus of the Redmans' spring 2008 Costa Rica retreat will be "on opening the door of introspection through cultivating attention in yoga and meditation," according to their Web site.
Last week the Redmans were teaching yoga and ayurvedic cooking in the Philippines, before traveling to San Diego, Calif., to teach a group of 13 kids at High Tech High School.
"Last weekend I taught two classes up in a northern province of Baguio on the main island of the Phillipines," Redman reported by e-mail this week. "It was really nice to share with these people as their exposure to yoga has been very limited. Aside from teaching a couple of classes I will be doing some consultations regarding herbal therapies and lifestyle changes. I have chosen not to do as much in the Phillipines this year so that I can be vital for India."
Redman teamed up two years ago with world traveler Ashley Ruback to form Redback Travels, which offers a 20-day "spiritual adventure" for those eager to see the birthplace of yoga.
"My first day in India with my group from Sun Valley was classic," he said. "We stayed in a small guest house in the holy city of Vrindavan, across from the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram (home of the guru of Sun Valley Wellness Festival speaker Ram Dass). I remember waking up in the morning to find the entire group standing behind the fence at the guesthouse. They were timidly peering out into the street watching the chaos of India go by. They all were paralyzed at the action that unfolded before them and no one dared to cross the property line into the street. It wasn't until I went downstairs and walked out into the street that they started to slowly make their way out into the 'real world' of India. It was then that I realized how different the view was on Main Street in Ketchum."
Colleen Pace is a long-time Hailey resident who traveled to India in 2006 for one of the Redmans' six-week journeys to holy sites, including Rishikesh, Vrindavan, and Dharmasala, the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She remembers doing yoga in the mornings while looking up at the Himalayas, and visiting the Taj Mahal under a full moon.
"India was fascinating to me," she said. "But it also takes some people to their knees. We visited the city of Varanasi on the Ganges River where it is everyone's wish in India to be cremated. There is a lot of neat stuff in India, and also a lot of dark stuff."
In Rishikesh, Pace attended the nightly festivals of one "Swami G" to honor the Hindu god Krishna and benefit numerous foster children under his care. Afterward, some of the yogi/pilgrims from the Wood River Valley took turns seeking his spiritual guidance.
"We asked him about forgiveness and about happiness," Pace said. "He said 'God does not keep a scorecard,' and that your have to begin by forgiving yourself. He also said that happiness comes from not having any expectations in your heart, but by accepting things just as they are."
The Redmans will travel and teach from Jan. 25 to April 15. This year's yoga tour of India will coincide with the 2008 International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan Ashram in the city of Rishikesh, considered by many to be the yoga capital of the world.
Ryan and Paige Redman stand beside a statue of Hindu god Krishna in India.
