Sure, she’s a Nike poster girl with clients like Ashley Judd, Heather Graham, and John Cusack on speed dial. But Los Angeles-based yoga teacher Seane Corn is more like you than you think. At 39, she works hard, she’s in a long-term relationship with her partner and his three kids, and even she has days when she doesn’t want to practice. Yoga is her passion, but, as she explains to YogaLife’s Kristen Dollard, it’s also the antidote to arm flab, perfectionism, and all the other dramas of the day

Q&A

Q: What first led you to yoga?

A: I moved from New Jersey to New York City alone at age 17 looking for adventure. This was 1984. I had access to—and indulged in—all of the popular drugs. My first job was at the Life Café in the East Village, and when my boss, David Life, and coworker, Sharon Gannon, returned from a trip to India they began to advocate yoga and vegetarianism. [The pair went on to open the Jivamukti Yoga Center, a celeb-friendly space in New York City.] Because I saw such positive changes in them, I decided to try it and cleaned up my own act.

Q: Was there a moment when yoga just clicked for you?

A: I was just doing my upward facing dog and chaturangas and loving the way my stomach looked, and one day in a yoga pose, I cried. I didn’t know why I felt such a release. I was overwhelmed. Once that happened the yoga practice went to places I never expected it to go.

Q: Like where?

A: For example, some people—like me—won’t take a break ever. I need the ceiling to fall on my head before I surrender. When I get to that edge, when I am breathing too hard, my personality won’t back down because I’d feel like I let myself or somebody else down. Yoga has taught me how to ease up.

Q: What have you seen yoga do for other women?

A: I’ve seen women remove their implants, stop eating fast food, and walk away from unhealthy relationships. To me, anytime any woman gets on the mat, it’s a victory because they are taking time for themselves.

Q: Do you have any inspiration for days when we just don’t feel like getting on the mat?

A: Just give yourself permission to do 15 minutes. Say, “All right, I’m going to do a couple of sun salutes, a couple of standing poses, an inversion, and I’m good to go.” And leave it alone. Don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t do an hour.

Q: To some, yoga means living in a pure, spiritual realm. Can you be committed to yoga and, at the same time, live in the “real world”?

A: Believe me, in my 20s I wore the mala [prayer] beads and the hemp skirts and tie-dyed T-shirts. I played out all of it. Eventually balance took over, and I started realizing you can live in the material, physical world—you just do it consciously. There is a feeling in the yoga community that there’s some great blessing in being broke and destitute. I don’t agree.

Q: Do you have material-world weaknesses?  

A: I love to shop. I buy myself one beautiful bag a year. It’s very meditative for me, and once in a while, if I get a pair of shoes, a fabulous pair of pants, or a great moisturizer for a ridiculous amount of money, I don’t punish myself for it.

Q: Your last great purchases?

A: A vinyl Marc Jacobs travel bag. And jeans; I have more jeans than any person ever. I run out and buy whatever someone says is the hottest—as long as they make my butt look good.

Q: In class you joke that you’re a horrible person without 2 hours of poses. Really?

A: I can be hard on myself. I can be hard on the people around me. So if I don’t breathe and don’t move every single day, tension just builds in my system, and then it will come out in other ways.

Q: But you always seem so chill and composed.

A: Believe me, I get triggered. I just came home, and I know someone smoked in my car. I left a very nasty message on their cell phone. I am angry, and I’m not going to be all “Om Namah Shivaya” [Sanskrit for “The Lord who dwells in every heart”] about it.

Q: So dealing with stress and problems is what you mean by yoga “off the mat”?

A: Yes. You do the best you can with what you know. A lot of self-forgiveness, trial and error. In every situation you try to find the grace. Life is hard.

Q: So yoga isn’t all love, peace, and happiness?

A: To me, you are not doing your job if you haven’t provoked someone or something. Yoga is braver than that and more assertive than that. It’s not Pollyanna-ish.

Q: And neither are you.

A: Exactly.