Meet Gina Minyard: Yoga & Meditation Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gina Minyard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gina, what inspires you?
As a yoga and meditation teacher, I am inspired by personal growth and transformation. I am inspired by the commitment to the path. Both of these practices bring us into what is more real, true, and sane. That is a good thing for sure, but it is not always easy to realign oneself to this ongoing revelation. This has been my process… and to witness that in others keeps me on fire. It takes so much courage and surrender. And yet, it is the only way to be truly content and purposeful. When students share with me their stories of healing and shifting, it always moves me. The product of yoga and meditation is becoming more fully ourselves.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a yoga teacher, but really I consider yoga to be my art. It is an avenue of personal, spiritual, artistic expression, as much as it is a means to move my body and process emotions. Like any art, there is technique – learning to play the instrument. And the inspiration and expression flow from there. So as a teacher, I invite my students into knowing thier own instrument – their bodies and minds, what moves and motivates. We find magic as the creative expressive process unfolds from there. I am a lifetime practitioner and teacher, as well as a student… I truly have studied so much about all the dimensions of yoga, and continue to this day. Honestly, I am not sure how to orient this to my career and my brand – to pursue yoga and meditation, and to offer it as a teacher, has been an organic process of following my heart. I guess my greatest challenges are around working the business dimensions of this! I imagine that is true for a lot of creatives and artists. For me it just keeps working out.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am a bit of a homebody, so I don’t have great answers to this question, unfortunately. I’d probably ask around to get suggestions for where to take them! Though there would be a good Mexican food place involved – that I can tell you. And probably a hike at the Chattahoochee River. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have had so many amazing teachers in my journey. I would especially honor Paul Muller-Ortega, founder of Blue Throat Yoga – my meditaiton and philosophy teacher; Desiree Rumbaugh, international yoga teacher and my greatest yoga and life mentor, and Livia Shapiro, founder of Applied Psychology for Yogis, who brought me home into my body and psyche. I would also honor the yoga studio owners that have created the spaces and welcomed me to teach there – Graham Fowler, Ilona Moore, Phil Davis, Lori Denton, and so many more.

Website: www.ginaminyard.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ginaminyardyoga

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GinaMinyardYoga

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GinaMinyardYogaMeditation

Image Credits
Madison Best, Kelley Sue Photography