Yoga With Mikenze Interviews Rosie DeMario

Meet Rosie! When I stumbled across the idea of interviewing other Yogis for a blog post, this young woman was the first person I thought of. I discovered Rosie while scrolling through the Yoga subReddit. I was so impressed and inspired by her! However, at first I hadn’t followed her account, and didn’t even know her name! I was able to find her again on Reddit, and this interview was born.

What first drew me to Rosie was her posted hyper lapsed video of herself doing a Yoga flow. My jaw dropped when I first watched this video. I instantly recognized that she is much more flexible than I am and is unafraid to invert. This had me so inspired! I've been told numerous times that I inspire people, but this lady is the ultimate inspiration! She is rocking her body in the most confident and unapologetic way! And her back bends are INTENSE, to say the least! This lady can get her feet a few feet from her head while in Wheel pose... this is absolutely INCREDIBLE! She can also lift into a head stand and hold it without the assistance of a wall. Simply amazing! Absolutely AMAZING!

Rosie's Back Bend - AMAZING!

I did not know her. I had never seen her before. But I sent her a message on Reddit explaining my idea and trusted that it would work out just the way it was meant to. When she responded to me that she was interested, I was so excited! She gave me a few details of her practice and informed me that she is a Yoga Instructor in the USA. (Of course she is, she is amazing!) She teaches at a body positive studio called Feel Better Yoga in Burlington, NC. This 37 year old is raising a beautiful Boy and is an essential worker in these trying times. Talk about inspiring!!

Body Positive Yoga with Rosie D

Rosie found Yoga at 26 years old while on a weight loss journey. After trying all the other programs available to her, she decided to try Yoga for a change of pace. She practiced intermittently until about 3 years ago when she finally got a membership at her current Yoga Studio. After a few months of attending sometimes twice daily Yoga classes, Rosie joined with an ambassador membership where she would clean the studio after classes. The studio held a few teacher training classes that Rosie skipped over, but then after 2 years, she finally accepted the training. She officially trained through the first few months of 2019 and began teaching in July of the same year.

Rosie D - A Peaceful Yogi

Rosie worked as a manager in a fast pace work environment that was often stressful. Around the same time she got her membership at her current Yoga Studio was the same time she transitioned careers. Rosie was struck by how much weight was lifted off her shoulders as she walked out of the Studio each day. In the hour when she practiced, she didn't think about the stress of her life and was able to have her “me” time. She was also struck that she could stop thinking for an hour as her mind was often full. That's the power of Yoga! Your time on your mat is your time to be present. To be in the moment. To focus on moving your body with your breath and connect to your inner self, your spirit.

Rosie had been on a weight loss journey for awhile and had been focussing on the physical aspect of this. However, she knew she would soon need to investigate the mental aspects that were keeping her overweight and unhealthy. She knew that this would come through practicing Yoga.

Rosie D Body Positive Yoga Videos

Currently Rosie's Studio focuses on Baptiste Power Yoga, created and founded by Baron Baptiste. The Baptiste method focuses on bringing all aspects of Yoga to the mat. He forces inquiry into oneself while on the mat. Rosie found this method to be very helpful to her in her journey to understand the mental and emotional reasons for being overweight. After about 5 days of practicing Baron's “40 Day Journey Into Power Program”, Rosie had a break through. After asking herself some difficult questions that she had never asked herself before, she found some understanding and healing. Rosie can recognize that she still makes occasional unhealthy choices, but now more than ever, she is able to keep the weight off with the whole package of Yoga.

Rosie D Front Splits - Full Expression

Rosie teaches a Body Positive Yoga Class once per week. She really enjoys using props and teaches to all levels. She feels her classes are unique because she teaches to people of all sizes, can show all of her students how to work with the bodies they are in, and gives a new learning for everyone to take home with them. She teaches to a minimum of 20 people per week and has created a feeling of community in her class. Rosie also teaches Pose Specific Yoga Classes focussed on her specialty – Wheel Pose.

Rosie D - Inversion on the Wall

Rosie has two favourite Asanas in her Yoga practice. This first one is Wheel Pose because she happens to have an extremely flexible back and has been able to work her feet very close to her hands and uses it often as her peak pose. She even goes to the extent to practice push ups while holding her Wheel pose in order to strengthen her shoulders! Her second favourite pose is the Frog pose, and this is due to the mental aspect of this pose. Frog pose is notorious for being torture! Rosie noticed early on that her mind would focus on the pain in her hips rather than focussing on her breath. She had to work to keep focussed on her breath so she could relax into the pose and really get into her hips.

I feel so connected to Rosie. As we chatted about how we got into Yoga and how to work on certain poses and build strength, I felt inspired to let go of my nervousness of inversions and just do it. I am motivated to practice my headstands more frequently and be brave enough to not do it against the wall, and work on building the strength to lift my legs using my abdminals. I am also inspired to add some poses to my classes as well as some props. I learned so much from her in our hour-long conversation! I hope that Rosie can motivate and inspire you to keep going on your Yoga journey no matter where you are in life.

Thank you so much Rosie! <3