Kathryn Budig

As one of the youngest and most widely recognized faces in yoga, Kathryn Budig’s appetite for yoga is infectious. Her playful mixture of challenging classes and her lovable personality is the recipe for a truly inspiring class. As an avid food lover, she is also passionate about sharing healthy, organic and eco-friendly recipes. Kathryn shares her zest for life, yoga and food in her writings for The Huffington Post, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Shine’s Living Section and MindBodyGreen. She has graced the covers of Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Om Yoga and Common Ground. Budig has been featured on E! Entertainment, The Food Network, Shape and The New York Times. She also serves as the brand representative for apparel company ToeSox and ambassador for Pangea Organics. Kathryn is also dedicated to giving back to her community. She co-founded “Poses for Paws,” an organization dedicated to raising money for animal shelters through yoga. You can practice with Kathryn in person or save yourself the plane ticket with her weekly online class at Yogaglo.com. Find her on faculty at Yogaworks Santa Monica, Kripalu or through her upcoming Gaiam DVD, “Aim True Yoga.”

No matter what
No matter where
It’s always home
If love is there.

I grew up with this quote hanging on our kitchen wall. As a little girl, I admired the fine needlework (yes, I grew up in Kansas) rather than the actual message embedded in the thread. As I’ve grown in life and with my yoga practice, I’ve come to fully understand the power behind this simple message. Home and comfort reside in the small things, and love is magically woven into every crevice of our lives when we learn to let go of the story we’re telling ourselves and open our eyes.

The yoga practice is a glorious dance of the physical possibilities in the human body. An advanced practice can take your breath away as easily as it can expand your ujjayi. It can twist and turn in directions that make an artist quiver with creative jealousy and inspire even the heaviest of sloths to entertain a change of mind.

That being said — it can also be intimidating as hell.

I learned, trained, teach and practice in Santa Monica, California. It is the mecca of yoga these days and the cream of the crop when it comes to beautiful practices. It’s hard to find a level 2-3 class that doesn’t have at least one yogi soaring through the air in-between asanas or adding what appears to be a level-X variation to every pose. It can often be inspiring and mind-blowing but it can also be, in a word, daunting.

I love food and I’m pretty sure it’s got a thing for me too.

I grew up in Kansas where cheese came in the form of a thin orange square wrapped in plastic. Dinner often came out of a box and I thought Miracle Whip and mayonnaise were the same thing. I lived blissfully unaware as I continued into my college years thinking the vegetable garden blend of cream cheese was healthy because it contained vegetables. You can’t fault a Kansas girl for trying.

It wasn’t until I started a full-time yoga practice that I started to change my ways. The interesting part was that no one pushed their yogic eating principles on me. It was simple — the more I practiced, the more my desire for good, healthy fuel grew.