- Hi, hi. - Hi, hi.
- Keith Borden: Thank you for being here.
I love teaching.
I love the conversation that is part of teaching.
So that you can feel completely,
so that you can see clearly,
so that you can breathe freely.
- Angela: Yoga is the ancient practice
of moving your body to improve breathing
and to relax your mind.
- Keith Borden: Roll yourself slowly backward
and let your head touch down.
Keith Borden: We don't end up in these situations by accident.
I decided to become a teacher
because something in me said this was the right time.
- Angela: Today, Keith Borden has more than 20 years of experience.
- Start by taking your dominant hand and just holding it up,
kind of like you're making a pledge.
It's not easy to make yoga a profession.
When I started, I just jumped in.
Give yourself about five more breaths.
- Angela: Trained as a classical musician,
and interfaith minister...
- Keith Borden: You can join me.
[chanting and harmonium]
- Angela: Keith takes those callings into the classroom.
- I played harmonium and we did some chanting as a class.
How do I need to be in order to recalibrate myself,
express myself in ways that support
a better world around me?
* May all beings everywhere *
* Be wild and free
- Angela: This restorative and calming approach
guided him through the pandemic,
and, in exchange, helped his students.
- Keith Borden: I could still have something to offer,
something to share
that would help them get through the experience.
[harmonious chanting]
It continues to get me through this experience.
- Angela: At the same time,
Keith sees yoga as a place of shelter and representation.
- Keith Borden: This is a space where you can feel safe.
It's a space where you can feel seen.
It's important that people have teachers
who are not like them, teachers who are men,
in a place where there's mostly women.
Spend just a little bit longer here.
So, representation provides an opportunity
for people to have those 'Aha!' moments in their lives.
When someone who does look like me comes to my class,
that they see themselves represented
and they know that the space is also for them.
If you like, you can bring your two palms together.
And I think it gives me the permission,
and the daily reminder,
to be who I am no matter what the situation,
to be as authentic as I can.
To do as you need, to be as you are.
- Angela: Being authentic also means
being open and honest of his family,
his entire family.
- My great-grandfather was a white man
and he had been a slave owner.
I think it's important for all of us
to know where we came from.
We don't get to pick and choose necessarily
what part of our family history we acknowledge,
who we consider to be an ancestor and who's not an ancestor.
They're all our ancestors.
I often like to think that living the life that I'm living,
my ancestors couldn't have imagined that.
Any message from your soul,
any message from your ancestors that needs your attention,
any burden that you can lay down, just drop that.
I think the biggest message
that I probably receive on a daily basis
is keep going,
and that's the message that I take from my ancestors.
That you keep going so that the ones who follow you
can also keep going.
[birds chirping]
- Angela: Drawing on those experiences
also allows Keith to inspire and be inspired
from all directions.
- But I draw inspiration from my interactions
with my four-year-old daughter.
I draw inspiration from the nature around me.
I want to think about the connections to the earth
and the connections to the sky.
There's an artistic quality to practicing yoga.
The love of what I do is a huge part of it
and I've also been really surprised
by how much people who practice here in Madison
are willing to grow in that experience.
And then, bring those limbs back up to the sky.
This might be different at first, but okay, crazy guy,
I'll take this thing that you're bringing to the table
and I'll see what happens with it,
and then, I'll grow with it.
And see if you can still breathe...
or laugh, that's fine too.
- Angela: Through it all, Keith has also grown.
Stretching far beyond the title of yogi.
- I'm a dad.
I'm a husband.
I'm a singer.
I'm an interfaith minister.
Peace be with you, and blessings upon you.
I try to be a little bit of light
in a world that has a lot of darkness.
And I try to be better each day than I was the day before.
I just try to be me.
I can't be anything more than that.