Tami Holtan

I have been practicing Bikram yoga for 16 years. I discovered it when I was 30.

As a young person I was raised in a home of sedentary people. As a senior in high school, an influential teacher required all of the students to run 1 mile. I did not believe that was possible. That moment inspired me to complete a 3 mile run around Lake Harriet. From there, I went on to eventually train for 3 marathons. This was a beginning.

Fast forward to age 30, when I ordered the book, Bikram’s Beginning Yoga class. I wanted to try a class, but I was afraid to. Knowledge is soothing, and so I read the book to prepare for the first class. I wandered into the Bikram yoga studio on Lyndale avenue, and took my first class.

This really did take all of the bravery that I could muster. I hated heat, and I hated looking at myself in the mirror, and I definitely felt that I didn’t belong in there with all of those athletic-type people.

But I took a second class, and then a third, and then I bought an unlimited month, and never left.

Over years of practice, I have read books, done yoga challenges, taken workshops, and even participated in local yoga competitions, and 1 national competition.

Throughout these same years, I have been a self-employed cosmetologist. I have co-owned a public salon, become a home-owner, started a private salon in my home, completed my bachelors degree in Art History, gotten married and started a family. I continued my practice through all of these transitions.

I have had the pleasure of taking workshops with Rajashree Choudury, Emmy Cleaves, Mary Jarvis, Ida Ripley, and many more. Last year I completed a 230 hour yoga teacher training with Iyengar Master, William Prottengeier. In 2018 I completed a 500 hour teacher training offered through the Yoga Factory and Mpls Yoga.

Martha Williams says, the yoga is about you. It helps you be you.

This yoga has helped me be me in ways that I never knew were possible.

When I am not at the studio, I am either home working on clients, at my cabin, or at car shows with my family. We are hybrid mice, enjoying city and country in equal measure.

I am always looking for ways to be the best me for myself, my family, my clients and my community. This yoga helps me do that.