Are you man enough for yoga? Interview with Peter Knisel
By Val Schoger Photography by Michael Booini
WHEN I STARTED YOGA, I COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH MY TEACHER – THAT INTRIGUED ME
Born and raised in Manhattan, Peter Knisel has experienced extremes. A graduate of Washington University (St. Louis) and New York University, he earned a master’s degree in literature. He found his way to yoga while recovering from cancer treatments and evolved from student to teacher. As you would expect, he is soft spoken and conveys inner calm and peace. What is unexpected is his history of working in the entertainment industry in the 1970s and 1980s. He lived “the crazy life during the days of disco” as a representative of the theater division of one of the biggest talent agencies in the country at the time. He later transferred from New York to the company’s television and film division in Los Angeles and worked for celebrities such as singer Natalie Cole. To escape a fast-paced and destructive lifestyle, he moved to Panama City Beach in 1988 and faced several battles with cancer throughout the years. Today he teaches yoga classes several times a week.
How did you get started with yoga?
It was in 2008. I was 60 at the time. The fitness instructor at my gym guided me into taking a yoga class. The only class available that day was power yoga and it nearly killed me (laughs). I was just finishing cancer treatments. Physically, I was not in good shape. I had never done yoga and didn’t know one from the other and never imagined it could be that hard. It was terrible. I could not keep up with the female teacher at all. That also intrigued me. The next day I went again and participated in a traditional yoga class. I started taking classes every day and then decided to become a teacher. I have taught about 3,000 classes since then.
What type of yoga do you teach?
I teach traditional Vinyasa Hatha yoga. I have students in my class at Gulf Coast State College who are taking my classes for credit. At the gym, my classes are very mixed, with many of my students trying yoga for the first time. I also continue studying yoga and decided six months ago to learn Ashtanga yoga. I am taking David Bulger’s classes six days of the week.
You said you had three types of cancer…?
I had a type of a blood cancer in 1986. Then I had another cancer in 1997, and colon cancer in 2008. This was when I started yoga. I wish I’d started much sooner, 30 years sooner.
How has yoga changed your life?
I decided to retire from my other job, study yoga and become a yoga teacher. That was a challenge, especially being in front of people and all that. It’s hard to imagine my life without it now. I just turned 70. I’m in pretty good shape. Just having taught so many people is rewarding. For maybe every 10 people you teach, one or two really connect with it and go further. That’s a really good feeling. It is also rewarding when I run into people I haven’t seen in years and they tell me they enjoyed my classes.
What would you tell people who are just getting started?
Yoga brings together your body, your mind, and your spirit. That’s unusual to happen anymore. We are so scattered and never really feel like we are completely in one place at one time. In yoga, all aspects of your body and mind are connected by your breathing.
Yoga is still very misunderstood. It is not a religious cult or religion-oriented. It is spiritual, but it’s your own spirituality. Western yoga doesn’t try to connect you to anything than yourself. There is a great book I just gave to David Bulger, “The Science of Yoga.” It came out a couple of years ago. I would recommend it to every skeptic.
When you started, how many men were there in the classroom with you?
Probably just me.
What was that like? Were you given looks?
Not really. In the first class, the power yoga class, the teacher was much stronger than I was. She was amazing. I was intimidated by her. She was tall, beautiful, and incredibly strong. I was floored by her. I really didn’t pay much attention to whether there were other guys in the room or not. I was just trying to not embarrass myself in front of her.
How many male yoga students are participating in your classes?
There are a few. But some don’t last very long at all.
Why do you think that is?
They might expect something totally different. Yoga requires a combination of strength and flexibility. If you are strong but don’t have any flexibility, your body is not able to use the strength in the poses. Often, guys feel discouraged real fast. About two years ago I had eight navy divers in my class once or twice a week. It was nice having them. They got a lot out of it because they wanted to.
I had a guy just the other day–he had never done yoga before. He came in with his girlfriend. He got through four minutes. We weren’t even doing any yoga yet. We practiced breathing and he got up and left.
Do you think his pride got in the way?
I wanted to talk to him after class but I didn’t see him. He was just impatient. But I also get very enthusiastic guys. There is one right now. He is in his 40s and has been breakdancing his entire life. He practices yoga because it helps him with the dance moves. There are also several who have an improved golf swing through yoga.
How do you think men can be motivated to try yoga? What would you tell them?
I think just by doing it enough you start getting involved in your own practice. You start forgetting about everything else. When I started, I completely concentrated on my health. Maybe I viewed yoga as a way to regain the things I lost through the cancer treatment. I didn’t think about much else. Admittedly, I was self-conscious about not being able to keep up but I wanted to learn. I didn’t think that, at age 70, I would have a 20 something-year-old teacher like David and I would still be learning as much as I am. The world we live in is now more than ever crazy. I am a news junkie, I am political. I could watch five hours of news a day. I am really addicted to it. If I didn’t have yoga to counterbalance that, I can’t imagine where I might have been.
In some moments, when it all comes together– you’ve taught a class, or you’ve taken a class and you are happy with yourself. Your body, your mind, and your spirit are at ease and a feeling of accomplishment sets in. It all comes together. When it all works, you feel an enormous satisfaction. My sister was a ballet dancer. She studied at Juilliard School. She experienced the same in dancing. When you are on stage and everything that you’ve trained for and studied, all the hard work pays off and you feel the emotional part of dancing, and the music, and the other people, it all comes together, it puts you in a state of euphoria.
What do you think makes a good teacher or a good student?
I think in yoga particularly you have to always get back to the yoga. I have experienced yoga teachers where the class became more about them and who they are than about the yoga. I think as a teacher you should demonstrate the breathing and the poses and all of that. Be yourself but do not try to be more than yourself.
Do you think your students see you as a guru in one way?
(Laughs) I hope not. No, anybody who tries to tell me or tell somebody that they can help them… there is too much commerce nowadays…. not that people can’t help one another but that someone will have all the answers and can solve all the problems in your life, I just don’t trust that.
Peter Knisel’s teaching schedule can be found online at
www.gulfcoast.edu/current-students/academic-divisions/wellness/wellness-classes.html