“Let what comes come, let what goes go, find out what remains.” —Ramana Maharshi

This quote embodies so much of what practice means to me. For as long as I can remember, I have lived a life of movement and contemplation. I started professional dance training at a young age and got swept up in the joys of learning to use my body to express emotion, the pure athletics of big, dynamic movement, and the precision and care that classical ballet demands. I discovered I had a natural talent, and I left my small town in Alaska to attend a prestigious arts boarding school in Southern California. It’s there at the age of 16 that I discovered yoga. My modern dance teacher would use it as a warm-up for her classes. It may be hard to believe, but initially, I didn’t enjoy yoga. However, something was compelling about the practice and I decided right there, I wanted to learn more, and I stuck with it.

I moved to New York City to attend the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and, much like boarding school, yoga was a part of my daily training. I saw how much it helped me navigate the rigors of the professional dancing world, both mentally and physically. My teacher at Tisch offered me a spot in her first-ever yoga teacher training, and I accepted. It took me on a journey I could have never imagined.

I spent a decade dancing, performing, and teaching yoga. I taught anyone who would let me, in the tiniest studios in Brooklyn, to the biggest mega gyms of Manhattan. At one point, I had over 20 classes and clients a week, ranging from big-name celebrity students to a yoga therapy client in her 80s with advanced dementia. In 2012, I took my 500-hour yoga teacher training with esteemed teacher and yoga pioneer Cyndi Lee, and shortly after I began assisting her. We’ve had an incredible journey of teaching yoga all over the USA and filming for Yoga International, Yoga Journal, and Lion’s Roar Magazine.

In recent years, I’ve niched down into being a private practice specialist and yoga teacher trainer. I see between 10 and 15 private clients a week in NYC and have taught and directed both 200- and 300-hour yoga teacher trainings. I also coach and mentor young teachers on how to create a viable business as a yoga professional that is in line with their values.

I’m a certified meditation teacher and have spent a decade studying intensively inside the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. I’ve taken refuge vows, attended over 20 retreats, and Buddhist philosophy informs every aspect of how I teach yoga and interact with the world.

For more about Hunt, visit huntparryoga.com.

Please join us for Moving into Stillness: An Afternoon of Yoga and Meditation with Hunt on March 13, 2021.