meet alex
Lisa Binderow Mar 08, 2017

dear diary,

meet alex crow, a super smart yoga teacher with a wicked sense of humor currently touring the country leading workshops and making students laugh out loud.  after a hilarious and inspiring class, I caught up with alex to chat about her current [healthy] addiction and secret ambition to be a stand-up comedian…

TEACHES…asana classes in Columbus, OH and online classes on PodBean and DoYouYoga.  I also lead teacher trainings in the US and workshops around the world.

FUNNIEST teaching moment… I have a really unique brand of humor that takes a while to get used to. Often times students aren’t sure if I’m joking or if I’ve lost my mind, it’s either your cup of tea or it’s not.  The reason it can be off putting is that I am not politically correct nor do I mince words and my humor can be downright strange sometimes.

I aim to make you laugh while doing physical things that are often times incredibly hard work, not an easy audience.  Almost daily I say something that even I can’t believe I uttered, like today when I began to teach Tadasana and I said “Come to the front of your mat and set up the posture that you have to do in here so that you’ll learn to pay attention to mundane things… but that you won’t do in a grocery store line because you’ll look like a creep…  so don’t go doing this in public and say that I taught you to stand that way…  I’m weird enough, I don’t need that headache too.”  It made me laugh at the very least.

shop: arm warmer in turks & leg warmer knee high in turks

BIGGEST CHALLENGE as an instructor… Saying no to students.  My job is so often to say “No, you may not do that in here that way” or “No, we are not doing that pose at this time” and “No, that instruction you’ve been using for years was never meant for your particular body”.

It takes a lot of strength and courage to stand your ground with adults, especially long time practitioners, but that’s the only way to get them to make progress towards real and sustainable change and growth.

BEAUTY products I love… Eyelash extensions hands down.  There is nothing better than it taking only 5 minutes to do my makeup at 5AM every day.

GROCERY LIST… I am such a creature of habit.  I have a bunch of legitimate food allergies and despite my constant testing of their existence by eating gluten and wheat ridden macaroni and cheese until I want to scratch my eyes out of my head, they exist and this limits my options.

I live on salad, eggs, salmon, more salad, brussel sprouts, yep, salad again, water and Yerba Mate.

DRINK of choice… Yerba Mate as I mention above.  Coffee makes me jittery and ruins my sleep patterns, so I prefer the smooth alert vibe that Mate provides.  I described it to the Whole Foods cashier as “Legal meth without the side effects, such as the risk of taking your small electronics apart”.  She laughed, but see….bad humor.

GUILTY pleasures… Upgrades on airline flights, airline status and TSA Pre. I travel a ton and it doesn’t get any better than skipping lines, the big seats, food (even mediocre food) and on occasion, a free glass of wine.

favorite PHONE APP… iMessage.  I have a text habit that is second to none.  It’s a problem.  It’s a brilliant medium though for getting your point across quickly and easily

HIDDEN TALENT… I’m a great cook and an amateur body worker with some decent skills.  I can also sing the hell out of Islands In The Stream and any Patsy Cline song.

if I wasn’t a FITNESS INSTRUCTOR I would be… A standup comedian, or a super hero.

I WEAR my pipes… on plane rides! The arm warmers are amazing because I hate having cold arms or hands on a plane, with my pipes that is never an issue.

ok, I'm off to Maman to score some of the gluten free banana bread before its all gone...ttyl

xo

Lisa B