Yoga Teacher Spotlight: Kristen Hague

What’s your most vivid memory from your first yoga class, either as a student or a teacher?

"My mind went to the first yoga class I took right away, so that’s what I’ll talk about. It was several years ago, and I came to it with a fair bit of skepticism, having decided at some point that yoga wasn’t for me. Not that I’d really tried it (once, in college, but I didn’t even make it through the first class). 

A lot changed in my life in the past ten years – loss of parents and other family members, a life-changing medical diagnosis for my husband, and a personal struggle with addiction; and yoga is part of the healing journey, a transformational one, that started with sobriety. 
It was my therapist who first suggested yoga, and I wasn’t having it. Until eventually I was. I was ready to take my healing to a deeper level, and the next step was getting into my body, which I had pretty much already written off as worn out beyond repair. 

My first class was private and with a teacher who had been highly recommended. I was excited but also terrified that my body wouldn’t make it through the hour, that yoga was something I couldn’t do. 

The most important lesson I learned from that first class – and still one of my most vivid memories – is that sensation isn’t pain. As I sat in my first sukhasana, well-cushioned by a thick mat and a blanker, I fought the urge to straighten my legs, to stand up, because my brain was telling me I couldn’t do this, that the uncomfortable feeling in my knees was a clear sign. I think my teacher must have seen it in my face because she started to talk about the difference between sensation and pain, and how to listen to what was really happening and not let my thoughts run the show. 

I bought an introductory membership to the studio after class that day and haven’t really looked back. Even though there was so much I couldn’t do (pretty much everything), what I could do lit up my mind, body, and spirit."

What’s the most rewarding part of being a yoga teacher for you?

"Being able to give back some of what I’ve received from yoga in a way that makes yoga accessible, welcoming, and safe. When I started my teacher training, I wasn’t sure if I’d wind up teaching after, and I definitely didn’t know what I would want to teach if I did teach. Vinyasa, most likely, since that was what my training focused on. And that’s what I taught initially – heated and non-heated flow classes. And they were and are wonderful. But I also teach a restorative yoga class, Y12SR, and a free all-levels class for faculty and staff at CMU to encourage my colleagues to take a break that prioritizes their health and well-being."

What does yoga mean to you beyond the physical practice?

"Beyond the physical, yoga is a spiritual practice for me. And a way of life. And a powerful healer. I wrote elsewhere about how I came to yoga as I was working to heal some wounds and let go of what wasn’t serving me from my past. I didn’t have much of a belief system or spiritual practice then, and I was looking for both. 

Honestly, though, I didn’t know that yoga would be so transformative when I began. I knew it was probably going to be good for me, and that I probably should do it, but that was about it. I was and still am involved in a recovery program – one that sees addiction as a primarily spiritual disease – and it wasn’t long before I started to open to yoga as a practice of the mind, spirit, and soul as well as the body. And the universe has provided so many amazing opportunities and amazing people to learn from on my journey since then. 

One of those is Nikki Myers and Y12SR, the yoga of 12-step recovery. It’s a program she created that brings together the spiritual principles of yoga and the twelve steps of AA, NA, Al-Alon, etc. For me, Y12SR provides a practice and a philosophy that brings together what felt like two very different modalities before that. I completed a training with her in the summer of 2024 and have been offering monthly Y12SR meetings since then. It goes back to the giving back that I talked about earlier. I’ve received so much from yoga and from the recovery community, and being able to create safe and nurturing places to share that brings me a lot of joy and gratitude."

What’s your go-to mantra or yoga philosophy principle, and why?

"Be here now. It’s so simple, and we’ve heard it countless times, but it’s really at the heart of everything. Before tai chi and yoga (I studied tai chi first), I struggled to be in the present for more than a few moments before being pulled back into the hamster wheel of my mind and thoughts. Back to the monkey mind. Yoga is a solution to that, and being and existing in the present is a profound and joyful gift. 

Or maybe just ‘where's your breath?’"

What’s a key lesson you’ve learned from teaching yoga?

"The power of community. Of the energy created when people share their practice. Sangha. That in teaching, I receive as much as I give, if not more."

What’s your vision for the future of your yoga teaching and practice?

"I love to learn and share what I’m learning, and that will continue to shape what yoga looks like and means in my life. I’ve already done some teacher training beyond my first 200 hours with Y12SR, and I hope to continue with deeper training in restorative yoga this summer. I’m planning to do some training in restorative yoga this summer, and in the future, I’d like to study yoga and (addiction) recovery as well as trauma-informed yoga more deeply. I don’t have concrete or specific goals for my teaching, beyond continuing, but I’m open to where the universe leads. 

Something that’s evolved naturally with my asana practice is recognizing and honoring the ways that yoga nourishes me spiritually, and I’d like for that to be a bigger and more intentional part of my practice. I don’t really think of it in terms of “oh, now I’m following this path or that path,” but the more I learn about Bhakti, Karma, and Jnana Yoga, the more I’m drawn to the intentional practices in each. I just finished a month-long Kirtan school with Rob and Melissa, and I picked up a harmonium along the way, so that’s where I’ll be directing my energy for the next while, I imagine. 

One of my favorite things about being a teacher (of English and yoga), is the interplay between student and teacher - all the ways my students are my teachers, all the ways ideas cross-pollinate, and just the excitement of shared experiences. So wherever my teaching and personal practice go from here, it will continue to be braided together."