:: June 2006 Volume 5/Number 4

Teacher Profile: Tim Miller

By Devlin Smith

Tim Miller describes himself as “shy.” This is an assessment that might surprise the students who have been flocking to his ashtanga classes for more than two decades. A better word for Tim is “serene.” An intellectual man as well, Miller seems at total ease discussing the philosophy behind ashtanga as he leads his classes through sun salutations and warrior poses, sharing as he goes his passion for the practice.

Miller, who operates the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Carlsbad, has been practicing ashtanga since 1978 when he was a student at the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam in Encinitas. He studied with studio founders Brad Ramsey and Gary Lopedota, as well as master Pattabhi Jois, before taking over the studio in 1981. The studio has changed locations several times and found its new home in Carlsbad earlier this year.
Having a deep and intense history with the practice has made Miller something of a legend within the ashtanga community. He teaches workshops around the world and many of his former students have now become noted teachers themselves. “It’s interesting because a lot of my students are now teachers and so their students are aware of me,” he says. “I sort of have this reputation since I’m the senior guy; people are sort of intimidated because they think [class is] going to be really difficult and I’m going to be very serious about it, very demanding. That’s not necessarily the case.”

Though he’s not a demanding teacher, Miller does hope to get students as excited about ashtanga as he is. “I would just like to impart passion for the practice,” he says. “It’s all there for people to experience; you just need to be receptive to it.”
Miller is a perfect example of the benefits of receptivity. He says he claims he was “an underachiever. I wasn’t necessarily happy or healthy or doing well in the world” before finding ashtanga. Since his receptivity to the practice, ashtanga has made him anything but an underachiever. “It’s really given me a vehicle to get my own health together and as a vocation it gives me something that I believe in, has given me the opportunity to travel, good income. I’ve met my wife through yoga, made good friends.”

Looking forward, Miller sees himself continuing to teach “as long as I continue to derive satisfaction and fulfillment from it.” His own teacher, who Miller visits in India every year, turns 91 this summer and still teaches every day.

Similarly, Miller doesn’t rule out a long teaching career for himself but is weighing out his options. “I could cut back at some point,” he says. “I could see myself maybe getting a nice retreat in some beautiful place and just doing month-long retreats or something like that where I wasn’t necessarily doing the day-to-day thing. I can’t really see myself retiring in the near future.”

Doing day-to-day teaching works for Miller now and it works for his hundreds of dedicated students who come from all over the area to learn from one considered by many to be a master of this demanding practice. He offers about a dozen classes a week of varying levels. It’s not really for me to say that I’m a good teacher; it’s more for other people to determine,” he says. “I think I’m a good student and probably the biggest part of being a good teacher is being a good student and continuing to learn, continuing to devote time to personal practice, to use that for a resource for continuing insights into the practice.”

Miller’s dedication to the practice has been key to the remarkable success of Ashtanga Yoga Center. “This is sort of the upper-echelon of teaching venue,” he says. “A lot of people would like to teach here and we’d like to give as many people as we can the opportunity to do that.”

One opportunity the center has taken up recently is to begin offering a children’s class. Though Miller won’t be teaching, his daughter, who appears on flyers for the class in a bow pose, may be a student. “My daughter’s four and she’s a real natural,” Miller says.

Like his daughter, Miller seems to be a natural when it comes to teaching ashtanga. “I can’t imagine an occupation that’s more rewarding,” he says.

 

Reach Tim Miller and the Ashtanga Yoga Center at (760) 632 - 7093 or www.ashtangayogacenter.com.

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