:: February 2008: Volume 7/Number 1

Rudy Mettia

Yoga Warrior

by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN

Photo: Victoria Davis

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Rudy Mettia has a commanding presence. After all, before devoting himself full-time to the practice and teaching of yoga, his life involved stints as a U.S. Marine, a police officer, a doorman holding the clipboard and power in hip Hollywood clubs and an actor and stuntman. He worked in tobacco fields as a child, flirted with drug use, was an expert marksman and even rode with the Hell’s Angels. Yet, he has a vulnerable side that’s evident when his eyes tear up while talking about his practice and teachers. It emerges when he reveals how he was orphaned at a young age and grew up being shuffled between 12 different North Carolina foster homes. In spite of, or perhaps because of the challenges in his life, he’s found the practice and dedicated himself to yoga. He calls himself a warrior, yet he is a warrior of the heart.

The first time I saw Rudy teach, it struck me: his presence and ability to hold intact the sacred space as he walked from mat to mat, adjusting and correcting. In his lilting Southern drawl, he reminds students of their own inner resources of courage, patience and bravery — cues to help them tap into something beyond the physical feeling of their feet on the mat.

Mettia describes himself as part coach, part cheerleader. Although his vinyasa-based classes can be physically, mentally and even emotionally and spiritually challenging, he emphasizes the grace found in the practice. “It takes more than muscular determination,” to practice yoga. He says: “It takes more than grit.” What does it take? Mettia emphasizes the three pillars of practice: breath, dristhi (focused gaze) and the physical act of showing up on the mat. It is the focus that makes a deep practice, not the flamboyance of the asana (posture), he muses.

His practice has certainly evolved and these three pillars have grown since he happened into his first yoga class at Gold’s Gym in Venice, 17 years ago. For a dedicated weight-lifter who was working out in what he describes as the pump-up capitol of the world, the yoga room packed full of beautiful women was a certain enticement. There was something else to the practice; from the first postures, he experienced the good feeling that often convinces people to come back.

Mettia’s yoga practice really took off, though, when someone introduced him to Bryan Kest. Mettia remembers his first time walking into the upstairs room filled with 150 people. When Kest said, “Breathe until it feels so f---ing good,” Mettia thought to himself: “That’s a dude; I can relate to him.” The vibrant energy in the room reminded Mettia of being on stage and attracted his inner actor. After years of coming back again and again to the powerful space to deepen his practice, Kest encouraged Mettia to teach.

Mettia recognizes Kest as one of his greatest influences; he’s learned from the example Kest sets of selflessly giving of himself to everyone around him, as well as from the philosophy Kest brings to his classes. “Bryan gave me my freedom by teaching the non-dogmatic ‘path of no path’ and encouraging me to do what was right for me,” Mettia says.

While Mettia has become a popular teacher at Bryan Kest’s Power Yoga in Santa Monica, he stretches himself by studying with other teachers and teaching at other locations and studios. “John Friend showed me the heart of practice,” Mettia says of one of his other influences. He also cites Santa Monica-based Yoga Works teacher Annie Carpenter, whose public classes this yoga warrior regularly attends for the depth of technical information she presents. Carpenter also challenges the very physical Mettia’s own practice. “I did scorpion for the first time in her class the other day,” he remembers. She said, “You’ll be off the wall in scorpion in one month.” He claims to be up for the challenge.

As a teacher, Mettia strikes a warrior pose in the fourth floor studio at the Equinox gym located blocks from the Santa Monica beach. He’s recently on the schedule teaching some classes at the green-designed TruYoga studio in the Yahoo! center, where he’s also taken on the task of directing the yoga program. Mettia plans to add new offerings to the one-year-old space’s vibrant schedule. His live classes are also offered in the Monthly Yoga DVD program.

In many ways, Mettia the teacher and practitioner is a living example for the transformational effect of yoga, an inspiring role model and a walking advertisement for the idea that real men do, in fact, do downward-facing dog. He talks about the effect yoga has in softening the edges and bringing a person more in touch with themselves; this comes decades after his life as a high school football star, and from the mouth of someone who finished first in his class in his Marines battalion and was praised by his commanders for his native violence and anger.

“Even then, there was a softer side to me, hidden under the tough guy veneer,” he comments. Now more of the outer layers have been scraped away by the time on the mat and he’s comfortable quoting Krishnamacharya, a nugget of wisdom from influential teacher Maty Ezraty or even Chekhov, pulling from his days as a method actor. While Mettia feels he may still be teaching yoga decades from now, he’s remaining open to whatever comes his way, staying unattached. In the meantime, he’s dedicated his life to yoga. “If I’m not studying, I’m practicing, or teaching or thinking about it. I’m consumed by it.”

For more information about Rudy Mettia, visit www.rudyme.com

Mettia is a living example for the transformational effect of yoga, an inspiring role model and a walking advertisement for the idea that real men do, in fact, do downward-facing dog.

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