Roger kneels down to floor level to check in with each person before class begins. “How are you doing today?” he asks gently, with namaste hands. “Anything bothering you that I should know about?” Rather than a class-wide inquiry, he connects with each person individually, even if it’s just a thumbs-up question and response.

In class, Roger’s range of technique is wide. In his “Yoga for Core Stability” class, he’s intense: He gives calm but blunt directions to do the hardest core work ever: the kind of abdominal exercises—yogic and gym-like—you generally need to work up to, the kind that makes you wish you’d started paying attention to your body and the benefits of strength earlier in life. Regulars are addicted to his class because, as one student says, “it makes me feel like I’ve really done something.” In the vinyasa class for which he’s a regular substitute teacher, he runs it as a beginner class, with short and simple sequences, easing the idea of yoga flow onto the class for students who, perhaps, have never tried it before, with many “opt-outs” for anyone who prefers more time in mountain pose.

Roger says he incorporates four elements into all his classes: focus in the present movement, breath, core, and alignment: synchronizing all the elements together in active movement and active silence.

In the end, while students are putting away their props, Roger makes eye contact with as many people as he can. “It was a pleasure to see you tonight,” he’ll say with a smile. And he means it: each and every one of you.

~ Sue Eisenfeld