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The practice of yoga has become increasingly popular in the United States. According to one statistic, about 4 million Americans were practicing yoga in 2001. Since then the number grew to more than 20 millionby2011.

My first exposure to yoga was when I was 12 and I found a basic book of postures among my fathers large collection of books. I practiced the postures off and on my own and that was okay, but being in a class and having a teacher makes atremendousdifference.

In both Sierra Vista and Bisbee there are several places where yoga is taught and many different instructors. Very recently, Bisbee acquired a new teacher, Crystal Galleher, who grew up in Bisbee alongside one of Cochise Countys original yoga instructors - her mother,MarciaGalleher.

The young Galleher says: I grew up doing it, but its just in the last year that I was inspired to becomeateacher.

Crystal, 26, said shed had many jobs working in the restaurant industry, but it was her first job as a wellness support assistant at the Omega Institute wellness center in 2012 that ignited her passion for health. There she certified as a Zumba Fitness instructor and taught that when she returnedtoBisbee.

But, It was after attending and volunteering at a Bhakti Fest, a festival of music and yoga in September of 2013, that Crystal decided to become a yoga teacher and set out to get the training. In March, 2014 she completed a one month, 200 hour immersion program at the Kripalu School of YogainMassachusetts.

And, after teaching classes in Bisbee for just the past six weeks, Crystal has more than 20 students in her three classes at the upstairs studio of the Club Kilimanjaro, where her mother and two others alsoteachyoga.

Her mother says she first sensed her daughters deepening interest in wellness during the time Crystal worked at the Omega institute which is in Rhinebeck, New York; it hosts a great variety of wellness, relationship, leadership and mind/body/spirit programs featuring such people as Eckhart Tolle and Kim Eng, Deepak Chopra, Caroline Myss and James Van Praagh withAlanisMorissette.

Marcia says of her daughters decision and passion for teaching: Its incredible and Im just so pleased; I taught them yoga year after year, but it wasnt about my kids becoming yogis. I started with the kids as home schoolers, withSunSalutation.

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EASIER SAID THAN DONE: Yoga duo invigorates Bisbee