read all about it: yogi gwen lawrence’s new book
Gwen Lawrence is the athletes’ yoga guru, and she has a rock star client list to prove it. The official yoga coach of the New York Giants, she has worked with most of the major NYC sporting franchises including the Knicks, Red Bulls, Rangers and Yankees. In 2013, ESPN named her the Best in Sports Medicine Innovation. If that didn’t impress you, try this on for size: Lawrence has also trained David Letterman, Regis Philbin, fashion designer Elie Tahari, members of the Bush family and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. And somehow, between coaching her A-list clients and raising three sons, the 47-year-old from the New York Tri-state area recently found time to write a book, Body Sculpting with Yoga, released on February 10.
A trained dancer and massage therapist for 25 years, Gwen says that the body and its function has always been her first passion. Yoga was something she stumbled into while training Glenn Close for her movie projects. The actress proposed to send Gwen to California for training if she’d teach her the practice. “I said ‘Hell, yeah’ and the rest is history,” Gwen remembers.
Following on from her work with pro-athletes and her licensed Power Yoga for Sports program, she developed the unique hybrid training method outlined in Body Sculpting with Yoga. Gwen explains that her method is different than traditional yoga practices in that it combines yoga with weight training (think: a 20-minute plough with 25-pounds of sandbags on her legs), and she created her own moves and yoga flow series to tone and strengthen the body. With a mission to “transform lives from good to great,” she wrote the book in the hope of motivating and enticing those who’ve never tried yoga to set goals and “have so much fun that they never stop working out, and stay healthy for a lifetime,” she says.
Gwen will be the first to tell you that it took guts to make a name for herself. “Even though I had a great client list from being a massage therapist, working with pro teams took determination, not accepting no for answers, and constantly knocking on doors,” she explains. Knowing she wanted to work with athletes (her husband, Ted, was a minor league baseball player), she sent and re-sent letter after letter, until finally the New York Giants called. Now she counts hundreds of pro athletes as clients, and says she loves working with all of them. “They are just big kids. They have taught me no matter what your circumstances, you can make it if you are driven and determined,” she says.
While we take much inspiration from her within her role as lululemon ambassador and she’s certainly an inspiration within her own community in New York, Gwen herself takes much of her inspiration from veterans who served their country. “If they can get through the day, I owe it to them and their sacrifice to be great and be the best I can be,” she says, adding that she feels deeply that because of their service she is safe at home in a country where she’s able to pursue her dreams.
Twenty-two US servicemen and women commit suicide per day, according to a report by the US Department of Veteran Affairs, and it’s a number that Gwen wants to help reduce. She’s developed a program that involves visiting army bases, and bestowing upon families and returning veterans tools— such as yoga, meditation and psychological support—for coping with their new lives. She’s also working with the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s Stand Up for Heroes initiative, and visiting hospitals to work with veterans. This from a yogi who has already poured so much of her life into helping others achieve their goals, regardless if they are sports stars, celebrities, or her own children. “Everything I do is because of (the veterans’) sacrifice. If they can wake up the next day and have a smile and be motivated, there is no reason for me to ever be discouraged or down.”
Minsi is a freelance writer based in the US. She was an on-air television, radio, and online news journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Perth before moving to New York City to complete a Master’s of Arts in Business and Economics Journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She is also an educator at our lululemon store in Greenwich, and has her barre teacher certification from Exhale. Her joys in life are to sing, dance, and travel (preferably to somewhere with a beach). Follow her on Twitter.
