Rodney Yee
Encyclopedia
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
instructor who rose to national prominence in the early 1990s when he began starring in a series of Gaiam
Gaiam
Gaiam is a "lifestyle company" that sells products catered toward healthy and sustainable living.Gaiam is probably best known for fitness media, such as its award-winning yoga routine videos taught by well-known instructors such as Rodney Yee....
/Living Arts yoga instructional videos and DVDs. More than thirty such programs now exist, selling in the millions worldwide.
Yee has also been featured on calendars, magazines and natural product advertisements; narrated meditation audios; written a book; and done extensive charitable work. He has made guest appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, and elsewhere.
Life and career
Rodney Yee was born in 1957, the son of an Air ForceAir force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
, and spent his childhood on military bases in Altus, Oklahoma
Altus, Oklahoma
Altus is a city in Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 19,813 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jackson County....
and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. He was a gymnast
Gymnast
Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
during his high school years and later became a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
dancer, performing with the Oakland Ballet Company and the Matsuyama Ballet Company of Tokyo, Japan. He studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and physical therapy
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He dropped out in order to pursue ballet full-time.
Yee became a yoga enthusiast in the Iyengar school
Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar Yoga, created by B. K. S. Iyengar, is a form of Hatha Yoga known for its use of props, such as belts, blocks, and blankets, as aids in performing asanas . The props enable students to perform the asanas correctly, minimising the risk of injury or strain, and making the postures accessible...
, but now teaches a blend of Iyengar Yoga and his own invented style. He began his Yoga teaching career at a studio called The Yoga Room in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
; later, he co-founded the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
Yee now teaches around the world at workshops, retreats and conferences.
He has three children from his first marriage to Donna Fone, which ended in divorce in 2002. Four years later, he married former model Colleen Saidman. They live in The Hamptons.
Controversy
Yee became divorced from his first wife in 2002 and went on to marry Colleen SaidmanColleen Saidman
Colleen Saidman, an American yoga instructor and yoga celebrity, is the cofounder and codirector of in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and teaches along with her husband, popular yoga teacher Rodney Yee, in the , online yoga club/virtual yoga studio. A yoga practitioner for over 20 years and a graduate of...
, one of his students. Since dating students violates the precepts of yoga teacher conduct as defined by the Yoga Alliance, this conflict led to division in Yee-oriented communities.
Despite the controversy over the beginnings of their relationship, Rodney Yee and Saidman have now been married since December, 2006. Both yoga instructors continue to pursue their own careers (Yee with YeeYoga and Gaiam
Gaiam
Gaiam is a "lifestyle company" that sells products catered toward healthy and sustainable living.Gaiam is probably best known for fitness media, such as its award-winning yoga routine videos taught by well-known instructors such as Rodney Yee....
; Saidman with Yoga Shanti) and in May, 2008 opened an online yoga club / virtual yoga studio together called The Gaiam Yoga Club.