We recently connected with Cory Bryant and have shared our conversation below.
Cory, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding, re-finding and allowing the evolution of my purpose while here in this life has been an ongoing process. From a very young age I knew that I wanted to do something with my life that “helped” people (or animals) and I vacillated between answering “doctor” or “veterinarian” when people asked me, which they did and quite often. As a youth growing up in the farm country of Southern Indiana the options presented to me were quite limited and there was great emphasis placed on being “successful” in the traditional good-ole-American way sense. As the oldest of four sons I felt quite a lot of pressure to adhere to the perceived expectations of my family and community. Everything was looking good until it didn’t….
At around age 20 the facade I had constructed began to crumble and by 23 I couldn’t stomp down my gayness any longer. By that time my academic career had taken a hit and my aspirations diminished. Somehow I managed to rally and convince one of my Professors at Purdue to give me a chance and I continued my studies for a Masters and then onto University of Massachusetts for a PhD in food chemistry. I did all that work, and I did like the work and being in school, but I really had no passion for a job in the food industry. I managed to get a job in Washington, DC and made the move into food policy, which was more gratifying for a while, but still I often felt like I was in the wrong place. I just didn’t feel like I was doing what I was meant to do with my life.
In the midst of this I discovered Buddhism and yoga. By around age 31, while living in New York City, I began to fall in love with the practices and teachings within both these ancient traditions. That said, if you had suggested to me at that time that I could be a yoga and meditation teacher, let alone make a living doing it, I would have laughed it off. It just didn’t seem within the realm of possibility for someone like me. But, I kept practicing and studying, moved to DC, ended up working for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and traveling the world as an international food policy expert. In 2006 my perspective on what was possible for me began to shift. My yoga teacher at that time encouraged me to consider becoming a yoga teacher. And in 2007-2008 I devoted over 500 hours of my “spare” time to teacher training. In June 2008 I taught my first class to a packed room. I loved it and so did they. For the next 7 years I maintained my full-time job at FDA and taught two classes a week.
Then in 2014, while sitting in a global meeting at the World Trade Organization, something in me snapped. I saw what I needed to do. I started writing a bit of a manifesto with a plan for how I could move from that seat and into the seat of a full-time yoga professional. I had found my purpose — or rather it found me. I executed the plan and my last day at FDA was Dec. 17, 2015. I continued teaching at the same studio in DC where I’d been since 2008 and I did a lot of travel around the country and back and forth to India and Nepal to study with my teachers there. In the Fall of 2018 we decided to move to Nashville and on June 15, 2019 I opened Yoga Shala Nashville where I am today. And I’ve expanded what I offer to include pilgrimage (spiritual journey) to Nepal, India and soon, Bhutan where folks can experience the authentic teachings of Tibetan Buddhism first hand.
My purpose is to support others in finding and developing their inner-strength, self-esteem, and true nature of loving-kindness and compassion. I do this through sharing the teachings and practices of yoga and meditation.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Tibetan Buddhism and Ashtanga Yoga are my passions, practices and source of inspiration for what I do in the world. I’ve been practicing both for over 20 years and receive daily inspiration to integrate the two in a way that serves to uplift myself and others. Both traditions are grounded in the aspiration to not only lead me to awakening/liberation, but everyone else as well. So, from where I sit, it’s an incredible support for living a more positive, open, accepting, and loving life.
I currently own and operate Yoga Shala Nashville — a yoga and meditation studio on the East side near Five Points. Most of my teaching is done with a semi-private, teacher-assisted self-practice, approach known as “Mysore”. Mysore gets its name from the town in India where it originated and, for me, is the ideal way to learn, practice, and teach yoga because it affords the opportunity to meet each student where they are, regardless of whether they’re stiff or flexible, strong or not-so-strong, young or old, etc. We work within a set system of postures, but I teach them to each person individually and gradually we build a daily practice that works. We have a small seasoned teaching team that is strongly committed to the practice and highly capable to teach it because we practice it ourselves each day.
I also offer meditation and yoga/Buddhist philosophy classes, workshops and courses throughout the year that are informed by my practice as well as the teachings I receive from my teachers in Nepal. An exciting evolution of this effort has been the opportunity to take groups of folks to Nepal (and now India and soon Bhutan as well) to meet these teachers and experience the practice and culture of Tibetan Buddhism in its most authentic form. This side of what I do is branded “The Spiritual Pilgrim” and we have an expanding array of pilgrimage and trekking adventures available.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think the three qualities, skills or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey have been: (1) commitment; (2) writing/speaking/communication; and (3) Yoga/Buddhist practice. Commitment started from an early age and mainly through commitment to academic excellence and saw me through the solitary pursuit of grad school and writing a Master’s thesis and then PhD dissertation, and now it’s what keeps me on the path of Buddhism and yoga. Knowing that I’m doing the “right” thing and sticking with it even when it’s not fun, inspiration is waning or it doesn’t feel “good”. And putting myself out there, writing and publishing scientific papers and even patents, then onto philosophical teachings that I may put out through various social media outlets or even turn into classes or workshops. It’s been important and useful to find my voice, strengthen its delivery and get up in front of people — all over the world — to share what feels useful/beneficial to myself and others. And then the knowledge I’ve cultivated around Buddhism and yoga serve as the platform for everything I do in my current career as a yoga professional. I believe it’s super important to walk-the-talk so to speak and commit one’s self to developing the highest level of understanding possible, for one’s self, in whatever field of knowledge one is operating. My advice is simple – put yourself out there, show up, commit, stay humble and open to learning and change.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
Our ideal client is anyone with a desire to grow — physically, mentally, spiritually — through commitment to a disciplined spiritual practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yogashalanashville.com/
- Instagram: @yogashalanashville
- Youtube: @yogashalanashville
- Other: IG: @the_spiritual_pilgrim https://www.thespiritualpilgrim.com/
