by LILLIAN CUSTIS

How did Dove Rosenberg go from running marathons in Moscow to teaching morning meditation and yoga in Mt. Airy? It may be a long story, but Dove makes it simple to follow. And it is a compelling, if gentle, story as he tells it.

“When I was 40, I was a runner. In August 1990, I ran the Moscow Marathon. I was relatively slow, but I figured that I wouldn’t run into anyone in the Soviet Union who knew me!” he explains, laughing.

“It took me 4.5 hours. The top runners usually come in 2.05 or 2.06. There were definitely people behind me but more in front of me. I went with a group called Runners United for Peace, about 30 of us. I wasn’t the last of this group, but I was in the back end.”

He enjoyed the Russian trip, meeting people from around the world, but says that it came as a shock how stiff he soon was. 

“It was a wonderful experience. But my body was tight. Not being able to move the next day was a clue!” He’s laughing at the memory. “Over time, I was watching my running became sluggish. I began having heel, knee, hip problems. 

“I don’t recall how I found a yoga class but all of a sudden, I found myself taking one, in a New Age bookstore. And I just loved it. The first yoga teacher said to me, after about four months, that she was going off to India and would I be interested in teaching her classes. I said sure, if she would teach me how to teach first. We met for several days a week, for several months before she left. And I took a teacher training course in Florida, and I began to teach. This was 11 years ago.”

Over the years, Dove has traveled to Mexico, Italy, Seattle and the Catskills to further his study of yoga. At the retreat center in the Catskills, he practiced yoga five to seven hours a day. In Mexico, he studied by Mayan ruins. In Italy, he elected to walk from Milan to Florence.

“I ride my bike regularly. And I practice yoga five to seven days a week. My meditation practice is now daily.” Dove also enjoys parenting his young children and the lay work he does at the Germantown Jewish Community Center.

“Now I have a body that is more flexible, even though I’m aging, 53. The fact is that a tight body translates into tight spirit. And through yoga and practice, my life has gotten calmer and more focused.

“I’m not the only one in my generation who has calmed down over the years. But there was a time when my life was very different. I was more ‘me’ focused and not so much interested in the world and others. Before I was 35, I abused too many substances — alcohol, drugs and food. My life is totally different now, but I still have fun and a good time.

“I love teaching. I love teaching here in Mt. Airy. I love the diversity in the classes, that I have people who are anywhere between 22 years old and 70 years old. It allows me to structure classes so that everyone gets something out of it. Even in a class, yoga is individual. Some people can do a pose at one level. Someone else will do that same pose at another level. Honoring each person’s ability is very satisfying for me.”

Dove Rosenberg leads classes in what he calls a gentle variant of Iyengar. In fact, it is quite a variant and gentle indeed, although the classes are known to be very different each time. There is no opportunity to be bored in a Dove Rosenberg class. Which may be why last year, following a survey of readers of the Mt. Airy Express and Germantown Courier, Dove was honored with the “Best Yoga Teacher” award.

He teaches four mornings a week at MaMa, the Moving Arts of Mt. Airy studio, at the corner of Greene Street and Carpenter Lane, two blocks off Lincoln Drive. Classes are $11 to drop in, or $85 for 10 classes, and there’s no registration fee. Monday, Thursday and Fridays at 8 a.m., and Tuesday at 6:45 a.m. He also leads a meditation sitting at 6:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. yoga classes. For more information, call 215-842-1040.