People do yoga for relaxation - so it's always been my assumption yoga teachers themselves are paragons of calm contentment, living organically like some kind of modern ascetic monks. Well, maybe after a fashion, but yoga teacher Tammy LeBlanc is a lot more like the rest of us than I expected. Here's her story:

Name: Tammy Begin-LeBlanc

Age: 35

Hometown? Greene

Are you naturally athletic? Yes and no. I was not athletic during my school days. However, after college I worked in health care and decided I better take responsibility for my health, and started to become more active.

Why yoga over other forms of exercise? Yoga is very adaptable. Any body can do it. It is the only activity I have found so far that addresses the many facets that make up a human being. The yoga poses were designed to have specific effects on the anatomy and physiology of the body. The concentration on breath helps our autonomic nervous system transition from ... stress to rest and ... relaxation. We realign our "framework" and teach our body how to hold and support this ... resulting in less pain and a better quality of life.

Few people think it's fun to exercise. How do you make something difficult enjoyable? Yoga is different. There's no impact on the joints and it's really about making it work for you. Everyone experiences yoga differently. There is no competition, comparison or judgment. It is your time. Most people enjoy yoga because of its physical, mental, energetic and relaxation benefits.

What got you into this field of work? Masochist? Sadist? Former journalist? (This was my editor's personal joke): Tell your editor I used to work in the circus! As a health-care professional, I was fascinated by my personal experience with yoga and the therapeutic effects it had on me after breaking a bone in my back and dislocating my pelvis. At that time, I could no longer work out at the gym. I could barely walk. Yoga became my therapy, it was my physical therapy, my mental therapy, my anti-depressant and my exercise. It was the only form of movement I could do.

What kinds of results have you seen from people who have taken up yoga? Decreased back, knee, shoulder and neck pain, lowered blood pressure, management of PTSD with veterans, increased sports performance, management of fibromyalgia and other autoimmune diseases, decreased depression, improved quality of life after strokes and heart attacks, ability to relax and more!

Are you very relaxed? Most of the time I can be, but I do have a "type A" personality, so yoga really helps me keep that in check.

Do you practice yoga as a spiritual thing or is it more physical? Yoga for me is all of the above, physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual. But people often get "spiritual" confused with religion. It is not religion. In yoga, the spiritual component is the relationship you have with yourself. It's contemplative and reflective, how well you know your true authentic self.

Biggest transformation you've seen? Wow, I've had a client cry because she was able to go for a walk with her family pain free. I've had another client no longer need her meds. ... It's all about empowerment. As people become empowered and feel differences, they begin to believe more in their own innate abilities.

Hardest yoga position? The hardest positions for me personally are backbends.

Has yoga had a good effect on you? Yoga has had a profound and great effect on me personally and professionally. Personally, in a period of one year I had the birth of one of my children, my husband deployed to Iraq, two separate, unexpected funerals of immediate family members and another immediate family member diagnosed with cancer. Without yoga, I probably would have lost it. And since my back and pelvis injuries, I can move most of the time pain free. My yoga students have taught me a lot personally also. There really are some great and caring people out there.

Professionally, I now travel nationwide teaching workshops and seminars on therapeutic yoga and anatomy and physiology. I will soon be teaching at a retreat in Costa Rica. I develop curriculum on yoga and Western science for a yoga teacher training certification school. And yoga, in a roundabout way, has also landed me my job at the University of Southern Maine, teaching anatomy and physiology and human health and biology.

Biggest vice? One of my students makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world! Thanks M.M!

Finish this sentence: "The only thing I'd rather be doing than yoga is ... learning from my kids. They have taught me the importance of life, living in the moment and making it count!