Five years ago, Randi Lattimore was working as a substitute yoga instructor when she entered General Manager Glenn William’s office to introduce herself. On his desk were the blueprints for the Mind/Body Studio renovation project.

She had found yoga years earlier and immediately loved everything about it: how it made her feel, the way it changed her body, the inner strength and peace she felt at the completion of each class. She quickly transitioned from practicing yoga to studying it, visiting studios across the country, absorbing what worked and what didn’t.

On that day in 2006, she sold her vision for the club’s Mind/Body Studio to Glenn. She then came up with her job title of Mind/Body Director. She hired dear friends as instructors. She expanded the offerings to encompass varied forms of yoga.

And she quickly created a culture of genuine connections and care amongst instructors and students that has flourished over the past five years and has made Midtown’s yoga program the best in Rochester.

Roots and Rhythm

A former event planner, Randi is originally from the West Coast. She then lived in Chicago for a number of years, and hand-picked Rochester as her new hometown over ten years ago when her husband’s job required them to move East. As a transplant to the ROC, Randi’s Midtown coworkers quickly became her family, a relationship that helps foster the warm community atmosphere and philosophy that permeates every yoga class.

While she feels teaching yoga is what she was meant to do with her life, Randi has big dreams to both appear and act as a guest judge on ”So You Think You Can Dance.” If she couldn’t teach yoga, Randi would love to dance professionally.

Teacher Training

Randi recently worked to certify Midtown as a Yoga School through Yoga Alliance.

Yoga Immersion and Teacher Training* begins on October 28th. The Immersion section, for those interested in become more well-rounded, informed practitioners of yoga, runs for eight weekends (a total of 80 hours) until February 5th of next year.

The Certification Option, for those wishing to pursue the Yoga Alliance standard of a 200-hour training program, includes an additional 40 hours, and extends until May of 2012.

Following the completion of 80 hours of Immersion, 40 hours of certification, and homework, practice time, and reading, graduates will receive Registered Yoga Teacher Certification, a degree many yoga studios, including Midtown’s, look for when hiring instructors.

Says Randi, “Our club has always offered a breadth of yoga workshops and special events, so it’s a natural progression for us to become a Yoga School. Our students are ready for this. Our yoga instructors are ready for this. And the training is diversified, so the instructors will teach to the strength of their students. I am so excited about this program.”

Inside Randi’s Fridge

When she’s not running the Mind/Body studio, Randi enjoys spending time with her husband of 16 years, her 15-year-old daughter, and 13-year-old son.

When I ask her about the three food items she keeps in her fridge at all times, Randi says, “Greek yogurt, almonds, and fruit. Always, lots of fruit.” 

What’s one thing most people don’t know about her?

“I would rather eat chocolate cake-with chocolate frosting-than just about anything else in the world,” says Randi. “Love it!”

Midtown Pride

Randi is to Midtown’s Mind/Body studio as Bill Gates is to Microsoft, so she has experienced many proud moments in her tenure at the club.

“When members approach me and say how they couldn’t get through their divorces, their cancer battles, or their other difficult times without yoga, it’s incredibly gratifying,” says Randi. “It’s one of the best parts of my job.”

Her most memorable moment, though, took place at the club’s first-ever “Thanks for Giving” yoga class, a donation-based class benefitting Bivona Child Advocacy Center  held annually near Thanksgiving.

Randi has visited the center, which helps child victims of physical or sexual abuse, and in the one hour she was there, she watched three children walk in needing assistance, something that had a profound effect on her.

The class was in shivasana, Hallelujah was playing, and Randi looked at fellow yoga instructor and friend Karen Lederman and began to cry. There were 90 people in the class, and Randi was full of joy at the contribution the club would be able to make to Bivona to help abused children like those she saw during her visit.

Yoga is for Everyone

Think yoga isn’t for you?

Randi hears this all the time. And to the yoga naysayers, she says, “Give it a try. Yoga is for everyone, for those who think they’re not flexible enough, or not relaxed enough, or who don’t think it’s a good workout. As I like to ask the doubters, ‘When you’re dirty, are you too dirty to take a shower?’ Of course not!”

The four-week Yoga School for Beginners, which will teach you yoga fundamentals and prepare you for taking one of the awesome yoga classes offered at the club, starts on October 17. Check out our Facebook Events page for more information.

Yoga is an Experience and Not “Just a Class”

It’s a practice that enables you to connect with people, to interact, to touch, to laugh, and to share. It helps you to center yourself and strengthens your muscles at the same time.

Randi has made our Mind/Body Studio not just a physical space for members to practice, but has also embodied it with a spirit that carries yogis throughout their daily lives.

And thanks to my interview with Randi, this Type A, tightly wound, former yoga-doubter will be trying it very soon.

*Contact Randi at randi.lattimore@midtown.com with any questions about Midtown Yoga Immersion and Teacher Training. If you have at least one year of yoga practice, you can pick up an application at the front desk.

1 COMMENT FROM Robyne Rieger September 23, 2011 at 1:18 pm

Role model, benchmark….Randi is unique…
I’ve been in one of her classes and saw more
Than a few ‘happy tears’ ….

2 COMMENT FROM Linda white September 23, 2011 at 2:11 pm

I fell in love with hot yoga at Midtown a few yrs. Ago. Yoga at Midtown is unique, awesome and challanging. Can’t find a class like it anywhere. Music is fun and inspiring!!!

Thanks Randi:)

3 COMMENT FROM Beth Cordello September 23, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Having lived in NYC for a number of years and taken yoga at some of the best studios, I can vouch for the unbelieveable quality of yoga at midtown. Randi is amazing, and thanks to this profile my suspicion that she is from the west coast has been confirmed (she’s so darn sunny and relaxed )

4 COMMENT FROM Laura Regna September 23, 2011 at 5:28 pm

Wow Randi, What a beautiful article! We are so lucky to have you!

5 COMMENT FROM Kristi September 23, 2011 at 11:37 pm

Thanks for the comments. We are very lucky to have such a smart, creative, and inspiring woman at our club.

6 COMMENT FROM Melinda Johnston September 23, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Great Article!!! I am proud of Randi, I am proud to be a member at Midtown, and I too can vouch for the yoga. Every instructor is excellent, and the bond between the teachers and fellow students is the special “surprise” gift that comes FREE with every yoga classes. Love ya Randi! xoxoxo~ M

7 COMMENT FROM JOSETTE LINDSEY-PADULO September 23, 2011 at 11:39 pm

YOU TRULY ARE REMARKABLE. I need and will make more time in my schedule to try Yoga again. I hear so many many good things about the instructors including yourself…and I just need to do it ! You are such an asset to Midtown.

8 January 4, 2012 at 4:23 am

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