Rod Stryker is a devoted yoga practitioner and meditation teacher, leading hundreds of people towards a gratifying life. He founded ParaYoga® to open doors of ancient wisdom for yoga teachers and students around the world. He is also the author of two critically-acclaimed books, one of which is The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom.
Stryker guides other practitioners via online yoga training. He also created a yoga nidra app called Sanctuary for meditation. He is a thought leader for people who want to improve their lifestyle and meet the demands of modern life and a Yogarupa for those who wish to deepen their understanding of timeless yoga practices.
Rod Stryker’s Background
Rod Stryker was born in October, 1957 to Joseph and Marion Gross. He was given the name Nimrod Andre Gross and raised in LA, where he attended Beverly Hills High School. Stryker developed an interest in yoga at an early age. He was nineteen when he started learning about the practice, and within a year or so, he was conducting his first teacher training.
View this post on Instagram
Stryker was a student of yoga for nearly 20 years, during which he became a disciple of Yogiraj Alan Finger and Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger. He is also a student of Pandit Rajmai Tigunait, Ph.D., since 1999. Only after learning from these renowned Yoga teachers, Stryker created ParaYoga® to pass on the tradition of yoga and meditation practice.
Apart from his yoga lifestyle, Rod Stryker spends time with his family. He is a father of four children, two of which are twins he had via surrogacy with Cheryl Tiegs in 2000. They named the kids Jaden and Theo. Stryker remarried in 2006 to Gina D’Orazio. They have two children.
The Making of a Yogi: How Baron Baptiste Found his Calling
How He Discovered Yoga
Rod Stryker was fascinated by the images of postures and self-mastery at the age of five. He wasn’t a practitioner until he was introduced to Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar. At the age of nineteen, Stryker started practicing on his own. He’d perform a shoulder stand for 20 minutes without any professional training.
When he met Alan and Mani Finger in 1980, he got into the practice of Tantric hatha yoga and loved it. Stryker has practiced a lot in his lifetime, but Tantric hatha yoga has remained constant in his life. Alan Finger’s light and jolly approach to yoga taught Stryker the balance between modern life and spiritual practices. Eventually, he realized he wanted to teach this practice to others, and so he became a yoga teacher.
Stryker practiced yoga as a way of life; it wasn’t a career choice for him when he started teaching. There weren’t a lot of people interested in yoga back then, so it wasn’t about making money for yoga teachers. Stryker considers this a good opportunity for himself, as he was given a chance to grow as a teacher for a good decade before he was popular.
ParaYoga® with Rod Stryker
ParaYoga® is one of Rod Stryker’s greatest accomplishments as a yoga master. He provides this platform for students and teachers to experience the depth of yoga and bask in the ancient knowledge of this practice. ParaYoga® incorporates the essence of yoga into developing teachers and practitioners who understand and appreciate the authenticity of the spiritual tradition.
The ParaYoga® program is a series of online lessons for practitioners where yoga masters like Stryker teach them the ways to unlock true happiness, freedom, joy, and power. It connects modern lifestyles with ancient wisdom and knowledge of meditation, yoga, and tantra.
View this post on Instagram
The Four Desires by Rod Stryker
The Four Desires is a book, workbook, and CD set by Rod Stryker. It was first introduced as a live event for yoga practitioners who wanted to learn the connection between the real world and spirituality. Stryker shares that every person should have four aims in life as per ancient wisdom. The four aims are prosperity, purpose, freedom, and pleasure. The four pillars are the key to a happy and meaningful life.
Through his live event, Stryker teaches his students and trainees how to tap into the power of your soul and find lasting happiness in the four desires. The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom is also a best-selling book.
ParaYoga Nidra with Rod Stryker
Rod Stryker offers ParaYoga Nidra certification through the ParaYoga® platform for those who want to become certified yoga teachers. The classes are called ParaYoga Nidra® that teach the practice of healing, transformation, Sankalpa, transcendence, and accessing the yoga masters’ wisdom.
The ParaYoga Nidra program has five desires or aims. Those who wish to learn a particular practice are assigned the template that helps them achieve their aim. With enlightened sleep, ParaYoga Nidra enhances well-being and health on the surface while taking a deep dive into the profound understanding of the spiritual practice.
View this post on Instagram
Sanctuary App
Sanctuary is Rod Stryker’s app where he and his team have assembled all the sections on well-being. The app is a database with unlimited resources on meditation, yoga, deep sleep, Pranayama, yoga nidra, and more. There are audio and video lessons that guide the practitioners into performing the yoga asanas perfectly.
Sanctuary’s collection of yoga practice videos and audios is updated on a monthly basis. For members, there’s exclusive access to the informative talks by Rod Stryker called The Rod Pod. The app also features social accessibility by introducing a messaging system for members.
Rod Stryker Yoga Nidra
Yogarupa Rod Stryker is a world-renowned yoga and meditation teacher, guiding and sharing his wisdom for 40 years. He is the founder of ParaYoga® and the author of The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom.
Summary
Yogarupa Rod Stryker is an influential and beloved yoga master of our time. He believes that yoga is not the practice for the body only. It has more depth than people realize. He teaches meditation and breathing along with yoga asanas to encourage people to combine the two practices for body and soul.
Stryker has dedicated his life to uncovering the knowledge of meditation and yoga and teaching it to willing individuals. He practices the four desires, which are prosperity, purpose, freedom, and pleasure, and encourages his students to exercise them for a fulfilling life.
Rod Stryker – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is ParaYoga?
ParaYoga® is the vision of Rod Stryker. He teaches the link between ancient practices of yoga with the modern lifestyle. His goal is to teach the practice of yoga, tantra, and meditation using the resources that produce a positive impact on life.
What Does Yogarupa Mean?
Yogarupa is the accumulated practice of asanas, meditation, contemplation, Pranayama, and tantra. These practices are exercised through yoga. Rod Stryker is an American practitioner and teacher of yoga who is a Yogarupa.
Is Rod Stryker Married?
Yes, Rod Stryker is married. Gina D’Orazio is Stryker’s wife since 2006. The couple has two children. Before that, Stryker was married to the former model Cheryl Tiegs from 1998 to 2001.
Related Articles
Sadhguru – Learn All You Need to Know about the Yogi
Dr. Joe Dispenza – The Man Who Shows the Power of Manifestation