ASPEN When Rod Stryker discovered yoga, he found it was just what he needed. His body was doing fine Stryker was just 19 at the time but his mind and spirit could use much calming.

I simply discovered stress at a young age. I was 19 and already starting to hit a wall, Stryker, now in his mid-50s, said. I had majored in philosophy and psychology at the University of Denver, and my first yoga class encapsulated more of my studies than three years of college.

Stryker pursued yoga with a seriousness of purpose. Two and a half years after beginning his practice he found his key teacher, a 70-something South African named Mani Finger who had lived in India and was instrumental in developing the Ishta technique that focused on an individual's specific needs. Stryker became the only American disciple of Finger to be given the title of Yogiraj, or master of yoga, and began teaching in Los Angeles.

As Stryker's reputation grew and he began receiving invitations to teach outside Southern California, he realized that not everyone saw yoga in the same way that he did. Where Stryker had been taught that yoga was useful for the entire being a grounding he calls exceptional he found that yoga had been introduced in America largely as a physical practice, and that most people viewed yoga as a tool for the body alone.

That's when I found my mission as a teacher to help students experience the far-reaching impact yoga could have in people's lives, Stryker said. What I had learned was unique. Most people were on the mind that yoga was about stretching, and the physical.

Stryker, who has lived in Missouri Heights for seven years, spreads his thoughts on yoga and more with an appearance on Saturday at the Wheeler Opera House as part of the Aspen Eco Fest. Stryker will talk and sign copies of his 2011 book, The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Prosperity, Happiness, and Freedom. The appearance will be followed by a yoga rave on the Wheeler stage, featuring DJ Lior, percussionist Eden Vardy, and a handful of local yoga instructors.

Stryker notes that yoga's popularity in the U.S. began to explode about 15 years ago. Lagging behind, however, is the full recognition of yoga's potential benefits.

We've reduced the spectrum of what it can be, how it can benefit us, he said.

Stryker believes that 10 or 15 years ago, it might have been appropriate to treat yoga as a means toward physical health. But in his view, stress levels in the U.S. have increased to the point where yoga needs to address them.

As our need level increases, our teaching has to evolve, he said. Yoga had to be a practice about the mind, not just the body. There's only so much that can be done without the more subtle, mindful techniques.

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Midvalley yogi Rod Stryker appears at Aspen Eco Fest