October 2017 Featured Yogi: Stephen Duprey

Stephen "Tree Man Steve" Duprey is a transplanted New Yorker, Urban Forester for the City of LA and Garden Advisor for the Peace Garden in Long Beach, CA.  He enjoys music, art, military history, biblical archaeology and wood carving, and began his yoga journey in 1973 when he simultaneously dove into the fields of massage and meditation.

Since 2010, he's attended weekly yoga classes with Michelle Chua at his workplace fitness center in Downtown LA and connects with Root 2 Rise Yoga community on Hike + Yoga adventures, sharing his wealth of knowledge about plants on our most recent Waterfall Hike + Yoga at Monrovia Canyon Park in September. He also traveled to Costa Rica for our 2017 Retreat, now planning on his return for June 2018, with an added personal excursion to plant trees in the Costa Rican rainforest beforehand.   Reminiscing about the retreat last July, he exclaims, "...whitewater rafting, zip lining, parasailing over the Pacific Ocean and fresh tropical fruits were the BEST!"

Sharing about his yoga practice, he finds gratitude in its ability to ease daily tension and fatigue while increasing his flexibility, saying, "Yoga grounds my body, while the outdoors grounds my spirit."  Driven by his belief that humanity's purpose on earth is to find union with the divine, he shares insight from his personal practice, "Find what connects you to the divine.  Follow that path--be it yoga, prayer, meditation, service, etc."

Stephen is passionate about his role as Manager/Advisor for the Long Beach Peace Garden, where he has taught youth for the past six years about the value and benefits of growing their own food for a healthier diet and awareness of nature. He deeply believes:

The more they (the youth) garden and learn about nature, it opens up a world of connectedness to plants,  smells, tastes, insects, birds and soil.  Living things have a magic in them, that iPhones, a can of Coke and a bag of chips cannot match.

Catch Stephen on one of our Hike + Yoga adventures with his gloves and cleaning tools picking up trash before or along our hike.