Jason (new profiles soon)
 
 
The best way to describe myself - is that I can’t make up my mind. Yoga, climbing, traveling, adventure racing.... I seem to be working and playing at a high level in all of them. So where do I fit in a real job? I don’t. There simply is no time. So I live simply, and explore a lot. I have held real jobs here and there, and they have been amazing experiences. Always though, after a year or so I have moved on. I can blame it on growing up as an AirForce brat, or on having an identical twin brother. Someone once told me it was a nutritional deficiency.... Regardless of the cause, I do know the effect. I have had an incredible amount of truly remarkable experiences in my life. I am a lifelong student, and will endeavor to share what I have learned with others, in whatever capacity I can. A profile was recently written about me for Yoga Journal online. I’ve included it below. Jason Magness grew up in a fairly typical Air Force family, moving to someplace new every three or four years. His parents were always understanding how hard relocating could be for children, but Jason never seemed to mind going to someplace new. He even seemed to thrive on it. He would form close friends quickly, and although it was always difficult to leave them, the excitement of new places and people made moving easy. In the family’s travels, Jason was exposed to many diverse environments and ways of life, and it is no real surprise that he has chosen to continue that exploration. That exploration led him to the mountains, and his discovery of climbing. And it is climbing that eventually led him to yoga. “Vertical yoga - that is what climbing is to me,” he says. “It’s true that I’ve been climbing far longer that I’ve been practicing traditional yoga, but climbing was my first avenue of self exploration. From remote big walls of Canada, to the terrifying stone thrones of Patagonia, to the plastic hand holds of my rock gym, climbing has been my teacher. I have learned first-hand about suffering, fear, trust, self-reliance, beauty, companionship, love, death, and life. Even as I feel myself drawn toward a traditional yoga practice, and a wider range of adventurous pursuits, I know that climbing will always be a big part of my life. My spirit may visit many places in this life, but it will always live in the mountains.” He has been teaching yoga since 2003. Interesting (Mostly) Non-Yoga facts about Jason Magness • He attended jr. high school in Japan, and high school in Alaska. • He went to his senior prom dressed as “Mr. Data” from Star Trek – The Next Generation. • He was an avid bodybuilder through college, spending an average of 15 hours per week lifting weights, and eating at least 20 cans of tuna. Now he is a vegetarian and spends 15 hours practicing yoga. • He majored in physics and minored in musical theater at the University of Oklahoma. • He was a competitive swing dancer for two years. • He played the lead role of “secret agent Ferdinand Lange” in a B-movie that he refuses to name. His role required him to shoot bad guys, drive in a car chase, kiss a girl, and do countless campy voiceovers. • He also starred as a homosexual surf bum in Psycho Beach Party and had a 10-second kiss with his co-star Joel. • He started climbing when he was 18, and instantly he was hooked. As a self-proclaimed climbing bum, he has completed more notable climbs than most serious climbers twice his age. • He has a twin brother named Andy. They lived, climbed and traveled together until Andy met his wife-to-be in the year 2000. The subsequent year was one of the hardest in Jason’s life. It was during this time that he began to practice yoga asana in earnest. • He built and owns a climbing gym in Grand Forks, ND, where his parents have settled. • To help his balance, he’s developed a yoga practice that is done on an apparatus called a slackline (similar to a tightrope). Check out yogaslackers.com for more information, or take his class at the Estes Park conference. • When a freak blizzard hit during an expedition in the Cirque of the Unclimbables last summer, he used pranyama to keep from getting hypothermia. • He is an accomplished triathlete and adventure racer, using yoga as one of his primary training and recovery methods. In 2003 he competed in the hardest one-day race in the world – the MXT off-road Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile mountain bike, and 26.2 mile trail run) – and came in 22nd. In 2006 he competed in the world’s hardest expedition race – the Primal Quest (10 days of non-stop and unsupported paddling, climbing, mountain biking, running, canyoneering, mountaineering, whitewater swimming, and desert trekking). His team placed 24th and was featured on ESPN and ABC. In 2007 he (with Team YogaSlackers) won several regional championship, finished 13th in USARA Nationals (against the top 90 US teams) and 10th in the 10 day XPD Australia. • In an effort to continue his various adventures, he has made several unorthodox life choices. o He has never owned a car newer than a 1988. o In the last five years he has slept less than 100 nights in a bed, and over 50 nights hanging off the side of a cliff. o Since 1998 he has not had a permanent address and his primary residence has been his 1979 VW van. o He has held various jobs over the last ten years, including: textbook editor, actor, dancer, model, magazine writer, EMT, Firefighter, physics tutor, swimming instructor, and climbing guide. o The longest he has held a serious job is 9 months. In 1999 he worked in Arizona as a rocket scientist on the National Missile Defense Program (seriously) and quit for ethical reasons. In 2004 he taught high school physics, math and yoga in San Diego. During both jobs he continued to live in his VW van. • Despite his unorthodox life choices he has a serious girlfriend of over three years who promises to stay with him as long as he keeps his VW. This last year, Jason continued his vagabond lifestyle and yogic education as he traveled to New Zealand, Thailand, and India. “Sometimes it is tough setting my priorities,” Jason admited. “In New Zealand I taught yoga, competed in the infamous 10 day XPD adventure race, took part in a climbing expedition and a pack-rafting expedition. I don’t even want to think about how crazy India was.” “I’m studied with Pattabi Jois Sharath, and at the yoga hospital in Lonalva, but I had to pass through some areas with amazing untapped climbing potential. There were certainly days where I never even got close to my yoga mat. The more I practice yoga though, the more I find that it is part of everything I do…climbing, racing, slacklining – when I do these with intention, honesty, and an open heart – they become my yoga practice.” If you ever see him do a move called the “figure four” (anga urhdva ekapadasana) on a climbing wall you’ll certainly agree. If that isn’t yoga I’m not sure what is. “It may not be that all climbers are yogis,” Jason smiles. “But I hear all the fables about the wizened old yogis sitting on the Himalayan summit – so I’m pretty sure that all the wizened old yogis are climbers.”
profile
Name: Jason Magness                
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Birthday: August 22
Status: Single
Hometown: Somewhere between Grand Forks, ND  Whittier, CA and Tucson AZ
Tattoo: Two of them, both on my back.
 
 
occupation
Industry: Outdoor adventure/yoga
Occupation: adventurer and teacher
 
 
favorites
Quote: “Moderation in all things, including moderation!”
New Reading: The Story of B, Waiting for the Barbarians, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
Movies: anything with pirates.
TV Shows: No TV
Musicians: Midnight Oil, The Pogues, The Waterboys, Krishna Das.
Travel Destination: Remote, rugged southwest coast of Ireland.
 
contact
pigletwtgfb@hotmail.com
 
In a few words...