Rodney Yee

2025-01-07T05:34:00Z

2603:7000:8CF0:63D0:99D6:28DE:5E58:BAC7: /* Personal life */

{{short description|American yoga instructor (born 1957)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rodney Yee
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = March 1, 1957<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C4F7AE2LrCL/ | first=Colleen | last=Saidman | authorlink=Colleen Saidman | title=Over the weekend we celebrated Rodney’s birthday | quote=Colleen Saidman: "Hey Rod." Rodney Yee: "Hey." CS: "What day is today?" RY: "March 1st!" CS: "What does that mean?" RY: "My birthday.... I'm sixty-seven." | date=March 4, 2024 | access-date=March 10, 2024}}</ref>
| birth_place =
| occupation = Yoga instructor
| years_active = early 1990s–present
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* Donna Fone;
* Colleen Saidman
}}
| children =
| website =
}}
'''Rodney Yee''' is an American [[yoga as exercise|yoga]] instructor who rose to national prominence in the mid-1990s when he was featured on the cover of ''[[Yoga Journal]]'' magazine and later starred in a series of [[Gaiam]]/Living Arts yoga instructional videos and DVDs.<ref>Donahue, Dierdre. "Look at this man's body: This is what yoga can do for you." ''[[USA Today]]'', April 24, 2002 [https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2002/2002-04-24-rodney-yee.htm (full text)]</ref> Yee has narrated meditation audios and written two books.

== Early life and education ==
Rodney Yee was born in 1957, the [[Chinese-American]] son of an [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]], and spent his childhood on military bases in [[Altus, Oklahoma]] and [[Puerto Rico]]. He was a [[gymnast]] during his high school years and later became a [[ballet]] dancer, performing with the Oakland Ballet Company and the Matsuyama Ballet Company of [[Tokyo, Japan]]. He began studies in [[philosophy]] and [[physical therapy]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], though he dropped out in order to pursue ballet full-time.{{sfn|Schneider|2003|pp=76-81}}

== Career ==
Yee became a yoga enthusiast in the [[Iyengar Yoga|Iyengar school]], but now teaches a blend of Iyengar Yoga and his own invented style. He began his yoga teaching career at a studio called The Yoga Room in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]; in 1987 he co-founded the Piedmont Yoga Studio in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]].{{sfn|Schneider|2003|pp=76-81}}

In 2002, several students of Yee's stated that they were having sexual relations with Yee and that the behavior had been going on for some time.<ref name="Goodyear Marech 2002">{{cite web |last1=Goodyear |first1=Charlie |last2=Marech |first2=Rona |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Yoga-guru-in-compromising-position-Celebrity-2836809.php |title=Yoga guru in compromising position / Celebrity instructor Rodney Yee faces allegations of misconduct with students |date=May 12, 2002 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref> Yee was sued for breach of contract, the claim alleging multiple sexual affairs with his students.<ref name="Moss 2013">{{cite news |last=Moss |first=Rebecca |title=Elle Report: Why Do Sex Scandals Keep Rocking the Yoga World? |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a15245/bikram-choudhury-sex-scandals-in-yoga/ |access-date=27 March 2022 |work=[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]] |date=15 May 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Yee has three children from his first marriage to Donna Fone, whom he divorced in 2002 after twenty-four years of marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/12023/ |title= An Illicit Yoga Love Story |last1= Pogrebin |first1= Abigail |magazine= New York Magazine |date= 13 May 2005 |access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref> He married former model Colleen Saidman, one of his students, in December 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/fashion/weddings/07Vows.html|title=Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee|first=Lois Smith|last=Brady|date=January 7, 2007|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> Since dating students violates the [[Sexual abuse by yoga gurus#Policy|precepts of yoga teacher conduct]] as defined by the [[Yoga Alliance]], this led to division in Yee-oriented communities.<ref name="Goodyear Marech 2002"/> Yee and Saidman live in [[The Hamptons]].

==Bibliography==
* ''Yoga, The Poetry of the Body'', Saint Martin's Griffin, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0312273316}}
* ''Moving Toward Balance'', Rodale Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0875969213}}

==References==
{{Reflist|26em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last=Schneider | first=Carrie | title=American Yoga {{!}} The paths and practices of America's greatest yoga masters | publisher=Barnes & Noble | year=2003 | isbn=978-0760745588 |pages=76–83 }}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0947186|name=Rodney Yee}}
*[http://www.gaiamyogaclub.com/ Gaiam Yoga Club featuring Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman]
*[http://www.yeeyoga.com/ Rodney Yee's website]
*[http://www.gaiam.com/category/yoga-studio/yoga-instructors/rodney-yee.do Rodney Yee's videos produced by Gaiam]

{{Yoga as exercise}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yee, Rodney}}
[[Category:American male ballet dancers]]
[[Category:American people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:American yoga teachers]]
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Altus, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]

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Rodney Yee