Found: From dollars to dharma

By Sarah Hope

In 1996, ’Chelle Jozefczyk was 21 years old and working in finance for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter at the World Trade Center. She had moved to New York City with her future husband, Dave, and the two were “living a life of self-indulgence in the city that never sleeps.”

Always a dancer, ’Chelle attended regular classes at the gym where she was a member. To maintain her flexibility and stay in shape, she decided to try yoga. At the time, “all the supermodels were doing it,” she said, so she thought, “Why not?”

In that first class, she discovered that yoga was about so much more than the physical. She felt a profound peace after practicing yoga, and over the next few years spent more and more time on her mat. Upon returning to Syracuse in 1999, she continued to work in finance, but taught tribal belly dance classes on the side.

After becoming involved with CNY Yoga Center and attending more classes than ever before, she received her 200-hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher certification in 2006. By 2009, she completed Sri Dharma Mittra’s Life of a Yogi 500-hour teacher training, left her professional career and became a full-time yoga teacher.

Today, ’Chelle teaches up to 18 classes per week, which can be exhausting for the body and the mind. However, she says it’s absolutely worth it.

“I love to help people. I love to serve the community in any way that I can.”