Tabay Atkins, 11, had no inkling in 2012 that he had inadvertently selected his mission in life. He was 6. His mother was battling cancer. The son of Larry Atkins and Sahel Anvarinejad observed first-hand the dramatic emotional and physical lift that his mother’s discovery of yoga contributed to her recovery from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. By year’s end, she was cancer-free and had completed a 200-hour certification as a yoga instructor. Tabay, being 6, tagged along at some of her training and soon found himself assimilating the flow. Today, Tabay is a certified instructor – perhaps the youngest in America, or anywhere, as far as his mother can tell – having earned his certification last summer when he was still 10....
Tabay Atkins is the youngest certified yoga teacher in America and he’s been practicing yoga since he was just 6 years old. When he was just 10, he asked to get his certification to become a yoga instructor. Now at 11, he teaches three classes a week at Care4Yoga studio in San Clemente, California.
New York Amsterdam News | July 2017
When Sahel Anvarinejad was battling cancer (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) in 2012, her son, Tabay Atkins, watched as she bravely fought cancer and saw how her yoga practice helped her during recovery.
Fast forward to 2017, Sahel is now a cancer-free yoga teacher and studio owner, and her now 11-year-old son Tabay is the youngest certified yoga instructor in the US—having completed his 200-hour yoga instructor certification course when he was 10 years old.
DOYOUYOGA
Tabay Atkins is a typical sixth-grade boy. He loves building Legos and counts math, social studies and English as his favorite subjects in school.
The 11-year-old from San Clemente, California, also happens to be an in-demand yoga instructor who teaches classes three days per week.
ABC News | January 2017