Rod Stryker (born Nimrod Andre Gross; 19 October 1957) is an American yoga and meditation teacher, author and speaker. He is the founder of ParaYoga, the author of ''The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom'' (2011 Random House). He has been teaching yoga since 1982. He is a former actor on the soap opera Capital and an actor in two 1980s action adventure shows (Riptide and The A-Team)
Professional life
Raised in Los Angeles, California, Stryker attended
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on B ...
and the
University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...
, in addition to studying abroad. Stryker began studying and practicing yoga at the age nineteen. He taught his first class in 1980 and led his first teacher training in 1987. Following nearly two decades of study with Yoga master,
Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger and his son,
Yogiraj Alan Finger he achieved the title
Yogiraj, or master of Yoga. In 1999, Stryker was
initiated
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
into the tantric tradition of
Sri Vidya
Shri Vidya (ISO: '; ; sometimes also spelled Sri Vidya or Shree Vidya) is a Hindu Tantric religious system devoted to the Goddess as Lalitā Tripurasundarī (''Beautiful Goddess of the Three worlds''), Bhuvaneshvari, Maha Lakshmi, etc. A thousan ...
, by his current teacher,
Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, spiritual head of the
Himalayan Institute. Stryker currently serves on the board of Give Back Yoga Foundation and is a featured faculty member of Yoga International.
Stryker founded ParaYoga, a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School, in the early 2000s.
In August 2021, Stryker acknowledged having had a one-time consensual intimate encounter with a student two years earlier.
Personal life
Stryker has been married twice. His first marriage (from 1998 to 2001) was to his private student, former supermodel
Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Rae Tiegs (born September 25, 1947) is an American model and fashion designer. Frequently described as the first American supermodel, Tiegs is best known for her multiple appearances on the covers of the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit I ...
. They had twin sons, Jaden and Theo, who were born via surrogacy in 2000. Stryker's second marriage (2006–present) is to Gina D'Orazio.
The couple has two children. He is brother to
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
writer Josh Gross. He currently lives in Colorado.
Works
Books
*
*Stryker, Rod (2015) ''The Four Desires Workbook: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom''
CDs
*Meditations for Inner & Outer Peace (Audio, 76 minutes)
*Meditations for Life (Audio, 73 minutes)
*Relax Into Greatness (Audio, 88 minutes)
*Tantra: The Radiant Soul of Yoga (Audio 23-CD set)
*The Four Desires (Audio 2-CD Set)
References
External links
parayoga.com*
Sanctuary with Rod Stryker��The App
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stryker, Rod
Living people
American yoga teachers
American educators
1957 births
American male writers