Patrick McGannon studied law and landscape
architecture before discovering his great passion, yoga.
Photo by Rita Christopher
By Rita Christopher, Courier Senior Correspondent:
Patrick McGannon has a law degree from Georgetown
University, and a master’s degree in
landscape architecture from the University
of California at Berkeley. That resume suggests several career
paths, but not the one Patrick is embarked on. He runs his own yoga studio in Chester.
He first encountered yoga while he was studying gardening in
England.
He went to a Hindu temple in London
that gave classes.
“I was the only westerner in the room, but they welcomed me
very warmly,” he recalls.
Since that time he has studied at both Esalen and Kripalu,
both well-known American yoga centers, and when he turned 40 in 2005, took a
three-month trip of Southeast Asia focusing on
yoga.
What he learned on his trip, he says, was surprising to him.
“The best place to study yoga is in the United States,” he says.
In Asia, he explains, yoga
is taught in the guru-disciple pattern. “Here, we bring system and a more open
approach to study,” he says.
Though Patrick returned to the East Coast from California two years ago and opened his yoga studio, XO
Yoga, last fall, he has a much longer acquaintance with Chester. He moved to Chester
from Norwalk when he was a young teen and
attended Xavier in Middletown
before going away to boarding school after the death of his father, Donald. His
mother, Patricia, continued to live here until she passed away over a decade
ago.
“I guess this is as much home as I’ll ever be.” Patrick
says.
Patrick was the youngest of 13 children in the McGannon
family, though he is careful about mentioning that.
“I often avoid it, because if I bring it up, that’s all
people want to talk about,” he says.
His father was a lawyer and Patrick’s decision to go to law
school, he says, was based largely on what he thought his father would have
wanted him to do.
After his first year, nonetheless, he recalls he didn’t feel
comfortable with the idea of practicing law. Professors, however, reassured him
that he would feel better about the second. He didn’t. At that point, though,
he decided that since there was only one more year to go, he might as well
finish, but he knew he was not going to be a lawyer.
Instead, Patrick returned to something he had done as a
summer job and for a few years between college and law school–working for a
landscaper. Because his wife-to-be, from whom he has since divorced, was
British, he decided to study in England
for a year, completing courses in London
in both practical horticulture and garden design.
After returning to the U.S.,
he opened his own gardening business in Washington,
D.C. An accident, in which he was
hit in the face by a hydraulic hose, convinced him he wanted to make a lateral
move to landscape architecture.
“If that accident hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have
moved to California.
It was a life-changing moment,” he says.
He enrolled in a landscape architecture program at the University of California
at Berkley, and
in a studio art class, discovered he had talent as a sculptor and stone
carver.
“I found I had a facility for it,” he says.
Though he worked after graduation focusing on landscape as a
part of community revitalization, he set up his own studio and continued to
carve.
When he came back East, originally to work on a landscape
job in Nantucket, he brought some of his work
to a local gallery, where the owner enthusiastically promised him his own show.
It turned out to be a success critically, but not financially.
“I saw the direction things were taking,” he says.
Yoga, he says, is a more balanced life.
“Stone carving takes a toll on your body,” he explains. “I
am very happy about the place I am now,” he says.
The practice of yoga, he adds, is a great tension reducer
for all students, regardless of level. Moreover, he says that the notion one
has to have a particular lifestyle to do yoga isn’t true.
“That’s a big misconception some people have but once they
try it, they realize ‘Wow, yoga really works,’” he says.
For more information, visit www.XOYOGA.com.