Rod Stryker

{{Short description|American yoga and meditation teacher, author and speaker}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Rod Stryker

| image =

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| birth_name = Nimrod Andre Gross

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|10|19}}

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| death_date =

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| years_active = 1976–present

| occupation = Yoga teacher

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Cheryl Tiegs|1998|2001|end=divorce}}
{{marriage|Gina D'Orazio|2006-2021}}{{cite web|url=http://www.challismessenger.com/archives/0708stryker.html|title=The Challis Messenger Online|publisher=challismessenger.com|accessdate=18 January 2014}}

}}

| parents = Joseph and Marion Gross

| children = 4{{cite web|url=http://www.parayoga.com/learn/rodstrykerbio.html|title=learn/rodstrykerbio|publisher=parayoga.com|accessdate=18 January 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201150033/http://www.parayoga.com/learn/rodstrykerbio.html|archivedate=1 February 2014}}

}}

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 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083397/fullcredits/bio {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}} and an actor in two 1980s action adventure shows (Riptide and The A-Team)https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119769/bio {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}

Professional life

Raised in Los Angeles, California, Stryker attended Beverly Hills High School and the University of Denver, 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{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Diane|title=YJ Interview: Bold Soul|url=http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2533|work=YogaJournal }} 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 into the tantric tradition of Sri Vidya, 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.{{cite web |url=https://yogainternational.com/profile/83 |title=Rod Stryker {{!}} Profile {{!}} Yoga International |website=yogainternational.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209082141/http://yogainternational.com/profile/83 |archive-date=2013-12-09}}

Stryker founded ParaYoga, a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School,{{cite web |url=https://www.yogaalliance.org/SchoolPublicProfile?sid=2240&lid=2240 |website=Yoga Alliance|title=School Profile | Yoga Alliance }} in the early 2000s.

In August 2021, Stryker acknowledged having had a one-time consensual intimate encounter with a student two years earlier.{{cite web | url=https://www.parayoga.com/communications-2021/ | title=Communications 2021 - 2022 | date=17 September 2021 }}

Personal life

Stryker has been married twice. His first marriage (from 1998 to 2001) was to his private student, former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. They had twin sons, Jaden and Theo, who were born via surrogacy in 2000. Stryker's marriage to Tiegs was mentioned in "The Negotiation", Season 3 Episode 18 of The Office. Stryker's second marriage (2006–present) is to Gina D'Orazio. The couple has two children. He is brother to ESPN mixed martial arts writer Josh Gross. He currently lives in Colorado.