A little background
I’ve been a dedicated yoga practitioner for many years, and in 2018 I earned my 200-hour teaching credential under Sienna Smith, a certified IAYT yoga therapist. That training emphasized alignment and safe movement, with a strong influence from Anusara Yoga. More recently, I completed certification in SATYA with Tias Little of Prajna Yoga. SATYA (Sensory Awareness Training for Yoga Attunement) is a floor-based somatic movement practice that enhances interoception, our ability to sense what’s happening within, by bringing gentle awareness to subtle motion and sensation. In 2022, I completed the coursework for my 500-hour advanced teacher training, where I studied yoga for trauma healing, the anatomy of movement, the subtle body, and the relationship between Dharma and yoga.
Over the past several years, I deepened my studies at the Mount Madonna Institute and became a certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor. Ayurveda, the sister science of yoga, offers a personalized approach to health that looks at lifestyle, diet, digestion, energy, and emotional well-being through the lens of the five elements and the three doshas. I now weave Ayurvedic principles into my yoga teaching, helping students cultivate balance both on and off the mat.
My classes focus on strength, mobility, flexibility, and functional alignment—especially important for those of us navigating the middle years of life. I also work closely with seniors in my non-yoga career, and I see firsthand how weak feet, ankles, knees, and hips can lead to serious mobility issues. So in class, we take time to nourish those areas while also refining our sense of balance and body awareness.
The deeper magic of yoga, though, lies in what it does for the mind. Mindfulness is built into every class I teach. You’ll often hear me say things like, “Notice your breath,” or “Feel any new sensations in your body.” These gentle cues help guide us into the present moment—a place beyond worry and beyond regret. This simple practice of presence builds mental clarity and emotional resilience, and over time, it changes how we experience daily life.
As a middle-aged male, my personal practice has shifted over the years. I no longer chase intensity for its own sake. Instead, I focus on intelligent alignment, easeful strength, and deep internal sensing. After recovering from some injuries caused by earlier, less mindful habits, I now favor a regenerative practice, one that feels spacious, grounding, and healing. I want to feel buoyant and free when I finish my daily practice, and I want that for my students, too.
What are my classes like?
I call my classes ‘Mindful Alignment Yoga‘, but what does that mean in practice? Well, in general, my classes start off with a mindful movement practice called SATYA , then we go into a sequence of asana poses, and at the end, we wrap up with some restorative postures.
SATYA where we bring our attention to what’s happening in our body as we go through gentle twists and bends. This practice is designed to calm the nervous system and bring our awareness into the present moment. It also attunes us to sensations in our body, such as, pulse, flushing, tingling, fascia tension, and more. This practice is supportive of our parasympathetic nervous system, our rest-and-digest system, and is well suited for people who are healing trauma.
The asana phase of class focuses on mobility and strength. We will do some gentle vinyasa flows, but mostly we will enter a pose and hold it for several breaths (if not longer). Holding poses allows us to finesse our alignment and position and then build strength in the muscles needed to hold the pose. Before exiting a pose, we take a couple of breaths to ‘live’ in the shape, just examine how it feels, where the effort is and where the ease can be found. It’s not quite yin yoga where poses are often held for several minutes, but it’s not quick pose shifts like power yoga or vinyasa yoga either.
Just before class ends we will enter a restorative pose. These poses are done sitting or lying down usually supported by props, such as, bolsters, blocks and straps. These poses allow our muscles and joints to settle after our asana sequence. These are no-strain, deeply relaxing postures where you will be invited to attune to your body’s internal sensations.
I also structure my classes as part of an ongoing series. For example, I recently formed my classes around the chakra model which created a 6 week arc of classes. The first class in the series focused on hips & pelvis, next week was abdomen/core, then chest and shoulders… and so on. Each class covers some new ground while connecting back to poses we have done in the recent past. There is certainly no need to attend all classes in a series, but there is some benefit to coming regularly.
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