Allow me to introduce myself

My Background and Story

Hola, namaste. I am a quirky, nature-loving gay man, born to a conservative Southern Baptist family and raised in the Bible Belt of Alabama. My old coping mechanism for shame and existential anxiety (working out at the gym) eventually turned into my career as a personal trainer. The mental and emotional distress of my religious upbringing is what led me to yoga. Because of my advanced physical capabilities and attraction to challenge, I initially chose to study and practice Ashtanga Yoga in a two-year apprenticeship after college. That was the beginning of my path as a yogi. The next step was to learn to accept myself - to soften and surrender.

Yoga Training

In 2016 I moved to Durham, where the Universe connected me to MindBody Centering Yoga (MBCY) and decided that I would do the 200hr teacher training at Global Breath Studio. My rigid walls were no match for the magic of authentic yoga, chakra healing, and loving sangha that I found in that training, and it totally changed how I related to Self, others and the Universe and formed the foundation for a compassion-centered yoga and fitness practice.

Since then I have completed an advanced MBCY teacher training, Techniques for Transforming Trauma and moved to Costa Rica to start creating a tropical homestead with my husband (which has been my dream for many years). Today I take much of the technical information I knew before about exercise and fitness, combine it with what I have since learned about love and mindfulness, and allow the truth and beauty of yoga to infuse my movement practices and teachings.

My Style

I am casual, energetic and engaging but serious about the potential for growth and transformation through yoga, movement and meditation. My style is playful, physical and fluid. My most consistent technique throughout all my yoga offerings is what I call “ecstatic grounding” or calming the nervous system with invigorating physical movement and exercise. I encourage students to take baby steps outside of their comfort zone in order to try new things and grow whenever they are willing. Most of my classes begin with a slow flow of standing postures and include experimental movements as well as deep releasing stretches. Pranayama, self-massage and chanting are other techniques I often uses to integrate the mind-body and help facilitate a holistically centering and uplifting experience. I especially like to work with people who want to use yoga or fitness to reach self-acceptance, bust out of the box and build confidence.

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What is MindBody Centering Yoga?

MBCY is a sophisticated confluence of Master teachings from the arts and sciences of hatha/raja yoga, the grace of classical dance, psychology as the study of consciousness and the Mind, alexander technique as experiential anatomy, psycho-somatic neurology, energy medicine and spiritual sutra study for the modern world. Click here to learn more