Chris

Teaching yoga is a second career and a passion for Chris. "I promised my wife that if she would let me devote myself fully to my career in my 30s, I would devote myself fully to my health in my 40s." He says he owes his life in yoga, among other things, to her.

Chris and his wife returned to Austin in August, 2008, after a 12-year stint in the Midwest. Chris first settled here in 1988, after many childhood summers on the Texas Gulf Coast and a ranch on the West Texas border. Working for Whole Foods, Chris grew with the business, and eventually relocated to Wisconsin, then to Michigan. It was there that Chris found his way to yoga, in the thriving Detroit yoga scene.

He attended his first class in sweatpants, skeptical and unmotivated. "I went because I felt guilty for not having any physical discipline. We did 10 pushups, my first since I graduated high school, and I didn't 'like' it." But Chris knew he would be back. "The right thing to do is rarely the easy thing to do, the easy thing to do is rarely the right thing to do," he says. After choosing persistence rather than resistance and going to more classes, he started to love it, and went more and more until he had established a daily practice. Yoga was a calming element in his life, and it brought him a focus and ease that he wanted to share.

Chris signed up for Teacher Training at his home studio, Body Language Fitness and Yoga, and began teaching there after graduation.

Yoga in Detroit is heavily influenced by Jonny Kest's Vinyasa Flow. Building up inner heat and flowing through interesting postures in an integral part of Chris's teaching style.

Students in his Hatha Flow classes can expect to focus on breath, movement, drishti (gaze), and tapas (a cleansing inner heat). Class will be powerful and intense, but accessible to students with different capabilities or who are new to yoga. Chris’ classes demand focus and physical effort while allowing for grace to fill your sails, and you are always rewarded with a restorative savasana.

Chris's teachings and practice are inspired by his teacher Andrea Von Behren, world renowned yoga practitioner Seane Corn, the words and music of Bhagavan Das and Jai Uttal, and the classic yoga teachings of TKV Desikachar.

The idea of yoga as "The Union of Opposition" is an exciting concept for Chris. Blending concepts of liberation and surrender, joy and intensity, grace and discipline, keep his personal yoga practice fresh. Teaching has further deepened Chris's love for yoga. He loves to watch students break through the limitations they perceive, and transform themselves on and off the mat. Chris sometimes practices on his own, but he loves the community of a public class. "Yoga is union... so I feel it is best done in togetherness - an informal, cooperative, non-competitive bond."

A capable knitter who finds little use for his talent in the central Texas climate, Chris loves spending time with his wife and 2 dogs Suzhou and Smokescreen, cooking, eating and hanging out at the Bickler Bolthole.

Click here to see when Chris teaches.

Click here to read an interview with Chris from November 2008.

Chris recommends:
Be Here Now, Baba Ram Das
The Heart of Yoga, TKV Desikachar
Yoga Anatomy, Leslie Kaminoff
Jivamukti, David Life and Sharon Gannon
To maintain good traction during a flow practice, Chris recommends using a Yogi Toes towel. "When you get into Vinyasa, the nectar will flow, you'll sweat, and Yogi-Toes keep you from slipping off your mat!"

Favorite quotes:
"When the shoulders are properly aligned, they become the wings of the heart." - TKV Desikachar
"Ask for nothing, receive it in abundance..."