Disclaimer: I am a yoga dealer.  I'm all in. In for life.  

As far as I can tell, no one is getting out alive, so I mean to do the actual work of creating the world I want my children to live in. 

I used to think that yogic practice and promises of attainment offered an alternative and escape from the struggles of everyday life. I passionately clung to the possibility of attaining a state free of fear, sadness, anger, and anxiety. It sounds desirable and tempting--even as I write this. 

The years have changed me. I no longer believe that yoga offers a magic pill to chase trouble away.  On the contrary, yoga brings attention to where we are asleep, unconscious, unskillful, and uncultivated. Like a good relationship, yoga acts as a reliable mirror. In yoga, I see myself. This is not necessarily fun or joyful. Rather, it's deeply important and powerful work we yogis employ to live, and live better.

Progress is measured not in molecules or atoms but quarks.  (A fancy way to say you can't really detect it.) Progress, or the hope of it, happens step by step, the result of effort and perseverance over time. I hardly ever know when progress has happened. When I do spot it or feel it, it feels like a gift. But mostly "progress" eludes me.

It's my routine, my ritual, my practices that anchor me to the world. Yoga trains me to be in the world. Yoga teaches me.  Engage my heart.  Feel more deeply.  Live the joys and the struggles. Do whatever I am doing in the most present way possible.  Show up.  Pay attention.  Yoga teaches me to be a more caring husband, a more compassionate father, and a more articulate and skillful person. Without yoga, and what yoga teaches me, I would be in the wilderness running with the wolves.
 

 

I am an educator, a teacher, a facilitator and a guide. Teaching yoga gives me the best platform to work with others and do my work in this world. I became a teacher by following my interests, cultivating my passions and pursuing them into excellence (or so I aspire). Somewhere along the way, I learned that I had to make a living and teaching was the natural extension, the way to offer to others, the gifts that I have received. As cliché as it sounds, I followed my heart. I am an introvert by nature and teaching yoga has taught me to come out of myself, to offer my voice, and to meaningfully connect with others.  

Staggering facts from a Yoga Journal study entitled Yoga in America:  

Yoga Teacher Training has come a long way from how I was taught. I have come a long way since I first started training teachers.

I want to say that the way yoga teachers are trained is getting dramatically better, but of course I am biased, and it is also my mission to actualize this statement.  

I cannot speak for what other methods or yoga schools do (although I will learn as much as I can from everyone) but I strive to improve my craft every day.  

 Yoga Teacher Training is a dynamic mix of learning modalities, pedagogic teaching, experiential education, group facilitation, self directed learning, personal and professional growth and coaching. It is a cocktail of technique and skill mixed with courage, vision, vulnerability and a twist of perseverance. It is shaken, churned, stirred, heated and cooled with practice in the cauldron of training. 

Recently, a close friend asked how it is that I can continue to move the mark forward and keep striving to hit the mark. I don't really have an answer for that other than "it's what I do." We all need something to do. I feel at home in striving to learn more material and make it accessible.  

It feels natural to me that yoga is growing in our world. It feels like my dharma to participate in the explosion. I am lucky to do what I love. I am lucky to love what I do. I hope more people will do the same.

I am very, very happy to be embarking on the next phase of my work; supporting my students, friends and  YOGAMAZÉ Emissaries in expansion into facilitation of teacher trainings all over the world. We are so proud of our TEACHERS, and so blessed by our students. Thank you for joining us in this community.

I envision the next phase of yoga's growth to occur in many places where it is not yet trendy or readily available to people in their regular lives, and YOGAMAZÉ is right there in those regions. As 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training with me starts here very soon in Los Angeles (April 11-come, come --still space!) we concurrently launch 200 hour programs in  Bali.., Jakarta..., Flagstaff..., Portland..., Seattle..., Riyadh(again!),  and a variety of other locations, where planning is well underway and announcements are soon coming. Speaking of announcements, some of our incredible Apprentices have chosen to become  YOGAMAZÉ Emissaries, teaching trainings around the world. Our accomplished Apprentice group is listed on the right-hand side of this newsletter-be sure to check these teachers out, as they are each and all so talented and unique!
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We have also grown our core team of (now 6!) employees in Los Angeles to include two additional  YOGAMAZÉ Teachers. The talented Nichol Chase (who can rattle off pose scripts like no one else I have ever encountered) is on board in a full-time capacity to help with online content and course development, and the eventual publishing of various manuals and material (YES! PRODUCTS SOON COMING!). Nichol is also developing an important curriculum for our community called "Yoga for Performers," and Nichol happens to be a truly heart stopping vocalist herself. You'll be invited to drop in to learn more right here in the entertainment and performer capital of the world.


AND, the inspiring and lovely Rocky Heron is packing and filling  a moving truck, which is set to drop him here from Portland, Oregon sometime in May. Flocks of Portland students will miss him dearly.But Rocky is about to embark on a big adventure as  we have invited him to be the first YOGAMA  ZÉ teacher to travel and teach FULL TIME in collaboration with this company. If you don't know Rocky Heron, check him out. Don't miss his class.  Backpack through Oregon with him or travel to Jamaica to retreat on white sands. He is nothing short of an inspiration, as he deftly moves between his roles of yogin, musician, and teacher. 

On a family note, Madeleine is growing into her own as a yoga practitioner and proving to be quite a strong little teacher. We call our yoga "KOALA BEAR YOGA." She helps me teach her classmates at Pre-K and I love watching her quiet and shy nature swell with confidence as she teaches a mantra and demonstrates yoga poses. Not only is it the cutest thing in the world, I see clearly how our work is passed forward. Among our current projects is a kids yoga coloring book of poses and stories, yoga games and songs. 

Oliver is "more chewable than ever."  He possesses such a radiant and joyful soul.  A couple weeks ago, when his sister presented him with a giant red balloon, he smiled unreservedly and shouted "HAPPY!" A couple hours later, when his mommy and I piled pillows on top of his chubby little limbs and commenced a "ticklefest," we heard a muffled "NOT HAPPY" emerge from under a slew of feathers....ironically, that very serious, honest, unequivocal information-delivered clearly (albeit in the sweetest baby voice) without apology or reservation-has resulted in weeks of serious inner tickles and smiling on the part of Oliver's parents, who become ecstatic (and sometimes hysterical) when recalling that story.

Tracy is working harder than ever. Leading the charge. Driving the vision. Finding the funding. Manifesting Kali and conjuring Lakshmi as needed and on demand. My wife astounds me.  She creates beauty, embodies ferocity and seems to have a clear pact with Ganapati who both stands in and moves out of our threshold(s) in a dance that I'm quite sure I'll never comprehend. 

Ganesha personally paid Tracy a visit this week, as news that a cervical injury she suffered nearly 15 years ago has vigorously re-emerged. C-5 and C6 have calcified with spurs growing doggedly in many an undesirable direction. This is literally strangling the nerves in her right arm. The pain is acute and brutal. On Wednesday she will go to the hospital and undergo a process whereby doctors will attempt to correct the inflammation and control the pain with a steroid injection at the problem site. We will hope the process helps. If it does not, then we may have no better alternative than to resort to a more aggressive removal of this pesky bone blockage. 

YOGA FOR LIFE.  Noah 

COME TRAIN WITH US AT YOGAMAZÉ LOS ANGELES