About

Chris began his yoga practice in Southeast Portland at Yoga Union in a heated vinyasa flow style. Yoga was an immediate revelation physically, both intense and exhilarating. Through four years of work as a children’s mental health counselor, he practiced as often as possible. With the seed of an idea to integrate mental and physical health into a professional practice, Chris trained to teach yoga in 2009.

In 2010 Chris stopped practicing yoga for almost 9 months and stopped work as a therapist due to the intense personal challenges of depression. Questioning and resisting everything and everyone in his life lead to a difficult crossroads before Chris finally sought help. Through this process he recognized the depth of his passion for yoga. Saying yes to his heart, Chris decided to jump into yoga full time! Diving into a dedicated daily practice Chris started over, returning to the mat with a renewed sense of purpose. Seeking to deepen his teaching skills, he enrolled in a second 200 hr teacher training, this time in an aligned Vinyasa style with the amazing Jean Marie Paolillo at Yogaworks in Manhattan. Chris began teaching full time in Portland at several studios in November 2010.

Foremost, Chris is a student of yoga and is committed to his studies with his beloved teachers and dear friends, the owners of Yoga Union, Annie Adamson and Todd Vogt. Chris is on the mat every day practicing Anusara yoga, the style that has radically deepened his asana practice and confirmed a view of the world he first experienced through music. The Shiva-Shakti Tantric philosophy at the foundation of Anusara is a vivid and joyful acknowledgment of the unity between us and Divine Spirit. There is no separation between us and shakti’s manifestation as music. From age twelve listening to Poison and power ballads up through traveling the country to see Phish and The Disco Biscuits, Chris has found solace, connection, freedom and god inside music. Yoga asana and traditional Hindu prayer songs (Kirtan) have reconnected Chris to the deep longing to touch something larger, just as music has for years. It is this symbiosis that lead Chris to integrate his two passions into an intentional practice that deeply honors the power and similarities of these two sacred paths up the same mountain.

In 2012 Chris will begin assisting Certified Anusara Teacher Sianna Sherman at workshops domestically and internationally.

Chris has released eclectic, downtempo electronica as The Numb Project (2003’s Soundbridge Sessions) and as ½ of Syntac in 2005. Both are available on iTunes and cdbaby.com

“Everything in life is vibration” – Albert Einstein

Yoga Groove is a style of asana practice that intentionally and creatively combines the transformational powers of yoga and music to help us move closer to toward the light inside. By engaging the body, mind and soul through a musically charged asana practice we honor music and yoga as different paths up the same mystical mountain. Read the full article

“Creation is the music of God” – Inyat Kahn

Yoga Groove asks you to think about music differently. In today’s world
music has become an endless stream of compressed, ephemeral digital files that bombard us and our forgotten quickly. We stuff our iPods full with music we never listen to as music passes through our lives without consequence. Music has been stripped of its magic. In combining music with hatha yoga, Yoga Groove, wants to re-establish the music as a picture of God. Read the full article

“Open up your heart / Let love come running in.” – Bob Marley

The initial inspiration for something bigger came on August 14th, 1997 when music changed Chris’s life profoundly. During a Phish concert in Darien, NY, the moment the band began to improvise in “Harry Hood,” Chris felt an emotional and spiritual release from years of internal stagnation. While yoga’s profound effect has occurred more gradually, the practice has produced similar results. Throughout life we often become closed off, we protect the hurt, stay safe and secure. But full dedication to the practices of music and yoga demand you heed Bob’s call. Read the full article

Yoga Experience

• Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance (RYT)
• 500+ hours of yoga training with certified instructors
• Anusara Immersion with Sianna Sherman and Abby Tucker| San Francisco, CA
• 200 hour Teacher Training with Jeanmarie Paolillo | YogaWorks, New York, NY
• Level 2 Teacher Training | Yoga Union | Portland, OR
• 200 hour Teacher Training | The Lotus Seed | Portland, OR
• Workshops with Rolf Gates, Danielle Koppel, Naime Jezzeny, Kenny Graham, Kimberly Carson, Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis, Christopher Tompkins

Education

• Integrative Health Coach Professional Training | Duke Integrative Medicine, Durham, NC
• MA, Counseling Psychology | Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
• BA, American Studies | Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Select Professional Experience

• Morrison Child and Family Services | Child and Family Therapist | Portland, OR
• Centennial Learning Center Alternative School | Child and Family Therapist | Portland, OR