Hi folks! Mark here popping over to say hi as a guest on the MSY account. Some of you might know me from my Elemental Yoga class on Tuesday at 5:30pm. You might have also seen me at another class as a student or substitute teaching for one of my yogi pals. I’ve been noticing a lot of new faces at the studio (yay!) and wanted to introduce or re-introduce myself.
I live in Fairmont with my awesome wife, Natalie (also a yoga teacher), and our two adorable dogs, Rudy and Luna. I love our little family very much!! I work with a deep passion as both a music educator and a musician, recording engineer, and producer. I’m thankful to have had some interesting and amazing journeys on that path. I write and record some of the music you might hear at my classes. Also, I always feel weird talking about it, but since it’s a thing you can Google and friends/family encourage me to mention it….I co-produced, engineered, and mixed a classical album that got nominated for a Grammy in 2018. It was definitely an experience. I love science fiction like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dune. I enjoy languages, and have learned the basics of a few. I’m currently trying to become fluent in Italian. I very much enjoy traveling to new places and nature, with preference given to warm spots near water.
I am a registered yoga teacher at the 200 hour level, level 3 Reiki master, and hold the rank of black belt in the American Karate System. I really like reading philosophy of these disciplines too! My approach to teaching yoga draws a lot from these areas, and a healthy dose of modern science. My personal yoga practice and classes aim to cycle through all the elements of nature. I try to combine my preference for vigorous flows and the holding of postures with relaxing movements, breath work, brief meditations, and…..humor! I enjoy exploring unique interpretations of poses, but my favorite poses in general are lotus, downward facing dog, warrior III, and shoulder stand.
Something we worked on a bit in my class this past week was lotus/flying lotus and a few variations related to them. Lotus pose is one of my absolute favorite poses! I often transition to that as a student when the teacher cues us to meet in a seated position. Aside from it being one of my favorites, I had a specific reason to start with the “lotus family”. More on that in person. I mentioned we would start with lotus variations that day, and were going to be having fun with some other poses in the coming weeks. Yes, part of that is to lead up to a neat little surprise pose that some folks may have never done before.
As fun or challenging as it can be, just getting into a pose doesn’t mean so much on its own. Learning a pose isn’t the end. It is a means to other things. We’ll talk more about that on a Tuesday. See you at the studio.
Live long and prosper.