I first started practicing yoga in 2019 using an app on my phone and attending some fitness-style vinyasa classes at a corporate gym where I had a membership. I was interested in gaining flexibility and improving in jiu jitsu at that time. I had been meditating for a little while before that, primarily as a tool to heal and create space around anxiety and depression that I had experienced most of my life. By connecting with my breath through movement and scratching the surface of experiencing asana as a moving meditation, I began to feel as though there was much more to yoga for me to tap into and uncover. 

Later that year, I walked into what became my home studio in California for the next 4 years. I dedicated myself to the practice and eventually completed my 200-hour teacher training in 2023 through that studio. That was actually via Zoom, because my wife and I moved across the country to Asheville a week before the training started. That studio owner connected me with his mentor from the lineage of Sri Dharma Mittra, named Pam who was teaching at the Asheville Yoga Center when I arrived in town. We connected and as soon as I stepped into AYC, it felt like home. I’m so grateful for the community, students, teachers, and staff here who have become like family to me. I’m thankful for the opportunity to teach at such an incredible place.