I teach meditation, yoga philosophy, and scripture throughout the world and try to bring humor, joy, and sincerity into each of my classes.
With meditation I teach systematic stillness practices to a wide variety of populations from people suffering with extreme addictions to business executives to busy moms to professional athletes.
My interest in buddhist and yoga philosophy is in combining the brilliance of western psychology with the profundity of ancient wisdom. I seek to make the wisdom traditions applicable to real people in a world of addiction, heartbreak, and stress.
With meditation I teach systematic stillness practices to a wide variety of populations from people suffering with extreme addictions to business executives to busy moms to professional athletes.
My interest in buddhist and yoga philosophy is in combining the brilliance of western psychology with the profundity of ancient wisdom. I seek to make the wisdom traditions applicable to real people in a world of addiction, heartbreak, and stress.
My First Teacher
One morning when I was 13 I woke up to find the renunciate Murray Rogers in my living room. He was an unlikely guest in our suburban home with his white hair and hand woven robes. Murray was the founder of Jyotiniketan a small ashram in North India. Jyotiniketan was a community of deeply devoted spiritual practitioners in the Christian/ Hindu tradition. Rooted in the central teachings of Christ; non-violence, compassion, and service; and drawing heavily on the wisdom of the Vedic scriptural traditions and the Advaita Vedanta non-dual traditions, Jyotiniketan became a pilgrimage site for some of the greatest spiritual minds of the West and the East.
I studied with Murray for 23 years until his death in 2006.
Meditation & Scripture
I began studying meditation and the scriptural traditions of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism in my early teens. In high school I also began doing retreats at the Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York under the guidance of John Daido Loori.
After leaving home I spent a year hitchhiking around the west visiting and living in different monastic communities and meeting a variety of spiritual teachers. In 1990 I was introduced to Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices while studying at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Soon I was studying with the great Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other well-known teachers while living and working at "Land of Medicine Buddha" in Santa Cruz, California. After some time learning the Tibetan systems, my teacher, Murray Rogers, suggested I spend a little time with the Trappist Benedictines. In 1996 I spent a summer living in the cloistered walls of the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Bardstown, Kentucky. In 2003 after getting a bachelors degree in Psychology and spending a year studying in North India I spent seven intense years studying the yogic and scriptural traditions of Vajrayana in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition.
From 2010 to 2014 I completed a solitary and silent traditional meditation retreat lasting three years, three months and three days.
After leaving home I spent a year hitchhiking around the west visiting and living in different monastic communities and meeting a variety of spiritual teachers. In 1990 I was introduced to Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices while studying at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Soon I was studying with the great Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other well-known teachers while living and working at "Land of Medicine Buddha" in Santa Cruz, California. After some time learning the Tibetan systems, my teacher, Murray Rogers, suggested I spend a little time with the Trappist Benedictines. In 1996 I spent a summer living in the cloistered walls of the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Bardstown, Kentucky. In 2003 after getting a bachelors degree in Psychology and spending a year studying in North India I spent seven intense years studying the yogic and scriptural traditions of Vajrayana in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition.
From 2010 to 2014 I completed a solitary and silent traditional meditation retreat lasting three years, three months and three days.
Yoga
I first began practicing Yoga when I was in my early 20's. I completed a formal Yoga Teacher Training in Ashtanga Yoga under the guidance of Master Baba Hari Das. In 2003 I traveled around the country with a small group of yogis teaching the deeper dimensions of yoga and it's affects on the subtle body. Over the years I have had a chance to meet and practice with some of the worlds greatest masters in both India and America. I have been predominately influenced by the discipline and rigor of Shri Pattabhi Jois, the spectrum of asanas and their relation to health and illness from Master Iyengar and the alignment wisdom of Anusara.
I teach workshops throughout the world with a focus on trying to help people access the deeper spiritual benefits of yoga by working with the joyfulness of practice and the profundity of tapas.
In my classes and workshops I try to actualize the words of the great yogi, Dharma Mitra, "no fun, no yoga."
I teach workshops throughout the world with a focus on trying to help people access the deeper spiritual benefits of yoga by working with the joyfulness of practice and the profundity of tapas.
In my classes and workshops I try to actualize the words of the great yogi, Dharma Mitra, "no fun, no yoga."
Music and the Performing Arts
I have always been deeply drawn to the performance arts. For a number of years I studied closely with the director Jay Ruby who taught me that movement could unlock mysteries and that music could realign hearts. My godfather of music has been the deeply committed pianist Francis Martineu.
I completed initial formal training in the classical arts of North India under the tutelage of Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music. I continued studies in music and dance with Dr. Rajana Shrivasti and Parashu Ram Pandi in Banaras, India.
For over 20 years I have been honored and blessed to be a part of the multi-generational dance company Human Nature (http://humannaturedance.org) based out of Flagstaff, AZ.
Since 1995 I have also worked with the aerial and stilt acrobatic physical theater company The Carpetbag Brigade (http://www.carpetbagbrigade.com) based out of San Francisco, CA. I was a founding member of this now international company and have toured with them, performing, writing and composing scores that continue to be performed all over the world.
In 2006 I founded The Shaktipat Marching Band, a hip hop inspired, dharma infused all percussion marching band in Tucson, Arizona.
I completed initial formal training in the classical arts of North India under the tutelage of Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music. I continued studies in music and dance with Dr. Rajana Shrivasti and Parashu Ram Pandi in Banaras, India.
For over 20 years I have been honored and blessed to be a part of the multi-generational dance company Human Nature (http://humannaturedance.org) based out of Flagstaff, AZ.
Since 1995 I have also worked with the aerial and stilt acrobatic physical theater company The Carpetbag Brigade (http://www.carpetbagbrigade.com) based out of San Francisco, CA. I was a founding member of this now international company and have toured with them, performing, writing and composing scores that continue to be performed all over the world.
In 2006 I founded The Shaktipat Marching Band, a hip hop inspired, dharma infused all percussion marching band in Tucson, Arizona.
