Hi, I’m Mike.

I took my very first yoga class in 2001, after a few months of playing around with VHS tapes. It was not an entirely life-affirming experience—I was in no way ready for it—and I more or less abandoned yoga for a couple of years.

I finally tried again, going to a different yoga class early in 2003, and found myself unexpectedly hooked. I took classes at least twice and often three times a week. Finally something intensely physical that moved at a pace with which I was comfortable.

No, it wasn’t a flow class. Not that there’s anything wrong with that—I just don’t think I would have stuck with it if it had been.

In 2004, while working in Washington, DC, I happened to be introduced to Anusara™ Yoga, and I’ve been a devoted student of Anusara since 2005. My primary teachers remain Paul & Sommer Sobin and Lila Brown and the community of friends with whom I’ve often practiced: Michael Ward, Melinda Thomas-Hansen, Hannah Byrum, Laura Flora and innumerable others.

I have also studied extensively with Anusara Yoga Founder John Friend, and whenever I travel I try to take the time to study with any teachers I can find. I have experienced many wonderful classes and met some bright, shining teachers this way: Darcy Lyon, Elizabeth Goodman, Julie Dohrman…the list could go on much longer.

Encouraged by my teachers, I began teaching yoga in April, 2007, completed a 200-hour Anusara Teacher Training program in June, 2008, and earned Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher status in April, 2009. I have generally taught in Durham, NC, where I have lived since moving to North Carolina, though I have occasionally done stints as far away as Chapel Hill and Raleigh—Durham is my home, and where I feel like I should do my teaching.

One day I will enter the certification process, if only to get people to stop bugging me about it.

Anusara yoga has changed my life, helping me discover the strength to be more honest, open and loving—to be a better, freer version of myself.