Chris Mastin

 

Like many people, I initially came to yoga for purely physical reasons. I started doing Iyengar yoga in 1990 to supplement my running. As a national-class distance runner, I put a lot of repetitive stress on my body that yoga helped neutralize. In 1997, I retired from competitive running and took up martial arts, but kept running and yoga as side activities.

 

I practiced yoga sporadically for a few years, but after moving to Atlanta in 2006, I began to practice regularly, not only to strengthen and stretch my body, but to help me deal with job stress, another common reason people seek out yoga. I became fascinated by the positive physical, emotional and spiritual changes I experienced from doing yoga consistently. This fascination took flight and now I’m a certified yoga teacher in the Pranakriya style, taught by Yoganand Michael Carroll.

 

Yoga is an ever-blossoming flower with many petals: postures (asanas), meditation, breathing techniques, spiritual exploration, and guidelines for making healthy lifestyle choices. As we continue to practice, yoga's usefulness as a vehicle of self-awareness and freedom becomes more obvious, as does our understanding of how and why we get in our own way and what options are available to help make our journey and others’ more enjoyable. The body is not just a container for the brain; whether one does a quiet or a vigorous practice, yoga is a way of using one’s body to work with energy. We can use this energy to become stronger and more flexible not just physically, but also emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. A mindful yoga practice can connect us with Spirit in all its manifestations.

 

From a physical perspective, alignment is important to avoid injury and develop greater body awareness and, therefore, ease in movement and in stillness, and I stress safe alignment in all my classes. In addition to postures and flowing movements, we also practice breathing and meditation techniques to increase calmness, focus and clarity, which increases our ability to be fully present with what’s going on right now, as well as to broaden our understanding of what is a self-imposed limitation versus what is truly possible.

 

Credentials

 

– 200 hour YTT- Pranakriya Yoga with Yoganand Michael Carroll, 2009

 

– Currently working toward Yoga Therapy and 500-hr Certifications in Pranakriya Yoga

 

Recent Trainings

 

 

Chris's website: Pranashine Yoga