Daniel Smith

I currently teach Yin yoga and a basic beginners yoga 101 class. The goal in Yin is to alleviate any aches and pains, to balance out their vinyasa (yang) practice and also to educate students on the philosophy of yoga. My beginners class is focused around proper alignment in common poses to build muscle memory and confidence before moving to a more challenging class. I also try and incorporate pranayama because the benefits of focusing on your breath are innumerable and you can do pranayama anytime, whenever you need to calm yourself down.My journey began about 3 years ago. My life was spiraling downward and I had no idea how to cope with the feeling of failure and shame and embarrassment of my past mistakes. I hated myself, I woke up every morning with terrible thoughts....and I don't wish them on anyone. How do you find any happiness in life if YOU can't even stand yourself!? On top of the mental hell I put myself in, I also have disc issues in my back which made life much harder to enjoy and also gave me am excuse to stay introverted and detached from society. I needed some relief from all this, a healthy alternative to the distructive behavior that I tried in the past. I found yoga. First I'd watch videos and practice at home for my physical pain but than I realized i felt more content with life afterwards. From then on I was hooked! I researched more and more about it and felt the benefits of it first hand. I changed my perception of my life and I hardly have any pain anymore, which I was convinced would never get better. So 3 years into my practice my boss gave me an ultimatum at work, stay there or reinvent yourself and live the life that you've always wanted to live... And I chose the latter! I became a yoga teacher because I wanted to show people how beneficial e practice can be. Yoga is a technology thats used to help you become the best you possible, your truest Self. It has the potential to help people overcome whatever obstacle they face in life and also remove e sharp edges that this world seems to have.