Michelle Ryan Yoga
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I am committed to offering the practice of yoga to all, with wisdom, empathy and lightheartedness - supporting and challenging students to develop skills that can help them reach their full potential as wise, compassionate human beings. I discovered the roots of this brilliant and beautiful Indian system of personal growth, wellbeing and awakening during my teens, and ultimately found modern physical yoga practice in 1993. After over a decade of personal yoga practice and in-depth study with some of the best yoga teachers and yoga therapists in the world, I began teaching in 2004.

I share this knowledge from a consistent, uninterrupted and reverent commitment to the study and practice of yoga, and bring experience as a veteran practitioner of almost three decades to my teaching. ​My love for yoga practice, and for the craft of teaching, helps me provide students with the means to develop a consistent and nurturing practice for themselves, using methods that I imbue with warmth, lightheartedness, and wisdom. 

I have been one of the few Mysore style Ashtanga yoga teachers in Western Massachusetts throughout the past decade, serving students from all over the world, and logging tens of thousands of hours of practical, hands-on experience through my stewardship of the two yoga communities I founded: Florence Yoga (2009-2014) and Ashtanga Yoga Northampton (2014-April 2020.) 

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Ashtanga Yoga Northampton became unsustainable, and we chose to permanently close the studio in May 2020. I wish to continue to serve as a yoga teacher via my virtual home studio, offering both group and private sessions online via Zoom. When it becomes safe to do so, I'll offer in-person, socially-distanced, outdoor classes at my home in the Hilltowns of Western Mass. 
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I began practicing asana in 1993, and found the Ashtanga yoga modality in 1997 at Heartsong Yoga, and within a few years began learning how to teach with first generation teachers of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. I have studied primarily  Beryl Bender Birch, Christine Hoar, Nancy Gilgoff, Manju Jois and Tim Miller, and trained in Mindful Yoga Therapy for PTSD and Trauma in 2015.
 
​My first studio, Florence Yoga, opened in 2009; I taught there for 5 years before moving to downtown Northampton, where I founded a collective studio, owned by all the teachers, Ashtanga Yoga Northampton, which ran from 2014 and closed during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. 

​I've made three pilgrimages to India to honor the indigenous sources of yoga, most recently in 2018 at a yoga retreat focused on the Krishnamarcharya Mysore Yoga Tradition, featuring a variety of Indian teachers and scholars, some of whom were his direct students. Since July of 2020, I have been studying directly with yoga therapist Kaya Mindlin, founder of ŚRY or Supreme Release Yoga - an accessible yet advanced approach to yoga, combining asana, pranayama, mantra and Vedic teachers.
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The Sacred Grove

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Telephone

413-250-9399

Email

michelleryanyoga@gmail.com

Elsewhere on the web...

​You can listen to interviews of Michelle Ryan on Energy Matters Radio describing Ashtanga/Mysore yoga and how she teaches it; and on the J. Brown Yogatalks Podcast. Michelle is also an artist and writer, and has been published in Dark Mountain. ​
  • Home
  • Schedule
    • Practice tips
    • Practice Sheets
    • Member Recordings
  • Fees
  • About
    • Writing