Hi, my name is Chris. If you are reading this, it is nice to meet you. My yoga journey started back in 2013 way out West in Albuquerque. Truth be told, I never really wanted to try yoga. I had always viewed it as just stretching in the heat and that didn’t really interest me at all. However, in early 2013, I went out on a first date and she suggested we go take a yoga class together. I was nervous about going to a heated yoga class, but figured it couldn’t be that bad. It’s just stretching, right? I don't know exactly what happened in that first class, but I loved everything about it. It unlocked a passion inside of me that I never realized I was missing out on. Almost like going to Chipotle for the first time. What makes it so good? Is it the tortilla, the chicken, or the salsa? Who really knows? I just knew I wanted to go back the next day and find out. After about 6 months of trying to understand yoga and practicing yoga, the opportunity to take the yoga RYT 200 teacher training came up. I decided that, that was the natural progression to learn more and further my practice.

When I completed the teacher training, I spent about a year and a half teaching the warm and gentle classes at the studio I attended. Teacher training and instructing gave me an entirely different perspective on my yoga practice. It encouraged self-exploration, introduced me to the spiritual aspects of yoga and the body's energy, and ultimately deepened my passion for the practice. I still can’t believe the journey that yoga has taken me on. If I could go back in some sort of DeLorean to tell myself about how the journey unfolded thus far, I wouldn’t believe it. Yoga has given me so much and has forever changed me. The only thing it has ever really asked in return is that I show up. How I view myself, how I work with my breath and connect to my body, and being more present in the moment has all changed for the better through yoga.

Life later brought me to Columbia in 2023 and I am very grateful to have found a studio like Sumits Yoga, that I can attend to further my yoga journey. It’s such a great community to be involved in and feels like a new home. Everyone has been so welcoming. I truly appreciate the opportunity to continue growing my practice here in Mid-Missouri alongside such an incredible community of like-minded yogis.