RYT200,

My main influences are in writings of traditional hatha yoga, as passed down through the Nath and Saraswati lineages in Northern India. These traditions place a lot of emphasis on understanding the pranic (energy) or the internal subtle body as the main point of focus in asana alignment and structure.

I am also influenced heavily by writings in classical raja yoga, which approaches body experience through the workings of the mind. So I try and build mindful, strong, but slower flows that allow the practitioner an opportunity to work hard, but also experience the deeper energetic and mental work of each posture.

Like many others, I left a life I had laid out ahead of me to further explore the practice of yoga and the world that is right now in front of me. I approach the practice, in all of its manifestations, as a method for investigating the complex question of consciousness that seems to be at the root of all other questions.

In my time with the practice, I have been especially captivated by its transformative capacity for rendering even the boldest complexities of life into subtle truisms of being. I understand teaching not as the passing on of practical knowledge, but rather as the coming together of people to learn and share in the value of spiritual experience.

Curran is the founder and director of Define Yoga