Welcome back to our series Yoga teachers in focus, giving you front row seats while we pick your Power Living yoga teacher’s minds on all things yoga. We are offering you not only insight into why they are leaders in the field of yoga but also how the practice of yoga supports them through challenging times. Today’s teacher in focus came to yoga to complement surfing and snowboarding. For all, you active surfers out there, have a read, you might want to consider trying out some yoga after all. Let’s hand it over to Troy Abraham.
Troy first got into yoga in 2005 when a friend told him that it was “so epic for surfing and snowboarding”. He left this first yoga class feeling high, immediately noticing the mental benefits of the practice. For the first year, he says that he didn’t really know anything about the different yoga styles, but knew that after moving and breathing consciously, he felt better. Hence he just did his own 20-minute routine every night and every morning. It wasn’t until 2008, 3 years after he took his first yoga class, during his first week of yoga teacher training that he realised the power and potential of the life implications of yoga. And he has been teaching yoga since then.
Troy’s teaching style is powerful, and he empowers his students to use yoga as a tool to discover the most connected version of themselves. He wants to share the best classes he can and is committed to guiding the practice in a way that adds to incredible life experiences, rather than just a strong yoga practice. If you have practice with Troy whether in studio, live-stream or on Power Living’s online platform, yogaholics, you will know that he teaches with a strong emphasis on breath and total immersion. We have his classes linked below so that you can experience for yourself.
Q&A with Troy Abraham:
1. Who most influences your yoga teaching style, and why?
I’ve studied a lot, and I’d say my style is a synthesis of all of it… but 2 points that come to me are from my teacher, Baron Baptiste who holds a strong space to encourage students to show up as their best selves, and from Leslie Kaminoff who told me to remember that a student in poor posture may be having the best day of their life even if the posture is not perfect.
2. Who have you studied under?
Baron Baptiste is my primary teacher, whom I studied and mentored with him for three years when I started. Since then I’ve learned from many teachers including Leslie Kaminoff, Sianna Sherman and Mark Breadner… but I’ve also focused studies on Qi Gong, MovNat, Functional Range Conditioning and Kung Fu to more adequately convey flowing and functional movement to students.
3, What was one of the most influential moments under one of these teachers?
In a MovNat training, my teacher said “You’re fit? Fit for what?” And then a long discussion followed talking about why we train for life, rather than training for party tricks.
4. What are you best known for as a yoga teacher, and why?
Strong and simple 
I work to relate yogic concepts to students in an easily digestible manner. When I teach, I don’t want to come across with any pretence, but rather simply speak with humans and move them through the practice.
5, What aspect of yoga are you most inspired by?
The constant journey of it. You can’t win in yoga; you can only perpetually progress. This is humbling, and if understood, keeps the ego grounded.
6. What is the latest challenge your personal practice is bringing you, and how are you meeting that challenge?
I recently rehabbed a torn MCL/ meniscus in my knee, with a dislocated 3rd rib, and it was very humbling not to be able to do much movement for awhile. But I learned a lot, and feel stronger than before.
7. Why do you love teaching yoga?
I love that students set aside an hour or more of their time to be without external distraction and to simply move and breathe. When they come to my classes, I see it as an honour and responsibility to move/ breathe them in a way that bypasses the thinking mind and leaves them oscillating and a more relaxed frequency.
8. What is your yoga practice offering you right now, that you couldn’t live without?
Breath and silence. With so much going on, moment s of stillness is crucial.
Grounding, and dedication/ commitment to being in practice, so I remember that this is all just part of the ride.
9. If you wouldn’t teach yoga, what would you do instead?
Play music and be some sort of mad scientist.
10. Your personal self-care ritual?
I do a lot of functional conditioning training, massages, baths, and shamanic healings. Aside from that: surfing, and being in the ocean is the ultimate.
11. What yoga pose, can’t you live without?
Frog. Humbling, and forces vulnerability when you allow it in—so much room for deep release.
12. Advice you live by?
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
~ Lao Tzu
“3 words, 2 meanings: avoid boring people.”
~ Anonymous
Thank you, Troy.
Practice with Troy now.
Now you can practice again with Troy and the rest of the Power Living crew live streaming directly into your home. Where ever you are in the world. Check the timetable and join Troy for one of his powerful classes. You will be in for a real treat, drifting off into your well-deserved savasana feeling sweaty, but stronger and more energised.
Don’t worry if you miss one of the many daily live streams, just head over to Power Living’s online studio, yogaholics. There you can find lots of different classes from guided meditations, yin, vinyasa, pilates to even yoga for your kids. All accessible 24/7. Alright, all you surfers out there, let’s get you strong and ready for your next wave with the Sneaky Surfer Sets lead by Troy. If you haven’t heard already, yoga complements your surfing in so many ways, as it builds strength, balance and flexibility. You will be catching those waves in no time.
Written by the Power Living team.
The post Yoga Teachers In Focus: Troy Abraham appeared first on Power Living.
