John is a practicing Yoga teacher and therapist in Little Rock, AR.  He holds instructor and therapist diplomas from Gary Kraftsow of the American Viniyoga Institute in Maui, Hawai¹i and a teaching certification from A. G. Mohan of Chennai, India in the same teaching lineage. 

John has a professional background in economics, finance and non-profit management. Since 2003 he has been Director of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.  Yoga Vita

John has been a student of Yoga since 1971 and has been teaching almost full time since 1997. Over the years, John has practiced in several meditative and asana traditions and has been inspired by many gifted and dedicated teachers in the U.S. Since 1996 he has been digging a deep well in the teaching methodology often known as Viniyoga.

One of his evolving interests is the sound integration of Yoga with allopathic, complementary and alternatives therapies while preserving the classical personal growth, spiritual support and personal relationship foundations of Yoga.  John regularly lectures on Yoga and Yoga therapy at allopathic institutions and co-taught the course on complementary and alternative medicine at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 2002 and 2003.  His articles for The International Journal of Yoga Therapy often have a policy perspective.

To deepen his practice, John traveled to India in 1996 for two months of full-time study with A. G. Mohan. Mohan, a senior student of Krishnamacharya for eighteen years, is the author of Yoga for Body, Breath and Mind and a translation and extensive commentary of the classic Yoga Yaljnavalkya, He is one of the world's teachers in this long, and influential lineage. This brief introduction to the depth and scope of Yoga with this classical teacher changed John¹s perspective and approach to Yoga.

To continue his studies, John entered into extensive and extended teacher and therapist training with Gary Kraftsow in 1997. Teacher training alone was almost three years, with the therapist training another three. Kraftsow, a student of T.K.V. Desikachar for almost three decades, is the founder of the Maui School of Yoga Therapy, the American Viniyoga Institute and author of Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation. Desikachar is the son of Krishnamacharya and the founder of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Madiram in Chennai, India. The KYM is a leading Yoga teaching and therapy center in India. John continues his studies with Kraftsow and other senior teachers in this lineage. For several years he assisted Gary at Omega and Kripalu. Now, however, with the IAYT, John is looking forward to renewing his cultivation of a wide perspective on the "ocean of Yoga."

To complement his personal studies and his private therapeutic practice, John continues formal and informal studies in anatomy, physiology and Ayurveda. These include certification for Advanced Studies in A & P from the American Academy of Healing Arts in Little Rock and "Lectures and Lessons in Ayurveda" (correspondence) from the Ayurvedic Institute of New Mexico. He has sponsored several courses on anatomy and physiology for Yoga teachers and others interested in the movement arts. These classes are primarily for teacher education but also to support a sense of community among Yoga practitioners in different traditions.

John is a member of the Yoga Alliance and is recognized as a Registered Yoga Teacher at the higher level. He freely admits, however, that as minimal standards the thresholds for RYT designation are low and rather "inclusive" compared to most other professional designations and the certification requirements of some Yoga traditions. Still, training as a Yoga teacher is difficult to measure and there is nothing else comparable in the American Yoga world. John served two years on the YA Finance committee in support of the broader goals of the organization and the sincere efforts of the leadership.

In his "past life," John was an electric utility economist for many years for optimal and competitive pricing as well as regulatory, planning and environmental policy. During a '96-'97 sabbatical, John made extended visits to several spiritual eco-villages around the world, including Yasodhara in British Columbia, Findhorn in Scotland and Auroville in India. He found inspiration in the ecumenical and entrepreneurial efforts to integrate spiritual, environmental, economic and social values. Now John often assists non-profits and individuals with finance and other business matters. In recent years, he has been an active board member of Energy Rated Homes of Arkansas, the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock and Arkansas Urban Gardening Educational Resources (AUGER.) John was the Executive Director of AUGER from 2001 to 2003. (AUGER is the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supporting the Dunbar Garden Project, a large, innovative and exemplary school gardening and environmental education effort in Little Rock.) During this time period, AUGER became a Heifer Project Partner, almost tripled in size, won several awards and developed many new partnerships and outreach programs with other schools, the medical school and environmental organizations. Heifer International is a very special nongovernmental organization focused on ending poverty and world hunger at the grass roots level. The world headquarters for Heifer are in Little Rock.