Bay Area Yoga Teacher Highlight: Chad Woodford
Name: Chad Woodford
Practice with me at: Love Story Yoga, and Yoga Loft at MX3 Fitness.
How long I’ve been practicing yoga: 15 years.
How long I’ve been teaching yoga: 9 years.
What kind of yoga I teach: It’s a holistic and integrated practice I call Elemental Yoga: a blend of alignment-based vinyasa with prānāyāma, subtle kriyā practices from the Yogananda lineage, Himalayan kundalini practices, mantra, freedom movements, and transcendental wisdom.
My mantra these days: Not all “success” must be hard-won. There is a deep power in surrendering to the dance with the Divine. In other words, Aham Shraddha.
An asana/meditation or kriya that has been resonating with me lately is: Maha Mudra (a short, traditional flow we do). I love its meditative simplicity and how it’s both grounding and transcendental at the same time.
How I like to practice yoga off the mat: By constantly asking how I can be of service, offering all my actions to the Divine, and seeing the light of Nature in everyone I meet.
My sign: Libra, with Sagittarius rising.
The last book I read was: This Is That, a new interpretation of the Yoga Sutras by Anand Mehrotra.
Favorite local juice/tea spot: Beloved Natural Cafe & Organic Juicery, and Samovar.
Where I go for a nourishing meal: Dancing Yak and Indochine.
What’s on your yoga playlist right now: Mandalam by Nadaka, Man Kunto Maula by Arooj Aftab, Make You Feel by Alina Baraz & Galimatias, We Are Truth by East Forest & Ram Dass, The Channel by Essie Jain, and ChangingWaters by Lis Addison.
A few of my favorite yoga teachers are: Janet Stone, Stephanie Snyder, and Anand Mehrotra.
A ritual I love: Early morning puja and meditation.
What I am letting go of this year: The need to have my life make sense instead of simply recognizing the beauty of its creative and unexpected twists and turns.
What I am embracing this year: Deep compassion and the creative power of prolonged stillness.
My website: elemental.yoga.
My instagram: @woodford.yoga.
Join Chad at Love Story Yoga on September 28th for An Introduction To Elemental Yoga! Learn more HERE.
