MY STORY

Hey, my name is Mike, and I’m honoured that you found your way here!

The physical practice of posture, breath and movement has many benefits. But the real yoga is the psychology of change — changing how we see the world, how we relate to difficulties when they arise in our lives, and fluidly adapting to new situations.

Whether you are new to yoga altogether or have been practising for some time, I’d be honoured to connect with you and help you navigate the unfathomable depth of the yoga tradition. My aim is to share these teachings with anyone who is curious about how Yoga can bring balance to the mind and body.

“The transformative power of yoga reveals itself when you make a commitment to your personal practice.

I’m here to help you figure out what that is.”

A little about my background

I was first introduced to yoga by my older brother and sister when I was 15 years old. The invigorating sensations of strengthening the body in new ways kept me coming back for more, and a few yoga practices a week was the perfect complement to basketball and long-distance running.

I got more serious about my practice 15 years ago, at the age of 24. The office life of sitting long hours over a screen had its way with me — stress, constant back pain, too young to feel so old. Having been born what doctors suspected was scoliosis, the pain was something I was used to, along with arms that would go numb, and a prescription for massages that didn’t seem to address the issues.

Inspired by the profound physical changes I witnessed in a close friend who had studied Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with the Jois family in India, I started a daily practice, and completed a basic 200hr Teacher Training Certification course in Hatha Yoga.

Humble roots in Teaching…

My apartment was just big enough for six mats, so I taught twice a week to whoever would show up, mostly friends, though occasionally complete strangers buzzed my door.

Teaching yoga quickly became a labour of love, and a refuge from demanding work in communications and public education that often involved working 16+ hours a day. As summer came around, I taught free classes in local parks, which led to teaching opportunities at two studios and a leap into full-time yoga teaching in 2009.

Since then I’ve taught over 40,000 hours of yoga and served as the lead facilitator in 19 Yoga Teacher Training Certification programs. Since the pandemic, I’ve also offering virtual classes by donation through YouTube, and more recently moved to a Subscription based platform featuring 100+ curated classes.

Yoga is meant to be adapted to the individual.
It should start simple and be easy to follow.

The teachings of Krishnamacharya have been a deep inspiration to millions of yoga practitioners worldwide, myself included. Krishnamacharya founded the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga method in the 1930s, a movement system comprised of practical yoga philosophies, breath and meditation techniques. As he aged, he continued to evolve and refine his teachings, constantly adapting yoga to the needs of the individual. 

Having explored a variety of systems, I believe an individualized approach to Vinyasa yoga is the most potent and practical path for people from all walks of life. To better serve people like you, I expanded the scope of my studies to embrace simple functional movements as a way of re-imagining a healthy and therapeutic approach towards many traditional yoga poses.

In 2014, I studied directly with Richard Freeman for a summer. Widely considered the world’s foremost authority on Ashtanga Yoga, he really taught me to be more open-minded, to take people on a journey through the relationship between the breath and the body, and to never become fixated on my own preferences or point of view. “Truth lies among the multiplicity of viewpoints.”

TEACHING STYLE

ATTENTION TO THE BREATH IS INTEGRAL TO ALL YOGA PRACTICE

Mastering the breath brings stability to the mind and body. Many yoga scriptures have gone to great lengths to emphasize again and again, that bringing attention to the breath settles the mind, making it calm and focused sufficiently for meditation.

Whether one’s interest is in developing strategies to cope with the stresses of life, or heal some area of the body, the breath is the tool of yoga. Emotional distress and physical pain are closely tied together at the level of the nervous system — the breath is a way of fundamentally rewiring how we process human experiences.

The breath is also the most overlooked aspect of core strength. If someone wants to learn a handstand or a challenging backbend, the breath is typically the key area for refinement.

Notable Experiences

• Lead Teacher in 18 Yoga Teacher Training programs since 2010.
  (200 hour YTT, Internationally Registered with Yoga Alliance) 

• Founded the 200hr Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training, offering participants students a thorough education (2016-Present)

• Have taught over 15,000 hours of yoga and 100s of workshops.

• Philosophy Workshop (15hr) with Srivatsa Ramaswami: Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya

• Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor (2014) - Month-long Teachers Intensive

• Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga (200hr course) with Simon Borg (Yoga Synergy)

• Founded Om School Yoga Training and led two YTT programs (2014-2015)

• Co-led YTT at Pure Yoga Ottawa (2012-2013) with Todd Lavictoire and Mark Laham

• Co-led two YTT at Upward Dog Yoga School (2010-2011)

• Edited and revised YTT Manual for Rama Lotus Yoga Centre based on 300hrs of research (2009)

• Graduated 200hr Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Certification Program (2008)

Workshops from the past

To book a workshop weekend in your online teacher training or your studio, please reach out to yoga@michaeldynie.com

• The Science of Stretching

• Principles of Pain-Free Backbending

• Floating Vinyasa - How to Float (pike press etc)

• Growing a lotus - Open healthy hips

• Psoas Release - a whole-body experience

• Intermediate Backbends - Dropping back and Standing up

• Bandhas in Asana and Pranayama - 4 part course

• Core Strength and Breathing

• Demystifying the Bandhas

• Six-Day Ashtanga Vinyasa Alignment Intensive

• Art of Arm Balances and Inversions - 4 part course

• Yoga Beyond the Basics

• Yoga Philosophy 101 - An Introduction the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga Pradipika

• Handstand and Crow

• Sequencing Course: Energetics, Anatomy and Progressions