Brian Henderson

My roots are in Ohio. I love it here. I was born and raised in Akron, and spent large chunks of my time exploring the shores of Lake Erie. After college and graduate school, I spent 15 years teaching math at Seattle University. One day at the gym I very casually walked into a yoga class to do a some stretching. There was no turning back. There were many excellent teachers in Seattle at this time, teaching a wide variety of styles and I was fortunate to be able to spend large amounts of time with them, often taking 2 or 3 classes a day. At some point it seemed I had no choice but to go to India and see if there was anything to gain from being in the land where yoga originated. I spent a little over a year there, hopping from ashram to ashram, absorbing as much as I possibly could. Sometimes the practice of the place I was in would be exclusively chanting, or sitting, or debating. I jumped right in. No touring around looking at the temples. Practice, practice, practice. One of the times I was here in Huron, I realized there wasn’t a nice place for people to practice, so I decided to refinish the floors on the 3rd floor of 607 Main Street. From there the studio was born. My hope was, and still is, that Open Way Yoga be as much a community center as a yoga studio. A gathering place, open and inclusive, available so that anyone who wanted could take a class. The goal of the enterprise is for more people to spend more time practicing yoga. Teaching, learning, and most importantly practicing yoga continue to be the main foci of my life. Although I incorporate many different modern styles, as well as Tai Chi and dance into my personal practice, I am predominantly an old school yogi. In addition to the postures, a large portion of my yoga consists of breathing exercises, cleansing exercises, chanting, meditation, and studying philosophy. As an instructor I attempt to present students with as many general practices as I can and to entice people into starting a home practice. I also try to teach students how to practice. Meaning if they step into any other yoga setting they will be able to accommodate their needs and find a useful way to practice. When I’m not teaching yoga, you’ll most likely find me being quiet, growing food, petting dogs, getting paint on my good clothes and walking in the woods. While in Washington DC I completed yoga teacher training and am now a Yoga Alliance certified E-RYT200. My heels still do not touch the ground in downward dog.