Phil has been practicing Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga regularly for the past four years. He has discovered it to be both is his passion and his purpose.

   Phil first studied yoga  at age 17 from a paper back book while he was attending an all male prep school in 1970. Somehow it helped. He went on to study kundalini yoga with Yogi Bhajan in the 1970’s but was put off by its authoritarian power structure (not to mention the funny clothes and turbans). He then took a 25 year hiatus from yoga during which he moved to Maine, built timberframe houses and the occasional wooden boat while he and his wife Meg raised a family in Freeport.

  In 1997, feeling restless and unhappy, he undertook a 10 day vision fast in Death Valley. He met Sparrow Hart of Circles of Air and Stone and has continued to study and be friends with this open hearted man ever since. He took the 9 month men’s training called “The Mythic Warrior” which met one weekend a month and which was modeled on the Joseph Campbell story of the hero’s journey. He also served as an assistant at that program for two years. Fascinated with the power of the breath to alter awareness he became certified in two healing breath modalities: Integrated Breathwork through the Eupsychia Institute with Jacquelyn Small and Therapeutic Breathwork through the Power of Breath Institute with Jeremy Youst. Both certifications required many hours of study and intensive practice.

  He has remained interested in vision fasts as a way of breaking free of conventional thinking and attitudes. He studied with Sparrow Hart as a vision fast guide on 4 separate quests and took the 28 day vision fast training with the School of Lost Borders in Lone Pine California as well as the 16 day program with Sacred Passage and the Way of Nature Fellowship with John Milton.

  Phil has completed the Baptiste Level one teacher training. He has taken the 5 day Assistants Training Program at the Baptiste studio in Cambridge taught by Gregor Singleton and Claire Este-McDonald. He also trained with Elizabeth Huntsman on the art of assisting during her visit to Portland. He has taken advantage of the opportunities to study and practice with visiting teachers at PPY including  Gregor Singleton, Coeli Marsh, Roberto Lim and Ana Forrest.

  Phil credits yoga with saving his life. He no longer is laid up for days and even weeks at a time with back problems. A cancer survivor, he is disease free and enjoying the fruits of a regular practice. “ There are times when I practice yoga when my body feels to be in perfect balance. Everything is snug_ but nothing is tight and there is a soft steady sound somewhere between a hum and a buzz that fills me with a sense of well being. I love it.”

  Phil has a regular meditation practice and has taken numerous silent retreats with his teacher Adyashanti. Recently Phil has begun working with the meditation teacher Alan Chapman who awakened by following the traditions of western occultism. Phil has learned through hard bought experience that yoga and meditation, like learning a language or playing an instrument requires daily practice. 

  My yoga philosophy is simple. I believe the greatest teacher is our own direct felt experience discovered on our mat, breath by breath and practice by practice. The history of yoga is worth knowing. The eight branches and the various disciplines are worthy of investigation and study. The results of all study must be brought to the mat to face the reality check of daily practice. What is going on right now? It is my experience that radical acceptance of what is true in this moment leads to limitless gratitude.