Bryan Kest | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bryan Kest 1964 (age 60–61) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation | Yoga teacher |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Website | poweryoga |
Bryan Kest (born 1964) is an Americanyoga teacher. Recognized as the creator of one form ofPower Yoga,[1] he is the founder of Santa Monica Power Yoga, based inSanta Monica, California.[2] Kest has led yoga classes, retreats and workshops worldwide.[3] He is credited with pioneering the practice of donation-based yoga in the United States.[4]
Kest was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1964. He began practicing yoga in 1979, at the insistence of his father, a physician.[5] While still a teenager, Kest studied in Hawaii with David Williams, who broughtAshtanga (vinyasa) yoga from India to the United States.[6]
In 1983, Kest traveled to Mysore, India, to study withK. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga yoga.[7] Kest remained in Mysore for a year before he returned to the United States, moving to Los Angeles, California, where he studied holistic health and nutrition at Ryokan College. Additionally, Kest was a yoga therapist at Esteem, a Santa Monica treatment center for people with eating disorders.[8]
Kest began teaching in Los Angeles in 1985, and founded Santa Monica Power Yoga in 1995.
Kest incorporatesmeditation into his teaching and his teacher training, and has studiedVipassanā meditation withS.N. Goenka. Kest's philosophy regarding donation-based classes is based partially on the principles of Vipassana meditation.[9]
| Topics |
|  | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| History |
| ||||||||||||
| Schools (Gurus) |
| ||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||