James Brown

Lead Teacher

When and why you moved to L.A.

I moved here from Washington, DC after the 2000 Presidential election resulted in most of my friends and clients leaving the city. I came to L.A. because there were people here who wanted me to teach them and because I like the sun.

 

Something that complements your practice

I take a lot of care with what I eat and I cook it myself most of the time. Your body is made of what you put into it. Since my body is what I do my practice with, I want it to be made of good stuff.

 

Something improved by your practice

The most visible non-physical shift since I started practicing is that I really care about people and connect with them and love them. Before yoga, I needed people but I didn’t love them.

 

If you weren’t a yoga teacher, you would be

teaching, no matter what. I taught computer logic in the Navy. If I weren’t teaching yoga, I would like to teach cooking or philosophy.

 

James Brown is no poser when it comes to yoga. He grew up on a tobacco farm in Maryland, then became a nightclub promoter and yoga teacher and first Adjunct Professor of Yoga at American University in Washington, D.C.–all before coming to L.A. in 2001 to study Ashtanga with Maty Ezraty. Renowned for developing creative, challenging content for top yoga studios and fitness centers around the globe (including YogaWorks, Equinox Fitness and YogaGlo) and for shaping personalized practices for private clientele, James has a vibrant following and boasts an impressive list of high-profile clients and leaders in business, fashion, politics and philanthropy.

James has been mentored both as a teacher and an Ashtanga practitioner since 2001 by Maty Ezraty, globally acclaimed senior teacher and founder of the original YogaWorks in Santa Monica. At this location, from 2003-2007, James served as a senior teacher trainer, where he was a key contributor to the first highly regarded YogaWorks Teacher Trainer’s Guide. James led over 4,000 hours of teacher trainings–educating more than 1,000 of the world’s top yoga teachers and helping grow the YogaWorks Teacher Training program from two offerings a year to more than 50 by the time he left.

In 2007, James founded YogaPoser; in 2010, he selected iconic Venice Beach for his first studio location: the YogaPoser Venice Beach Yoga House. Based on the understanding that each individual’s practice is a personal journey, James created a schedule of classes at YogaPoser meant to complement the strengths of each practitioner.

He developed two signature YogaPoser Teacher Training programs, the 200-hour Foundations of Yoga Teacher Certification program and the 300-hour Master Yoga Teacher Certification program, which are designed to graduate unique and highly skilled teachers. For practitioners who aren’t looking for a career in the yoga industry but want to develop a deeper understanding of the practice, James created the YogaPoser 108-hour Roots of Practice Program.

James has authored a wide range of television, DVD and digital content, including the YogaPoser iTunes Podcast (ranked as one of the most popular yoga podcasts on iTunes), and YogaWorks Body Slim on DVD and Exercise TV. He has been featured on NPR, in The Washington Post and more.

 

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“I want to bring more credibility to practices that focus on doing poses. Using the body as a tool to focus the mind–and nothing else–took my life from one of misery and addiction to one of purpose and meaning…it would be selfish to do anything but share what I’ve learned.”