Evan has studied yoga traditions and philosophies since 2002, eventually coming to focus primarily on Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and Buddhist contemplative practices. The depth, sophistication, and clarity of these systems and their higher-order understandings of the body and mind are constant inspirations in practice and teaching.
Through extensive study with senior Ashtanga Vinyasa teachers, he has developed a teaching style that understands the essence of the vinyasa yoga of Krishnamacharya and Pattabhi Jois to be proper breath linked with movement. Exploration of this rigorous technique as a breathing system yields presence and (eventually) ease in the postures, which gradually open like leaves in the spring. Supplemented with a sophisticated knowledge of technique and anatomy, he finds that many students have the capacity to practice advanced postures with proper patience, dedication, and guidance.
Evan continues to learn the Intermediate Series under R. Sharath and has received authorization and training to teach the first level of Matthew Sweeney’s Vinyasa Krama system. He teaches at tapas yoga shala in Davenport, IA, which he co-owns with his wife Kelly. He also travels to instruct workshops at areas studios and yoga conferences and typically spends several months each year in continued study with senior instructors.
There is an aspect of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga practice called tristana. Like "yoga" it is both a practice and the state achieved through the repetition of that practice.
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga has an obvious, linear progression. As you master a posture, you add another posture. The difficulty of postures steadily increases, as does the challenge to your endurance.