Michael Stapleton-Cotton

After having studied Kung Fu as a teenager my first experience with yoga practice was at the age of 18. My guardian/teacher from the Steiner school had been travelling through Tai Land and India and arrived back in Cape Town bringing with her a renowned Ashtanga master named Michael Hamilton.

Michael gave us a demonstration and taught us the Primary Vinyasa. I was from there on hooked for life. Later on I met my beloved teacher Shimon Ben Avi (head of the Israeli Yoga Institute Tel-Aviv Israel) who has passed on a tremendous amount of his in-depth knowledge, wisdom and vigorous training on the subject.

Shimon Ben Avi certified me to teach the Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa in 2009 and I have since completed another Yoga Alliance teacher training in classical Hatha with Bharath Shetty in Mysore India. Like many students of Ashtanga I soon found myself sitting in a room at the KPJ Institute listening to our beautiful Sharath Jois giving conference. I trained with Saraswathi, Sri K Pattabhi Jois’s daughter for a little while and intend on going back to see the family every year.

My approach to teaching the Primary series is to present the sequence systematically maintaining the authenticity of the practice. I have a soft approach to moving through the Vinyasa, counting through each posture whilst meeting the needs of each and every individual student. I feel as a teacher I am merely a vehicle. Yoga ultimately is super consciousness. This moves through you and the students are so held.

I have been teaching in a yoga school located near a well known surfing location in Cape Town South Africa. My aim was to bring yoga to the local surfing community. My purpose in coming to Europe now is to further my education and practice with some of Pattabhi Jois’s most dedicated students. Ie: Hamish Hendry. I have also been teaching private classes since June 2009

With Love and respect I intend on passing on my understanding and experience of this dynamic flowing system of Ashtanga yoga.