Matt is one of Ohio's most experienced teachers of Yoga and Meditation. He has been teaching Yoga and meditation since 1976 and has been certified since 1984. He loves teaching traditional Yoga mediation, Yoga Nidra, as well as traditional asana classes. He equally enjoys introducing new students to the magic and joy of Yoga, training aspiring teachers at his center's Yoga/Meditation Teacher Training program, and providing continuing education to experienced teachers and serious students.
Matt is an E-RYT-500 and is the Chairman of the Spiritual Life Society, (a 501c3 religious/spiritual organization), the parent organization of the Main Street Yoga Centers in Hudson, Ohio (www.AUM.org), Madison, Wisconsin, (www.MainStreetYogaCenter.org), and Stoughton, Wisconsin (www.MainStreetYogaStoughton.org). He is also currently serving as Chairman of Elevate Yoga, the organization that host the Elevate Akron Yoga Festival, one of Ohio's leading Yoga festivals (www.ElevateYoga.org), as well as the sponsor of many other local Yoga/meditation programs. He is a former teacher and leader at Free Akron Yoga in Akron, Ohio (https://www.facebook.com/FreeAkronYoga).
Matt grew up in Hudson, Ohio, and is a 1974 graduate of Hudson High School. During his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a friend gave him the book Be Here Now by Ram Dass. He was intrigued and began practicing Yoga and meditation on his own, following the simple instructions in the book. Matt took his first formal Yoga and meditation classes when he returned to college in the fall of 1975. He began teaching Hatha Yoga the following year. While studying Psychology at UW in 1980, at the direction of Swami Rama, Matt began teaching meditation and related practices, and served as the President of the Yoga Meditation Society of Madison, an affiliated center of the Himalayan Institute. Matt led the Himalayan Institute's Yoga Teacher training program in Madison until the end of 1981 when he graduated and moved back to Ohio. He then began teaching students and training Yoga/Meditation teachers, along with Larry Terkel, who had founded the Spiritual Life Society a few years earlier. The principals that Matt had learned with the Himalayan Institute became the foundation for the formal Yoga teacher training program at the the Spiritual Life Society, and developed as both he and Larry deepened their practice and understanding of Yoga.
Matt studied and worked under the guidance of Swami Rama at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, for six months in 1979, and another six months in 1982. He was a member of the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association (HITA) and completed all their coursework. In 1984, Matt was certified to teach Yoga by Behram Guard, aka Yogiraj Behrmaji. Behramji was also a disciple of Swami Rama. Behram had mastered Hatha Yoga in India under the guidance of B.K.S. Iyengar during the 1960s. Behrma received the title "Yogiraj" ("King of Yoga") from Swami Rama when they met in the US.
Matt's teaching style is a blend of the gentle, meditative practices of the Himalayan Institute and the precise alignment of Iyengar style. In addition to having had close personal relationships with and being inspired by Yogiraj Behrmaji and Swami Rama, Matt has also studied with many other teachers and many other styles, including studying Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.
Matt has a BS in Psychology and MBA in Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had a full-time career as an executive at a multinational packaging company until his retirement in 2019, and traveled to India and Asia regularly on business, often logging over 100,000 miles/year. In November-December, 2014, he spent 5 weeks in India, mostly on business, but was able to spend about two weeks studying Ayurveda and Yoga during that trip.