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Meet Michael Baez of Awakened Warrior Yoga Teacher Training.

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Baez.

Hi Michael , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I first discovered yoga over 20 years ago when I moved to L.A. from N.Y. A good friend of mine named Onahoua Rodriguez took me to a ‘living room’ yoga class (at someone’s house) and 10 minutes into the class I was hooked! I instantly felt the connection between yoga & the martial arts and it was incredible.

Before yoga, I studied and taught Martial Arts and achieved the level of 2nd degree Black Belt. I taught at all 5 of the Fontanez Karate schools back in New York. So I was totally blown away with the similarities between yoga & the martial arts; from the breathing, balance, flexibility, coordination, meditation, focus and concentration, everything but the ego!

I started competing in tournaments the second week of my Martial Arts training. So early on, I was always focused on competing and winning – ‘Getting first place.’ But in yoga, there was none of that. In fact, we were encouraged to let go of the ego. I once heard E.G.O., means Edging God Out. Yoga was all about the connection to the Divine / God / Universe and turning within to find that connection. According to the Bhagavad Gita, a piece of the Lord resides in our heart.

I quickly fell in love with the yogic philosophy and spirituality of yoga. And though yoga is not a religion – I would have many spiritual experiences in savasana, more than the church I was going to which was right across the street from my yoga studio. I was raised Catholic and later became Christian, so I definitely believe in the church and I still go to church regularly. But something was shifting inside of me during my yoga classes. A spiritual awakening was beginning to take place…

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The first studio that I considered my ‘home studio’ was in Forest Hills, Queens. It was called Bamboomoves. The owners were Andrew Tanner and Kaity Moreira. I felt they were my first true yoga teachers. I learned so much from them. This is the studio that completely changed my life. I discovered it when I was at a crossroads in my life, trying to figure out what was next in my career and in my relationship. I totally surrendered to yoga and dove in headfirst.

Soon after I found this amazing studio, I was invited to go on a yoga retreat with them. For the weekend, we were immersed in the yogic lifestyle; eating vegan food, waking up early to practice pranayama, meditation, chanting, and asana. I felt my heart opening. My soul felt at home. This was me. The real me.

On our way back to our rooms one morning, Andrew says to me ‘you should think about becoming a yoga teacher’. I thought to myself – ‘Yoga seems way easier than teaching karate.’

Although I was studying yoga in New York, technically I was still living in L.A. And was traveling back and forth from time to time. I had enrolled in a Tony Robbins seminar called Life Mastery and was scheduled to attend it in New Port Beach, CA.

On day 1 of this life-changing seminar, we had to climb a pole, 40-plus feet up in the air, and once we got to the top, we had to jump off it and onto a trapeze 8 to 10 feet away. The metaphor was that once we achieve one goal in life, we have to jump off it and go for the next goal, no matter how scary it may seem. So I climbed. I jumped. I grabbed the pole, and once I came back down, I had what I called a ‘divine inspiration’ to open a yoga school in the Bronx! And in less than a year, I did just that. I licensed and opened a Bamboomoves in the Bronx!

While I was in yoga teacher training, we were building out the yoga studio. And anyone who has ever opened a business knows the struggles and challenges one will face dealing with demolition, construction, contractors, etc… I definitely faced my share of challenges, but the biggest one was the bank unexpectedly and without any notice whatsoever pulling the line of credit that I was to use to pay for all the build-out. With nothing else left to do, I prayed. I talked to God and said – “You filled my heart with this inspiration. You gave me this idea. If this is meant to be – you have to show me the way.” And sure enough, I was sent client after client for my TV commercial business. I had never had so much work before (or after). And all the money I earned writing, directing, producing, and editing these TV commercials for small businesses – I used to cover my studio expenses. And in 2009, the graduation day from my yoga teacher training was also the grand opening of my own yoga studio! I did it!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In 2011, my 2nd year in business, I created the Awakened Warrior Yoga Teacher Training. I wanted to share everything I knew from studying personal development with Tony Robbins since I was 16, my 10 years of studying and teaching the Martial Arts, my recent studies of the Kabbalah, and everything I had now known from yoga.

In a regular yoga class, we primarily focus on asana only. But at night, after we finished the business day at my yoga studio, I found myself cleaning up the studio and feeling a sense of deep sadness. Like I had so much more to offer. And although we offered weekend workshops at the studio, that simply wasn’t enough…

So I embarked on creating my own Yoga Teacher Training. Since then, we’ve led trainings in New York, LA, Florida and Kentucky. We even created an amazing online training. Now I’m proud to say we have close to 400 graduates all over the world. Many students would even fly in from other parts of the world, including Hawaii, Australia, and Japan – train with us, and go back home and teach. Several of our graduates have even opened their own studios. Other graduates are teaching at smaller studios, corporate studios and gyms, colleges, universities, and to private clients.

I believe what makes our yoga teacher training different than the many others out there is that we teach everything I mentioned above, plus the fact that we have a direct lineage to our Guru. A few years after my 200-hour with Andrew & Kaity, I went on to do my 500-hour and 800-hour with legendary yoga master Sri Dharma Mittra. I teach many of the Dharma yoga philosophies (for example: following a vegetarian diet and having compassion for all living beings), Dharma’s spiritual teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and his fun and playful approach to the more challenging poses such as inversions and arm balances.

We also offer training and certifications in Restorative Yoga and Sound Healing. We are constantly evolving and growing so we can transform as individuals and as teachers so that our students can do the same… One last thing that makes us totally unique is the fact that I teach basic self-defense techniques in our trainings, especially since most of our students are women.

How do you define success?
I define success simply as “Achieving one’s desired goal”. What I define as success in yoga is “Union with the little self and the higher Self”. Call it the Divine. Call it the Universe. Call it God. But knowing it exists and making a constant, daily effort to connect and align with this Higher power. Notice I didn’t say anything about the “asanas” (the poses). As my Guru, Sri Dharma Mittra says, “No one has ever been enlightened by doing a headstand.” It only happens through meditation and Karma yoga (the act of being in service to others).

Growing up I was a “shy kid”. I was really introverted but back then so I took on that identity of being shy. I think it’s crucial to be mindful of the language we use to describe ourselves and others around us. Since I was called a “shy kid” that’s how I saw myself, so I behaved exactly that way.

But I remember being incredibly observant. I was always a ‘people watcher’. I still am. I learned a lot by simply watching. In yoga we call this ‘being the witness’ and ‘being the observer’. This is a valuable life lesson that I wouldn’t fully understand until I was in my 30’s, thanks to yoga.

My 2nd passion is film. I love movies! Ever since I was a kid, I was in a movie theater every weekend thanks to my parents. I wanted to be an actor when I was in the 4th and 5th grades. My parents were incredibly supportive. My mom took me to dance, acting and singing classes and plenty of auditions. I booked student films from many NYU kids. This was a great training ground for me. Because they were small projects, so I was close enough to study the crew, the lighting, makeup, wardrobe, props, cinematography and of course – the directors.

One day someone told my mom that I’d get more opportunities if I spoke Spanish fluently. When I went to junior high school, I took time off from acting and studied Spanish but then soon started karate classes when I was 13 (although my dad was my fist real teacher when I was 4 or 5 years old). I grew up watching Bruce Lee movies, thanks to my dad. Bruce would later become a huge influence on my life, even as a filmmaker “Enter the Dragon” is my favorite Martial Arts movie. From 13 – 23, I was only focused on karate, competing in tournaments all over the U.S. and teaching in New York: the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. I was a top rated fighter and a member of the “Totally Awesome” karate team lead by Jerry “Fast Feet” Fontanez.

But I was in College when I saw an ad in a newspaper looking for extras for a movie with Al Pacino called “Carlito’s Way”. And it was on the set of this movie, that I had another life changing moment – I realized the director, Brian De Palma was the one literally calling all the shots. That’s when I decided – I wanted to become a director.

I researched schools in New York and soon discovered the New York Film Academy. I applied and entered their winter program on a scholarship. 20 plus years later I am now an award-winning filmmaker. My latest film “De La Cruz” has won 50 international awards, and screened at film festivals in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Paris, Italy, Greece, the U.K., Turkey, Japan, and all over the U.S. We even screened at the world famous Chinese theater in Hollywood!

I owe all of the success behind the mindset I learned from the Martial Arts and yoga. My leadership skills, communication skills, visualization skills, business skills and so much more all came from being a 2nd degree black belt instructor an 800 hour certified yoga teacher / trainer.

I grew as a person in every sense of the word and I am no longer “shy”. I’m a warrior!

Pricing:

  • $3,500 for our 200-hour teacher training.
  • $4,500 for our 3oo-hour teacher training.
  • $3,000 for our online 200-hour teacher training.
  • $950 for our Restorative yoga training and certification.
  • $850 for our Sound Healer training and certification.

Contact Info:

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