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Community Highlights: Meet Kyron Christopherson of Halo Heart Yoga and Sound

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyron Christopherson.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Back in 2007, I became a full-time stay-at-home mom of our two children, Janelle and Henry. Henry was diagnosed with Autism at 2 years old (and later Janelle when she was a teenager). No one would or wanted to babysit Henry and daycares would call me to come pick him up because he was hurting the other children. Henry was none verbal, so he was physically aggressive in expressing his needs and wants. He was a handful, to say the least. So thus, my life changed from being a chemist to a stay-at-home mom.

To cope with stress, I would work out after my husband got home from work. And workout I did! I became obsessed. I would work out almost 2-3 hours hard every day, with cardio and weights. I was carb cycling and got my body fat down below 10%. I think it was 8% when I won a Transformation Contest at the little gym here in town. I lost so much body fat that I began to forget Henry’s weekly appt that was the same time every week for speech therapy that I had been taking him to for over a year. The brain needs fat to function properly. So here I was, thin as a rail, couldn’t remember an appointment that had been at the same time every week on the same day and now my body was also breaking down under the pressure. I had to get steroid injections in my lower back and my left shoulder and both of my knees were showing signs of being on the same path due to inflammation. I knew something needed to change or this body would completely shut down and I couldn’t remember why because my brain needed fat.

So that was when I took a hot yoga class at Azatala under the guidance of Tanya Rice. Yet still in partial denial, I thought I will take this hot yoga class to sweat it out and keep the pounds off yet it will be gentle enough on my body for it to heal until I can get back at it. Plus, yoga is supposed to calm the mind. The whole reason I was working out was due to stress anyway. Did it calm my mind? Yes. Did it make me sweat? Yes! But what I did not expect was how the philosophy and all the benefits of the postures and breathwork would begin to change me. Each week she would say something that made my mind go “Oh my gosh That is why I’m doing this or that!” Or she would explain the benefit of pose and it made me want to do it every day. She was sharing yoga knowledge with me to live out in the world and that was exactly what I needed. I needed tools to control my mind from being a tyrant, to stay calm, and to have some peace and stillness within me.

When you raise an autistic child, the therapist or counselor will give you, the parent, and the child tools to help manage the day together. This is what yoga became for me. It gave me tools to understand why I was doing what I was doing, I learned to control my mind with my intellect, so it wasn’t such a dictator. Yoga teaches you to use your intellect, to reign in the mind through breath work, so the mind doesn’t run after all the desires of the senses.

That was when I decided I needed to know all I could about yoga, so I could help others. I signed up for her 200-hour teacher training in 2017 and it changed my life. I taught for a while, then I took her 300-hour training, so I could register as a 500 RYT.

It was also through Azitala, I discovered sound bathing with Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, and various other instruments. After some amazing personal experiences during sound baths, I knew it was another path I needed to learn to serve others in my community, so I took Sound healing training under Tanya again. Sound bathing has become a passion of mine as I get to see and hear from clients how it helps them with stress, injuries, emotional pain and so much more.

I credit Tanya with helping to save and change the direction of my life. Without Azitala, Tanya, and yoga, I would have most likely left my husband. Raising children on the autism spectrum is very hard for marriage. You want to throw in the towel…A LOT. But Yoga teaches you not to be so reactive, to remain the same through good or bad, profit or loss, victory or defeat. And most importantly, it teaches you to stay consistent not only in your yoga practice but in your relationships and out in the world.

A great sage of yoga, Desikachar says, ” You will know if your yoga practice is working by how your relationships are going. Prana enters the body at the moment when there is a positive change in the mind. Changes in the mind can be observed primarily in our relationships with other people. Relationships are the real test of whether we understand ourselves better.” I believe this to be true. But most importantly, it teaches you to make time to be quiet, to be still, and to just listen.

I heard once through sound healing training, visions are the language of the soul, but silence is the language of the spirit. By making time for silence, the spirit can guide you to make sound decisions.

“For in the silence and purity of the heart God speaks.” Mother Teresa

What better guidance can there be than this to change the direction of your life?

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been some challenges, as always. Yoga loves some obstacles. Without obstacles, we would not grow.

Being Catholic and a yogi is not always well-received, to say the least. I have learned to be careful with whom I seek spiritual guidance in the Catholic church.

My daughter, while in middle school was having some struggles, like most middle school kids. (This, of course, was before she had the diagnosis that she too was on the autism spectrum. I will not go into the details to protect her privacy.) We sought the guidance of two priests. One told me, I was an overbearing mother and I was the cause of her problems. The other said, it was from my yoga and that I must stop teaching yoga. My husband feeling desperate to help our daughter sided with the priest and ask me to quit yoga. So to honor my husband, I quit teaching for almost 4-5 months. I had been deemed an unfit mother, by two priests, and my heart was broken. And again…..major marriage tester. I slipped into depression and nothing changed with our daughter’s situation. Then, finally, by the grace of God and Spirit, my husband told me to go back to teaching. And fortunately, Tanya took me back and there was a spot available.

I have since then met some amazing priests to guide me and our family. One, in particular, was from India, and it was he who told me to choose wisely to whom I seek spiritual guidance. He asked me, “Who are you?” I said “A child of God.” He asked, “Who is your Lord and Savior? I replied, “Christ Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” He then retorted, “Go then, do yoga, and never be tempted by any other gods or deities.” So this is what I do. And that is the beauty of Yoga, it is open to all faiths and denominations. It ultimately sees us all as children of God. We just may take a different path than the person next to us on the mat.

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?
Through my business, I offer private and group sessions for yoga and sound healing. Since I mostly teach yoga classes at Azitala, I focus on Sound Healing through my business.

After taking Sound Healing training, I knew I wanted to help people on a personal level. Although I love giving group sound baths at studios, businesses, or private parties, I wanted to offer individualized sessions to balance the autonomic nervous system, depending on the person’s specific needs. For example, if someone is stressed then I would play more Tibetan bowls to calm them, but if someone is in a more depressive state then play more gong and/or drums to stimulate them.

In a group sound bath, you are just hoping to bring everyone to a place of balance, but on an individual level, the process can be honed to optimize the experience for the individual. I love this and love helping people find balance. A balanced nervous system means a calmer mind, more social interaction, more productivity, and a healthier immune system, which as described earlier promotes healthier relationships and leads to a better understanding of ourselves and others.

What sets me apart from others and what I am most proud of are the Tibetan bowls I purchased. They are handmade and larger than most that I have seen being used in the area, They have a deep vibration upon striking them and they are all tuned to one another. It is this vibration that helps to reset a person on a cellular level.

Everything is made up of energy, vibration, and frequency, so these bowls beckon the body to be still and listen on the deepest level. Sound vibrations have an oscillating effect on the cells; alternating compression and relaxation of cells, is are sort of a form of massage at a cellular level. I made a big investment in them to stand apart from the rest, or to at least, be equivalent to the others who have invested in hand-made Tibetan bowls. From my experience and opinion, contemporary (machine-made) bowls seem to be made to sing and hand-made to vibrate. Both make sound, but they have different qualities and attributes about them. So I chose, the hand-made bowls to vibrate and shake up the body on a cellular level by placing the bowls either beside or directly on the body depending on the person and their desires and/or needs.

I genuinely want to help others, whether it is through a yoga session or sound healing. I want you to leave feeling harmonized from your toes to your soul. I offer a variety of yoga-style classes from beginner to advance. I am formally trained in Ashtangasana but can adapt to other styles to meet the individual’s or group’s desires or needs. I offer both private individual and group yoga sessions. Or you can join me at Azitala in Elk River throughout the week for a hot yoga class. Yummy!

I offer 30 min, 45 min, and 60 min. individualized sound sessions as well as group sound bath sessions. I am excited to share that I am enrolled in studying Thai Yoga Body Work level 1 through Devanadi Yoga in cities this June and taking an online class Healing Touch level 1 at the end of July through the Healing Touch Program. I can’t wait to use these modalities to further help others harmonize their body, mind, and soul.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I do not travel far from home, and as you know by now, Tanya Rice is my mentor. She has been with me throughout my whole journey. She is my guru. She has guided me, challenged me, and made me practice and apply all that I have learned on the mat in the real world. So finding a mentor, is in my opinion very much like the saying by Loa Tzu, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” You don’t have to travel far. It’s really about being ready. And is your mind open to recognizing your mentor? Then once you recognize him or her, do you have the courage to act upon it, and take what is being offered by them? Because as A. Parthasarathy says, “Knowledge is not given it is taken.” So you must choose to take what is given.

Next, I feel it’s about loyalty to the one who has helped bring you up out of the mire of your life and into the light. Furthermore, as Paramahansa Yogananda says, ” Your guru, is responsible for your salvation, so choose wisely.” Lastly, if you hop from mentor to mentor, from relationship to relationship, what will you learn about relationships and how will your personality be purified? So my point is do your level best to stick with your mentor, even when they make you mad as hell from something they said or push you outside your comfort zone by inverting you into a tripod headstand in the middle of the room and you are terrified, shaking like a leaf. They will help purify you and help you reach enlightenment about who you are, what you can achieve, and your purpose in this life.

Pricing:

  • Yoga Sessions: Private $75 per hour, Online: $40 per hour, Group: $20 per person
  • Sound bathing: Private 30 min. $30, 45 min. $45, 60 min. $60, Group $25 per person

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Matthew Phillippi Photography, Life’s Energy in Pixels, and www.mjppixels.com

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