TJ is an E-RYT500 + REGISTERED 200hour YOGA SCHOOL (RYS200) with Yoga Alliance with over 20 years of teaching experience in Art, Yoga and Meditation to children and adults.

Founder & Lead Teacher @yujmu

TJ is also a super geek since he was a kid and loves to play.

School Teacher
Yoga Studio Manager

Artist

Yoga + Kung Fu

200 Hour Qi Gong Certification - Koh Samui Thailand
‣ 8 Trigram Qi Gong
‣ 5 Element Qi Gong
‣ Meridian Qi Gong

500 Hour Yoga Certification - New Brunswick Canada
‣ 200 Hour Kripalu TT
‣ 100 Hour Yin Yoga TT
‣ 100 Hour Restorative TT
‣ 100 Hour Chakra TT

60 Hour Yin Yoga Certification - Vancouver Canada

30 Hour Yin Yoga Certification - New York NY

7 Day Thai Yoga Massage Training - Kripalu

Shaolin Kung Fu/Tai Chi Training - New York NY

Meditation

30 Day Solitary Meditation Retreat - Vermont

10 Day Vipassana Meditation Retreat - Massachusettes

8 Day Zen Calligraphy Retreat - San Francisco

10 Day Kalachakra Initiation Ceremony - Washington D.C.

Yoga Studio

Studio Manager - Spark Yoga -Fairfax + Arlington Virginia

Yin Yoga Program Lead - Spark Yoga -Fairfax + Arlington Virginia

Meditation Program Lead - Spark Yoga -Fairfax + Arlington Virginia

School Teaching

Public School Teacher Professional Certification
- New York State Education Department

6-9 Grade Art Teacher - Sag Harbor Middle School

K-5 Grade Art Teacher - Harlem Link Charter School

Art

Master of Fine Arts - Stonybrook University NY

Bachelor of Fine Arts - Cooper Union NY

1 hour 20 min

On a teaching trip to Southend On Sea, near London England, TJ was interviewed on the radio show OM Air hosted by The Yoga Factory studio owner, and epic yogi, Josh Siva Lipscombe. Listen to some casually deep conversation about Yin Yoga, what it means to be a yogi, Zen, relaxation and much more.

They also played a few of TJ’s hand-picked favorite songs and had a bunch of laughs mixed in with some groovy thoughts to ponder, so pop this in on your next commute or while sitting around drinking some tea in the evening and enjoy :)

Sifu Yu Guoshun

12th Generation Descendant of Chen Style TaiChi Chuan

Master Yu I recently began training with in New York City. His teaching focuses on several TaiChi forms rooted in Chen style, a very old form which still maintains its martial qualities. Currently I am studying the original short form and absorbing all of the nuance I can. Master Yu also teaches a Mantis TaiChi form as well as a TaiChi sword form and several other variations he has developed.

Tevia Feng

Founder White Tiger Qi Gong

I trained with Master Feng in Thailand learning numerous Qi Gong techniques and forms. This training has helped to unify decades of self-study and other trainings I have attended relating to Qi, breath-work, meditation and movement. His coalescing of 5000 year old knowledge and lineages are paired seamlessly with modern scientific research in the fields of sports-science, anatomy, fascia, etc.

Sifu Shi Yan Ming

Founder of USA Shaolin Temple

I trained with Sifu Shi Yan Ming while living in New York. I learned the basic introductions to Shaolin Kung Fu and a large portion of an old form of Tai Chi mixing both hard and soft movements. I am always eager to continue my Shaolin training when opportunity arises and hold it very close to my heart. Sifu also taught Chan Buddhism in the Shaolin tradition.

Bernie Clark

Yin Yoga Master & Author

I learned my first Yin training from Bernie Clark and credit his book with inspiring me to fully embrace Yin Yoga. He taught me a great deal about Taoism simply by being around him. I look up to him as a model for my own Yin Yoga path.

Stephanie Calhoun

Founder of Satori Yoga

I trained with Stephanie Calhoun for a year learning incredible depths and details about anatomy. I completed my 500 hour including Ayerveda basics, Restorative and Yin Yoga in addition to the standard Yoga training. Her mixture of various other aspects of Yoga and fitness and massage therapy openned my eyes to how far Yin can go in supplementing other areas of study or practice.

Corinna Benner

Founder of Wake Up Yoga

I had such a wonderful time studying with Corinna Benner, her spirit and joy just overflows in her teaching. Many of the things I learned in my other Yin trainings were reinforced and solidified during my time training with Corinna. I am always looking for ways to maintain a casual playfulness in my teaching that she did so effortlessly.

Sukha Wong

Director of Lotus Palm

My studies with Sukha Wong appeared out of nowhere and was such a wonderful unexpected gift. I was exploring what Thai Yoga Massage had to offer via a friend's interest and was absolutely in awe of Sukha's wonderfully goofy yet incredibly well informed teaching style. Such a brilliant mixture of childish play and highly skilled techniques shared so intuitively.

Kazuaki Tanahashi

Zen Buddhist Teacher & Author

Learning from Kazuaki Tanahashi was a dream of mine since I was in art school and first discovered his books and calligraphy works with giant brushes. His calm presence while always asking "Are you smiling?" during our training was so inspiring and yet so simple. Practicing Zen meditation was equally soothing as well as all of the casual discussions amidst hours of calligraphic practice. I am honored to have studied with him as an artist and Zen Buddhist it truly merged both worlds for me.

HH The Dalai Lama

Head of Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism

I consider His Holiness The Dalai Lama to be a primary teacher, even my guru despite having not met to learn from him directly. I attend any of his lectures, ceremonies or initiations that I am able to and continue to learn from his teachings via his books and audio lectures. I was in attendance for several of his offerings in New York City and Washington D.C. including the Kalachakra Sand Mandala Initiation/Ceremony in 2010.

Don Kunz

Painter & Professor at Cooper Union

"The abandon vital to me in the act of painting is the equivalent of the path of the spirit.
Each day the art and the life must be renewed."

I was fortunate to have had a short time studying with Don Kunz while studying painting at Cooper Union. He has since passed away and I credit him with encouraging some of the early seeds that transformed my art practice into my spiritual practice that exists today. His quote and painting above summarize him better than I could hope to.

TJ’s Yoga story began when he received a book, the Tao Te Ching, as a gift from his sister 20 years ago. The book poetically explores ideas that resonated with him then and continue to guide him today.

With an MFA in art and 6 years as a grade school art teacher TJ has a deep appreciation for the journey of self-exploration that is essential to learning. That paired with traveling, endless textual study, and over a decade of meditation TJ decided that the inward journey would be his focus. He began seeking out teachers to deepen his understanding and go beyond the limits he had reached on his own.

TJ took up residence at CAVE in Brooklyn NY, a Butoh Dance and performance space, where he began to study movement with several visiting teachers from Japan. During that time he also began practicing Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi with Sifu Shi Yan Ming, a 34th generation Shaolin Temple monk. Soon after he travelled to San Francisco to study Zen Calligraphy with Kazuaki Tanahashi, a teacher of Zen Buddhism.

When possible, TJ also attends lectures and teachings offered by HH The Dalai Lama, including the Kalachakra Mandala teachings that were offered in Washington DC in 2010.

Some years ago TJ’s journeys finally led him back to Taoism via Yin Yoga beginning with Bernie Clark’s 60 hour Yin training in Vancouver.

Next he studied with Corina Benner in her 30 hour Yin training in NYC. After that he found Stephanie Calhoun and took her 100 hour Yin training in New Brunswick. TJ liked Stephanie’s teachings so much he chose to pursue his 200 hour Yoga teacher training with her. From there he continued with her 100 hour Chakra training and 100 hour Restorative Yoga training, completing his 500 hour training in 2015. In November of that year TJ completed a 30 day solitary self-guided meditation retreat at Milarepa Center in Vermont.

TJ has also travelled to Kripalu Center in Massachusetts to broaden his yoga training and completed the first part of a Thai Yoga Massage certification with Sukha Wong.

Recently TJ completed a 200 hour Qi Gong Teacher Training in Koh Samui Thailand with Tevia Feng. He also has begun studies in Chen style Tai Chi forms with NYC teacher Sifu Yu Guoshun.

Since the pandemic of 2020 TJ has begun studying with teachers online and is currently learning the Luohan Shi Ba Shou Qi Gong/Kung Fu form and the Zui Quan Kung Fu form with Sifu Yan Xin.