In August 2016, I had the pleasure to take a Dylan Werner workshop in Tel Aviv and to also hang out with him. Dylan is a master yogi who is an inversion artist, arm balance expert and a leader in his field.

Dylan believes that yoga like everything else, is in constant evolution. Even though he is a world class yogi, he is always searching for new ways to expand his knowledge and refine his practice. He brings new school poses into the practice and also questions the old, reminding us that nothing is set in stone.

Safety and injury prevention are a big part of Dylan’s teachings. With a background as a paramedic, Dylan knows and understands anatomy elaborately. An example of this is that sometimes the actions we are taught may not always be correct in bringing us safely in and out of poses. When in downward facing dog or in handstand, we are often told to draw our shoulders away from our ears. This cue can create unnecessary stress or tension in the shoulders. Instead when pushing, Dylan teaches that we need to keep pushing and broaden our back by protracting our shoulder blades away from each other as opposed to pulling them back in order to keep the integrity in the pose.

If you’ve seen his videos, you can testify that Dylan Werner is amazingly strong and fluid.

I was privileged to have him drop in a couple of my classes and witness his incredible practice. It was a great reminder of what the human body is capable of doing with practice and consistency which left me deeply inspired.

I also appreciate when someone remains humble and down to earth, especially when it can be easy to get an over inflated ego due to success. Dylan is that type of guy. He invited me to look at some of my cues to see how I could polish them and after I had taken his workshops, he also asked me for feedback on his teachings.

Whatever field you are in, aspire to be the best you can be. Let everyone be your teacher. It’s said that if we don’t grow we stagnate, and two things in life are for sure, that change and evolution are constant.