Kevin Kortan, YTT, CFP

Recognizing the importance of adapting yoga to our modern culture, Kevin Kortan has developed Evolutionary Yoga™, an innovative approach to yoga that serves the psycho-physical-spiritual evolution of each individual. Drawing from ancient and modern systems, Evolutionary Yoga™unites traditional, eastern practices with the best of contemporary, western body-mind methods, all of which share underlying, universal principles. The primary emphasis of Kevin's teaching practice is working with people privately to develop personal yoga practices that suit and support each person's nature - their constitution, temperament, personality, and life calling. He has expertise in working with people who are challenged with injury or illness, using the technologies of Evolutionary Yoga™to help people heal, gain insight, create harmony in their lives, and realize their unique potential. He is a Certified Yoga Therapist and Teacher, a Movement Therapist and Educator, and a Certified FELDENKRAIS Practitioner.

The inclusive and unifying vision of Evolutionary Yoga™ is a result of Kevin's ongoing inquiry into the timeless truths that underlie various disciplines. What is universal to all humans? What lies beyond and beneath the "costumes" of culture and epoch? Common to us all, we share our evolving human form and function in relation to the world in which we live. This body-based truth has guided the development of these interrelated, holistic practices in ancient times, and still today.

Kevin's background of unusual depth and range has influenced his teaching of various movement and stillness studies since 1986. As a dancer, singer, and actor, he worked with many of the leading names in contemporary performance and dance, including six years as a member of the world-renown Trisha Brown Dance Company. He has studied with such luminaries as Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen - Body-Mind Centering®, Emilie Conrad - Continuum®, and many of the leading teachers of Yoga and of the Feldenkrais Method. In particular he has been influenced by the teachings of Viniyoga, Yogi Amrit Desai, the Bateman Health System™, and Yi Jin Jing Qigong. He has also studied shiatsu, Alexander Technique with June Ekman, Klein Technique, Dreambody Work, Ayurveda, and Sacred Geometry.

Kevin's workshops and classes in Evolutionary Yoga™ and dance have taken him around the world to Europe, Taiwan, and across the United States. He co-teaches "The Physiology of Stretching", a lecture/demonstration he developed with Peter Bullough, M.D., Professor of Pathology at Cornell University Medical College. Kevin employs the Feldenkrais Method alone and also as an integral aspect of Evolutionary Yoga™. In addition to his private teaching practice, Kevin has taught Evolutionary Yoga™ at institutions/situations ranging from Marymount Manhattan College, to The Feldenkrais Learning Center of New York, to prestigious health clubs (CLAY, New York Health & Racquet Club, The Sports Club/LA, Equinox) and many dance studios (Trisha Brown, Ballet Arts, Peridance). He organizes his own classes and workshops throughout the year. He is currently part of the Yoga Study Teacher Training Program™ at the Yoga Center of Minneapolis. Praised as a "master of translation" and "an excellent teacher who makes his classes challenging for the experienced, yet understandable for the beginner", he enjoys working with people from all walks of life. After living and working in New York City for 19 years, Kevin is expanding his Evolutionary Yoga™ teaching practice to include bases in both Minneapolis and New York.

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