Chris Poon
Professional Yoga Teacher
Yoga Alliance Accredited 

Chris‘s first encounter with yoga was in 2002 during his years of university studies majored in engineering. His initial intuition was based on the elegance of the yoga poses that he saw from the yoga journal magazines, he started to self-practice accordingly. While the study was stressful and demanding, he started to experience some of the stress relieving aspects of yoga poses. Since then, the passion for practicing yoga was planted in Chris's mind.

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Journey of Chris’s Yoga Education & Trainings

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Chris‘s journey of searching and practicing yoga in a more serious way started after his university and returned back to Hong Kong in 2004, as he enrolled in basic yoga teacher certification training from Australia Fitness for Trainer and Professionals.

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Finding a need to further deepen himself after the first training, Chris continued his study of both basic and intermediate hatha yoga teacher training with Dickson Lau, founder of Hong Kong Yoga Association. During his time with Dickson, Chris studied and learnt his philosophy and approach of yoga practice and teaching which were based on applying traditional Taekwondo and martial art methods of developing muscle elasticity and joint flexibility blended with traditional hatha yoga techniques to practice a variety of yoga poses.

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However, after a year with Dickson, Chris found that upon the flexibility and elasticity of the physical body to practice yoga, certain internal aspects like strength and stability; awareness on prana flow, ujjayi breath as well as the practice of buddhas (energetic locks) concepts were missing in the training. The missing aspects were found during his learnings and practicing of Ashtanga Yoga vinyasa in 2005, which marked the beginning of his Ashtanga Yoga journey.

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​Chris devoted his Ashtanga practice with several Ashtanga teachers and his passion and interest in this practice continue to grow and escalate. By the end of 2005, Chris participated in a 200-hr Yoga Alliance Teacher Training program in Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa in Centered Yoga Institute, Koh Samui, Thailand. Since then, Chris continued to maintain his Ashtanga practice from 2005 till the present day.

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​In addition to Ashtanga, Chris also found the practice of Pilates essential. In 2009, he studied a Mat Level-1 Teacher Certification with Stotts Pilates. Chris‘s yoga philosophy of yoga was influenced by both joint and core alignment stabilization from Pilates which enhanced his practicing awareness on injuries and better alignment of practice.

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During his time of Pilates studies, Chris studied the subject of musculoskeletal system and biomechanics of the human body, and how to apply these knowledge to postural alignment issues that induced back pain, neck and shoulder discomfort and other structural issues of the body. Chris‘s interest and pursue in anatomy and physiology of the human body came into his journey of learning apart from just the musculoskeletal system of the body, so he pursued the studies the complete spectrum of human anatomy and systems as well as pathology of the body from massage therapy.

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In January 2020, Chris studied Ashtanga Yoga with Sharathj Jois for 1 month in Mysore, Karnakata, India where he experienced the traditional Ashtanga Yoga practicing lifestyle and community life. It was his wonderful opportunity to study yoga philosophy and Sanskrit with Sanskrit scholars alongside his Ashtanga practice with Sharath.

 

Career Path

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• 2004-05  Dickson Yoga

• 2005-09  Living Yoga

• 2009-21 Pure Yoga

• 2021-Present Holistic Private Yoga

 

Chris started teaching Yoga at Dickson Yoga after completing intermediate hatha yoga teacher training in 2005. By the time of 2009, Chris started to commit his yoga teaching profession to one of the biggest yoga corporations, Pure Yoga.

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Starting from the beginning of 2021, Chris resigned from Pure Yoga and continue his yoga teaching profession to the next level where he needs to continue to manifest his dedication and devotion in his yoga practice and studies as well as his consistency in his yoga teaching professionalism. It will be a wonderful new journey of his venture and to see where this will lead him to dedicate to teaching varieties of yoga group classes; private 1-1 classes; yoga workshops.

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Since 2021, Chris has been in the Yoga industry for almost 20 years. He believes in small group yoga training can effectively fulfill the needs of a varieties of individuals in the community. He founded 「Holistic Private Yoga」 to fulfill his new venture of yoga teachings.  According to Chris’s philosophy & styles of Yoga teachings, he had tailored made few of the special classes such as 「Hatha Core」,「Mix Vinyasa & Stretch」,「Core & Inversion」 along with traditional classes like Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa, Hatha Yoga and Yin Yang. These special classes are developed according to Chris’s broad spectrum of yoga practicing and training backgrounds in Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa, mat Pilates, elastic stretch techniques, studies of anatomy & philosophy, postural alignment and biomechanics.