Welcome to Near East Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga in Portland, Oregon
Near East Yoga is an Ashtanga yoga studio in Portland, Oregon, founded on the principles of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. The Near East Yoga mission is to provide both useful and skillful instruction and a suitable space for the practice of yoga. We practice and study yoga with passion and dedication and hope to inspire our fellows to do the same. The teachings of Sri K Pattabhi Jois are both simple and profound and have been the foundation practice of many well-known, contemporary teachers. If you want to know more about us, coming in and seeing for yourself is the best way to get informed. Everyone is welcome at Near East Yoga. Hope to see you soon.
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Casey Palmer
As time passes, my goal is to write a view on my philosophy and offer it as a biography. I hope this biography offers some insight on my passion and commitment to serve any and all beings who pass my way. May all our teachers be praised and revered, for without their constant and unfailing support I would be lost!
I am a student of the South Indian Yoga Acharya, Sri Pattabhi Jois. I met Jois in Mysore, South India in 1999 and took three months of training in the method of Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa Krama from him.
Since then, I have practiced Jois’s teachings with devotion, dedication and discipline. I returned to India in 2004 for further training, in addition to a 3 week seminar from Guruji in the U.S. Thanks to Jois, I have become firmly established in the daily study and practice of asana, pranayama, meditation, and yoga philosophy. I have learned the vinyasa techniques of Roga Chikitsa (illness purification), Nadi Shodhana (nerve purification) and Stirha Bhaga (stability and grace). In 2001, I began to instruct others in the Jois vinyasa yoga technique of Roga Chikitsa. In 2004, I began to teach exclusively in the Mysore Style, a self-paced method of practice. My passion is to help others discover that with regular practice, they can come to know the endless benefits of yoga.
In 2007, I travelled for 2 months to Thailand and North India. I was especially taken with the Tibetan settlement in McLeod Ganj and while there was blessed to see the Dalai Lama. I then continued onto Goa, in the southern part of India, and practiced 3rd and some of 4th series with Rolf Nujokat for 4 months. Spending four months in Goa infected me with a strong desire to enjoy life and be among good friends. That season, I learned to ride a motorcycle, and did a little touring around northern Goa and into the state of Maharashtra.
Upon my return from India, I made a formal decision to study Buddhism and at that time specifically, the work of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. This study developed under the umbrella of my root teachers of Vajrayana Buddhism, Dennis “Lokanath” Skipper and his teachers Kenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Kenpho Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche who I had encountered many times since 2005. For any practitioner of yoga wanting to deepen their study I would recommend the book by Trungpa Rinpoche “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism”. It is a classic and very useful for those having made pilgrimage to India or Asia.
The study of Vajrayana became more introspective when at the behest of my friend and teacher Lokanath, I took on the practice of the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro established by the great Nyingma Master and teacher to my teacher’s teacher Dudjom Rinpoche.
As a yoga instructor, my primary aspiration is to support both long-term practitioners and those new to the practice as their individual needs dictate. When I encounter a yogi, aspiring or accomplished, I always engage them as they are and seek to serve them. I often ask myself what I can do to serve and not distract this person from their aspiration to experience the yoga. For the new practitioner, my objective is to help them learn the krama (sequence) and support them as they polish it. This, in my estimation, is a direct function of independence and inherent in the wonderful gift Guruji has left us. For the established practitioner, I know that this independence is a dear condition and one that has taken years to cultivate, so I often work to silently support their practice, which simply means attending to their needs.
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