Thomas’s love of diverse cultures has taken him through many parts of the world: Thailand, Greece, Italy, Turkey, India, and Taiwan. This diversity also includes knowing Russian, English and Chinese. From Turkish Horon dance, he learned the importance of finding one’s center through its circular style. This multicultural experience has provided him a unique perspective and understanding of yoga and life.

The seed of yoga was sowed during his four years of military service, when he intuitively started to synchronize his stretches and exercises with the breath. Through which, he also saw the possibility of getting into the state of deep total relaxation. Consequently, after the completion of his military service, he started studying and practicing meditation in the U.S. and India. Later, he also studied traditional yoga physiology, which provided many useful inspirations in his yoga teachings.

During his travels in India, he was deeply inspired by his interaction with the local yogis that he embarked on the path of teacher training. From the traditional Sivananda style, Thomas later turned his focus to Power Yoga and other forms of Vinyasa Yoga. To him, each asana is a meditative pose, an opportunity to cultivate mindfulness, and through enough practice, meditative state will naturally arise.

While Thomas personalizes his teaching style to suit the student’s need, there are three main aspects in his teaching. First is to settle and relax the mind and body through the breath. This helps the students learn to handle the tension and stress of the body and mind. The second is to start with the easy poses to avoid injury until the students become sufficiently aware of their own limits, yet making the practice challenging enough in order for them to be working at their edge. Last is to provide thorough instructions so the students can deepen their awareness, while reduce the possibility of injury.

Thomas believes that the biggest problem most people face in their busy modern life is the inability to truly relax. Yoga provides the remedy. In yoga, we learn to abide with our pain, learn how to coexist with it easefully. Once we connect with that inner peace, compassion for others develops. This is the benefit that he hopes to share with the students in his classes.