Max Strom Returns to DYOF

by Karen Kramer, DYOF blogger

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I sat down with a book by Max Strom, A Life Worth Breathing, for perhaps the fourth or fifth time since I bought it two years ago.  It’s one of those I return to again and again.  He has a way of communicating wisdom that resonates with me and he writes as if we were having a conversation sitting right here in my sun room.  I can almost hear his deep, comforting voice as I read through the dog-eared and note-filled pages. 
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Truly a gifted healer and personal transformation guide, Max has been speaking, teaching, and training instructors and students all over the world for about 20 years.  He recently published his second book, There is No APP for Happiness.  We are honored to have Max Strom return as a presenter at the 2017 Dubuque Yoga & Oneness Festival, and feel confident that you, too, will see why he is such a highly regarded speaker and teacher.

“The soul remembers who he/she is and can live a life fulfilled – a life worth breathing.”
                                                                                        -Max Strom
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​I’ve attended workshops with Max in the past and have been pleasantly surprised that this tall man was one of the gentlest teachers I’d ever encountered.  His demeanor was soothing and it felt as if he were part counselor, part breathing teacher as he guided our class into recognizing that we deserved to live an inspired life, and even more, that this ability was surely within each one of us. His method sounded simple; heal the body, calm the mind, and mend the heart. 

In one workshop, he emphasized the physical, and emotional benefits of proper breathing techniques and taught a new way for me to experience a good breath.  It was the first time I’d had permission to draw the breath into not just my abdomen, but my side ribs, back ribs and whole chest cavity.  How amazing to learn, especially as a yoga instructor who understands the essential nature of proper breathing, that there was so much more to my breathing that I hadn’t known before until I felt the difference with his guidance. 
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What an awakening for me because I realized that it feels so good, so natural, and so healing to open my heart center more fully.  I loved how he added elements of other philosophies, recognizing that no one method, theology, school or teacher has the patent on these universal truths.

He gave us practical steps to live a more joyful, fulfilling life--learning his breathing technique was just the beginning. I knew I was about to embark on something that would change me in a significant way when I experienced the sense of deep peace and balance after his class.  I knew I needed to learn more.  I bought his book.

A Life Worth Breathing is filled with wisdom, practical exercises and techniques to lead you to your true self, for, as Max states in his book, “all knowledge and wisdom resides within, and that is, finally, the purpose of yoga; to help us on our journey within.”  The intention is to examine and bring balance and integration into what Max calls the “three pillars of transformation” – our mind, our emotions, and our body.   Max goes deeper into each of these aspects to help us truly understand and then use his techniques for real insight and change. His system of mental, emotional and physical self-development and transformation leads ultimately to our true nature and the intention of this work –our soul’s awakening.  
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It’s a manual on how to live your most fulfilled life and includes information beyond the transformation of mind, emotions, and body.  He writes about a personal code of ethics, activism—because “as you transform yourself…you are changing the world”-- and losing the fear of death to avoid what Max refers to as “a near-life experience.”  It’s all right here in the pages of his book, which you, too, will want to refer to again and again.  

We are fortunate to have Max Strom with us at this year's festival.  He has developed a system of personal transformation called Inner Axis, which is a system of techniques combining yoga, qi gong, and movement therapy with an emphasis on empowering people from all walks of life and ability levels. His lectures include a philosophy for real world living and personal growth that is meaningful to both the student and their family.

Max’s sessions at the festival this year will include; An Introduction to Inner Axis, Crisis is the Axis for Transformation, and ONENESS: The Art of Teaching Yoga From a Universal Platform, all on Saturday, April 29th.  To register click here. 

He has presented three TEDx events, a keynote speech on ethics in business at a Fortune 500 Corporation, and a talk at The Singularity University, and most recently at the first Wellness Symposium in Saudi Arabia. You can see more of his work on his DVDs, Learn to Breathe, to heal yourself and your relationships, and Max Strom Yoga – Strength, Grace, Healing. To learn more, visit his website at  www.maxstrom.com