You can't find this anywhere else in Metro Detroit.
Our Center Director, Christopher Briney brings 28 years of continuous study (currently under Prashant Iyengar), advanced Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist certifications to his yoga students.
08/18/2025
Find Increasingly Better Ways with Iyengar Yoga!
POSTURES AND PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP
(for the seeker of yoga's deeper waters)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
What is the true purpose of yoga postures, or yogasanas, given that, according to yoga philosophy flexibility, strength, and even peace of mind are seen as byproducts of their practice? How does understanding this deeper purpose of yoga help you become the person you were created to be? Explore these questions, and their answers with Level III Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, Christopher Briney, Sunday, August 24th in the "POSTURES AND PHILOSOPHY" workshop at the Center for Iyengar Yoga!
On July 9, 2025, a heart attack left beloved husband and father, impactful community leader, and dear friend of CFIY director Christopher Briney, Damany Head in critical condition. He’s done so much for our community. Let’s support him and his family on the road to healing and recovery. Please donate and share!
This week we explore backbending postures and how they can take us more toward essential yoga: doing not just to accomplish body positions, but doing to know the embodiment--the unification of body, breath, mind, senses, psyche, etc. In true humility we discover that what "we" do and know in yogasanas is "scanty" compared to what the embodiment can do & know!
Increase Your Responsiveness with Iyengar Yoga! Join the Center for Iyengar Yoga this week to explore seated and inverted positions and the many opportunities for inner mastery that they provide!
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Chris Briney is the Director of The Center For Iyengar Yoga. He is one of only a small handful of teachers in Metro Detroit to attain certification as an Iyengar Yoga Teacher (C.I.Y.T.) by the Iyengar National Association of the United States (I.Y.N.A.U.S.). He is also one of only seven yoga teachers in the state of Michigan to attain an Intermediate, Level III certification, and the only male yoga teacher in the state to do so. Certification as an Iyengar Yoga instructor is widely regarded as the highest standard of certification for teachers of Hatha Yoga worldwide. For more information on Iyengar Yoga teacher certification standards and the certification process, please follow this link: Teacher Certification Process
Prior to yoga, Chris received his B.A. in English Literature with a concentration in Film Aesthetics and History from Oakland University. In 1997, just as he was graduating, he began practicing yoga. It didn’t take long for his study of yoga to become the full-time pursuit it is today. His passion for and commitment to the practice of yoga has taken (and still takes) him around the country for numerous trainings and workshops with some of the most senior yoga teachers in the world.
In 2002, Chris met Laurie Blakeney, a Senior Level Iyengar Yoga teacher from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began studying with her on a weekly basis. Though he was studying a different Hatha Yoga methodology at the time, it wasn’t long before he found a level of depth and profundity in Iyengar Yoga that inspired him to immerse himself in its practice. After 7 years of rigorous study and apprenticeship with Laurie, Chris successfully completed the Iyengar Yoga teacher certification process in 2009. In 2014, Chris made his first trip to Pune, India to study with B.K.S. Iyengar and his family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. In the Fall of 2017, Chris received his Intermediate Junior III teaching certificate after successfully completing the rigorous assessment and testing process. His other yogic studies have included: Ashtanga yoga as taught by K. Pattabhi Jois, Vipassana Meditation, and Transcendental Meditation. He has also participated in numerous courses through Landmark Education, and has a passion for Transcendentalist literature and the “New Thought” teachings and writings it inspired. Recently, he also had the good fortune of learning Isha Yoga from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Chris began teaching yoga in 2001.
Chris’s studies have led him to become one of Metro Detroit’s most highly trained and well-versed teachers of yoga. He is quick to point out, however, that for him teaching is a by-product of his commitment to the practice of yoga as a way of life. As a result, his teaching contains an authenticity and integrity that can only come from the experience gained through devoted practice. In his classes, you’ll find this authenticity and integrity blended with playfulness and humor to yield an experience both enjoyable and deeply transformative.
Chris lives and teaches in Royal Oak with his wife, Tracy and his son, Lucas.
