Casey J Palmer
Devoted to Yoga,
Teaching and Service
Casey draws inspiration and insight from many aspects of his life when teaching and practicing yoga. From his family business in youth, adventure guiding in the outback of Alaska, to hosting a space for Ashtanga Yoga since 2002 in the dynamic city of Portland, Oregon, he shares both a knack for hospitality and disciplined service.
Casey’s direct approach to personal learning has drawn him to seek the insights of yoga contained within the intelligence of it’s philosophy and a continued inquiry through asana, pranayama and meditation. Via an aggregate curing process of 25 years digesting classical Asian/Eastern dharma, he remains inspired by the rich tradition of classical yoga literature combined with a life in modern times. With no field of existence off limits, Casey takes the results of practice and inquiry and shares them through the joy of the adventure of a yoga life that does not simply begin and end on a yoga mat or meditation cushion.
Casey creates a place for learning and community, through teaching Mysore style Ashtanga yoga, leading chanting and discussion sessions of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali including corresponding texts like the Bhagavad Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika plus many others. His mission is to be able to express the lineage teachings in a human centered way so all people can access this powerful source information. Casey’s personal yoga practice is an eclectic mix of ashtanga yoga, meditation and classical pranayama, executed in the lion-hearted, Mysore tradition of a direct and personal commitment to self-practice and understanding via all means made available.
As a teacher, Casey keeps a warm space for practice and an open and objective eye toward his students. While each day of practice is different he derives great focus from the Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa Krama and knows it to be a powerful tool in accumulating results that support understanding of the subtle experiential stages beyond the gross body. Casey seeks to help each of his students become yogis in their own right, working in harmony with their path and practice. He sees the yoga play out in every aspect of life and nature and seeks to share that insight with his students.
In 1999 with the foundation of dedicated yoga practice begun a few years prior, Casey journeyed to Mysore, South India for an eye-opening, 3-month study with then revered, Pattabhi Jois. Again in 2002, 2004 and 2005 he would encounter Jois in both India and the US. By 2007 Jois’ health was failing and Casey’s relationship with Jois and what is known now as the Jois Institute, became non-existent. Casey holds no authorization from the AYRI or The Jois Institute.
With a sad heart extended toward the Pattabhi Jois victims, Casey seeks to bring light to the way that will support everyone who has been harmed, mislead and betrayed and that they all experience justice and healing in a way that can be true and complete.
In 2008 Casey began hosting Yoga Sutra scholar and chanting teacher Dr MA Jayashree of Mysore the first of 4 times, and continues with regular recitation of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali experiencing intensive study and devotion in the method she offers. In honor of Dr Jayashree, Near East Yoga holds weekly chanting sessions dedicated to preserving the Sruti Parampara method of call and response singing and improve the working knowledge of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali within the community of attending yoga students.
Due to these studies in philosophy, in 2018 Casey began leading a daily pranayama practice session, based in what he had learned and practice with BNS Iyengar during his early time in India with the intention of fulfilling this essential component of the 8-Limbed Path of Patanjali with a sangha of devoted yogis.
Casey brings a sense of humor and intellect to his daily practice and teaching along with a strong devotion to classical yoga methodology. He credits his parents with instilling in him a strong work ethic and growing up in the western USA for instilling in him a sense of inquiry and self motivation. A world traveller, Casey’s warmth and openness attract the same in his fellow travelers and the locals he encounters. Yoga teaching has brought him to many exotic places, from Fargo, North Dakota to Tangalle, Sri Lanka, homeward to “The Great Land” that is Alaska, deep within Mother India and into his soul through music, food and art.