M. Alex
Wainright

I work in tech. I have for 15 years. I sit at a desk most of the day, the same as a lot of the people I work with, and I feel it in my neck and shoulders pretty much every week. That part hasn't changed.

What changed was how I respond to it. At 24 I woke up one morning and couldn't turn my neck. I had never been someone who moved, never been athletic, tried and hated 90-minute hot yoga, never thought much about my body until it stopped cooperating. I tried what most people try — chiropractic, physical therapy, a personal trainer. Each helped in the moment, but the same problems kept coming back. The piece I was missing was a movement practice of my own. A few coworkers in Houston convinced me to try yoga at lunch. Something shifted — more attention to movement and breath, less rigid ideas about what movement is supposed to look like.

I found a home at two studios in Houston. BIG Power Yoga for the grit and community, and Yoga Better for the precise and cumulative work. Not about flexibility or sweat — about understanding what you're actually doing with your body. A single movement from one of Andrew's or Nancy's classes would stay with me for months.

The pain didn't disappear cleanly. Ski injuries, physical therapy, months of setbacks. But I kept practicing and started to understand the difference between pain that means something is wrong and pain that is just your nervous system being cautious. That distinction — which I first heard from the work of Peter O'Sullivan — changed how I think about movement entirely.

I got my first 200-hour YTT through Nancy Perry, Sarah Montross, and Janan Araujo-Siam at BIG Power Yoga in 2022. After a move to Utah, I started teaching at Satori Hot Yoga under Louda Morales. I trained in Chair Yoga with Amanda Lawford, Sherry Zak Morris, and Justine Shelton — 65 hours total, more than most instructors in the region. I wrapped a second 200-YTT under Andrew Dugas at Yoga Better in summer 2025, and completed my Aromatherapy Yoga certification (IISDT) in 2026.

I teach 8 classes a week across 5 venues right now. I still work in tech. I still sit at a desk every day. That's not incidental — it's the whole point. I'm not someone who solved this and moved on. I'm someone who manages it continuously and has built enough tools to do that well, and I teach those tools.

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Available in-person across Salt Lake County — at your home or office. Online sessions via Zoom for English-speaking students worldwide.