Elliot Telford
My name is Elliot, I’m 35 now, wow I feel old, and I live in Auburn. I made this website and am focused on independent scientific research through yoga, critical thinking, and elemental exposure. I’m a landscaper currently and someday, I hope to spend time in outer space, exploring the solar system and sending probes out into space to explore.
I’ve been teaching yoga for almost 10 years now and I love every chance I get to teach a class. Elliot enjoys creating landscape installations for the betterment of planet Earth and our natural environment. I spend time on website design, music production, and make lotsa art.
I recently have done a couple of really fun podcasts; check them out below:
Currently Teaching 2 Classes a week at East Wind in Roseville
I am teaching a Modern flow on Tuesday night at 7pm.
Power flow Wednesday at Noon.
Family oriented flow on Sunday at 5pm every week.
Elliot plans on adding some more classes this winter, so stay tuned for updates.
E landscapes full-time; mostly installing plants, irrigation, and drainage; he aspires to understand all aspects of home construction and sustainable building practices with a focus on longevity.
Elliot continues to product electronic dance music on a daily basis (pretty much whenever I am not working outside or on the web). He finally has gotten together enough funds to finish my studio and now am producing my favorite music ever. I’m hoping to start touring for yoga and music some time in the near future, but obviously this will be a big shift from having a home base, so I’m still trying to figure it out.
My experiences teaching yoga have been changing me significantly recently. I am doing my best to adapt Ashtanga’s lessons to modernize them into the Western vinyasa yoga that is currently popular, but it’s tough. People want to go faster at the cost of the body, so I try to coach to a slower, more restorative pace; considering that I have very few students that are younger than 20. I believe in yoga’s regernative capabilities in a huge way; its a great weight loss tool, but slowing down is also great for losing weight, and helps recovery times for all sports in a big way.
I also teach private yoga classes, you can contact me if you are interesting in scheduling one. I’ve had several students successfully graduate throughout the years from 13 years old to 75+.
Elliot’s History with Yoga
I feel very blessed and lucky to have found yoga when I was 20. I walked into the East Wind Yoga studio with my mom completely randomly and ended up loving the physical challenge that yoga offered. My world opened in a way that I am still in awe of. The reason why I love yoga is that it can create powerful focus for achieving goals and creating sustained contentment in life.
Elliot instructs yoga because the practice resonates. He does his best to assimilate yoga into his life. I am not religious, but I love religion and its expressions in art. He’s a French major at Gonzaga University and love philosophy and art. Currently, I am teaching yoga full-time and am doing my best to record a lot of my classes; you can access and download the audio from certain classes on this site if you sign-up.
When I was 25 I moved to Mysore, India to learn yoga from the Jois family. I was not disappointed. I got to practice with Saraswathi Jois and met Sharath and his children, which was extremely fun and an eye opening experience into Indian culture, which I love. You can read more about my experiences in India here.
What is Elliot’s Yoga Class Like?
I normally employ breathing exercises at the beginning then move into abdominals, but every class is different. It’s going to be challenging, but not impossible. Not every wave is for everyone so it’s important to pace yourself and have fun!
I think that classes should provide enough challenge for every student in the room. I try to variate and create space for everyone to be in a pose, while allow anyone to push themselves to their edges. Every body is different, and I try to simply teach to what I observe in the posture and alignment on my students.
I use a lot of precise cues that you may never have heard before, so make sure you are ready to listen with fresh ears! Every class, sequence, and playlist are unique, I change my teaching as my practice evolves.
If you take my class expect meditation, unique sequences, back-bends, inversions, arm-balances, sun-salutations, and more! (but not in that order…)
I am teaching some very unique and adaptive sequencing so that everyone in the room can get a great disconnection from their internal dialogue and state of unison between the body and mind. Come find out what’s going on inside of you.