Jai Yoga Expands Braintree's Consciousness

Jai Yoga, set to open in Braintree on Nov. 15, teaches students to take command of their bodies, minds and health and is another step into the 21^st century for ever-expanding South Braintree Square.

Offering a varied slate of classes and workshops at Jai Yoga (pronounced with a soft "j" -- Sanskrit for "victory"), owner Brian Culkin views his latest project as more than just a yoga studio.

With an eye toward modernity and the metaphysical, Culkin envisions the space to be a crossroads of classic values and current societal mores.

"I want it to be a cool place but keep the integrity of yoga," Culkin said.

The entrance of Jai Yoga is quite the new age lounge. With a tea bar, an expansive book case full of thought-provoking tomes, and a large sectional couch, students can expand their minds and take a break from their daily lives. 

"Everyone is always welcome at Jai Yoga," Culkin said. In addition to taking a class, "you can just sit on the couch and hang out…or just come in for a free cup of tea at the bar and read a book and relax."

Located on the third floor of 871 Washington Street, atop the also ultra-hip Bling! Boutique, the classroom itself is a paragon of stillness and peace.

The gleaming hardwood floor reflects the copious amount of natural light allowed in by the large windows adorning the room. Accented by subtle hanging paper lights, the room can accommodate more than 50 students.

"I want the space to be a very zen, clean statement of intention," Culkin said.

"The intention is for people to come in and have some kind of spiritual practice… and regain their own self-determinism. Essentially, that is what yoga does. It helps people to regain their ability to cause something," he continued. "Rather than being totally affected by the environment they can affect the environment."

Jai Yoga offers up to six classes a day, starting at 9am and continuing until 9pm, as well as workshops every weekend.

Eschewing other disciplines, the studio will focus mostly on the teaching of Vinyassa Yoga, an intense experience concentrating on the synchronization of the movements of body and breath.

Meditation classes, some taught by Culkin himself, will also be held. Yoga classes run approximately 60 to 90 minutes, while meditation sessions run a bit shorter at 45 minutes.

Jai Yoga, charging a $15 drop-in rate for classes, also offers patrons a discount 10-class program for $100. Students purchasing the 10-class program can take classes any time they wish.

In addition to the regular schedule of courses, Jai Yoga holds community classes on Thursday nights followed by varying forms of entertainment, be they acoustic music, poetry, readings or lectures.

"The aim of the community classes is to introduce people to yoga," said Culkin. "They are donation only. If people want to pay a dollar they can come in."

On Friday nights the center will hold a High School yoga class "so [the kids] can do something constructive," said Culkin.

For all classes yoga mats are provided and a small retail center sells health bars, tea and other assorted yoga sundries.

Along with Yoga and Recovery, and Advanced Yoga Posture seminars, Culkin will be teaching a new course of his own creation: Yoga and Communication.

An amalgam of different concepts he picked from such teachers as Swami Brahmananda, Saul David Raye, and Ronald Alexander, the program, according to Culkin, "will blow everybody's mind."

Along with a power point presentation on the theory of communication, Culkin will lead "drills that people can do to dramatically improve their ability to communicate almost instantaneously."

Culkin, a lifelong Braintree resident who attended Thayer Academy and was an All American at Skidmore College his senior year, started practicing yoga after injuring his knee while playing basketball professionally in Europe.

Returning to the Boston area he began immersing himself in the world of yoga while also running a highly successful real estate and mortgage company.

Shuttering that company in 2008, Culkin moved to California and contemplated what to do with the rest of his life.

At that point, Culkin had "no interest in engaging with civilization. I was ready to go live in a monastery."

Tossing around the idea of pursing an MBA, he ultimately wound up studying at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where yoga became an everyday part of his life. He lived, trained and taught there over the course of a year.

"Teaching at Esalen is like teaching English at Harvard," according to Culkin, and he furthered his education at the Exhale Center in Venice, Calif.

At the Esalen Institute, Culkin met fellow Braintree native and founder of the Open Mind Institute Ronald Alexander, who became his mentor.

The two speak daily and recently Culkin, who also created Power Consulting, has terminated that enterprise and started consulting worldwide exclusively for Alexander.

Culkin's journey next led him to a 30-day intensive ashram training program at the Sivananda Bahamas Yoga Retreat under Swami Brahmananda.

Raising awareness of the benefits of yoga in improving general health and recovery from injury is important, but Culkin endeavors to awaken people to the power of the practice in dealings with alcohol and drugs problems as well.

Breaking the cycle of dependence of not only street drugs, Culkin aims to lessen people's reliance on pharmaceutical drugs, which, to him, are "even worse."

Though he travels extensively, Culkin has once again become a permanent Braintree resident and with Jai Yoga he intends to bring the knowledge he has gained to the hometown he loves.

"Two years ago I would have had more of a chance of living in Antarctica than Braintree," Culkin said.

But, like most Braintree residents, the draw of the urbane yet intimate town was irresistible.

Although he has lived all over the world, to Culkin, Braintree is "an awesome location."