Jai Yoga Owner Spreads Message from Braintree to Europe

Brian Culkin, founder/owner of , is bringing his unique philosophy on yoga and the power of human potential to studios and companies in Europe this summer. 

Performing workshops in Iceland and consulting corporations and groups with Oslo, Norway as a base, Culkin endeavors to put his theorems about the strength of the individual in practice throughout the world.

"Yoga or even a management philosophy should be a servant to the individual," Culkin said. "The moment you have a reversal of that flow the potentials of an individual become markedly less. In many ways the person becomes a slave to the very thing he was suppose master. I've seen it happen many times."

Having studied at the Esalen Institue as well as the Sivananda Bahamas Yoga Retreat, the Braintree native has parsed out the most effective aspects of yoga and distilled them into concise concepts.  Not merely focusing on the practice of asanas (poses), Culkin has sculpted his teachings by taking from yoga philosophy that which has been proven to be effective.

 “Yoga, more than anything, is about increasing the capabilities and potentialities of a human being,” Culkin said. “I don’t view it in the traditional mind/body context. I view it soley in the context of the human potential, what can be or what will be.”

Yoga is a burgeoning phenomenon in Iceland. The small nation (about the size of Kentucky) contains only two studios, including Glow Hot Yoga in Reykjavik, where Culkin will be teaching his second workshop there from May 18 – 22.

While the first workshop was a traditional yoga class the upcoming seminar, entitled “Yoga, Communication & Transformation," will give attendees a new perspective on what communication is and the power it possess.

“When a person becomes more able, when a person becomes more aware, the thing that naturally rises is their ability to communicate. I see communication inextricably linked with any human endeavor no matter what it is.

“The road to enlightenment is really the road to the ability to communicate. 'Talking' is a mechanical mimicry of what communication truly is. Communication is an activity one engages in to understand life.”

Glow Hot Yoga contacted Culkin after seeing his series of Zen Basketball videos on YouTube and invited him to teach. He conducted a sold-out condensed version of his seminar over the course of a March weekend and it was such a success that they summoned him back. Culkin will return again to Iceland in August to conduct another session.

(Those who want a condensed version of his seminar can attend a weekend workshop at Jai Yoga on Saturday, May 14).

Partnering with international businessman and astrophysicist Geir Isene, Culkin’s consulting work in mainland Europe will guide workers toward achieving their full potential and peak performance.

The pair’s new venture focuses on human technology and bringing the best out in people by melding existing proven methodologies with Culkin’s yoga-based philosophies.

“I want to bring individuals into higher levels of production, creativity and capabilities," Culkin said. "A group as a whole is a derivation of the intention of the individual people in it. There is no such thing as a company. There are only individuals that work [there].

 “The best companies are composed of individual people that are knowingly and, most importantly, willingly participating in the agreed purposes and goals of that company,” Culkin said. “The moment it becomes unwillingly participated it becomes a company that is on its way down."

His consulting work also challenges people to confront their learned limitations and to open themselves up to the wealth of ability within.

“I think that any business has unlimited potential, unlimited expansion, if they want it. The problem is that you are going up against a world that says you can only expand so much, you can only create so much. This is something that as a human being quite frankly that I don’t agree with and never will.”

Culkin’s partner Isene is the founder of FreeCode which according to Isene is active in “the area of best practice frameworks such as ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) and PRINCE2 (Projects In Controlled Environments version 2). The latter is dealing with how people work in IT - organizing of IT and efficient processes to facilitate effective delivery of services.”

Their joint venture was born when, after beginning a dialogue last year, they discovered they were on the same wavelength and their skill sets meshed.

“Brian is coming to expand our line of services,” Isene said. “With his skills in organizing and in motivation, we can strengthen our focus on the individual in organizations. He will help our customers maximize the potential in each and every person. With this we cover the individual, the organization and the IT systems. This will complete the circle and help our customers be in control.”

Though he has been teaching yoga for years, Culkin’s main concentration has shifted to his consulting work. Going forward, he sees himself teaching in a very limited capacity.

“I will always do yoga every day the rest of my life [but] I see myself much more making an impact with businesses and seminars with a bunch of people rather than just teaching yoga.”