Our Founder
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Our Founder

Michael Maitreya Hopp—A Friend to All
January 7, 1961 - December 25, 2004

      Michael was a well-known and loved leader, healer, teacher and creator
of  community in Santa Fe. Michael passionately believed in being of service
to mankind and in the power of community to enhance and enrich the lives
of all. His dedication to a life of service and spiritual leadership was inspired
by his great yoga teacher, Sri Swami Satchidananda, who gave him the name Maitreya, which means "friend to all", as they stood together on the banks
of the Ganges River.

Michael was a life-long seeker of knowledge and understanding of the larger truths of our existence. He began his spiritual quest in 1981 when he left college to travel the United States and the world. He went to live at the Satchidananda Ashram in Yogaville, Virginia in 1986, where he received the Integral Yoga teachers training in 1987. He returned to receive his advanced teacher training
in 1991. Michael graduated from the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts in 1990 and worked as a licensed massage therapist from that time forward as well as teaching Yoga.

A 14-month pilgrimage around the world, including nine months in India, brought him back to Santa Fe in 1996 to create and direct the Santa Fe Community Yoga Center. The center offers weekly classes in a variety of styles
of hatha yoga which provide a combination of non-competitive physical
postures, breath, meditation and practical philosophy. Michael's classes were known as a place where people of all ages and levels of ability could come,
safely explore and enjoy physical and spiritual wellness through yoga. He honored each student in a positive and respectful way. The yoga center is
also a gathering place, linking people of diverse spiritual practices and beliefs
in workshops, trainings, and ceremony.

Through Michael's vision and the work of the yoga center's advisory counsel a Yoga In Schools program was created for the Santa Fe public schools, reaching thousands of elementary students since it began in 2001. Under the auspices of the Heart Mountain Prison Project, Michael brought yoga into the men's prison in Grants and into the Santa Fe Juvenile Detention Facility. 

Michael was passionately involved with the men's community. He led the 14th annual New Mexico Men's Wellness Conference at Ghost Ranch Conference Center in 1998, choosing for its theme, "Healing the Healer Within". For twenty years, the conference has provided the opportunity for men to gather, share their stories and their feelings, to hear the wisdom of other men, to explore new realms of personal growth, and to deepen their relationships with other men in a safe, supportive environment. For many years he also organized an annual gathering, entitled Man2Man, which brought together gay and straight men in order to promote mutual understanding and support for all men. Michael was also 
deeply concerned with reconciliation between men and women, receiving training in gender reconciliation during 2002 and 2003 in Boulder, CO. He brought that work back to Santa Fe, offering gender reconciliation workshops through the Community Yoga Center.

Michael's community involvement also included service on the Interfaith Council, as the moving force behind the labyrinth built at Frenchy's Field, the yoga community, as a member of the massage and alternative healing communities
of Santa Fe, and as a promoter of tolerance and understanding among all
fellow beings.

The integrity of Michael's personal relationships was seamlessly woven into his spiritual and community work. Michael transmitted such love and passion to
all areas of his life that he inspired in others a sense of wholeness and well-being.  His down-to-earth manner, his warmth, and his honesty enhanced his success
as a teacher, a mentor, a healer, a leader, and friend to all who knew him. His bright light and energetic presence will be deeply missed by his family, as well as many in our community and beyond.

Michael Maitreya Hopp passed on Christmas Morning 2004 while visiting his family in Redwing, Minnesota. His partner, Jane Prouty, and his nephew,
Nathan Schmidt, succumbed with him to carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Michael's work lives on with the continuation of the Santa Fe Community Yoga Center and the Yoga In Schools program. Heart Mountain Prison Project 
continues to bring yoga and meditation to those incarcerated in New Mexico.
His spirit continues within the hearts of all those whose lives he touched.

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Our Teachers

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