Brynn's True Flow Yoga

Brynn Rybacek’s TRUE FLOW YOGA was founded under the assumption that there is more than one right answer. Yogis should be encouraged to see Truth in all its forms and to practice and teach in the way that most genuinely moves them. As a yoga instructor, Brynn recognizes that she is not here so much to tell her students how to live, practice, or teach but rather to inspire them and to draw forth the inherent gifts that they already possess. Brynn’s yoga students are encouraged to pick and choose only that which rings true from the tremendous wealth of knowledge that the rich and ancient practice of yoga has to offer. The hope and goal is that all yoga practitioners leave class with a little more awareness of and gratitude for their own unique gifts and Divine beauty.

My vision and reason for designing TRUE FLOW YOGA RETREATS is to construct affordable vacations in ideal locations, void of all of the usual planning and difficulties that vacations so often entail. I painstakingly research every possible location, what it offers, its prices, weather, amenities, etc. I contact many people who have been to the places before in order to get firsthand feedback. I organize every detail of every retreat that I lead. The vision: I do the work, so you can just relax.

I love to travel and I love yoga, so I have been on many yoga retreats myself. I have personally kept track of what works and what doesn’t work and why. I use this information to make my retreats that best offered in the world. Yoga retreats these days easily cost over $2000, $3000, sometimes $4000… and often they don’t even include meals! These outrageous prices are not just a result of greed, they are also a consequence of yoga teachers hiring out several middlemen to do the research, the footwork, create the flyers, advertise… all this costs money and YOU, the consumer end up with those charges tacked onto the price you pay for a retreat! I personally organize, advertise, and handle everything myself, thus effectively cutting out the middlemen and saving you money. This is how I am able to offer you the BEST vacations, in the BEST locations, for the BEST prices.

I created TRUE FLOW YOGA TEACHER TRAINING to fill the need for a return to the ancient tradition of transmitting physical, mental, and spiritual yogic knowledge from teacher to student in an intimate setting. Yoga training, like so many other things in our society today, has become a corporate enterprise, a big and popular money-making business. This often means that authenticity and individualized attention are traded for more students and more profit. Because True Flow accepts only a few students at one time, each student is viewed and guided on a personal, one-on-one basis.

It is said in the Upanishads: "People follow different paths, straight or crooked, according to their temperament, depending on which they consider best or more appropriate – and all reach You, just as all rivers enter the ocean." Ultimately, I believe that we all must create and follow our own unique paths in this life. Thus, the teacher training that True Flow offers includes the practice and discussion of various forms of yoga: Vinyasa Flow, Iyengar, Anusara, Ashtanga, Viniyoga, Yin. In this non-dogmatic training, a broad overview of yoga’s many layers are revealed, and students are encouraged to pick and choose only that which rings true from this tremendous wealth of knowledge. Finally, they use this wisdom to make their yoga practice and teaching their own.

Brynn’s Path:

As Valedictorian of my high school and top of my Chapman University graduating class, it may seem strange that I have chosen YOGA as my fulltime job. I have always had a deep hunger for knowledge in all areas and was immediately intrigued by the art of yoga at age 11 when I stumbled upon a book on the subject. At the age of 14, my mom brought me to a community center where I attended my first yoga class with her. It was Savasana (final resting pose, or Corpse pose) that really got me hooked. As the teacher mentally guided me through my body, I drifted into a state between sleep and dream that I had never before experienced. Fascinated, I started reading any spiritual, philosophical text I could get my hands on. I began to save my money to take classes at what was then Yoga Place in Costa Mesa, CA (now Yoga Works). The many gifts that my dedicated yoga practice brought me over the years naturally led to my desire to teach others this beautiful practice. By the time I was 17, I had saved up my money to enter a formal yoga teacher training program through Yoga Place, under the tutelage of Karin O’Bannon (dedicated student on BKS Iyengar)  and there I completed my National Yoga Alliance certification in 2002, becoming an E-RYT.

As a Social Science major at Chapman University a year later, I investigated the human on a social and emotional level, studying philosophy, sociology, religion, leadership, and psychology. While at Chapman, I was amazed to find that they offered no courses on yoga. Aware of yoga’s numerous benefits, I decided to create a Yoga club on campus, in which I acted as both president and teacher. In February 2004, I began teaching regular weekly classes at Triad Yoga in Irvine, CA and shortly thereafter graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Social Sciences with sociology, psychology and leadership emphases.

A year later, I went back to school to fulfill a desire to learn more about the science of the human body. I studied anatomy, chemistry, biology, and physics with the goal of obtaining my Doctorate in Physical Therapy, but in my heart I kept oscillating back and forth between wanting to go into medicine or physical therapy on the one hand and wanting to teach philosophy or psychology on the other hand.

As fate would have it, in 2008 National Yoga Institute heard about me through the grapevine and offered me a position designing the curriculum for, as well as independently teaching, accredited 200-hour yoga teacher training programs. In these programs, I taught everything required to certify participants as Registered Yoga Teachers at the 200-hour level through National Yoga Alliance. Leading these trainings, I got the opportunity to teach anatomy and physiology (both Eastern and Western systems), the history and philosophy of yoga, as well as both the Sanskrit and English names of yoga poses and breathing exercises, their benefits, modifications, and contraindications, the business aspects of yoga and much more.

Yoga is a very multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary practice and after leading my first training, it was clear to me that teaching yoga truly fulfilled my desire to teach art, social sciences and hard sciences all in one. My teaching style incorporates everything that I love. My strong background in sociology and psychology are apparent from my love and understanding of people. My leadership skills are clear from the ease and confidence with which I lead my classes and retreats. My knowledge of the human body allows me to speak clearly and effectively about the postures.

Having been a yoga teacher at Triad Yoga in Irvine for over 6 years now (almost since its inception), I have come across people from all backgrounds desiring to learn more about yoga, but the thing that strikes me most is how beneficial it is to people, across the board. Whatever "stuff" they initially come in with, whatever their initial reasons for trying yoga, they all inevitably leave a little better off.

I have now created my own independent yoga school, True Flow Yoga, which meets the requirements to certify teacher training graduates as Registered Yoga Teachers at the 200 hour level (RYT-200) through National Yoga Alliance. Besides my regular weekly yoga classes at Triad Yoga, I also teach topic-specific yoga workshops, lunchtime yoga classes at corporate offices, weekend classes at condominium complexes, yoga flow classes at Equinox club, and promotional yoga classes for Lululemon Athletica. In addition, I offer private yoga lessons by appointment and host yoga retreats in the most beautiful places in the country and the world.