As an avid athelete, dancer, actress, and community organizer, Mia Park has found that “yoga [has] provided both the physical well-being and inner peace that she needed to balance her busy lifestyle,” telling YogaChicago in their Jan/Feb 2012 article that features her as teacher of the month. Her background in martial arts and gymnastics led her to yoga in 2002. She has since taken her yoga practice and made it central to her life. She turned to Moksha Yoga for classes, becoming certified as a ParaYoga® Level 1 teacher (the only one in Chicago) after completing a 200-hour teacher training with Rod Stryker. Beyond just asanas, Mia employs chanting, pranayama (breathing), and kriya (energy techniques) favoring the Tantric principles of ParaYoga® to help quiet the mind.
Mia’s dynamic presence has led her down many different creative paths throughout her life, including her role as a co-host of a public access television cable show, Chic-A-Go-Go, for over 14 years. Jake, a colleague on the show and also Jason Scholder’s cousin, introduced Mia to Jason and the (then) new egg-shaped block. They were quickly acquainted, and Mia quickly became 3ME’s first Midwest ambassador. She started by assisting Jason at the 3ME booth at the Midwest Yoga Conference in 2009. ”Our first Midwest Conference, I laughed so hard I think people heard me on the ground floor,” Mia said. ”Jason is a fun guy with a big heart.” Each year 3ME has returned to MYC with Mia at our side.
Mia and Jason at Midwest Yoga Conference in 2009
And with a big heart of her own, Mia has found many outlets through which to reach her audience. Her clientele and yoga styles vary, as do the places she teaches. Mia volunteers her yogic teaching at a domestic violence shelter for women and in a women’s prison. She teaches Basic Yoga for Advanced Misfits at the Collaboraction Theater in the Flat Iron Building in Wicker Park (attracting rockers, actors, artists, thinkers, and generally funky people to find comfort doing yoga somewhere other than a conventional studio). With a heavy emphasis on the spiritual side of yoga, Mia is also an active participant of MedMob: Chicago, a global flash mob meditation movement that “meet[s] in silent meditation at high traffic areas around the city to promote meditation as a means to self discovery.” Having already organized two events, she aims to put together one each month this year.
Mia has studied with many, including Egg Signateur Aadil Palkhivala
As a brand ambassador to 3ME, Mia favors using the Eggs with her private clients, who like them as “an everything tool — to sit on for meditation, place under their legs, or use in a supported back bend… everyone loves this clever little Egg!” One prenatal client specifically prefers to use them underneath her hips and the backs of her knees when reclined.
Mia’s extensive exploration into the field informs her diverse approach to yoga. Influenced by the teachings of Desikchar with Gary Kraftsow and Chase Bossart, she’s also studied Purna Yoga with Egg Signateur Aadil Palkhivala and has integrated principles from Anusara and Ayurveda into her teaching.
With a dynamic approach to her practice, she continues to share her passion for the transformational power of yoga. We’re grateful that the Eggs have become a part of her journey along the way.