AARON HOOPES
BIOGRAPHY

Aaron Hoopes is an author, instructor, and holistic healer. The founder of Zen Yoga, a blend of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Shanti Yoga, Hoopes has studied the martial arts, Eastern philosophy, and alternative medicine in the United States, Australia, and Japan for over twenty-three years. He has a degree in Asian History and Japanese Culture from Tulane University and spent a number of years in Japan studying at the headquarters dojo of the Japan Karate Association, under Masatoshi Nakayama, Chief Instructor. He holds a third degree black belt in Japanese Shotokan Karate, is a certified instructor, and one of the Hoitsugan instructors.

Hoopes is also certified as an instructor of Shanti Yoga and Meditation as well as Tamashii Tai Chi and is trained in Chinese Qigong (Chi Kung) Energy Healing. He studied Shiatsu Finger Pressure Therapy under Hitoshi Koeda in Japan. In addition, he has extensive knowledge of Iyengar Yoga, White Crane Qigong, Okinawan Karate, Shorinji Kenpo, Wing Chun Kung Fu, and Zen Meditation.

Hoopes has taught classes in breathing and martial arts at Tulane University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Vermont as well as at the Sakai Shibu in Osaka, Japan, and the Shanti Yoga Meditation Institute on the Gold Coast of Australia. He has presented hundreds of workshops including the Montessori school, the Safety and Health Council of Northern New England and Southern Legislators Conference. He travels widely teaching Zen Yoga, Martial Arts, Breathing, and Quietism, and is presently training a corps of Zen Yoga instructors.

His stress reduction program, Inner Sunrise: A Meditative Journey of Deep Relaxation, is available on CD-ROM from Tamashii Press.