Long before yoga moved from a niche practice to a mainstream wellness trend embraced by millions, Michael Eaton was already a devoted student and teacher of the ancient Indian discipline. For Eaton, a devout Rastafarian who has called New York City home for more than four decades, yoga is far more than the challenging, limb-stretching postures that dominate popular depictions of the practice.
In an interview with Observer Online, Eaton explained what draws him to yoga year after year. “The most satisfying aspect of being a student of yoga is that it brings a lot of awareness to your life, and as far as teaching it, I just love it,” he said.
As a certified yoga instructor, Eaton has built a 30-year teaching career rooted in New York’s dynamic, multicultural landscape. He first began leading classes shortly after immigrating to the U.S. from Jamaica, launching his teaching journey in Brooklyn, before relocating more than 20 years ago to Staten Island, where he still teaches today. Born in St Ann, Jamaica and raised in Barbican, St Andrew, Eaton arrived in the United States over 40 years ago with almost no familiarity with yoga. It was not long after his arrival that he found a formative mentor in Dharma Mittra, the Brazilian yoga pioneer widely known as the “guru of modern yoga,” whose iconic Master Yoga Chart remains a staple reference for practitioners and instructors worldwide.
Across every neighborhood he has taught in, Eaton’s classes reflect the extraordinary demographic diversity that defines New York City. Recalling his decades of teaching across the five boroughs, he noted: “I taught in Brooklyn, a Russian neighbourhood and most of the students were white. I taught in a different neighbourhood in Brooklyn and it was a mixture of different nationalities; on Staten Island, I have Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Vietnamese, whites and blacks. Sometimes, you really don’t know who will show up to a class.”
This open, inclusive approach has earned Eaton widespread appreciation from both students and community partners. Most recently, he led a well-received class at the Unitarian Church of Staten Island this past April. Impressed by the turnout and the event’s ability to connect local residents across different backgrounds, church administrators asked Eaton to return for an additional community-focused class in May.
For Eaton, this invitation reinforced a core belief he has held throughout his decades of teaching: yoga is a powerful tool for bringing people together, beyond its well-documented physical benefits. “That’s a great feeling, ‘cause yoga is more than just stretching. It heals the mind just as it does the body and brings people together,” he said.
Beyond his work as an instructor, Eaton is also an active music producer, and he says yoga has shaped every part of his life, including his creative career, by instilling greater personal discipline. He outlined the holistic framework yoga brings to daily life, explaining: “It offers more blood circulation, more oxygen to your body and it also has codes to live by— ethics codes called Yamas (first of the eight limbs of yoga) and Niyamas (the spiritual focus of yoga), and it also prescribes a vegetarian diet.”