You can't find this anywhere else in Metro Detroit.
Our Center Director, Christopher Briney brings 28 years of continuous study (currently under Prashant Iyengar), advanced Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist certifications to his yoga students.
11/18/2025
Forever Better is dawning at the Center for Iyengar Yoga!
Backbending classes this week will help you unveil the radiance within.
“Inculcating philosophical values is the means of yoga . . . the means of yoga are philosophization of life.” —Prashant Iyengar
Understand how to practice yoga like you never have before.
Only 6 spots left for this workshop. Register now via link in the bio.
11/11/2025
YOGA:PRACTICE AND PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP
Saturday, November 15, 2025
2:30-4:30 p.m.
Ensure your yoga practice is sculpting you into the person you were meant to become!
I have spent just over a decade being a student and studying the teachings of Prashant Iyengar. In ten years, I have gotten enough to chew on for 10 lifetimes. I look forward to sharing some drops from the ocean of yogic wisdom that Prashant has helped to introduce me to in this coming Saturday’s workshop, Yoga: Practice and Philosophy. This coming Saturday (November 15) from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Register today to seize this opportunity to inspire your yoga practice, and be elevated by yogic wisdom (see link in bio).
11/10/2025
Iyengar Yoga for Lifetimes of Fulfillment. Become the highest version of yourself and enjoy ideal states of being through leaning the links between the practice of yogasanas and the philosophy of yoga in our
YOGA: PRACTICE AND PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Enjoy the richness and power that understanding yoga's core concepts and principles adds to your yoga practice.
Learn the art of staying in our general classes this week.
Where else would you see a monument to Surya Namaskar but in yoga’s homeland. (Indira Gandhi International Airport).
11/09/2025
What does it mean to practice yoga? What are the hallmarks of effective yoga practice? What is yoga? Is it merely positions and contortions of the body, or is it something more? How is success in yoga practice measured? What are the core principles of yoga and how might these principles guide our practice of yogasanas? What is the true aim of yoga? What does it have to do with physical health, strength and flexibility?
These questions and more shape the teachings of our “Yoga: Practice and Philosophy” workshops. These teachings are designed to empower sincere practitioners of yoga to understand their practice more deeply, and align their efforts with the core principles of yoga to maximize its transformative power.
11/06/2025
Date Change!
Our Yoga Practice and Philosophy Workshop is rescheduled to November 15th, 2025 from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. This workshop explores key principles and ideas in Yoga Philosophy that, when understood, profoundly enhance one’s yoga practice and add to its transformative power. Space is limited to 16 students and the workshop will sell out so register today (see link in bio.)
10/18/2025
And we are off! CFIY Director, Christopher Briney and beloved partner, Kyra Jackman () are en route to Rishikesh, India (via Istanbul, Türkiye) where Christopher will co-lead the 12 day, “Awaken in the Himalayas” Yoga retreat with Ian O’Laughlin of .
A pivotal experience awaits one and all as we aim to make spiritual history!
10/12/2025
"Asanas have more chemistry than physics." --Prashant Iyengar.
Join the CFIY for our EXPANDED FALL SCHEDULE (Monday - Wednesday) as we empower you to engineer your own chemistry so that it turns out sublime states of body and mind.
Looks like the Goo(OO)gle Gods Goo(OO)fed when they descended to photograph the Cent(et)er for Iyengar Yoga.
Feel like you’re seeing double? That might be your embodiment calling you to learn yoga with us twice per week! Looks to is like the Google Gods have spoken. Time to come to class . . .
We hold classes in person and virtually, 7 days per week (see schedule link in bio). And don’t worry! Iyengar Yoga teachers are thoroughly trained to respond and teach to the students and situations that present themselves in the moment, rather than from a script, so our classes are never redundant!
10/10/2025
Your very own Center for Iyengar Yoga Director, Live in Concert at 4pm October 10th at Detroit Public Library Main Branch, Detroit based Singer/Songwriter Christopher Briney!
10/04/2025
What if how you start your day really can make a difference in how you experience your day? And isn’t it the case that the experience of your day constitutes the fundamental building block of your life experience? So then can we not reason that how you start your day significantly influences your experience of life?
These ideas (realities) have compelled us to offer morning yoga classes 7 days per week at the Center for Iyengar Yoga. It is our aim to enhance the quality of our community’s life by providing maximum enrichment (through an expertly guided Iyengar Yoga class) to start the day. Whether through our 6:30 - 8:00 AM Early Bird classes, our 8:30 - 10:00 AM Beginner-friendly classes, or our 9:00 - 10:30 Mixed-Levels classes, we have put a lot of thought into offering classes at a time that suits busy schedules. We have two of each class per weekday. We have placed these classes 3 - 4 days apart on our schedule to help create a weekly “rhythm” for our students’ studies. Coupled with some amount of self-practice in between classes this rhythm creates huge momentum for yogic growth, which really means the blossoming of joy in one’s life. We have designed our schedule this way because how our students practice yoga matters to us. This is because how our student’s practice of yoga impacts their lives matters to us. By helping our students to become healthier, happier, more inspired, and more empowered about how they experience life, we uplift the community that we belong to.
So, we invite you to start planning an uplifting week for yourself this weekend, and select two classes from our schedule that you will attend this week. If mornings don’t work for you, we have four evening classes that help you to conclude the day with maximum well-being. We recommend taking two classes per week, and planning some amount of practice on your own. We guarantee you will appreciate the efforts you make to move your life in a great direction. To support you, we are offering this special opportunity to register for two classes today and save over 35% (see link in bio). See you in class!
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Chris Briney is the Director of The Center For Iyengar Yoga. He is one of only a small handful of teachers in Metro Detroit to attain certification as an Iyengar Yoga Teacher (C.I.Y.T.) by the Iyengar National Association of the United States (I.Y.N.A.U.S.). He is also one of only seven yoga teachers in the state of Michigan to attain an Intermediate, Level III certification, and the only male yoga teacher in the state to do so. Certification as an Iyengar Yoga instructor is widely regarded as the highest standard of certification for teachers of Hatha Yoga worldwide. For more information on Iyengar Yoga teacher certification standards and the certification process, please follow this link: Teacher Certification Process
Prior to yoga, Chris received his B.A. in English Literature with a concentration in Film Aesthetics and History from Oakland University. In 1997, just as he was graduating, he began practicing yoga. It didn’t take long for his study of yoga to become the full-time pursuit it is today. His passion for and commitment to the practice of yoga has taken (and still takes) him around the country for numerous trainings and workshops with some of the most senior yoga teachers in the world.
In 2002, Chris met Laurie Blakeney, a Senior Level Iyengar Yoga teacher from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began studying with her on a weekly basis. Though he was studying a different Hatha Yoga methodology at the time, it wasn’t long before he found a level of depth and profundity in Iyengar Yoga that inspired him to immerse himself in its practice. After 7 years of rigorous study and apprenticeship with Laurie, Chris successfully completed the Iyengar Yoga teacher certification process in 2009. In 2014, Chris made his first trip to Pune, India to study with B.K.S. Iyengar and his family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. In the Fall of 2017, Chris received his Intermediate Junior III teaching certificate after successfully completing the rigorous assessment and testing process. His other yogic studies have included: Ashtanga yoga as taught by K. Pattabhi Jois, Vipassana Meditation, and Transcendental Meditation. He has also participated in numerous courses through Landmark Education, and has a passion for Transcendentalist literature and the “New Thought” teachings and writings it inspired. Recently, he also had the good fortune of learning Isha Yoga from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Chris began teaching yoga in 2001.
Chris’s studies have led him to become one of Metro Detroit’s most highly trained and well-versed teachers of yoga. He is quick to point out, however, that for him teaching is a by-product of his commitment to the practice of yoga as a way of life. As a result, his teaching contains an authenticity and integrity that can only come from the experience gained through devoted practice. In his classes, you’ll find this authenticity and integrity blended with playfulness and humor to yield an experience both enjoyable and deeply transformative.
Chris lives and teaches in Royal Oak with his wife, Tracy and his son, Lucas.