Matias Flury is originally from Argentina and has lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, California and currently resides in the mountains of North Carolina. He has been studying meditation and pranayama for more than 25 years, beginning with his Japanese teacher Nakazato and then progressing on to the Quan Yin method With Ching Hai, and Kundalini Yoga with Anandi Ma and Deleepji. He has had many Tibetan buddhist teachers as well as Indian teachers that live in caves.
Matias has always been interested in the many aspects of cleansing the body and mind through fasting, and has an extensive amount of knowledge and experience within these fields of study. He began his Ashtanga yoga journey with Tim Miller in 1993. In 1995, he went to India for 6 months and studied Ashtanga Yoga with Sri K and Pattabi Jois. He also studied Pranayama (Kriya yoga) with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and, while staying at this ashram, taught yoga asanas to the young Brahman students. Matias continued his journey of meditation with Amritananda Mayi Ma.
Matias is passionate about all aspects of Yoga. So much so, that he taught Yoga at Scripps Hospital in San Diego for 7 years, helping doctors, chemists, and pharmacists to relieve their daily stress. In the same hospital, he also taught a rehabilitation class for patients.
Amma
He taught classes at 7 local high schools including a rehab program for students who were trying to quit drugs. Here, he was the yoga coordinator and worked in conjunction with the Tobacco Free Youth Foundation. The yoga asanas and breathing exercises were used for maintaining balance and self-awareness for these recovering adolescents.
2006 Tiruvanamali India ~ Chelsea, Werner, Matias.
Matias assisted Tim Miller for more than 14 years with his morning Mysore-style classes and substituted for Tim every time he was out of town. He conducted meditation and pranayama classes at the Ashtanga yoga center by donation and also taught Mysore and an Intro to First Series classes in the Astanga Yoga Uptown centers in San Diego, Hillcrest and Point Loma. He directed invigorating retreats at the local hot springs as well as beautiful mountain settings in Southern California, Costa Rica, Hawaii, London, Holland, Italy, Portugal, and many more.
November 1995 Matias in front of Meditation Hut in Amritapuri Ashram India
His love for yoga is apparent in his unique approach to teaching as he works with each student at his or her comfort level and experience.
In Costa Rica, he designed 10 minute short sequences for factory workers at JACKS CO. where they took a 10 minute break every 2 hours to perform asanas. He was involved in a program at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) treating asthmatics where they used yoga asanas and pranayamas (breath control) to relieve the symptoms of asthma and reduce asthma attacks.
Lama Dundup and Matias in Costa Rica 2004
He also teaches and volunteers at orphanages. In addition, he conducts retreats in order to raise money in support of these orphanages.
April 1996 Matias and S.K. Pattabi Jois in Mysore India
“Soul and Godhead are one: there the soul finds that she is the kingdom of God” – Meister Eckhart (2)
January 2004 Chelsea, Matias and Tim Miller
Somebody once asked me a few questions that have since helped me grow:
1-Which style of yoga is the best? At this point, my mind went empty as I understood there was no such thing as “the best yoga system”.
We are all here for the evolution of consciousness and all methods/religions were created with this in mind. Each individual will benefit no matter what religion or yoga system they practice, however the problem arises when we think in terms of which style is better, as we’re under the grip of the ego which then allows the real purpose to become lost.
2-Someone else asked me which asana overwhelmed me the most and which asana I’d like to accomplish, in addition to who impressed me the most?
I became lost in my thoughts and understood that, in the past, there was a kind of ambition in me, regarding the learning of asanas and pranayamas, that bubbled inside like boiling water, as I believed back then that I could accomplish enlightenment faster if I learned more asanas and advanced pranayamas at a much faster pace. However, now I feel that this fire was extinguished for good and my only remaining wish is to sit and be in peace in every situation that life presents. Here, I remember a story that someone told me, and this story, as well as the person, impressed me deeply.
November 2011( L-R) Chelsea, Matias, Palden Gyatso, Lee and June
There was a Rimpoche (“Precious One” in Tibetan) named Palden Gyatso that was imprisoned when China invaded Tibet. Physically and mentally tortured day and night for 33 years, while his fellow monk friends were tortured and then assassinated. After he was liberated, he traveled incognito to India where the Dalai Lama had arranged a meeting with him. The Dalai Lama’s question was: “What was the worst thing you experienced while in prison?” He thought for a while and responded “the worst thing was that I almost lost the love and compassion of my brothers and sisters from China”
If there is something or someone that really impressed me, it is this wise Rimpoche’s compassion and love for everyone, even for his own torturers.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi.