In 2009, Matt began studying with Jill Miller, the founder of Yoga Tune Up, Tune Up Fitness, The Roll Model, and Body by Breath. Teaching Yoga Tune Up shifted Matt’s approach to sharing the yoga practice and attracted a much different audience. Students with injuries, chronic pain, yoga teachers, fitness educators, physical therapists, chiropractors, and more started attending his classes.

In 2010, Matt was asked to work with a private client, Kristy, who had degenerative discs in her cervical spine (neck). Doctors explained that it was an irreversible condition, and initially, Matt turned down the opportunity. Additionally, Matt did not feel confident in his knowledge. However, Kristy, who knew her own body, believed in her power to heal with the right guidance. After several consultations, Matt agreed to work with Kristy, provided she agreed to see both a chiropractor and a physical therapist regularly. They would send him updates on their discoveries and suggestions.

The emails were not written in layman’s terms, so Matt spent several hours researching each week and then designing “yoga-esque” practices to keep Kristy engaged and entertained while healing. Entertainment and fun were essential because coming to practice became a joy and privilege rather than a chore. As a result, Kristy increased her sessions to three times a week, allowing for more dedication to her physical health.

Doctors warned Kristi that the pain would increase and that surgery was a must. After much back and forth, doctors agreed to monitor Kristi’s holistic approach and gave her an ultimatum of 9 months, warning her that she would be in too much pain to make it that far and that nerve damage would be irreversible after that point. Her pain levels fluctuated over the first few months, but eventually started to improve overall. After 9 months, Kristi was no longer a candidate for surgery. Her doctors were pleasantly surprised and incredibly curious about how she managed to accomplish the impossible.

Throughout the 9 months of working with Kristi, Matt’s classroom teaching style changed drastically, having been so inspired by sessions with Kristi and what he was learning each week as he studied anatomy. Matt began forming what is now known as Chromatic Yoga, a technique-driven, highly focused approach to the yoga practice, bringing education back to the forefront of each practice.

Kristi’s path to healing empowered Matt in many ways. Knowing that someone could heal in this way was inspiring, and having played a role in Kristi’s journey, Matt knew he had a responsibility to share as much as he could with the world. There was a higher purpose at play, and it has been his mission to support the yoga community and the teachers and educators within it ever since.