About Christen Bakken
Christen Bakken’s yoga journey began in 1998 in a ridiculously hot Bikram studio in a strip mall in Littleton, CO. Looking for a sense of structure and security, yoga provided her with a home-base. As Christen’s journey continued, she never lost sight of a yoga mat as a place to remember her purpose, to listen for higher wisdom, and to find a reason to play. After completing her 500 hour teacher training with Rusty Wells her classes became infused with a sense of devotion and service and the yoga mat became a place of personal transformation and healing. Now as a leader of 200, 300, and 500 hour teacher training programs and yoga teacher mentorships, Christen aims to hold space for you to do your work and to provide the tools to stand for your own (and everyone else's) highest good. Her classes, workshops, and trainings are filled with laughter, song, intention, and healing. If you leave with a bead of sweat or a happy tear on your cheek and a sense that everything is going to be okay, Christen will celebrate the impact yoga is having on your life and sense of purpose.
My Manifesto for a Meaning Full Day
Spend quality time with ones that I love
Be productive
Play in Mother Nature
Make time for self-indulgence (Taurus Sun)
Build humility
Personal Mission Statement
Christen Bakken’s yoga classes, workshops, and trainings are designed to lead us all to our highest Selves. Sometimes that means lifting our glutes off our hamstrings for a defined rear end. Still even more, students drop their shoulders out of their ears to really listen and remember. And more than we like to admit, it means letting go of things that weigh us down to create space for the practice and the life we imagined. Christen provides the space for this work through thoughtful, vigorous vinyasa flow, uplifting music, a sense of humor, and an unprecedented level of personal vulnerability. In a single class, the sweaty physical work aligns and connects with the heartfelt emotional work helping to create space for students to feel, heal, and expand. And at the end, if not through it all, students practice bhakti- or meaning full devotion. We consider, together, who we would like our work to impact for the better and we offer it out from a sense of gratitude, empathy, and a knowingness of our own potential.
A Few of My Favorite Things
I am not Oprah, but regularly people ask, so here it is:
Favorite Books
Yoga Books:
Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic by Darren Main
A Life Worth Breathing by Max Strom
The Bhagavad Gita by Easwaran
Meditations From the Mat by Rolf Gates
Thought Provoking/Personal Development Books:
Aspire by Kevin Hall
YOU Are a BADASS by Jen Sincero
Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
Happier by Tal Ben Shahar
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Fiction- Who Doesn't Love a Story for Story's Sake?
All the Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent Series
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Whimsy's Heavy Things by Julie Kraulis (a children's book)
Favorite Music
Justin Timberlake- I was 16 when N'Sync was cool and have never given him up. If you attend my classes reguarly you already know he comes to nearly every single class.
Michael Franti and Spearhead- I rarely miss a Colorado show- good musicians and even better humans.
0AR- I could listen to "Peace" everyday and still shed a tear and every friend of mine from college has played "Crazy Game of Poker" at their wedding-OAR a part of my history.
10 foods I would live on for the rest of my life
sweet potatoes, black beans, eggs, aged white cheddar cheese, peaches (in season), strawberries, kale, corn tortillas, rice, and goat cheese
3 drinks I would live on for the rest of my life
coffee (extra creamy), vino verde, sparkling water
Guilty pleasure
Reality TV- like all of it! The good, the bad, the ugly
