Charles MacInerney has been collaborating to offer Yoga & Creative Writing retreats since 1995. He completed the Amherst Writers & Artists Writing Group Leadership training in April 2007. Charles will be joined by Diana Gordon. This is Diana's fourth year as part of the leadership team in our international retreats; she offers workshops on the craft of writing and works with individual writers on their manuscripts.

Diana Gordon, Phi Beta Kappa, M.M. from Boston University, started the Writer-In-Residence at Forbes Library in Northampton MA, establishing and leading writing workshops and a weekly forum on contemporary poetry. Her prize winning poems and short stories have appeared in a variety of journals. Providing freelance editorial services for poetry and prose, she is also the senior poetry editor for Patchwork Journal. She has led workshops for Word Street, the Great River Arts Institute, and is currently on the faculty of Writers In Progress. She was recently chosen as a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant finalist.

Charles is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level (the highest registration currently available), and is the co-founder and serves on the faculty of the Living Yoga Teacher Training Program. He is also the co-founder of Texas Yoga, and helps organize and presents at the Annual Texas Yoga Retreat.

Charles is a guest writer for Yoga Journal's "Ask Our Expert" column, and has been intereviewed for articles in Yoga Journal four times (yoga retreats, creativity, heart disease, and Yoga for overweight students). One of Charles' essays (written on retreat with Patricia Lewis) appeared as the lead essay in a National Chess magzine in India. Charles is a contributing author to Yoga Meditations: Timeless Mind-Body Practices for Awakening published in 2005. He was a regular columnist for Silent Messages, and he has numerous essays published in regional publications through out the US, and on the internet.

Charles MacInerney has studied Yoga and Meditation since 1971. He teaches classes on Yoga, Meditation, Posture, Visualization, Breathing, Balance, Creativity, Concentration and biofeedback for a variety of businesses, corporations and institutions. He has worked with over 12,000 students in Austin, where he lives. In 1999 he presented on "Yoga for At-Risk-Youth" for the 2nd Annual S.W. Yoga Conference, and was a panelist, answering questions about hospital based Yoga programs for Cardiac Patients.

The following year Charles presented at the 3rd Annual S.W. Yoga Conference on "Devotion in the Workplace" and was asked to be on the advisory panel to the conference. In 2002 Charles presented two workshops at the International Conference on Yoga for Positive Health, and most recently was a Key-Note speaker at the Yoga4Peace Conference.

Charles has led over 60 retreats since 1992, including 15 international retreats. For more information see his biography.

Charles is also a professional public speaker with the National Speakers Association and has presented numerous times on Mind Mapping; Stress Management; Meditation; Visualization; Breath Work, and Self-Awareness Tools for Self Transformation; at Regional and National Conferences, including the prestigious National Wellness Conference. For more information about Charles MacInerney's speaking career, please visit his website at ExpandingParadigms.com

Charles is usually assisted by at least one guest yoga teacher which allows for more personal attention for participants.

At the February 2000 retreat, Charles was joined by Lois Burton, at left, a courageous and dedicated yoga teacher from London, who teaches Yoga & Meditation to male inmates in some of the oldest, run down prisons in England.

The previous retreat Charles was assisted by Mikki Doyel, photo below right, posing with fellow yoga teacher Valerie Wildman.

The photo below left shows Ellen Smith and Mikki Doyel, who both assisted Charles with the yoga, along with Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Christina Bautista (not shown), at the November 1999 Yoga retreat. Participants love getting to experience different kinds of yoga and different styles of teaching during these retreats.