About Nomad Yoga

Early childhood & gymnastics

At four, Andrew’s mother put him in gymnastics because he had a lot of energy and needed an outlet. He remembers imagining energy shooting from his hands like lasers.

When his family was struggling financially, his mother asked his coach whether there was potential worth continuing to invest in. The coach predicted a college scholarship. That lesson stayed with Andrew: talent matters, but recognising and helping develop potential in others is something else entirely.

Clemson University & diving

About fifteen years later, Andrew earned a college scholarship to Clemson University in diving. At an international competition alongside past and future Olympians and national champions, his coach told him he was the most talented person in the room.

Andrew knew he was not as consistent as the others. Sickness and injury cut his athletic career short, before he felt he had fulfilled that potential.

Travel, teaching & martial arts

After time away from sport, Andrew wanted to travel the world as an English teacher and rebuild both his physical and mental health. He returned to martial arts and progressed quickly.

Living in South Korea, he earned a black belt in Hap Ki Do; in Saudi Arabia, he earned a second-degree black belt in Rou Chuan Do Kung Fu. His master told him that the information passed down would remain the same, but Andrew’s expression of it would make it uniquely his.

“The information won’t change, but how you express it will make that information uniquely yours.”

A fighting opportunity

A year later, at a Jiu-Jitsu seminar in Saudi Arabia, Andrew met MMA event producer and fifth-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Master Bruce “Asu” Harvard. After rolling and sparring, Bruce noticed Andrew’s talent despite his having practiced Jiu-Jitsu for only a few months.

Bruce offered to bring him to Chicago and promote him as a professional fighter into the UFC. It was an offer that seemed to place a dream on a silver platter.

First introduction to yoga

Between South Korea and Saudi Arabia, Andrew was living in Mexico when a friend invited him to a yoga class with Byron Miller. Miller’s knowledge of yoga, Ayurveda and related subjects clearly sparked Andrew’s interest.

By then Andrew had also committed to a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Course in Cape Town, South Africa. Bruce saw it as an asset, imagining that Andrew could teach yoga at his gym while pursuing a fighting career.

Cape Town: yoga, Jim & Reiki

In Cape Town Andrew fell in love, met his teacher Jim Harrington and fell more deeply in love with yoga. He changed course: he did not move to Chicago to become a professional fighter, but stayed in Cape Town instead.

There he met Reiki Master Louise Westerhouse, in what Andrew describes as an awakening period. After hearing his background in yoga, Kung Fu and Tai Chi/Qi Gong, Louise offered to teach him all three levels of Reiki in one year rather than the usual six.

Becoming a Reiki Master

When Andrew questioned whether he was ready, Louise reminded him of the work he had already done on himself. On completing the course and becoming a Reiki Master, she gave him a further charge: Reiki can bring people with every kind of reason, so keep learning as much as possible about as much as possible.

Andrew took that instruction seriously and continued studying, practicing and broadening the ways he could support others.

Finding an authentic teaching voice

Back in Charleston, South Carolina, Andrew was looking to begin his path as a yoga teacher. A school owner saw potential but wanted him to spend six months in a mentor–mentee arrangement. Andrew called Jim with the news.

Jim’s advice was direct: be your weird self; people will like you for your weird self. It became another essential lesson in staying true to an individual and authentic path.

“Be your weird self. And people will like you for your weird self.”

Teaching, creating & building Nomad

Nearly fifteen years after Cape Town, Andrew remains a perpetual student while having taught yoga, Reiki, Kung Fu, Tai Chi/Qi Gong and massage around the world. He has taught thousands of drop-in yoga classes, created his own classes, retreats and workshops, and founded Nomad Yoga in Kraków.

He has been Head Teacher for 200- and 300-hour TTCs at yoga schools in India, written books, created teacher-training courses and become director of an Eco Village in South Goa, India.

A path shared with others

Some of Andrew’s former teachers are now his friends. He works alongside Jim—now a close friend and confidant—and has built a close circle of people he trusts as great teachers and great people.

Every stage of the story includes someone who helped: a mother, friend, coach or teacher. Andrew’s work carries forward the same information his teachers shared, expressed in his own way, and with a wish to share it with others.