The Wakeful Way, as the title suggests, is a way of living with clarity, lucidity, and wakeful awareness. Just as there is light and there is darkness, there is also wakefulness and there is non-wakefulness. The Wakeful Way is not only concerned with how one comes to be more centered in wakefulness, but also, how this wakefulness then manifests itself in one's life and in all of one's activities. The Wakeful Way is not a belief system, but rather, a way, or a path, built on authentic and time-tested practices, which when followed with sincerity and dedication, help one to have a strong and healthy physical body, a quiet and contented mind, and ultimately, a deeper experience of Truth and Self-understanding.

Change is constant, though in the midst of this change is something which is Eternal, Forever Peaceful, Unchanging, and Transcendant of Time and Space. To be deeply awake to That, even while in the midst of change, is the essence of The Wakeful Way.

About Ben Dineen

Ben began his studies of yoga and the martial arts in 1996, at the age of 19. His studies of yoga began with Senior Iyengar Instructor Ben Thomas, whom Ben considers to be his primary yogic guide, inspiration, and mentor. Ben is eternally grateful for all that he has learned from his studies with Ben Thomas. After spending several years studying intensively and exclusively with Ben Thomas, and while also maintaining his own regular practice, Ben went on to spend a year studying in the Advanced Teacher Training Program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of SF. Following that he spent several months living as a staff member at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Grass Valley, where he practiced yoga as a complete way of life.   He has since been initiated into this lineage by Swami Sitaramananda and feels a deep spiritual connection to it's teachers and teachings.

Ben is deeply grateful for all of the many wonderful teachers who have so graciously offered their time, energy, and wisdom in teaching him the timeless art of yoga. Ultimately though, all thanks, love, and gratitude go to the One True Teacher, the Supreme Teacher, the Source of all knowledge and wisdom, who teaches, guides, and inspires, through all people and all things, and who is all that is seen, and unseen.

In Ben's own practice and teaching of yoga he finds integrating several different paths to be the most effective method. These different paths include Hatha Yoga (postures, energy-work), Raja Yoga (meditation, mind mastery), Karma Yoga (selfless service), Bhakti Yoga (love and devotion to the Divine Consciousness existent in all things), Jnana Yoga (wisdom through self-analysis and reflection), Japa Yoga (mantra repetition, and use of sound vibration for mind expansion), and Advaita Vedanta (non-dual philosophy). 

Ben's martial arts background is varied, though he has spent most of his time focusing on the practice of taijiquan (tai-chi chuan). Ben's taijiquan training is primarily in the styles of Guang-Ping Yang and Chen.   He began his studies of Guang-Ping Yang style with Simmone Kuo at SF State in 1999, and studied with her more, later on, in private sessions with her at her studio in Chinatown.   Eventually she asked him to begin teaching this style to others, which he did for a short while.   Within this same lineage, Ben also learned and gained much from his intensive one-on-one studies with Sifu Bo Dah Wai.   Since 2003 though, Ben has devoted his taiji studies to learning and practicing Chen style taiji, with Master Wong Wai Yi as his primary teacher with whom he has great respect and appreciation towards. Master Wong has asked Ben to teach this style to others as well, which he is currently doing in several of his Bay Area classes.   Ben has also had the good fortune to meet and study with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, and other high level taiji masters, within the Chen Family Taiji lineage. In addition, Ben informs his practice of taijiquan with his ongoing study of Taoism, the Taoist Internal Arts, and the Tao Te Ching.    

Outside of yoga and taijiquan, some of Ben's other interests include photography, drawing, painting, writing, drumming, dancing, being in nature, lucid dreaming, Zen (Chan) Buddhism, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. These are worth mentioning for they all influence, inform, and inspire his practice and teaching in one way or another.

Ben currently teaches yoga, taijiquan, qigong, and meditation at a number of studios and gyms along the Peninsula and enjoys teaching all levels and varieties of students.   He has also written a small book on meditation and mindful living entitled The Wakeful Way. The book was used at Stanford University as part of the curriculum for the Meditation and Writing course which Ben co-taught over the summer of 2007. To read the online version of The Wakeful Way click here.

"Live the Practice. It's Here Now.

Don't Wait for Tomorrow to Live in a Wakeful Way."