OM, Namaste!
Hi, I'm Grant Ifflander, the founder of Bridge the Gap Yoga. If you're anything like me, you're probably searching for some... thing. What is that ineffable thing? Why do we, as humans, have this urge in us to seek and look for more? These questions have plagued me for a long time, and since the beginning of my spiritual path I've quested long and far to find answers. I quit my job and left behind the traditional career as a mortgage banker to venture out into the unknown in May 2015. This was a turning point for me, as I didn't know what I was going to do, so I went backpacking solo into Central America.
I ended up at a meditation and yoga retreat center in Costa Rica, eating vegetarian food and studying ancient wisdom for a month. When I got home for this retreat in August 2015, I began the long, inner journey into my own daily sādhanā. Since developing a daily practice consisting of various yogic techniques known in Sanskrit as āsana, prānāyāma, mantra, bandha, mudra, and kriya, I've been led to multiple teachers and lineages around the world to deepen my understanding of the actual systems and scientific processes of self-realization. This has led me to some interesting conclusions, as my areas of interest include both Western and Eastern philosophies.
It was the exposure to the subtler realms of yoga during my training in Costa Rica that initiated me into a deeper search for authentic teachings and sincere practitioners who were interested in exploring the potentials of human consciousness. Again in 2015, I was led to complete another 200 hour training at Inner Vision Yoga; namaskaram to local Arizona instructors Jeff Martens, Michele Dante, Aaron Goldberg, Patrica Pagliuca, and Josh Rothman, whom all have been major influencers and supporters of me in my spiritual path.
Then in 2016 I was introduced to the Ashtanga Yoga system, under the masterful guidance of Arizona instructor Sean Shelton. I spent about 5 intense months practicing in the Mysore way, but in the summer of 2016, I left home to travel, in search of more authentic yoga teachings. After traveling through Costa Rica and Panama, I ended up getting a one-way ticket to India. I made my way to Rishikesh, where I would stay for one month at an ashram (Yoga Niketan) on the edge of the Himalayas, next to the river Ganga. It was here that I met another ashram resident named Steve Harrison. I knew immediately that Steve was the teacher I had been searching for, and decided to travel to England for a full-time study and practice of classic Hatha and Kriya Yoga under his guidance, at his yoga school (yogasanctuary.uk).
My time in England was an extremely powerful phase of my inner journey. I spent most of my days working very intentionally with specific kriyas to unblock the energetic obstructions in my mindbody sytstem, and meditating. This culminated in an incredible mystical experience which showed me that it was time to return home and share the light that was discovered through this work, with my community back home...
Upon my return home at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, I realized that my work had just begun. I spent two more years in devoted daily practice, grounding the intense awakening experience that had occurred, and creating a sacred space for the work to unfold safely. Finally, in 2019, after endless support from the community and other dedicated practitioners, BTGY was founded, as a platform to encourage the spiritual evolution for all sincere seekers in all locations, but also as a yoga school meant to serve its immediate community.
In summary, my own spiritual journey has led me down many paths. It has been quite an awakening process for me. I only wish to share this wisdom with others, and although I cannot claim ownership over it, I can speak to my experience, and if that is helpful, then so it is. BTGY was created as a hub for the distribution of sacred knowledge, for those dedicated and devoted individuals looking for a safe space to dive deeper into their minds and hearts, and connect with any hidden potential that lies waiting to be activated within.
To close, I offer my heartfelt love and appreciation to all teachers along the path, the lineages and systems of Hatha, Kriya, Mantra, and Bhakti Yoga, and all other wisdom that has offered itself to me freely for my own soul's evolution back to the Creator. To the key influencers for my individual path, of which there are far too many to name, I humbly bow in reverence to you. Jaya Gurudev! Thank you. OM, shanti.
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