There are teachers who change the way you move, and then there are the rare ones who change the way you see. I met Chris Fox at The Yoga Barn in Ubud, during a season of my life when Bali was home. I walked into one of his mobility classes not knowing what to expect, and I left unable to explain exactly what had happened. Only that something had shifted. The way he holds a room is hard to describe. There's no performance in it. What you get is someone who has thought deeply, lived honestly and somehow distilled all of that into the way a body can move through space. Off the mat he is just as present, just as curious, just as fun.

When did you start deepening your relationship with your body, was there a moment, or did it happen slowly?

It happened through depression. I was in a really bad place. Not sleeping, eating badly, not caring about my body at all. When I turned 30, my partner at the time got us a card for a yoga studio. We did maybe three or four classes out of ten. But something was different. All of a sudden I was immersed in this body experience. It had nothing to do with actual yoga, it was just hot yoga, just contortionism, but it brought me on a path to care more about myself. I wouldn't say yoga brought me out of the depression. I don't think it did. But it definitely helped me start getting better at myself.

Was there a specific teacher or tradition that shaped your philosophy, or did you become this through living it, still evolving?

There was a teacher I followed for many years. When he finally came to Bali, I realized I had put him on this pedestal. And then I got there and it was four of us in the tiniest room. I started to see behind the veil. But that was the good part. I took his trainings, became a colleague, and we taught together for about four years. What inspired me most was his fluidity and his way of mixing things from outside the realm of Eastern philosophy, neuroscience, Western psychology, poetry. That's where my own curiosity started developing. Into mobility, into music, into movement as something more poetic. It evolved into something that became mine. And it's still evolving.

The Word: You're known as a "movement alchemist." What does that actually mean to you?

Alchemists have this quality of curiosity. A constant search for knowledge; “How does this work? How does this connect to that?” My approach to movement, to the body, to the mind and the heart, is no different. It's a constant exploration of how I can help people approach their own bodies with more confidence, more vulnerability, more safety, especially for men who don't allow themselves to feel, or for people who don't think yoga is for them. The alchemist in me is passing out proverbial potions in class. “Try this. Try that.” Step away from the idea that a posture has to look a certain way because you've been told that's the way. What if there's more? What if there are multiple ways, and you can deepen your experience just through a subtle shift, not just in the body but in the mind as well?

Can you explain the Fox Method to someone who has never stepped on a mat?

Fox Method is an approach to movement that is more inclusive and adaptable. It has three main practices: Yintelligence, Movement is Medicine and Mobility Therapy. Yintelligence is a somatic yin practice where we move within the shape rather than being still. Even very slow, intentional movement does so much more for the nervous system, the tissues, the joints. With a little resistance, the body can actually relax more deeply. Movement is Medicine brings us back to childhood; partner games, crawling, laughing, the simplest things that we did when we were kids and that were completely acceptable then. And Mobility Therapy is joint focused, very therapeutic, helpful for aches and pains, for people post-surgery or those who want to avoid it entirely. Across all of it, I use the word arrangement instead of alignment. I want people approaching movement with curiosity, not fear. Not "this might be bad for me" but "who told me that, and have I ever actually tried it?"

Making the Body Smarter: You use that phrase, what are you actually training?

A student said it to me first. She came up after class and said, this makes my body feel smarter. I was like, that's it. I'm stealing that. Because what I want is for people to leave with something they take home. Years later I still have students saying, I'm still doing that thing you showed in class five years ago. That's what making the body smarter means to me. You understood that it felt good, so you kept doing it. If I'm not sharing things that inspire people to keep going by themselves, I haven't done my job.

Movement as Medicine: Where does that philosophy come from? Is it science, lived experience, or both?

Both, always both. I have the most incredible diversity in my classes. Young people, older people, people with MS, people coming in from surgery or trying to avoid it entirely. And what I say is: you don't have to do a yoga class and a Pilates class and strength training and meditation all at once. If you just sprinkle it a little, every now and then, you're going to be fine. We think we have to do these things. But really, we get to. That shift , from "I have to" to "I get to" is everything. Movement doesn't have to be grand. It just has to be yours.

A lot of people arrive in pain, post-injury, or completely checked out from their bodies. What do you see in the students who find you, and what do they actually need?

Most people have more in common than they think. I joke about it in class; someone walks in having heard great things and I say, yes, I'm the best, this is the best class, prepare yourself. And they're thinking, okay, prove it. And then they come up afterward and say, it was good, maybe not the best class I've ever taken, and I'm like, I don't care. What I meant was: this is the best class to be yourself. That's it. I'm not offering the most structured, most impressive experience. I'm giving people permission to feel and to move freely. For most people, that's what they actually needed.

Getting Lost: Is there a spiritual dimension to this work for you?

There is, but not in the terms we usually think. The spirituality I see here in Bali , having lived here for a decade now, is very performative. Very colonised. Very shallow. People from one part of the world taking something from another part of the world and claiming it as dogma because they did a two-week teacher training. What I connect with is something more grounded. Connecting with nature, with our inner self, with each other, in community and in communication. More animistic. The idea that there is spirit in everything. And I think the most spiritual people are not the ones who talk about being spiritual. They just live it.

As for the practice itself , I don't feel it so much in the mobility work, but in the resting afterwards. We move very important parts of the body, systematically, and then we relax. And that becomes its own form of preparation for meditation. If you practice conscious movement, movement with awareness, stillness becomes more accessible. If you move a lot, you have a lot of space to be still. If you don't, stillness feels cramped. And that goes beyond the physical. It goes somewhere deeper in the mind.

Off the Mat: What is your relationship to movement outside of class, does it follow you into everyday life?

I find myself experimenting everywhere. In the gym, I'm not doing the standard split. I walk backwards on the treadmill for a few minutes every day because it just feels good for my knees. I train my neck because it's a part of the body that almost never gets trained, so I'm strengthening things that are not supposed to be strengthened, and it works. I'm exploring. It's the same curiosity I bring into class, just without the mat under me. Everything is connected. The dance floor, the treadmill, the Yintelligence class, it's all the same question: “what does this body want to do, and what happens if I listen?”

The Yoga Barn is its own world. What has teaching there for this long taught you; about students, about yourself?

I am so eternally grateful. It feels like a playground where I get to alchemize my own toys. Everyone has their own little sandbox, their own sandcastle, and they invite people to play. The diversity of teachers, students, classes, events, it really is its own little universe. And what I've been quietly trying to do is make it more rounded. More normalised. More fun. To chip away at the disdain people have for anything that sounds like spiritual woo woo and just say: come take a class, it's good for you.

It took years of subbing, of teaching other people's established classes, of sprinkling in just a little of my own style until people started saying, can we have more of that? And then all of a sudden I had my own specialised classes. I still walk in sometimes and think, I get to do this every day?

What do you think people are really looking for when they show up on the mat in Bali?

I think we've severed our connection to what's really important. Mainly in the West, this colonial separation from something deeper, and we're seeing how the world is reacting to that now, in so many ways. People arrive here looking for something they can't always name. And I think what's happening, even if they don't realize it, is they're trying to find their way back. Back to themselves, to each other, to something that feels like it matters. The beautiful thing about what I do is that I don't have to explain it as spiritual. Someone comes in with a bad knee and leaves feeling more like themselves. That's enough. The rest finds its way in on its own.

On a last note, in a few words; for someone completely disconnected from their body, who doesn't know where to begin, what would you tell them?

Be patient. Be curious. And know that you are more connected to yourself than you think.

Where to find Chris:

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Visit The Yoga Barn

Book a class here

Chris Fox: A Conversation on Movement, Alchemy and What the Body Already Knows

When did you start deepening your relationship with your body, was there a moment, or did it happen slowly?

Was there a specific teacher or tradition that shaped your philosophy, or did you become this through living it, still evolving?

The Word: You're known as a "movement alchemist." What does that actually mean to you?

Can you explain the Fox Method to someone who has never stepped on a mat?

Making the Body Smarter: You use that phrase, what are you actually training?

Movement as Medicine: Where does that philosophy come from? Is it science, lived experience, or both?

A lot of people arrive in pain, post-injury, or completely checked out from their bodies. What do you see in the students who find you, and what do they actually need?

Getting Lost: Is there a spiritual dimension to this work for you?

Off the Mat: What is your relationship to movement outside of class, does it follow you into everyday life?

The Yoga Barn is its own world. What has teaching there for this long taught you; about students, about yourself?

What do you think people are really looking for when they show up on the mat in Bali?

On a last note, in a few words; for someone completely disconnected from their body, who doesn't know where to begin, what would you tell them?

Boa Vida Magazine

Chris Fox: A Conversation on Movement, Alchemy and What the Body Already Knows

When did you start deepening your relationship with your body, was there a moment, or did it happen slowly?

Was there a specific teacher or tradition that shaped your philosophy, or did you become this through living it, still evolving?

The Word: You're known as a "movement alchemist." What does that actually mean to you?

Can you explain the Fox Method to someone who has never stepped on a mat?

Making the Body Smarter: You use that phrase, what are you actually training?

Movement as Medicine: Where does that philosophy come from? Is it science, lived experience, or both?

A lot of people arrive in pain, post-injury, or completely checked out from their bodies. What do you see in the students who find you, and what do they actually need?

Getting Lost: Is there a spiritual dimension to this work for you?

Off the Mat: What is your relationship to movement outside of class, does it follow you into everyday life?

The Yoga Barn is its own world. What has teaching there for this long taught you; about students, about yourself?

What do you think people are really looking for when they show up on the mat in Bali?

On a last note, in a few words; for someone completely disconnected from their body, who doesn't know where to begin, what would you tell them?

Dolce Far Niente

Boa Vida Magazine