CHARLES MACINERNEY

Although both of Charles’ parents were proud Texans, he was born in Naples Italy. Over the next 16 years he lived in Italy, the Philippines, Germany, and England and traveled extensively. In 1977 his parents moved back to Texas where he has lived ever since. From these experiences Charles learned to connect with people of widely divergent back grounds and beliefs. This ability to work with a variety of audiences has been invaluable to him as a public speaker.

Charles brings over 25 years of experience as a speaker and trainer into designing and delivering entertaining, informative and often life-changing presentations. He is based out of Austin Texas, but travels extensively for work both within the US and Internationally.

In 1989 Charles founded Expanding Paradigms through which he teaches and speaks on a diverse range of topics. He offers custom programs for small businesses, large corporations, conferences, hospitals, government agencies, and universities. He also has extensive experience leading group retreats throughout the US, Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Since 1992 he has led over 150 weekend retreats and 40 international retreats.

He is equally adept at delivering a keynote presentation or designing and leading a company retreat.

In addition to his career as a public speaker, Charles is also a highly respected yoga teacher. Charles was introduced to Yoga in 1971 when he was eleven years old and has practiced ever since. He began teaching Yoga in 1989 and is one of the best known and most influential yoga teachers in Texas and the Southwest. He holds the highest credentials from both the Yoga Alliance and also the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Charles is widely recognized as the driving force behind Austin’s emergence as an international leader in the Yoga revolution with more certified yoga teachers than San Francisco! Charles regularly teaches at the top yoga conferences, including the International Association of Yoga Therapists conferences.

In 1998 Charles founded the Free Day of Yoga, an annual event that he started in Austin and helped spread to dozens of cities throughout the US. In 1999 he co-founded the Texas Yoga Retreat, the premier yoga gathering in Texas which continues to draw teachers and students from across the country, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. In 2000 he co-founded the Living Yoga Program though which he has certified hundreds of yoga teachers. Graduates of his program now teach yoga in 44 states and 14 countries.

As a pioneering advocate for yoga, Charles was the first yoga teacher in Texas to bring yoga into hospital settings in the 1990’s, designing and running Cardiac Yoga programs at Seton Hospital and the Austin Heart Hospital. Over a ten year period he delivered dozens of Keynotes on Yoga and Mind/Body medicine at National and International Conferences. He also led the way in making yoga available on college campuses, corporations, and government agencies.