Per Erez has practiced and studied conscious-movement for most of his life. The inspiration for this grew intuitively from things that felt good personally and seemed like "the next best thing that called to his desire." He facilitates numerous wellness disciplines such as Yoga Therapy, Tai Chi Chi'h, Nosara Pranassage, Somatic Yoga, and several meditation forms.
His practice is informed by a background in yoga teacher training, initially at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, supporting and staffing teacher training as an assistant in the late 90s. He went on to do similar work and mentor teachers both for Kripalu and at Chicago regional locations, like Global Yoga Center, before taking a co-director of teacher training position with Eight Limbs Yoga Center. He consulted with The Kaivalyadhama Ashram of India to implement a training program in the US. Currently, he supports the 300-hour advanced level training for Rising Lotus Healing Center in the Chicago suburbs, directed by Gabriel Halpern.
He fell in love with the Butoh style of Japanese dance, studying with several internationally renowned professional teachers within that tradition. In 2017, he began exploring non-professional dance performances. The dance performance work is a direct out-cropping of his theatre performance background in college and graduate-level studies in the Humanities.
Per gives credit to his mentors, Dr. Rudy Ballentine in North Carolina, for sharing his knowledge of Tantra, Ayurveda, TCM, and Dr. Eleanor Criswell-Hanna for Somatic Education, in-depth study of neurophysiology, and Somatic yoga. Other notable teaching influences include Hannah Hedricks, Steven Cope, Russill Paul, Amba & Don Stapleton, and Joseph & Lillian LePage.
Erez has worked in yoga centers, corporations, health clubs, dance studios, hospitals, and social service agencies, including a stint with Oprah Winfrey and royal members of the House of Saud. In 2020, he served as the Director of Somatic Interventions at the Body-Mind Co-Op in Chicago, a for-profit psychotherapy agency integrating complementary practices. His consultation work there focused on combining complementary talk therapy interventions with body-based skills training for the well-being of the psychotherapy staff during the COVID pandemic shutdown. He lives and practices Yoga Therapy and Somatic Education in Palm Springs.
