Michael Thomas Lear is an internationally-recognized Senior Trager® Bodywork Practitioner/Instructor and Ashtanga Yoga Instructor with a client base spanning five continents and including a few Academy Award and Grammy winners as well as many figures prominent in business and industry. For over 25 years, Lear has been at the forefront of mind-body medicine, yoga and meditation. He has studied Yoga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, as well as with many of Ashtanga's foremost instructors. Holding a Yoga Alliance RYT 500 Certification, he teaches Yoga Anatomy for Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification courses and conducts workshops internationally.

Lear is also a seasoned Vipassana meditator in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Kin as taught by S. N. Goenka. He was recognized with a cover article in Massage Therapy Journal for his work introducing Trager® to physical therapists in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, which he also has done in Japan. Lear also holds Plant Based Nutrition certification through Cornell University, taught by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of “The China Study” and “Whole.”

While working as Director of International Relations for Real Medicine Foundation and working closely with UN Agencies and foreign governments, Lear was an integral part of many international relief programs to improve primary health care service in disadvantaged areas of post-conflict, disaster affected and poverty-stricken countries, including Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Armenia and post-earthquake Haiti. South Sudan’s Medical Journal/JubaLink has cited Lear as a principal in establishing the country’s first College of Nursing and Midwifery.

In addition to his international service, Lear serves locally with The Shanthi Project a non-profit organization which conducts trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness classes at the county prison, juvenile justice center, recovery centers, Boys and Girls Club, and area school districts for grades K-12. He is a founding board member and has served as director of Court-Involved and Recovery Programs, a trauma recovery yoga instructor, and a lead trainer of their yoga instructors. 

A life-long musician playing drums, Lear feeds his soul behind the kit in the band ITO. He has many years’ experience playing professionally and in a variety of genres. In addition to playing professionally, he developed an entire on-line yoga and mindfulness program specifically for drummers www.yoga4drummers.com to help them access their full potential. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and International Management from Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. and has worked extensively in the corporate world. A native of Easton, PA, Lear makes his home on the East Coast when he is in the United States where he enjoys visiting with family, friends and his cat Sayagyi.