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20 year Health and Fitness Industry veteran Mike Fecht is Co-President of YfM and the head of YfM's Yoga for Athletes program. Mike works with some of the best athletes in all of professional sports and has worked with athletes from all four major North American professional sports organizations, including the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.
A former college baseball player, Mike started in Corporate Wellness while in college, launched his own personal training business in 1997 and then ran up the career ladder with Crunch Fitness in 2000, eventually leaving them after 6 years as a National Supervisor. Mike has been involved in health and wellness his entire life.
In 2009 a personal tragedy allowed Mike to experience the deepest benefits of a healing Yoga practice, and now he sees it as his life’s work to share those benefits with others, and especially men. Mike’s current role will see him as Yoga instructor and brand ambassador, contributing educational and Yoga-themed content, while also working closely with YfM founder Jonathan Creamer to expand the awareness and mission of YfM to an even greater global audience.
I have a unique opportunity to use my experience and yoga practice to connect with others and to help break through many of the common stereotypes that men especially, associate with yoga
“A mentor of mine once suggested that the key to being happy in your career was to ‘live your private life in a public forum,’ – meaning you got paid to be who you are, and I have personally never been in a situation such as this that felt so right. I have a unique opportunity to use my experience and Yoga practice to connect with others and to help break through many of the common stereotypes that men especially, associate with Yoga. I’m not your average Yoga teacher. At 6’1” and 220 lbs., I came to Yoga to manage chronic back pain. 8 years later, my back is pain free and why I practice Yoga has much more to do with the meditative benefits than the physical. 5 years ago, my then wife was murdered by her 18 year old son.”
“In dealing with that experience, my Yoga practice taught me to let go of what I thought my life was supposed to look like and to focus solely on what it felt like. Those early days were dark, but now I’m here. When we let go of the ego and ‘let life happen,’ so to speak, we learn to align ourselves with our true calling. And here, now, I can use what was a tragic loss as a way to help others live better lives through Yoga. Knowing the emotions that I had to go through, and particularly the anger, it’s easy to see how modern men need this practice as badly as anyone right now, and I am honored to have this role with YfM.”
Mike presented at the first ever symposium at the Southeastern Yoga Conference in Atlanta in 2012, sharing his story of healing through Yoga. He was also recently featured on the television show NFL Rush, teaching Yoga to a number of players that he works with on the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. In addition, Mike spoke at TEDx Tampa Bay in September 2015.
Here are some of the Professional athlete clients that Mike has worked with:
NFL
The Miami Dolphins - Entire Team
MLB
Francisco Cervelli
Melky Cabrera
Luke Jackson
Chris Marrero
Tony Sanchez
NBA
Joel Anthony
NHL
Kari Lehtonen