Doctor Jiu Jitsu Show

Unlocking the Power of Yoga: Breath, Balance, and Inner Strength with Christopher Wilkes

• Doctor Jiu Jitsu • Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this episode, I sit down with my friend and yoga instructor, Christopher Wilkes—aka The Yoga Doctor—at his studio, The Art of Yoga in Columbus, Georgia. Christopher shares his incredible journey from martial arts and Qigong to becoming a full-time yoga teacher and studio owner. We talk about how yoga isn't just about flexibility and movement—it's a deeply transformative tool for physical, mental, and emotional healing.

Christopher breaks down why yoga is more than just poses. We dive into breath work, meditation, and how the mind-body connection can be a total game changer for athletes, military service members, and anyone navigating stress or seeking personal growth. If you’ve ever wondered how yoga can help you recover faster, sleep better, or just feel more grounded—this conversation is for you.

 

Episode Highlights:

[0:04] Meet Christopher—his yoga journey, Bruce Lee inspiration, and starting The Art of Yoga.
[1:45] How breakups and back pain led both of us to yoga for inner healing.
[3:36] Why I included yoga in my book and how it transformed more than just my flexibility.
[6:22] The full-spectrum benefits of yoga: movement, breath work, meditation, and mindset.
[9:15] How to start meditating even when your thoughts won’t slow down.
[12:01] Why every athlete should integrate yoga into their recovery and training.
[14:20] Yoga in the military—breaking stereotypes and building resilience.
[15:33] The science behind breath work and calming your nervous system.
[17:13] A step-by-step breathwork practice you can do anytime, anywhere.
[21:17] What is Kundalini yoga? Understanding energy and intention in your practice.
[23:26] Everyone’s favorite pose: why Shavasana is the ultimate let-go moment.
[25:27] What to search for when looking for a holistic and integrative yoga class.

 

Links & Resources:

Thanks for listening! If this episode brought you value, don’t forget to rate, follow, share, and leave a review. Your support helps keep these powerful conversations going. See you next time—on and off the mat!

To learn more about Dr. Megan Jimenez, check out her website: doctorjiujitsu.com

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Hey guys, I'm Dr Megan Jimenez. I am an orthopedic surgeon in jujitsu brown belt. I'm here with my good friend Christopher Wilkes. He is the owner of this establishment that we're in right now called The Art of yoga in Columbus, Georgia. So excited to have him here, because he has been a blessing to me and my yoga instructor. For the past about two and a half three years, he's been practicing yoga since 2006 when did you open your practice here?

Christopher:

The end of December 2018

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah. So it's been just about six years. Wow. It's been a while you've been here. Yeah. And he just got back from India. He's been traveling and practicing yoga with various experts in the field and just gaining a lot of knowledge to bring back to us. So thanks for being

Christopher:

here, Christopher, thank you for having me. Jujitsu. Oh yes,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

that is right. He his Instagram is Doc. Is the yoga doctor. So we say Dr yoga and Dr jujitsu, and we're here as a good team. That's right. Thank you. What got you into yoga?

Christopher:

I started out actually practicing Tai Chi and Qigong. So I had like this period of time when I was in college, and I was going through this self help inner journey phase, and I was really into Bruce Lee, so I was practicing a lot of martial arts, and I was practicing Qigong, and then I got into meditation. I read a book by Russell Simmons called Do you, and he talked a lot about how yoga and meditation helped take his life to the next level, and that inspired me to start practicing. So I was going through a rough breakup at the time, and I was looking for something inside of myself to help me feel better, and yoga was so much more than what I'd expected.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

We've talked about that. Because what brought me to you was a breakup that I had as well back in 2021 and that's kind of what led me on the journey to start writing a book and start doing this and helping people, especially athletes and jiu jitsu athletes in particular, because that's my passion, but that breakup led me to exactly what you said, look for something inside of me to help, instead of an external source that was going to make me happy, because that's not possible. That's

Christopher:

what yoga is. It's an inner journey of exploration. The physical is the mental, it's the emotional and it's the spiritual. I was coming to yoga at first, also just for the back pain, but I found out how the back pain was connected to my emotional wound. You know, I lost the woman who had my back most. I felt like my backbone was gone. My back started giving out. So then I found, you know, that pace, that place of peace and strength and balance inside of myself and strengthen my back and strengthen my resolve.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

And what brought you to open this studio, it

Christopher:

was always a passion of mine, because I felt so good after my first practice, I was like, Man, I have to start sharing this with people like, some like, people need to know how good this feels. So my sister was my first student, and I never thought that I could actually charge people, but she was like, You're good at this. You should maybe think about, you know, teaching a class somewhere in the community. I was like, okay, but who would pay for that? I didn't pay for it first start, and I was just looking at YouTube videos, videos on TV. But then, you know, more people just started to say, You should do it, go for it. And eventually I started to put myself out there as the yoga doctor, because I knew how it helped me to heal from the inside out. So I would share a little health and wellness tips, essential oils and daily health practices that would help people to balance themselves.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

So I'm writing a book, and I have yoga in, I think, two chapters of the book, because it's been such an influential part of my journey to becoming or getting my full potential and being my best self. So in my cross training chapter, I talk about yoga for athletes in particular. Like you said, I came in originally because I was stiff as a board. I was constantly upside down in jujitsu, could barely turn my head. And I said, I need something that's not massage, physical therapy. I need an addition and something that's going to spend more time, right? And I'm moving my own body. So I came in from my body, but what I've left with is so much more, and it's more of the mind just doing the practice. You always say it you're like, mental chatter. Your mental chatter is going nuts, like, take it in, accept it. And I used to get really frustrated because my mind couldn't stop

Christopher:

Same here. I remember there was some days I would be, you know, holding a pose, because there's a lot of poses you hold, and you're just in this static position, and you start getting pissed off, and you're like, my arms are burning. I'm just supposed to be breathing here, and I'm looking at the teacher, and they're smiling and chit chatting and stuff. And it's like, you know, you just have so much going on in your head, and you realize that you're having this conversation with yourself, and you really start to see what comes up for yourself. So the amount of, I guess you could say, self study that comes up, even in the practice, you get to know yourself better, like how you respond to difficult situation. Situations. You know what's your inner dialog and conversation like, and then when you see what your response is, you see sometimes how you'll even get in your own way, you know, in physical activity, mental activity, or any other type of activity in the world. So it's a perfect reflection for living life, not just on the map, but how you can transfer that those life skills off of the mat when you're in a challenging situation, what's your mental chatter? What's your conversation like with yourself?

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

So you also taught me that yoga is more than just the poses, right? When I came in, I was like, All right, I can hold these poses. I'm strong. It's fine, but you taught me how much more there was. And we do hot yoga here, which is my favorite, because it's my I think you get five and one when I'm here. Well, with you in particular, too, right? Not all. I've been to other yoga studios that it's just like, hold the pose, move on. It's more militant. And I love that, right? That's great for the physical body. But I think I do that a lot in Jiu Jitsu, I do that a lot where it's in the gym and I'm pushing through things and exercises to get my body strong. Here you got heat, you got strength, you got muscle endurance. Right when we're holding poses, we have meditation, we have breath work. So to me, I'm getting so many things in one session. How do you communicate that to other people, to try and expect more, or look for a place that you get more than just a stretch.

Christopher:

True when I first started, it was very much like that too. Is just, you know, I was just doing the movements and, you know, becoming more flexible. But I have a saying that if your mind becomes flexible, your body can become flexible. And when your breath becomes steady, your mind becomes steady, and when your mind becomes steady. This is yoga. Yoga means balance. It means harmony. So when there's a practice that can give you so much, why just short change yourself and only take one thing out of another practice or two things out of practice, when there's really, like, a whole handful of things that you can get from the practice? So always say that you know yoga is movement with a higher purpose. You can literally liberate yourself, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually all through the yoga practice, if you embrace all that it represents, and I try to infuse that into each class by setting the tone for mindfulness, for tuning into your body through the breath, for the philosophy that grounds the foundation of the yoga practice. And I feel like I have a unique way of presenting an integrative practice that makes it accessible for people that wouldn't normally want to get into all that spiritual mumbo jumbo. I know

Unknown:

it's like a bad word, but I think more

Christopher:

people are opening up to it nowadays because, you know, not to bash church or religion or anything. It's just, I just feel like people are becoming more spiritual because they just want more. They want to find that inner journey of happiness without having to go somewhere else, or without having to take some substance, or, you know, go pay half your paycheck or whatever, you know what

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

I mean? Yeah, yeah. I agree. And it is becoming more, I guess, trendy, more of a thing, yeah, because people are realizing with especially, there's a lot of autoimmune diseases on the rise, there's so many issues happening with the body that are more than mental health, right? But then they always come back to your mental health and your mindset. I think this is super important to help people on physical and mental journeys,

Christopher:

and I treat this as a holistic approach to well being, because it's done so much for my mental health and my well being, like just the practice of meditating every day, being able to sit comfortably in stillness without thoughts of the past, with thoughts of the future robbing you of the joy of just being here or just being present. A lot of people are hurting in ways that you can't really see, and that's what it was for me. I found yoga again, also when I was going through a divorce, and it took a lot of forgiveness inside of myself that I had to cultivate or to get over that heartbreak and to release, you know, things that were holding me blocked in my heart center and things that were keeping me up at night in my mind. So it's, it's a complete practice of self transformation, if you allow it to be and if you allow yourself to travel down that rabbit hole.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

You brought up meditation, and you said, you can stay present without worrying about the past and the future. But I know myself. I know a lot of people, we sit to meditate and immediately get pretty frustrated because the thoughts just come right in. So how do you meditate? What do you recommend people do? Even 10 minutes to me sometimes seems like forever.

Christopher:

No, seriously, and that's normal, because it wasn't always easy for me to just be able to sit still comfortably. And there's still days that I have thoughts that come and go. It's not that you're trying to just stop all thoughts, but you're allowing yourself the time and the space to settle in and sit still. I like to think of it as like a snow globe. You shake it up, and when it first starts, all the thoughts are swirling around like the snow globe. But over time, as you let it sit still, you just see everything start to slowly fall to the bottom. And it comes with time. It doesn't happen in your first meditation, your second or your third. But there's also some simple techniques, such as just following the breath. The breath is the only thing that's always happening right now. So you know, thoughts are past or future, but what's happening right now, always constantly, is the heart's beating and the breath is flowing in and out. So if you're able to use the breath as an anchor or an awareness tool just by following the breath in and out, that's one of the easiest things I would recommend for beginners that are trying to cultivate a meditation practice.

Unknown:

Do you use any guidance or music when you meditate.

Christopher:

When I first started meditation, I did guided meditation, Deepak, Chopra, and those were highly instrumental in helping me to shift my mindset from what I was feeling about like when I was going through my divorce to being able to shift my consciousness to say, okay, that's not something that happened to me per se, but rather it happened for me to reframe my perspective or to grow through this experience. So when you can reshape how you experience something that's really the only thing that you can do about something that's happened, you have to reshape or reframe the experience into something that will help to serve you for your personal growth, otherwise, you're going to play victim mentality.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

So transitioning a little bit to athletes. How do you think yoga can help athletes of any sport? I mean, you know, my sport is Jiu Jitsu, and that was the main reason that I that I found you for that avenue, because there is research to show increased flexibility and balance, which obviously great things for Jiu Jitsu, even if you don't know what jiu jitsu is, and you just think of people rolling around or wrestling, those two things are pretty important. So not just that sport, but any sport. How do you How would you promote it? What would you say to athletes, to tell them to come in.

Christopher:

For athletes, I would say it's a perfect prophylactic for injuries. I mean, it will help to prevent injuries in the long run. So whatever sport, whatever you do, it'll strengthen your range of motion around all of your joints. It'll strengthen you mentally, especially like in a hot yoga class, where you're in the heat of the moment, and you're having to dig deeper, and you're having to breathe and you're having to focus, will strengthen your focus, your mental clarity, with the meditation, so that you know maybe you had an argument with your girlfriend or boyfriend or whoever the day before, that won't interfere. You know what's happening right now, the job that you have at hand, the task you need to get done, because it'll put you intensely into that present moment, your breath, your breath control. I can't stress the breath. The breath really is the key to so many things, whether it's unlocking your flexibility or ascending and transcending to deeper states of meditation, your breath, or even just regulating your body temperature. I'm sure you've done some stuff with the cold plunger. The cold baths you did, too is the key I have. The breath is the key to not freezing to death and not passing out when you're in a hot class, learning how to regulate your energy through your breath or not

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

panicking. The breath is the panic that sends you out of the tank, out of the cold tank, or out of the class? Yes, and I've seen it happen in class too. The heat, I think, sends people running because they're not breathing. So

Christopher:

your heart is always beating, and that's an automatic thing, but your breath is one of the few things that can be done automatically and also consciously. So when you consciously learn how to regulate your breath, you're really tapping into a key that can help you with overcoming a lot of things, mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as in your nervous system.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Awesome. You also have a lot of military that are in here. So typically Yoga, you think women in Lululemon pants, right? Like you think of spandex, and lots of women, sometimes they come into your class and I see just we are in Columbus, Georgia, so we're by for it, more by a military base. But these guys are just, they're in here and they're doing yoga that might have been seen as, like, girly or feminine or, no, we don't do that. We're more men kind of thing. How do you get military guys in here, and what do you think it has kind of benefit for them? Probably similar to

Christopher:

athletes. Yeah. I think a lot of the military guys realize how much of a beating that their body takes with all of the rigorous activity and things that they have to do and endure. So that the challenge of the yoga practice is just as much a mental, emotional, you know, as well as physical challenge for them, and it helps them to be more resilient. Helps them to feel better. It helps with their recovery. A lot of the guys come on for their recovery day. It's their active recovery. But you'll see that at the end of the class, always ask people, How do you feel in one word or less? A lot of guys say, you know, calm, relaxed, peaceful, at ease. You know, things you wouldn't expect somebody who's ready for war. Ready for battle to feel, but it's like it takes them out of that fight or flight that they're always in when they're in combat mode, and helps to return them back to that calm, still center, place of peace and strength and resiliency.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Can you talk about breath work, specifically the different types that you do while we're in class? And like you talked about the fight or flight with the soldiers, kind of calming them down. And I think a lot of it has to do with the breath work that you start out with too. That kind of sets the pace for how we can all lower that fight or flight response a bit, certainly.

Christopher:

So the first practice that we do is called Ujjayi breath, and it's an even inflow through the nose and out through the nose. But what you do is you stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system by making a sound like over the back of the throat as you breathe in and as you

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

breathe out. And what's the parasympathetic sympathetic nervous system? So that's

Christopher:

the part of your nervous system that's rest, digest, relax, repair yourself, versus the fight or flight, which is the opposite. You know, fight or flight, ready for battle, go to war. Adrenaline is pumping. So when you set the tone, you immediately start to feel relaxed. If you've ever felt stressed out, what's one of the first things you do without anyone telling you, you go

Unknown:

big side breath, yeah,

Christopher:

and you can literally feel a wave of relief flow through your body as you're sighing out. So I set the tone for calming and balancing and centering through that initial breath practice. Now, if we're going to do something that's more energetic, you know, more fiery, we want to build up more heat. We'll do what's called Breath of Fire. So that's more like and you can feel the energy and the fire starting to build up. Because, like when it's cold outside, what does your body start to do? It starts to shiver, it starts to move. So you need to do something to help build up that extra heat in the body to prepare you for what's coming. So there's no several different types of practice. It's just depend on what your purpose is for the breath practice, do you want to calm down, or you want to wrap the energy up.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Can you talk about the calming one again? How people can do it at home? Like, how will you would teach people maybe they're listening to the podcast, not watching? How would you teach somebody to do that they're in a stressful situation right now and they want to

Christopher:

practice certainly. So if you're ever in a stressful situation, or you have a moment to yourself, we can step away. I always say, if you have a moment to step away, you can always say, Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom. And go step away to the restroom for five minutes so you're sitting on the toilet seat, wherever you're sitting standing, I recommend sitting with your back straight. We come to a comfortable seated position. Allow your eyes to gently close and just simply, first bring your awareness to your breath and just notice how your breath is at this present moment, in and out through the nose. Once you notice how your breath is at this present moment, begin to consciously lengthen your inhale and lengthen your exhale, making the inhalation just as long as the exhalation. So breathing in for a count of 4321, breathing out, 234, breathing in 234, 234, breathing out. 234, continue breathing in. Want to feel the breath resonate over the back of the throat as you breathe in, as you exhale, like you're fogging up a glass with your mouth closed, so a light, but with your mouth closed, making that same sound. Now, as you breathe in, partially constricting the back of the throat, imagine you're drawing the breath up the back of the throat through a straw. That's a weird analogy, but you'll hear the sound that it's making. Also like to use the analogy of the ocean. Visualize that it's like the tide rolling in and rolling out. Or for all my Star Wars fans, I like to say, imagine your Darth Vader breathing. Take three more rounds of breath here, just like that. You

Unknown:

last time I'm.

Christopher:

Now sitting still, letting go of any regulation of the breath, and simply notice and observe the subtle shift and difference in your breath, your mind, your body, your awareness, noticing how the breath is more at ease, more relaxed. Noticing how the body is more at ease, more relaxed. Then whenever you're ready, allow the eyes to gently open. Now it's just a couple moments of breath, conscious breath. How do you feel after that? Dr, Jujitsu, pretty calm. So just imagine a whole class of you know, consciously regulating your breath. You literally get high on the breath. Awesome. All right, so

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

breath is one of the big components that we that you really stress, which I love, because you're always telling us when to breathe. Otherwise, our body goes into automatic pilot in addition to the breath work. We talk about your style of yoga, one of the styles being Kundalini. I say that, right? Kundalini? Kundalini? Can you explain what that is? Because I hear that word a lot, but I don't really know what it

Christopher:

is. So Kundalini, the word Kundu means like a spiral or coiled up energy. So your Kundalini energy is said to sit at the base of your spine in your sacrum. So it's called the sacrum because it has roots in the word sacred, and that's a sacred energy. So that sacred energy is laying dormant at the base of your spine, dormant in the sense, like a seed is dormant until you plant it, and you give it the right conditions for that growth, for that energy to spiral upwards. So if you've ever planted anything in the garden, you'll see that when you plant it, it's there. You don't see anything happening, but you water it at the sunshine, the light energy, and eventually a little leaf starts to spiral up. So it's the same thing with your energy. You have this seed of potential that's within you, and once you start to awaken or activate that energy with the light of your consciousness, with your breath, work with your intention, that energy will begin to spiral up. And it's a healing energy that you can use to create. It's like sexual energy. You can use it to create a child, or you can use it to create the life of your dreams. So you can literally transmute and draw this energy up your spine from Earth, as it's called, in the lower energy centers, to heaven in the higher energy centers. So you're learning this journey of drawing your energy up so that you can use it for healing, for manifesting, for creating, whatever it is that you want to create in

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

this world. What are the actual poses? Called

Christopher:

poses in the yoga practice are called asanas. So when you're practicing the physical movements, those are different asanas. So like this right here. This is a seat, and we call this an Asana. Your Asana is where you sit. So in the sense you want to be able to sit or hold any Asana, any pose, with a comfortable, steady breath. If you not able to hold the pose in a comfortable and steady way with your breath, then maybe you need to ease or modify or adjust the pose, because all asanas are meant to be held in a meditative way.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Awesome. What is your favorite part about yoga?

Christopher:

Shavasana, that's what everybody loves. So, yeah, because after you just give your all, you've literally physically taxed yourself. You pushed and stretched in every way. There's nothing more relaxed than just taking an adult nap time, as a lot of people like to call it, you just give it all and you let it all go. It's literally practicing letting go. And a lot of people find it easier to rest in shavasana after they've had a physically demanding practice, because that's the purpose of it. You're supposed to push and stretch and strengthen and sweat until you literally have nothing left and you're able to just quote, unquote, die shavasana is like a corpse pose. So it's like practicing death or practicing releasing, letting go. So literally, letting go of your thoughts, letting go of your worries, your fears, letting go of the physical body, letting go of the breath, just letting all that shit go whatever it is, and just being still, completely being relaxed and at one

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

so how much do you think your sleep changed from before yoga practice to after yoga practice with your especially with the mind,

Christopher:

yes, I tell everyone, if you haven't done a yoga practice, you will get the best sleep ever, guaranteed. After you do a yoga practice, like, if you had difficulty sleeping, it's just something about it, all the breath, all the stretching, you just feel so relaxed and at ease. And you'll you'll be like, Wow, I had the best sleep ever. That night, and you'll wonder what it was. That's how it was for me. I was like, I didn't smoke or drink anything, but I feel so high, and I slept so good and so deep. So I highly recommend, if you've never tried a yoga practice, try yoga practice. If you want some of the best sleep

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

ever. How can people find practices like what you do? What should we search for? You know I'm moving soon. So what should I look for to have a practice, a full yoga practice, and not just do the asanas I

Christopher:

teach, what's called an integrative yoga practice, so it integrates what are called the eight limbs of yoga. The eight limbs of yoga are yamas and niyamas, which is the philosophical aspect pranayama, which is the breath practice, or the energy control practice that you get from the breath. And then there's Asana, which is the actual physical movements. There's also meditation, concentration and focus that's cultivated within that practice, which leads you ultimately to just being able to experience that oneness. So it's a journey. Some people say that that's the Ashtanga path or Raja Yoga path, which means eight limb path. So anybody that practices an ashtanga yoga practice or or a raja yoga practice, ideally would be leading you on that journey towards, you know, getting a full integrative practice. But if you ever see a practice called integrative yoga practice, you can know that you're going to get more than just Asana. Kundalini practice is great because you'll get the breath work, you'll get the challenge and movements, and you'll get some stretch and you'll definitely push your potential in new ways. So Kundalini practice, or integrative yoga practice, I feel like those are some of your best bets for for really challenging and pushing yourself to get a complete, well rounded experience in a yoga class.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Are many people using hot yoga when they do the integrative yoga,

Christopher:

not necessarily I just happen to do that because that's that's what the people love and want here, and I'm here to serve the people that show up. So I will give you the full, complete package in any class, whether it's a hot class or a chill, relaxed class. I always try to deliver that complete package of everything that yoga represents, the healing, the stretching, the balancing, the strengthening, the meditativeness.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

That's awesome. Well, I'm gonna miss you. I'm gonna miss you too. Dr jujitsu, please don't be a stranger. No, I will be back to visit. Where can people find you?

Christopher:

You can find me on Instagram at the yoga doctor, or you can follow our yoga studio page at art of yoga Columbus, GA, on both Facebook and Instagram.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, Columbus, Georgia, so we're about two hours south of Atlanta, and the big military base here. So anybody coming through with the Army definitely come check out Christopher and get a good stretch and a good mental workout.

Christopher:

Thank you so much. All right. Thanks again. Namaste. Stay. That just means the light spirit, the energy in me, honors that same light spirit and energy in you.

Buzz Burbank:

In ironic media production, visit us at i r, O N, I C, K, media.com in.