NH catches up with global teacher, author, speaker and founder of interdisciplinary yoga class Inner Axis, Max Strom
What got you into yoga, mindfulness and general wellbeing?
The turning point was when I started to practice hatha yoga because it helped me to feel better and sleep better. What I didn’t expect was for it to change how I responded to the world in general.
It’s hard to explain, but my decision processes changed because my priorities shifted. Besides feeling better and sleeping better, I started to feel happy for the first time in my life. In other words, I didn’t need things to stimulate me to make me feel alive. I just started to feel very much alive most of the time.
Eventually my friends urged me to start teaching and I quickly discovered that there is no greater experience in terms of social interaction than sharing important knowledge and practices that could affect others in the same way it affected me.
Could you briefly summarise your Inner Axis system?
Inner Axis is my sustainable life practice that focuses directly on reducing stress, anxiety and sleeplessness. It produces a level of fitness that makes you feel better, sleep better, and therefore function at a higher level in your relationships and your work.
Inner Axis classes incorporate breath-based yoga movement and mindfulness, and there are several levels to accommodate each person’s capacity. It is suitable for all ages, abilities, and walks of life.
Try it and you will feel better after only 10 minutes, and by the end of the class you will be more relaxed and clear-minded than you have been for a long time.
How do you feel about Inner Axis being used by corporations as a sustainable mindfulness programme?
I’m pretty excited about it. I’m dedicated to building a world where people not only pursue a sustainable planet, but also a sustainable home and a sustainable body. In my view, corporations are now more powerful than governments.
Some corporations are led by immoral people, but some are led by extraordinary people, both in their vision and their ethics. And some are led by people who want to do the right thing but aren’t sure how.
If Inner Axis can influence the corporate world towards better emotional, physical and social health, then I am helping to build this new world in a small way.
As well as being an international teacher, you’re also an author and speaker. Do you have anything new in the pipeline?
Yes, I’m working on a book about our unspoken words, in which I discuss the interrelationship between stress, grief and non-sexual intimacy. It’s something that I regularly lecture on now and it seems to strike a chord with people everywhere I go.
Article by
Emily McMullin
Article by
Emily McMullin
By Emily McMullin
By Emily McMullin 
