My activity is focused on three areas: Yoga, Poetry, and Painting
Here's my Yoga bio:
Charles Ekabhumi Ellik is a student of Dharmanidhi Saraswati of the Trika Institute, and a graduate of Yoga Mandala’s Teacher Training Program. After a 9-month internship with David Moreno (Abhimanyu Saraswati), and studies of many other styles of Yoga, he went on to teach Hatha Yoga full-time.
At the behest of his guru, Ekabhumi began teaching childrens' Yoga in 2005. Today he teaches classical yogic practices in an innovative program (also with his guru's blessing) named Hanuman Youth Yoga, which incorporates aspects of all branches of Yogic practice, as well as martial arts and dance.
An award-winning poet, teacher/coach, and community organizer, he brings to his practice and classes a rich background in creative and physical arts: poetry performance, public speaking, publishing, painting, music, martial arts, and modern dance. He also has extensive experience in outdoor sports such as backpacking, surfing, sailing, snowboarding, skateboarding, and cycling. In Yoga, he found a practice that combines elements of all these activities.
Here's my Painting bio:
Charles Ekabhumi Ellik began his art career with a crayola mural on the closet doors of his parents' bedroom. He graduated from California State University Long Beach in 1995 with a BA degree in Studio Art. He made a living for several years with a combination of freelance illustration, portraiture, mural work, and shows in galleries and coffeehouses. He even won an award for a chalk sidewalk mural! After a long break to focus on an award-winning career in performance poetry, he returned to creating art with his Guru's encouragement in 2010 to illustrate a Kid's book of Yoga. Today, his focus is on sacred art and translating his mystic vision into visual form.
Here's my Poetry bio:
Ekabhumi embodies a rare combination of successful published poet, award-winning performer, respected organizer, and popular emcee. He is founder and co-slammaster of the Berkeley Poetry Slam, which has earned "Best of The East Bay" and many critics' choice awards since its inception in 1999. The Berkeley teams he coached have won numerous local, regional, and national titles. In 2009, he was Home City Committee Chairman of the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS 09) in Berkeley. More than just an organizer, he was the 2007 National Head-To-Head Haiku Champion. By day, he is a devoted husband and Youth Yoga instructor.
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in '97, he took over the SF slam and touched off an explosion in the Northern California performance poetry scene, resulting in a First Place tie at the National Slam in '99 between SF and San Jose, with Oakland in third. There are now more than a dozen regular slams in Northern CA. He has featured across N. America and Britain at Universities, Clubs, Pubs, Schools, and livingrooms. He and his work has been featured in many interviews, anthologies and journals including Freedom To Speak (A National Slam Anthology), Berkeley Fiction Review, Pearl, Poetry Super Highway, Clean Sheets, and The Complete Idiot's Guide To Slam Poetry.
Honors & Awards:
--“Head-To-Head Haiku†National Champion 2007.
--Winner, West Coast Regional Slam/Big Sur: 99, 00, 02, 03, 07 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, Salmon Slam/Pacific NW Regionals: 98, 99, 00, 07 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, Battle Of The Bay: 00, 03, 07 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, NorCal “Win & In†Regionals: 06, 07 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, “Best Of The East Bay†(Best Open Mic) 2007 Diablo Magazine.
--"Tribe 25": one of the 25 most interesting people on Tribe.net 2005
--Winner, "Best of the East Bay" (Best Place To Hear Erotic Haiku) 2003- East Bay Express.
--Winner, National Collegiate Poetry Slam 2001 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, National Poetry Slam 99 (as Team Coach).
--Winner, "Best Open Mic" 1996- LA Weekly.
Performance Venues include: Masonic Auditorium (SF), Starry Plough (Berkeley), Nuyorican Poets Café (NYC), Bowery Poetry Club (NYC), Green Mill (Chicago), Michigan Theater (Ann Arbor), Paddington Arts (London), Cafe Du Sole (Vancouver, BC), Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center (Venice Beach), Yerba Buena Center For the Arts (SF), Ego’s (Austin, TX), and numerous universities, schools, bars, coffeehouses, and living rooms across the U.S.
Radio Appearances on KALX, KPFA (Pacifica), KUCI, BBC, Cool As Hell Theater (podcast). TV Appearances on several Public Access channels in CA.
Ekabhumi has shared the stage with nearly every notable Slam champion and quite a few underground legends, including: Patricia Smith, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Mike McGee, Buddy Wakefield, Beth Lisick, Sonya Renee, Anis Mojgani, Michelle Tea, Daphne Gottleib, Bucky Sinister, Staceyann Chin, The Suicide Kings, and Marc Smith, to name only a few. He has also shared the stage with numerous renowned “page†poets, including: Maya Angelou, Quincy Troupe, Gerald Locklin, Charles Webb, Michelle Tea, and Derrick Brown.
