Femi Akinnagbe, MD, MSc, RYT, is a medical doctor based in Los Angeles, California. He earned his doctorate in medicine from the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and completed residency training at Harbor-UCLA's Family Medicine Residency program in Los Angeles, California. Professionally and personally, his intention is to serve as a bridge between Eastern and Western healing modalities for both mind and body. He completed his MSc. in Physiology, Biophysics and Complementary and Alternative Medicine from Georgetown University, and his BS in Elementary Education from Messiah College.

Dr. Femi is a Shaolin Kung Fu black belt, former Division 1 athlete, and licensed massage therapist. He has been practicing yoga and Buddhist meditation since 2004. An avid practitioner of both traditions, he completed yoga teacher training in 2013 at Your Yoga in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minneapolis, he is also an active member of the Common Ground Meditation Center community.

At Common Ground, he helped start the center's men’s circle and is a member of the Inclusivity Advisory Council and People of Color (POC) sangha steering committee. Dr. Femi has led several yoga and meditation retreats throughout the years and graduated from Common Ground’s 2-year Dharma Leadership Training in 2019. Of particular interest to him is how an embodied yoga & dharma practice can be utilized to meet the challenging needs and deep wounds of our modern society.

What is BodyDharma?

Cultivating Healing Presence:

In the west, body can be defined as:

The organized physical substance of a person, animal, or plant.

The eastern concept of dharma can be defined:

The order that makes life and the universe possible
The basic principles of cosmic or individual existence; divine law; conformity to one's duty and nature (Hinduism)
The teachings of the Buddha (Buddhism)

Bodydharma harmonizes the western view of the body with the eastern idea of dharma. The body is a part of nature. By understanding the way or dharma of the body, we can gain insight into the created world. With this insight we can choose to live a life of less struggle and greater ease.

Bodydharma calls us back to an understanding of the body not as a completely isolated structure, separated from the world around it, but as a vessel intimately wedded to life.