About me.
hi, hello.
I’m Kati Knox, a multidisciplinary artist, poet and librarian living in northern Sweden. I am currently studying artistic translation at HDK-Valand through the University of Gothenburg. My creative practice also includes composing and performing music, working with traditional methods of graphic printing and screenprinting, and creating visual art and zines.
I was born in Berkeley, California and raised in the Bay Area, a place very dear to my heart that I return to as often as I can.
While the classes offered out of my tiny barn studio are currently on hold due to my studies, I occasionally say yes to group or private sessions. Please feel free to reach out via email if you are interested in practicing together.
Creative & musical projects
Over the years, I have produced, written, and performed in the bands Coup d’twat (Los Angeles), Black Bow (San Francisco), Towne Severin (solo, Oakland), Deep Egypt (Maine/Oakland), CALLS (Oakland), Hedersleben (SF/Oakland), Sister Mystery (Los Angeles), and currently Mysterium (Sweden). I also compose music for the screen, having scored and co-scored filmmaker Ashley George’s short films Luna, Sometimes Forever, and SLUSH.
You can explore more of my artistic work here:
Listen to my musical project, Mysterium on bandcamp or stream tracks on SoundCloud.
Watch the I am the Chaos music video, directed, animated, and produced by me.
Yoga Practice & Teaching
I am an internationally certified yoga teacher. My first and forever teacher, Alice Joanou, introduced me to the Krishnamacharya lineage of Yoga and trained me in Vinyasa Krama during a five-year apprenticeship (2007-2012) in Oakland, California. Vinyasa Krama is a form of Hatha yoga where breath and movement are aligned through intelligently placed sequences. Alice remains one of my closest mentors, teachers, and friends, and I am forever grateful to her guidance, mentorship, friendship and knowledge.
In 2012 my yogic journey took me to India, where I trained further as an instructor and yogic scholar, assisting master teachers in Kerala at Krishna Chaitanya’s AyurYoga Eco-Ashram (now based outside of Mysore). I return to India every few years (life allowing) to teach and deepen my own practice; in 2016, I returned to the ashram to complete my 500-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training.
In 2013, I completed a special training with James Fox of the Prison Yoga Project in San Francisco, certifying me to teach yoga and mindfulness practices in prisons and rehabilitation facilities.
My Teaching Philosophy
My classes are guided by aligning breath and movement, creating a moving meditation that allows practitioners the space to tap into their own innate ability to heal while building tools for accountability and awareness. I believe in finding ways to honor tradition while forging our own paths, adapting and evolving to the needs of everyday, current life. Often, this means turning tradition on its head to invent new practices that include all bodies and abilities, creating an inclusive space where truly all are welcome. I see the practice as creative and alive, something that transcends life on and off the mat. I believe the breath is the guide and am grateful to all of my teachers, my son Sid being my greatest teacher so far.
Areas of Specialization
My primary focus centers on yoga for creativity - using meditation and intentional movement as a pathway to unblock creative stagnancy and open up the creative channels. I have studied deeply in Vinyasa krama, pranayama, pre-natal yoga, trauma-informed yoga, yoga nidra, and yin yoga. Grounded in the power of sound, I encourage my students to find their voice through mantra and chanting.
Research & Academic Background
As a bilingual poet and researcher working across English and Swedish, my artistic and academic work operates at the intersection of contemporary poetry, archival science, and the American avant-garde. My poetic research explores language as a dynamic vehicle and tool rather than just a vessel for literal meaning, focusing on the poet as rebel who deconstructs tradition to invent entirely new frameworks and linguistic forms. Rather than being confined by societal or literary boundaries, this practice turns existing outside the norm into a liberating act, wherein language is used to claim agency and carve out space for non-normative identities.
This interest in how language shapes, limits, and liberates our cultural heritage extends naturally to my work in Library and Information Science, where I study and analyze archives and the power structures embedded within cataloging and subject headings. Through my research into Metadata as Resistance, I examine these power structures and classification systems from a feminist and decolonial perspective, an approach that I also attempt to apply to the ethics and aesthetics of literary translation.
Education
Master of Fine Arts in Literary Translation (In Progress)
HDK-Valand - Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Expected graduation: June 2028
Master of Philosophy in Library and Information Science
Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås, Sweden. June 2025
Master’s thesis: read our co-authored thesis, Metadata as Resistance; a case study on Language, Power, and the Cataloging of Palestinian Cultural Heritage on the DiVA Portal.
Feminist Theory and Intersectional Analysis
Umeå Center for Gender Studies, Umeå University, Umeå. Sweden. January, 2023.
Intensive Swedish 1, 2, and 3
Department of Language Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. June 2022.
Master of Fine Arts in English Literature, focus on Poetry
Mills College, Oakland, California. June 2009.
Master’s thesis: Old River Road (Original Poetry Collection)
Bachelor of Fine Arts in English Literature, focus on Poetry, Minor in Photography
Chapman University, Orange, Ca. June 2023.
Yoga as a Tool for Living
I experience yoga as a practical tool for living, a space to hold up a mirror to oneself and observe the patterns we humans carry and repeat. I hold an aversion to the modern wellness industry and self-proclaimed gurus; my teaching is rooted in my own lived experience and dedicated lineage of study. I do not believe that you are fundamentally broken, nor do I believe you need “fixing.” You are already whole. You are your own guru. However fucked up or together we may feel.
For me, yoga is a spiritual practice rather than a commerical exercise or lifestyle trend. It is a common misconception that you must be flexible, “in shape,” or completely pure in your habits to step onto a mat. You do not need to quit smoking or drinking before you begin. Rather, a consistent, disciplined practice builds the internal clarity that makes navigating your choices and patterns easier over time.
Yoga offers no promises or quick fixes. The only promises that matter in this practice are the ones you make to yourself. It is a tool that respects your personal agency to respond to the world and your own path. Yoga invites us to look clearly at our lives, take accountability, sharpen discernment, cultivate tenderness, and show up for our communities. It is practical and grounded, a way to tap into your natural, innate spirituality.
You are welcome to arrive just as you are, right where you are, and create your own direct experience with life. I look forward to practicing with you.
Thank you & Peace
Kati
My Teachers.
Alice Joanou, my first and forever teacher. Oakland, California. Photo: own.
Leslie Scalapino, Poet and mentor/teacher. Photo: from the Leslie Scalapino website, click photo to link to the site.
Bernadette Mayer, Poet and mentor/teacher. Photo: own.
Stephen Ratcliffe, Poet and mentor/teacher. Pictured here from L to R: poet Allegra Chabay, poet Charity Coleman, Stephen, and I. Photo: own.
Advanced Teacher Training Graduation Day! Mysore, India, 2016. Photo: own.
Vinod Kumar Rajan. Mysore, India, 2016. Photo: own.
My teacher Murtyji, with whom I studied (and daily recited) Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Kerala, India, 2012. Photo: own.
With friend and teacher Krishna Chaitanya, directer and founder of AyurYoga Eco-Ashram, and Huche Gowda, a very special friend and life teacher. Mysore, India, 2016. Photo: own.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama. McLeod Ganj, India, 2014. Photo: own.
With Swami Prabodh Chaitanya and Reiki master and friend, Aji. The Himalayas behind us, this hike and day was pure magic, 2014. Photo: own.
With Swami Turya Chaitanya, studying sanskrit. Mysore, India, 2016. Photo: own.
My son, Sid. Photo: own.