CHRIS KELLY Murray Dow, owner of Brahma Yoga Spa, Sea Bright, believes yoga offers the “tools and ability to relax in this crazy world.”

SEA BRIGHT — After years of practicing and then teaching yoga, Murray Dow turned to it as a business after using yoga’s soothing effect to work his way through a critical juncture in his life.

Dow, a native of New Zealand, had relocated to the United States, and in particular to this borough, to be near his daughter, Chelsea, 11, who lives in Rumson with her mother. He and his wife were getting divorced, his father had died, and he had sold the publishing company he had owned and operated for 20 years before moving to America. Life was upside down.

"I used that as an opportunity to reinvent myself," he said, explaining why he decided to follow his longtime interest in yoga and make it his career choice with a studio and spa in the borough.

The studio opened in a former computer store on Ocean Avenue in late June, and Dow said the turnout has not disappointed.

"It’s been living up to our expectations," he said.

Dow named his yoga studio Brahma for one of the trinity of three gods in Hindu tradition, along with Vishnu and Shiva.

"Brahma is the god of creation who created all things," he explained. "Vishnu is the sustainer and Shiva is the destroyer. It signifies the cycle of life ... human evolution. We’re inspiring the creative aspect in all things on the human spirit."

Dow has transformed the interior of the building the studio and spa occupies into a tranquil haven where classes are held and therapeutic massages — "healing body work" — are given.

He said he started from the ground up, putting in a new substructure, then a new ceiling and new floor tiles, and restoring an exposed brick wall along one side of the interior of the building.

"Being across from the ocean," he added, "is a peaceful environment."

Dow said he chose Sea Bright, where he has been living, because despite the empty stores and its "sort of scruffy" appearance, he could see revitalization on the horizon. He also felt his business could service the beach club community in the summer.

"Yoga simply means union — union of body, mind and spirit," Dow said of the teaching offered in his classes. "Yoga developed about 6,000 years ago. It’s a holistic science."

He said it involves asana, or posture, the physical aspect; pranayama, the yoga breathing technique, and meditation.

"With those three, you’re able to purify and strengthen the body, mind and spirit," he said. "It brings synergy and harmony between them.

"The ultimate goal," he explained, "is to raise our consciousness from a very gross state to a much more refined or subtle experience in evolution — raising our spirit essentially.

"It gives us space in our mind and thinking so that we have a more creative ability to understand the subtleties of existence," he said. "You feel very good about yourself. It gives you increased vitality, increased flexibility. It improves digestion and bodily functions. It improves concentration and the ability to handle stress, and gives you peace of mind and the tools and ability to relax in this crazy world. That’s why so many people are doing it."

Running, used by some to relax, is "jarring" by comparison and can cause physical problems, he continued. "It’s not for everybody."

"Yoga can be very gentle and restorative to very vigorous and athletic and everything in between," he noted.

Dow said he took up yoga as a teenager when he was very active in sports in New Zealand — cross country, rugby, cricket — and has been doing it for about 28 years now. He’s 46 today.

"In my teens, I discovered yoga really helped me with my flexibility," he said.

About six or seven years ago, Dow said, he discovered Swami Shantimurti while still living in New Zealand, and the swami introduced him to a very powerful integral yoga practice based around Swami Satyananda, of Bihar, India. He said he trained with Swami Shantimurti in New Zealand to become a certified yoga teacher and is registered in the United States now with The Yoga Alliance.

Brahma currently offers classes seven days a week, as early as 7:30 a.m. and as late as beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition to regular classes, there are specialty classes such as classes for pregnant women, classes for teens, and classes for parent and child. They run for 75 or 90 minutes, begin at $19 and are less expensive in packages.

"You can come every day and as many times a day as you want," Dow said.

Dow came to the United States in early 2000. He said he met his ex-wife in 1988 while on a business trip to New York. He explained that friends he had met while sailing in New Zealand were from Rumson and introduced him to her — she was an American from Rumson — while he was here. They were married later that same year.

"She wanted to move back to the states in 1996," he said. "I spent the next four years coming back and forth to visit Chelsea. After four years, I decided that wasn’t good enough."

Swami Shantimurti helped him heal, with yoga, from the breakup of his marriage and the loss of his father, Dow said, and that turned into his new career.

"That was quite a transformation," he said. "That brought it all together for me. The transformation I experienced is the type of transformation you experience with yoga. You go inward and you open up from the inside out.

"It teaches you to find the answers inside," he said. "It’s really powerful and it works.

"People wouldn’t be doing it for 6,000 years if it didn’t work."