Yoga Style : Anusara - Ashtanga - Iyengar - Meditation - Prenatal - Vinyasa/Hatha - Yoga for Kids

Here are some of the teachers who help make YiY a special place to do yoga:

Amy Raichert is a certified yoga instructor and is registered as Anusara –Inspired through John Friend. She is a recent transplant from Arizona. She has been practicing yoga for 14 years with various styles including Iyengar, vinyasa, restorative and even Bikram. She came into Anusara around 4 years ago and has not turned back since. The tantric philosophy and great therapeutics have changed her practice and her world!

One of her favorite aspects of yoga is the amazing transformations and healings that take place, physically and emotionally. Amy is currently moving in the direction to become Anusara Certified and studies with local and traveling teachers alike. She offers the greatest heart felt offering of gratitude for all of her teachers that have graced her life thus far, as well as the deepest respect for the integrity of the teachings as they have been passed down to her by them all. A special acknowledgement to Amy’s teacher in Arizona, Anusara Certified teacher Meg Byerlein, whom taught her that the truest depth of our being lies within the deepest aspect of the heart.

Ken Graham's love of yoga began at age 19 when he discovered an unused yoga book of his father's and he took this book to college with him where he began to practice on his own. Several years later, he had his first taste of Anusara Yoga through his sister Christina Graham. Anusara's heartfelt approach and depth inspired Kenny to dive deep into the potentials of his practice.

One day as he was walking along the ocean beach, he was looking for a treasure because a storm had just passed through and the ocean offers her gifts to the shore after such storms. On this day, he found a Hanuman prayer flag and even though he didn't realize who Hanuman was, he knew in this moment that he would teach yoga.

Since this auspicious ocean day, Kenny has completed three Anusara teacher trainings, the first under the direction of Noah maze, Sue Elkind and Naime Jezzeny at City Yoga of Los Angeles and the last two under the guidance of Anusara's founder John Friend. Currently, Kenny is assisting Senior Certified teacher Sianna Sherman on a national and international level and recently traveled to Europe with John Friend on his 2005 European workshop tour.

Anne Finstad: When Anne began her practice of Ashtanga yoga in 1996, she was unable to touch her toes. Now some 13 years later, she has made five trips over 9 years to study in India with Shri K Pattabhi Jois, his daughter Saraswati, and grandson R Sharath. She has been given their blessing to teach this method as it was taught to her in India, and she has been teaching since 2001.

She is known for her gentle and loving approach to the fierce practice of Ashtanga Yoga. She believes that ANYONE can practice Ashtanga yoga, given love, commitment, and a sense of humor. She sees and has experienced this practice as a way to grow, transform, transcend, and become yourself.

Beata: My first yoga class was with the only teacher in Poland, at that time, trained by B.K.S. Iyengar. And as most of people I had no idea what yoga was about. I definitely didn't expect that it would become my life.
Since I moved to California I have experimented with different styles of hatha yoga and studied with many wonderful teachers like Anirudh Shastri, Ben Thomas, Erich Schiffmann, Max Strom and many more amazing yogis, to whom I am very grateful for showing me yet another facet of yoga.

Thanks to my dear friends Anne Finstad and Philippe Alexis I was introduced to traditional ashtanga practice as taught by Sri Pattabhi Jois. And after inspiring practice with Tim Miller in Encinitas, ashtanga become my practice. For the last couple of years I have been studying repeatedly with such amazing Ashtanga teachers and practitioners like Tim Miller and Dominic Corigliano, as well as Rolf Naujokat, Kirsten Berg, Guy Donahaye and more when attending workshops or just visiting the town.

In 2005 I had finally chance to practice directly with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath during their World Tour. Recently I returned from 2 month study with them in Mysore, India, where I'm planning to get back as fast as my life allows me.

Mojdeh has been a student of Healing Arts for the past 20 years. She has been trained in several healing modalities with emphasis on meditation and visualization. She started the practice of Ashtanga Yoga in 2000. She has completed David Swenson's Teacher Training program and studied and attended workshops with many advanced Ashtanga Yoga teachers including Lino Miele, John Berlinsky and Tim Miller. She is a dedicated student of this practice and believes in the magic of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

Philippe Alexis started practicing Ashtanga in 1995 with John Scott in London. Since then, he has studied yoga with many teachers including Dena Kingsberg and Lino Miele. He started teaching at YiY in 2000. He also works as a web designer (he coded and maintains YiY's website).

photo coming soon

Betty Strain began her study of yoga with Charles Horn in 1964. She has continued to further he education with Ann Erikson, Felicity Hall and Larry Hatlett over the last 40 years. She advanced her understanding of yoga during a 1983 course in India with BKS Iyengar, as well as a 1991 workshop in Greece with Angela Farmers and Victor Van Kooten. She also did 5 years of formal teacher training at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in San Francisco.

The yoga Betty teaches works to bring one's physical, psychological and spiritual countenance into harmony. Her classes develop suppleness, strength and coordination with additional instruction of how to achieve these attributes in every aspect of life. You can find out more about Betty in this article of the Palo Alto Weekly.

Tom Abrehamson has a BA from Princeton and a JD law degree and has studied Iyengar Yoga since the 1980's. He has had hundreds of hours of teacher training with, among others, Manouso Manos, Aadil Palkhivala and Elise Miller. His Iyengar-based classes combine precise instruction with individualized attention and gentle humor. His students work hard, make progress and have fun. You can find out more about him at his website, www.alpineyoga.com.

See Mojdeh or Connie.

Jeanna Lurie discovered her calling to work with women in the childbearing year when she was pregnant with her daughter Jeannessa, born February 2, 2001. A self-proclaimed “book worm,” she devoured everything she could on the subject of pregnancy, birth, and mothering to ensure her own empowering birth experience. Prenatal yoga had a profound effect on her journey into motherhood and although she had practiced yoga before, it was during her pregnancy that she got hooked and began a regular practice.

Jeanna is certified as a Whole Birth Yoga Instructor and has been teaching pre and postnatal yoga for three years. She is also a graduate of the Avalon Yoga Teacher Training. In addition, Jeanna is a doula (professional childbirth assistant), childbirth educator, La Leche League Leader, and received training as a midwifery assistant from the famous Farm in Tennessee . She donates her time serving as President of Bay Area Birth Information (BABI), a grassroots non-profit organization to support and educate birthing families and childbirth professionals in the area.

Aska Yoshizu is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance and also a certified massage therapist. Through her own transformation, she has come to realize that yoga, meditation, and massage are powerful tools to allow us to re-connect with our own self-healing ability.
Among various styles of yoga she practices, Aska especially loves Anusara because its life affirming philosophy and its therapeutic approach deeply resonate with her belief in the healing ability within ourselves. Currently she is pursuing a path to become an Anusara-inspired teacher and studying with her beloved mentor, Kenny Graham.
You can learn more about Aska on her website: www.lotusseedstherapy.com

Connie Habash, MA, has been teaching Hatha Yoga in the Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Restorative styles since 1993, and is also influenced by Shadow Yoga. She has a passion for integrating the philosophical and psychological aspects of the yogic tradition into the practice of the poses. Throughout the classes,
she assists you in cultivating more awareness, self-acceptance, confidence, and inner peace.  Besides weekly yoga classes, she teaches Yoga Philosophy, Beginning Sanskrit, Ayurvedic Yoga, Meditation, and Chakra Yoga, and serves on the faculty of three yoga teacher training programs in the San Francisco
Bay area.  Additionally, she is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and is pursuing ordination in Interfaith Ministry.  You can find out more about her on her website - http://www.AwakeningSelf.com 

Julianne Rice has been teaching Yoga classes in the Bay area since 1984. Her teaching style includes elements from Iyengar, Vinyasa Flow, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, and Dance. She has been on the faculty of Yoga Educational Seminars, a yoga teacher training program founded and directed by Joyce Anue. Her classes challenge and nourish the body and the mind and inspire the opening of the heart. Her communication skills, commitment to her own spiritual and physical development and her own creativity have contributed to her long-standing reputation.

She has been teaching primarily at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (www.csecenter.org) in San Jose for the past twenty years. As the manager and primary teacher there she has developed classes that focus on Yoga as Spiritual Practice. She aspires to bring alive the wisdom of the eight limbs of yoga throughout asana classes. She continues to study extensively and develop new classes. These classes include pre-natal, mom and baby, special needs (including students with multiple sclerosis, polio, Down's syndrome, seniors, children of all ages and teens). She has also presented within groups at the Services for the Brain Injured in San Jose.

You can find out more about Julianne at her website, www.juliannerice.com.

Kathy Rule is a Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT), Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified Nutrition Consultant and Intuitive Energy Healing Practitioner. She completed her 200 hr training with YES Yoga Educational Seminars, directed by Joyce Anue and held at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (CSE) in San Jose. Her teaching combines guided visualization with Iyengar, Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga. Kathy is currently completing the YES 500 hr Therapeutic Application of Yoga at CSE.

For the past 10 years, Kathy has studied energy healing therapies, such as Reiki, The Reconnection, Matrix Energetics, Universal Energy and Pranic Healing. She has developed an integrative approach to wellness through the combination of yoga, hypnotherapy, nutrition and energy healing.To learn more about Kathy, visit her website: www.seekinnerbalance.com

Pat  Mukti Statsky: Pat has been on the yoga path since 1968 when she met Sri Swami Satchidananda, who awakened in her a deep love of the teachings of yoga. She is certified in the Synergy tradition - a blend of Sivananda, Integral Hatha, and Bikram styles of yoga. She also has certifications in Restorative Yoga, Pre-Natal Yoga, and teacher trainings in Swaroopa Yoga, and Iyengar Yoga. Pat is also a certified Doula (Birth Partner) and has extensive training in the Energetic Healing arts, is a Reiki Master and an Embodyment Yoga Therapist.  She serves on the faculty of Avalon Yoga's teacher training.  She endeavors to live yoga as well as teach it with compassion. 

Pat's  Flow yoga classes are challenging and invigorating while offering encouragement in a safe environment.  Her classes always include mantra, meditation, music and ahimsa . Pat's hope is to guide others to find the deeper dimension of yoga for themselves, looking at the asanas as angles that provide opening rather than imposing the pose upon the body - allowing it to unfold from within. This perspective grew out of her 1990 Siddha Yoga Kundalini initiation which has awakened her to a powerful and deep experiential understanding of the essence of yoga, and the belief that this is a path toward spiritual enlightment. 

Tammy Holicky: Seeking a more curative resolution to chronic back pain, Tammy found her way to yoga 10 years ago. She has practiced the Iyengar style with a variety of teachers including Elise Miller, Ben Thomas and Tom Abrehamson; she also has extensive experience with Ashtanga yoga under the tutelage of Mojdeh. Ultimately, Tammy was led to Vinyasa Flow, with the mentorship of John Berg. Using a varied selection of Vinyasa sequences, Tammy’s classes will explore the potent relationship between breath awareness and asana. Her classes are fun and challenging. Tammy is a graduate of the Avalon Teacher Training Program in Palo Alto.

Shyamoli Banerjee has been doing yoga as long as she can remember. She grew up in India "playing" asanas with her friends and listening to her grandmother tell her stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata. More recently, wanting to know more about yoga philosophy and practice, she signed up for Sianna Sherman's Immersion class, and ever since she has been a passionate practitioner of the heart-themed philosophy and practice of Anusara yoga. She thinks it is ironic that after growing up focusing westward and moving to California to be a part of leading-edge technology, she is now studying the wisdom and practices of her forefathers from the other end of the world.

She is Anusara Inspired certified teacher and has trained extensively with John Friend, Sianna Sherman and Kenny Graham. She also has studied Indian philosophy with Carlos Pomeda. She always finds ways to make it fun and engaging for kids to learn and practice yoga by weaving stories from mythology and scriptures into her class as well as asanas that help them learn to focus, to calm and pay attention. Shyamoli feels that kids are natural yogis, with their laughter, openness and enthusiasm for anything new. Parents always welcome to join.

Shyamoli has a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and worked in computer companies before becoming a full time yoga instructor.

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