Jean Massimo - Anusara Inspired Yoga
Owner / Manager
I have had many wonderful and inspiring teachers whose voices are echoed in my practice and my teaching. I would like to extend gratitude to Ganga White and Tracy Rich of the White Lotus Foundation with whom I received my first teacher training and certification. I am currently an Anusara Inspired instructor and continue study with wonderful Anusara teachers all over the country. I will always hold great joy that Desiree Rumbaugh exposed me to the world of Anusara, helped me connect with a teacher in Maui (Marc St Pierre) and encouraged me to dive into training with John Friend. The Anusara kula brings me a sense of balance, community and the ever expanding and blossoming capability of the human form. I also greatly appreciate the local Anusara kula at Seattle Yoga Arts and the wisdom and freedom with which their teachers serve the community.
In my classes I will quest to help you reach optimal alignment and explore the full and glorious potential of your practice. Come in and find strength, focus and fluidity.
Nikki Chau
(www.nikkiyoga.com)
A yoga practice is a personal exploration of our own bodies and minds, and Nikki's goal is to help each student move well and feel good in their own skin. Nikki focuses on the fundamental principles of anatomy and kinesiology, providing tools and techniques for anyone–from any experience or tradition–to build a personal yoga practice.
Nikki is a certified yoga teacher who has been doing yoga for over 10 years. She is currently working on a 500-Hour Certification from Pacific Yoga, a rigorous training in Asana, Anatomy, Pranayama, Sanskrit, and ancient texts. She studies regularly with local senior yoga teachers Theresa Elliott and Kathryn Payne, and consistently attends workshops with other international senior teachers.
Nikki is highly influenced by the yoga anatomy writings of Judith Hanson Lasater and Paul Grilley, and the meditation teachings of Shinzen Young, Jack Kornfield, and Pema Chödrön.
Nikki received a Bachelor of Art in International Business and Bachelor of Science in Informatics from the University of Washington in 2005. When not on the mat, you can find her doing graphic and web design, playing soccer, and climbing on rock faces around the Puget Sound and beyond.
Andrea C. Skelly - YREC Certified
PhD, MPH
On a winter’s day almost a decade ago, the decision to “drop in and try” a Yoga class started Andrea on a path that continues to evolve her life to combine ancient wisdom and well-being practices with science. She consistently reaffirms that a day without Yoga is like a day without sunshine!
Stress management and self-discovery have become the primary focus of her teaching. By guiding students through gentle movement and restorative Yoga postures and the basic aspects of Yoga practice, they discover healthy ways of reducing stress and enhancing well-being. Personal experience with and dissertation work on stress, coping and connections between the mind and disease, have led her to reaffirm the immense value of and need for gentle and restorative Yoga as well as the practice of Yoga Nidra. Andrea loves sharing these practices and teaching/reaffirming the basics via her Level I class.
Andrea earned her certification as a Yoga instructor via the Yoga Research and Education Center (YREC) program under the direction of Georg Feuerstein, PhD, world-renowned expert on Yoga history, philosophical and spiritual tenets of traditional Yoga. The asana part of the program included instruction by internationally respected teachers such as John Friend, Patricia Walden, Janice Gates, Frank Jude Boccio and Judith Hanson-Lasater (to many, the “Queen” of restorative Yoga), among others. In addition, she continues to train with nationally known and respected Anusara Yoga instructors, (some of whom are in the Northwest!), as well as with local and internationally known Yoga instructors from other traditions. While her teaching is primarily influenced by the philosophies and principles of Anusara, she incorporates the tools from many traditions and is grateful to all of her teachers, particularly her students!
Andrea combines her Yogic path with training in ancient Hawaiian Huna, health coaching and hypnosis as well as her education as a scientist (epidemiologist) to assist people with their journeys.Tricia Pleasant - Forrest Yoga
(www.triciavilleyoga.com)
Recognize
gifts that are in our lives… not just physical, but talents, energies,
and experiences that make our spirit shine. Experiences that teach us
compassion. People that teach us about love and trust. Events that seem
so horrible when they happen, but they lead to an event so amazing
you’re filled with gratitude for being in that moment, but, without the
first event the second would not have happened. Or if it did happen,
the heart of the sweetness of what is that moment would never have been
so intense.
We
all have paths that we walk, all have our good, and (what we inside
consider) bad. But without the bad there would be no good, without
down, there would be no up, without bitter… no sweet. It would all just
be uneventful and the same. Its taken years of searching and finding
who I am, years of physical pain from endometriosis and scoliosis,
emotional pain from not following my inner guidance and not walking the
path that was true to my spirit, to finally find yoga. I realized very
quickly that yoga was going to become a huge part of my healing and I
became a Yoga Instructor and Reiki practitioner so I could in turn pass
those healing benefits on to my students, family, friends, my teachers
and loved ones…… thinking about it…. they are all one in the same.
Teaching has been a true gift in my life. As I am teaching, I learn so
much from each individual. All of these experiences, teaching me as I
transition every moment into who I will eventually become, because, I
am a work in progress.
I
am truly blessed to be living fully in this life, walking through it in
awareness and gratitude for all its gifts. My beautiful kids, my
amazing and loving partner in life, a mom that is so supportive and
siblings that I wouldn’t trade for anything…. even if I could, and
friends that are truly beautiful.
If my life starts to feel stressed and my thoughts clouded and down, I step on to the mat and through the practice of yoga (it is truly a ‘practice’) I can center, refocus, regroup and regain clarity of what truly matters in my life and what I really want to be doing. I love being a mother, a partner, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, and healer. It is who I am; it is the path I walk. A path that is so clear that I wonder sometimes what took me so long to get here, loving every moment.
Michael Warner
(www.yogimichael.net)
Michael brings a rich blend of training, talent and expertise to his class offerings. His versatility is represented by the variety of classes he teaches; restorative, yin, meditation, and asana flow are just a few. Michael combines his education in counseling and psychology with the knowledge he has gathered through years of experience, practice and studies. Whether you are a beginner or more seasoned student, Michael’s style of teaching guides the student towards a balance practice of optimal wellness for the mind, body and soul.
Debbie Walker
Debbie has been weaving a tapestry of yoga teachers into her life for 14 years. Her inspiration and learning comes from a diverse group of teachers including Mary Lou Weprin, Bikram Choudhury, Aadil Palkivala, Shiva Rae, Doug Keller, and Lisa Black. It is because of the work she has done with these inspiring teachers that she teaches from joy! Ever-evolving is the art of yoga. As with life, yoga postures are continually moving. You can hold them but are they ever without subtle movements and progression? She will lead you through these physical postures we call asanas and help you to discover and access new avenues using strength, focus, and breath.
Bailee Nebeker - Kids Yoga
Bailee teaches our Kids and Parents Yoga class. She is a wonderfully bright spirit who is trained through Rainbow Kids Yoga as well as in the Sivananda tradition through the Ashram in Vancouver.
Sosie Sagherian - Kundalini
(http://sosieji.com/ - Sosie's blog)
I have been practicing Kundalini yoga for over 12 years and fell in love with it within my first few classes. It has transformed my life in ways that would not have been possible otherwise. Many times I was blessed to be able to sit at the feet of Yogi Bhajan, the Master of Kundalini and experienced his lectures and workshops. I then began to understand the vastness of our being. That we are all connected and once I made that connection, my life began a remarkable shift in awareness and consciousness.
In Kundalini Yoga we begin to experience our true identity and universal connection through a dynamic blend of postures, pranayama, mantra, music and meditation, which lead you the art of relaxation, self-healing and elevation. Balancing body and mind has enabled me to experience the clarity and beauty of our souls.
I now live in Washington but spent most of my life on Boston. Boston still has a strong pull for me, though I have embraced the natural beauty of the Northwest. I’m married and have two teenage boys and teach Kundalini Yoga. I also do a fair amount of community work mostly centered around teens and the arts.
I’ve done many things in this life, architect by trade, having practiced for 13 years, advertising sales for a wonderful quarterly holistic magazine “Sprint of Change” which guided me on my spiritual path. I opened a artist co-operative gallery both on the east coast and the west and explored my own creative process. I am now truly blessed to be a teaching Kundalini Yoga here in the northwest.
Gina Garris - Kundalini Yoga
(www.manyblessingyoga.com)
Gina is new to the Seattle area. She was introduced to, and fell in love with, Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan at the Crestone Healing Arts Center, in Crestone, Colorado. The Crestone Healing Arts Center is an intensive, residential program known for its unique and comprehensive approach to healing and Gina received both her massage certification, as well as her IKYTA Kundalini Yoga Teacher Certification there. She has also been blessed to have studied directly with Gurudev Yogi Amrit Desai and is certified in The Amrit Method of Yoga Nidra. Gina has an innate ability to touch your heart with a simple smile and welcomes anyone she encounters. Please keep an eye out for Gina as she begins to spread the light in the Seattle area.
Nancy Sides - Qi Gong
(reflexologyandqi.com)
For the past 6 years she has studied with Dr. Liu Dong and Master Liu He. Their Ling Gui Healing Qigong School features the Liu family qigong forms, classical qigong forms and Qigong TuiNa and Qi healing. In the spring of 2007 she traveled with Dr. Liu, taking a group of students for an intensive study of qigong in Buddhist and Taoist monasteries in China.
Qigong has become an integral part of Nancy’s life. She finds it brings balance to life’s numerous demands and activities. Through her journey of studying with several lineages, she is able to bring to her students a broad perspective of how we as westerners can integrate these practices into our lives.
Nancy lives in Issaquah and also works as a Certified Reflexologist and Licensed Massage Practitioner.
Great White Crane QiGong begins September 15th. Register early as space is limited. For more information visit our QiGong page.
Diana E. Solomon RN, LMP, IAIMI, CCST
Diana's nursing background is in neurosurgery,which she did for 5 years prior to beginning her family. Following some glorious days as a full time mom of three she took up the study of massage at Brian Utting School of Massage (now Cortiva),graduating in 1998. She has trained in Swedish, deep tissue,pregnancy massage, cranialsacral therapy, infant massage and pediatric cranialsacral therapy. Diana has mentored under Ann Keppler and leads our New P's (New Parent's Group) every Friday afternoon.
Carlos Gomes - Prana Flow/Yoga Trance Dance
Carlos has studied primarily with master teacher Shiva Rea. In keeping with her heartfelt teaching, he strives to share the love of Yoga with students. Through the grounding and centering techniques provided by yoga, he helps guide his students to find inner peace. Come to Carlos' classes and learn to safely explore movement, find greater happiness, peace, and stillness.
Melanie Foust, LMP - Prana Flow / Acro Yoga / Thai Massage
Melanie
Foust, LMP is a spirited, attentive, and playful teacher. She teaches
in the evolutionary style created by Shiva Rea known as Prana Flow
Yoga. Also near to her heart is AcroYoga, a blend of therapeutic
partner yoga, acrobatics, and Thai Yoga Massage. In her classes, you
will find alignment through movement and liberate your body through
pulsation, finding a true joy of being in your body!
Melanie
spent her early years through her teens training professionally in
ballet. In college she moved on to modern and contemporary dance,
salsa, Afro-Brazilian dance, hip hop, and also started playing
capoeira. Originally drawn to the arts of yoga and bodywork as a way to
help her cope with scoliosis, she soon began to realize that this path
could dissolve all sorts of limitations and lead to a joyous way of
being!
In addition to giving Thai Yoga Massage sessions,
teaching Prana Flow and AcroYoga classes & giving private yoga
sessions, Melanie also works with the dancers of Pacific Northwest
Ballet. She is highly skilled in massage treatment work and injury
recovery and graduated from the top-notch Brian Utting School of
Massage in Seattle, WA. She holds a BA from the University of
Washington in Interdisciplinary Art & Dance. She continually lives
yoga on & off the mat is often found dancing and enjoying
spontaneous, universal yoga!