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Instructor Bios
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Vickie Russell Bell was born and raised in Ohio, and is a journalist by education. She teaches yoga because she loves to. Her intention is to help her students increase their level of daily awareness through their body, breath and experience. She is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio Advanced Training Program and is a certified “Relax and Renew Trainer” through Judith Lasater’s accredited program.
Vickie does a bit of short story writing, belts out an occasional jazz or country tune, and walks with her Rhodesian Ridgeback in the redwoods. She reads a lot, and adores her friends and Oakland. She is also part of the core faculty for the Deep Yoga Program at Piedmont Yoga Studio. Contact Vickie: yogavickie@hotmail.com or www.yoga-vickie.com |
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| Carolyn Bennet |
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| Anja Borgstrom has been teaching for 15 years, and is a graduate of The Yoga Room's Iyengar-based teacher training program. Anja is knowledgeable, patient, and flexible. She has a gift for offering valuable individualized guidance, regardless of the size of the class. Anja teaches Hatha, prenatal, postnatal, back-care, and restorative yoga. Contact Anja: anjayoga@gmail.com |
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| Margie
Cohea is a graduate of The Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga
Room in Berkeley. She began studying yoga in 1995 and teaching in
2000. Margie incorporates a focus of breathing awareness with asana
practice in her classes. She teaches from her love of yoga and with
consideration of each student present. Margie volunteers her time
teaching yoga at East Bay Judo Institute in El Cerrito and at the
Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Oakland. She is also a registered
nurse and health educator. Contact Margie: (510) 234-7885 |
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Erin Collom has studied Hatha Yoga for 20 years. She is a recent graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio, 200 hour, Advanced Studies Program under the tutelage of Richard Rosen, Baxter Bell, Ann Dyer, Vicki Russel Bell, and Mary Paffard. Her teaching style holds multi-leveled precision, challenge, and joy. Over the past 6 years, Erin has shared Yoga teachings with preschool and elementary Yogis, introducing them to asana, mediation/affirmation, basic anatomy and pranyama. Her classes cultivate mental and emotional skills like concentration, mindfulness, and non-judgement while fostering the compassion, presence, and curiosity, already present in the lives of our children. Contact Erin: erincollom@gmail.com |
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Clare
Finn's love of yoga started in the early 70's. She has been
teaching since 1980. Graduated from the Iyengar Institute in 1986.
Co-founded the original Piedmont Yoga Studio and went on to open
4th Street Yoga with Beth and Barbara. Clare's teaching is based
on many years of study with numerous teachers and techniques including
Vipassana and Tibetan meditation. Her approach to practice &
teaching focuses on the intuitive in the present moment. Contact Clare: (925) 253-0344 |
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Jonothon
Gross conveys his quiet passion for yoga in his ashtanga vinyasa
classes. His yoga evolved from years of exploring (as a psychiatrist)
the complex relationship between mind and body. Classes use flowing
sequences of postures linked together by a steady focus on connecting
breath and movement. Attention is directed to developing core strength
and proper alignment while cultivating and sustaining an inner calm
throughout a challenging practice. Contact Jonothon: (510) 236-8612 |
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Marie Hart has studied and practiced Iyengar yoga, pranayama and meditation since 1978, and first began to teach in 1981. She is a graduate of, and now administers, the 3-year Advanced Studies Program of The Yoga Room in Berkeley, an Iyengar-style teaching school. A former dancer, dance coach, and instructor in Indian music, she brings a dedicated, creative and disciplined approach to yoga. Her level 1-3 classes create a path to opening tight shoulders, hips and hamstrings; this takes you gradually and safely beyond your present limits, while satisfying the body's desire for a workout. Marie's was chosen "Best Yoga Class" in the East Bay Express's "Best of the East Bay" in 2001. Contact Marie: mariehartyoga@hotmail.com, mariehartyoga.com, (510) 658-3097 |
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Claire Lavery came to yoga through television, watching Lilias Folan with my mother in our living room when I was a toddler. When I grew up I began my own yoga practice and found it completely satisfying and continually challenging. After 12 years of practice and study in Ashtanga, Iyengar, and restorative yoga, I began teaching Yoga in 2000 and continue to enjoy the challenges and many rewards. My teaching is descriptive, creating connections between breath and pose, and developing awareness of both the physical and the interior self. I use adjustments and adaptive poses for both able and challenged bodies whenever necessary to deepen each student's practice. Long training in classical music informs my insights on breathing, rhythm and the beauty of practice. Contact Claire: Clavery123@comcast.net |
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Mimi Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to New York with her family at a very early age. She recently moved to the Bay Area and was lucky to stumble across 4th Street Yoga. She feels incredibly honored and happy to have the opportunity to teach. Mimi found yoga during a difficult period in her life when she was struggling with her father's illness. Through incorporating yoga into her life she was able to find balance, strength, and patience. She continued her studies in yoga and received her certification in the 200hr teacher training program and in Mommy and Me yoga at Yoga Haven in New York. |
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| Scotty McCaulley has been a student of yoga for 10 years and
has been teaching for the past two years. He teaches Iyengar style
yoga and emphasizes the internal spaciousness that the practice
of yoga can offer. Scotty's past experience as a psychotherapist
brings to his teaching a focus on how yoga can enhance our overall
mental, emotional and spiritual health and he does so with a sense
of humor. Contact Scotty: (510) 649-1800 |
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Barbara Papini has been teaching yoga for 20 years. She is
on the faculty of The Yoga Room Advanced Studies
Program in Berkeley. She studied with Geeta Iyengar
at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India. In her
teaching, Barbara focuses on proper alignment and
the effective use of props, making even difficult
seeming poses accessible. She has a gentle and
enthusiastic style. Barbara teaches workshops and
retreats in her home and away. Contact Barbara: (510) 601-1883 or Bbpapini@aol.com |
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Tamara Perkins is a certified Yoga teacher, filmmaker, and activist. Inspired by the opportunity to ease suffering and open paths to healing and empowerment, she teaches in diverse environments including men’s and women’s prisons, grief support programs, schools, and youth development conferences. Tamara is the co-founder of Niroga and in 2006 she started the Trust Yoga and Meditation program at San Quentin State Prison, which is co-led by her good friend and teacher Katchie Ananda. Childhood exposure to Yoga and
Tibetan Buddhism through her father has helped form the foundation of Tamara's practice. Her classes are gently challenging and therapeutic, infused with mindfulness, creating a practice that addresses mind, body and spirit. |
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| Beth Greenfield Rodgers has been practicing yoga since 1982
and began teaching in 1988 while completing her Advanced Yoga Studies
at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA. Beth studied and apprenticed
with Rodney Yee for many years, and was one of his first students
to become a teacher. Beth helped found the 4th Street Yoga
studio with her yoga partners Clare Finn and Barbara Voinar. Beth
studied Yoga in Balance with Jean Couch www.balancecenter.com while she was healing a back injury. Beth's style of teaching
blends precision of body alignment from her Iyengar training with
gentle relaxation and skeletal re-alignment from her Yoga in Balance
work. Beth's classes are suited for back and joint care, for beginners
and all levels. Beth guides her students carefully through
the subtle nuances of a pose. Her classes are straightforward
and humble. All are welcome. Contact Beth: (510) 428-1860 or artibeth@pacbell.net |
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Deborah
Saliby is a longtime yoga practitioner and has been teaching Iyengar style yoga for over 25 years. She graduated from the teacher-training program at the Iyengar yoga institute in San Francisco in1982. She continues to practice yoga with many popular Iyengar yoga teachers throughout the U.S. as well as attending Iyengar yoga conventions. Deborah has also spent many years exploring different forms of meditation, energy healing and hypnotherapy. A devoted mother to her 14-year-old son, she specializes in teaching yoga and relaxation to pregnant women. As a hypnotherapist, Deborah also conducts hypnoBirthing® classes for pregnant couples throughout the bay area. She presently works for the Special Education department within the Albany Public school system. Contact Deborah: www.envisionings.com, deborahsaliby@comcast.net, (510) 541-1395 |
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Barbara Steiber has been a student of yoga for twenty years, and has been teaching since graduating from the Berkeley Yoga Room in 1996. Her teaching style is influenced by studies over the years with Rodney Yee, Angela Farmer, Mary Paffard, Pattabhi Jois, in India(1992), and Anusara yoga. Most recently she has been in a 2-year training, Embodied Anatomy and Yoga, with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. |
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Don Tuttle has enjoyed a regular yoga practice since 1981. He has taught
yoga since 1983 in San Francisco and Berkeley at the Yoga Room, the Berkeley
Yoga Center, 4th Street Yoga and the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco as a teacher training faculty member. He has studied several times in India with B.K.S., Geeta and Prashant Iyengar. Classes center on learning useful foundation principals for the yoga asanas. Students learn core poses and sequences and learn to develop their personal practice. Contact Don: dontut@earthlink.net |
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| Barbara Voinar has a unique teaching style that is beautifully infused with influences from her studies in the traditions of Siddha, Iyengar, Anusara Yoga and eastern meditation. Her classes offer a joyful and heartfelt approach to explore the life enriching and emotional healing benefits of yoga. Barbara co-founded 4th Street Yoga Berkeley, CA in 1993 . Her classes range from gentle to advanced levels. She has taught in prisons, specialized in pre and post natal yoga, and created Healing Yoga for woman living with cancer. A registered yoga therapist she provides yoga therapy to yogis with special needs Through her love of chanting and meditation she has collaborated in teaching with Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Ram Dass, Wah, Sharon Salzberg and Jennifer Berezan. Her innumerable hours in classes have reaped the good fortune to hold the students as her most treasured teachers. Contact Barbara: barbara@4thstreetyoga.com |
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| Tom Williams has been teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction in Bay Area hospital settings for 16 years. Based on the teachings of John Kabat-Zinn. Tom provides students the opportunity to bring awareness and attention to the asanas and concludes his classes with a meditation period. Contact Tom: (510) 339-1809 |
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Gretchen Wobrock is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and Phoenix Rising
Yoga Therapist. Trained at Kripalu, the largest yoga school in the US,
she began to understand the profound connection between body, breath
and spirit. Her deep yet entle vinyassa flows in her yoga classes
allow students to delve into the mysteries of their unique mind/body |
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