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| Our Yoga Instructors |
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| Dawn |
| Dawn did not intend to become a yoga teacher. But she felt the need to follow the sweet calling of yoga. |
| Her practice gave her so much, that she felt the need to share and teach her passion of yoga with others. Yoga inspired her to evolve on and off of her mat; It became integrated into all areas of her life. |
| She is a RN, Massage Therapist and a certified Yoga instructor (Yoga Alliance 500 hour certification). She feels they all share a common thread: healing. She is currently studying in NYC with Dharma Mittra. |
| She is a teacher known for her humor, inspiration and compassionate approach to teaching who honors yoga as a practice of transformation and healing. She considers it a great privilege to be able to help guide others on their own paths to healing and self awareness. |
| Dawn, like all good teachers, is also an avid student, always expanding and evolving her own practice. |
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| Alice |
| Alice originally went to a yoga class to help with her personal stress management as a mother and school teacher -- and found a deep and total sense of well-being unlike anything she had ever experienced. |
| Since that awakening, she has deepened her practice and is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor. She holds her 200 hour certification, and is in the process of obtaining her 500 hour certification. |
| Alice has taught at local gyms, in yoga studios and the Upper Room Spiritual Center in Neptune, NJ. She is passionate about yoga, and sees yoga as a means of achieving optimum physical health, as well as a means to spiritual growth with a Christian perspective. |
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| Stephanie |
| Stephanie has been practicing yoga since 1992. She has done a great deal of practice on her own as well as with many wonderful yoga teachers, both local and nationwide. She blends a combination of many different styles from classical to power yoga, knowing that all of them blend together and strengthen one another. |
| Stephanie has been teaching since 2001 in various facilities both in New Jersey and in New York. She spent 2 years in New York City studying with great and lesser known masters from a wide range of yoga and meditation backgrounds. She has returned to New Jersey to share what she has learned and to continue to grow with the Toms River community. She has her 200 hour certification in Hatha Yoga. |
| Stephanie's classes are a combination of sun salutations, balancing postures, difficult binds, inversions such as headstand, handstand, and fore-arm stand, backbends, and deep stretches, as well as relaxation, meditation, and yogic breathing techniques. Be prepared to focus and be challenged. |
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| Jill |
| Jill, as a Registered Yoga Teacher (200 hour certification) and a professional massage therapist, she has undergone extensive training and has a deep understanding of the inner workings of the body and its musculature. Jill is an individual who is dedicated to the healing and health of others. She deeply enjoys teaching Chair, Gentle, Moderate and Intermediate yoga classes. |
| Jill has been touched by the gift of yoga. Her compassion for the people and the world around her is evident by her world travels and her 3 year devotion to the peace core. Living overseas and staying with a family in Africa. She practices gratitude daily. |
| She has completely opened her mind and body to the inner growth that yoga provides. She has seen the positive changes that have occurred in her own life as a result of her yoga practice and wishes to facilitate others in their own growth and discovery of true self. Her classes are powered by the beauty, and alchemy of nature. Her classes are both grounding and soul lifting, guiding students safely to deepen their practice and open their hearts. |
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| Jennifer |
| Jennifer is a certified Sivananda and Children's Yoga instructor. She has practiced with many Yogis around the World in order for her to broaden her yoga skills and techniques. |
| Jennifer’s adult and children's classes begin with a relaxing warm up, followed by breathing exercises, then move into more heat-building asanas. Class ends with visualization exercises and relaxation poses. Breath awareness and pranayama are major components of her classes. |
| She utilizes her experience in various yoga styles to create a welcoming class for everyone. Jennifer believes that teaching is a gift that allows an exchange of energy between people. |
| If you want strength, courage, balance, joy and if you need to reduce stress, she believes yoga is for you. Jennifer is a living example of what she teaches. |
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| Jody |
| Jody received her 200 hour yoga certification and she is also a Massage Therapist. This combination of these two healing arts has given her a deeper understanding and compassion of people and their different body types. |
| Coming from a family who always emphasized health and wellness, it seemed like a natural progression to become involved in the healing of yoga. Her teaching style is Hatha Flow. She teaches Vinyasa Flow, Gentle, and Moderate classes. Jody would like her students to receive a positive, caring experience, leaving class with a feeling of accomplishment, self-satisfaction, and relaxation. |
| Jody creates a safe place and empowers her students to release, let go, and discover themselves. With incredible clarity, and honed communication skills, she has the unique ability to reach everyone. Her classes are insightful and inspiring and some challenging, that focus on integrating breath with movement. She emphasizes that yoga is about your inner experience and the inner effects - the positive long term influence on your life's energy and overall health. Her unique ability to draw out the light from within every student is her gift. |
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| Karen |
| The practice of Yoga has personally helped to heal her body and mind. She brings her enthusiasm, empathy, and the love for Yoga into every one of her classes. |
| As a Yoga instructor she can offer students a physically and emotionally safe environment. Using gentle encouragement she can guide students to grow in their practice and inner journey. She has many years of experience working with people. Using this lifetime experience she is open to listen to the needs and interests of each student. |
| Being a runner she has become adept in the use of Yoga props and incorporates belts, blocks, bolsters, and blankets to facilate ease and comfort even in the most challenging of postures. Her classes provide a setting were students can ground, strengthen and calm the mind finding self awareness, acceptance and self love. |
| She feels she has received many gifts from my Yoga practice. And teaching gives her a chance to give back to others and share her love of Yoga. She offers frequent reminders that Yoga is meant to link mind and body together, not merely to be a good workout. During each pose, Karen's words of encouragement, options, and detailed, easy to follow instructions never distract from the moment. If you are are to Yoga or are an experienced Yogi, you are sure to enjoy her compassionate style. You will feel it in her classes as she helps connect students with their bodies, in a graceful, accepting manner. |
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| Rachael |
| Rachael is a 200 hour RYT® with the Yoga Alliance. Rachel has practiced yoga for over 10 years. She enjoys working with each person to find a Yoga practice that nourishes them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. |
| Rachael's background in business and human resources helps her relate to participants who deal with life's major stressors. She develops her Yoga classes so that participants can achieve healing, stress relief, body awareness, and breath awareness. Rachel encourages participants to find strength not only in their postures but within themselves. She emphasizes finding and experiencing peace and gratitude within your heart and mind. |
| Rachael enjoys teaching all styles of Yoga from Gentle or Chair to more vigorous Vinyasa classes and encourages participants to practice the yoga philosophy inside and outside of the yoga classroom. Rachael's classes are a perfect balance between strength and surrender. She uses clear alignment cues mixed with movement to open the body and encourages her students to follow her guidance but explore their own paths. |
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| Pat |
Pat discovered yoga 10 years ago. Yoga made her feel calmer, and more balanced. She needed to learn to de-stress and relax. Through her first contact with Yoga she realized that this was the path for her... It felt right, like coming home.
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| In addition to learning how to relax and pay attention to her body, she was pleasantly surprised to find her physical strength growing, her flexibility improving, and her mind expanding shifting. And, as her practice and love of Yoga deepened she decided to enroll in the 200 hour teacher training program. Originally, she took the program to expand her knowledge and practice. However, by the time she graduated she knew she wanted to teach yoga to others. |
| She is also a floral designer, and patient care technician. She continues to live her Yoga - thru her kindness to all that she encounters. |
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| Lucy |
| Lucy started practicing yoga decades ago via the TV with Richard Hilleman and Lilias Folan. She continue learning and practicing yoga locally with a wonderful teacher. She felt yoga and its benefits were so wonderful and life enriching that she knew she wanted to share yoga and its teaching with those around her. She has received her 200 hr Kripalu yoga certification and continues to further her yoga studies for herself and for her students. She is known for her kind and gentle ways. She is a nurturing compassionate guide in her classes. She encourages her students to find the teacher within. |
| She is also trained in the Yoga Ed program for children and the Yoga Ed program for teachers course. These programs were developed for teaching yoga in the public school sector, and she incorporates them into her public physical education classes. She also started and successfully runs an after school yoga club at the school she works at. |
| Lucy is full of passion, and some of her passions are ~gardening, the love of animals, and the ocean (which she is drawn to and is blessed to live close to the beach). She is also an environmentalist form the seventies. |
| Over the years, she feels yoga has been like a therapy for her in many ways. She is a physical education teacher and has always enjoyed physical endeavors. However, what yoga has brought to her life is way beyond the physical results of the postures. Yoga has strengthened her connection between mind, body, and the self-within. Yoga has taught her the importance of self awareness and self care. She feels the use of pranayama (breath control) and meditation help to bring her to awareness, finding balance along with healing tools for self care that a yoga practice provides. |
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| Carolyn |
| Carolyn has studied Yoga for over a decade and is a registered Yoga teacher. She is certified with the Yoga Alliance (200 hours) and has been teaching throughout Ocean and Monmouth counties. |
| She was trained in the Sivananda style of Hatha yoga and is particularly interested in Buddhist studies and philosophy. |
| Carolyn holds a Medical Anthropology degree and has a thorough understanding of the human body, its systems and anatomy. She incorporates this knowledge into her instruction, gearing classes to students' individual needs. |
| Carolyn is also a practicing visual artist who exhibits her work throughout the state and the country. She views Yoga as both an art and a science and employs her creativity to make each one of her Yoga classes fun and different. |
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| Kelly |
Kelly has had a strong Yoga practice for the last five years. She has her 200 hour certification in Hatha Yoga and is registered with the Yoga Alliance.
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| Kelly first approached Yoga as a means of exercise and improving her physical well-being. After the first class, she became devoted student to yoga practice and philosophy ever since. Once learning the basics of Yoga, Kelly started attending workshops and classes to expand her knowledge and devotion of Yoga. She feels honored to teach the transformative practice of Yoga to others. She is dedicated to promoting a healthy mind, body, and spirit through Yoga. |
| Kelly holds a BS degree in a Speech Pathology and is currently working towards her Masters. Currently she works as a speech therapist in a school for children with Autism. She believes the peace and strength that Yoga brings to one's body and mind allows for her to approach each teaching experience with a renewed energy, creativity, as well as a calm mind and spirit. Kelly continues her study of Yoga on a consistent basis to bring her students fresh, superb selections of flowing sequences. |
| Her classes build strength, flexibility and a deeper awareness of how Yoga can affect the mind, body, and spirit. She is a firm believer in the power of Yoga to awaken the body's own healing process and empower individuals in all areas of their lives. |
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| Dave |
| David is an enormously talented teacher of human movement as the result of his incredibly diverse background. Having studied the human body from several different perspectives, Dave has a unique ability and commitment to teaching others what they need to know in order to live their lives with health, vitality and passion. |
| Dave’s fitness career began instructing Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira. Soon after, Dave began instructing Yoga, becoming certified in the Sivananda style in 2000. Dave became interested in more main stream fitness and received his first personal trainer certification in 1998. Because of his diverse background, Dave was hired by Canyon Ranch Health Resorts in Tucson, AZ as a teacher of Yoga, martial arts, meditation, strength and conditioning, aquatics and personal training. He has just returned from 2 years working as a yoga instructor in Ireland. |
| Wanting to know even more about healing the human body through movement, In 2003 he received his license in massage therapy. Dave now combines his unique, multidisciplinary approach with each client to help them realize their greatest physical, mental and spiritual potential. |
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| Doreen (Guest Teacher) |
| Doreen is a compassionate teacher whose teaching style comes "from the heart". She has studied many styles of Yoga and fitness over the years along with receiving her BFA in Dance. |
| She performed with the New York based internationally renowned Dance Company Circle of Dance and New York's Latin Dance Troupe DanzAhora before teaching ballet and modern dance for 4 years at Dance Dynamics, in NJ. She is Yoga Alliance certified and is so happy to share her knowledge and passion for Yoga with others. |
| Doreen believes "The invigorating freedom of movement combined with the concentrated stillness of meditation can bring a calm sense of peace to body, mind and spirit that carries into all aspects of one's life. And that is the essence of Yoga." |
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| Kirsten (Guest Teacher) |
| Kirsten began studying Yoga at age eighteen with a class at New York University. That introduction to Yoga opened the door to study in New York with Dharma Mittra (famous for the 908 Asana Poster). |
| After 10 years of living and studying in New York City, Kirsten moved to Maui, Hawaii where she received her certification from Nadia Toraman of Maui Yoga Shala. Kirsten's style is a mix of Ashtanga, Iyengar and Hatha Yoga. |
| Kirsten's Vinyasa Flow class will create strength, flexibility and cleanse your body, mind and soul. She likes to help people reconnect with their bodies. She believes that a regular Yoga practice will help you find peace in your life. |
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| Christopheray (guest teacher) |
| Christopheray is one of New Jerseys most highly respected Yoga instructors, with over 20 years of study, practice and teaching to beginners as well as Yoga instructors. |
| He is trained in the Iyengar tradition. Christopheray is highly regarded by his students and peers. For him, the Asanas [postures] are where Yoga begins, not ends. |
| In his classes you will learn new postures each week, and review poses previously taught. You will explore the role of the yamas, niyamas, bandhas, and pranayama (and learn what these are!). |
| Christopheray's insight and experience, as well as his compassion, his love of Yoga, and the irrepressible humor he brings to his teachings have made him a popular and widely sought after instructor. You can expect his classes to be fueled with heart, humor and clarity. |
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