Richard Rosen

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BIO.

BORN: The Big Apple
CURRENT TOWN: Berkeley, CA
OCCUPATION: Yoga Instructor / Writer

website

RICHARD ROSEN began his practice of yoga in 1980 at the Yoga Room, in Berkeley, CA. Two years later he began a two-year teacher training course at the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute in San Francisco, from which he graduated in 1983. In 1987, with his good friend Rodney Yee, he opened the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, which operated until 2012. Richard has written numerous articles and reviews for national yoga magazines, and is also the author of five books, four of them published by Shambhala: The Yoga of Breath (2002), Pranayama: Beyond the Fundamentals (2006), Original Yoga (2012), a book on traditional yoga practice based on the seventeenth century Gheranda Samhita (Gheranda’s Compilation), and Yoga FAQ: Almost Everything You Need to Know about Yoga–from Asanas to Yamas (2017). His fifth book for Shambhala, Yoga by the Numbers, is due out in the Spring of 2022. Richard lives in a 115-year-old bungalow in beautiful Berkeley, CA.

Vickie Russell

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Bio

Vickie strives to facilitate connections, fostering an environment where students can drop below the layers of habit and distraction in order to integrate more fully with who they really are and with their more expansive nature.

In her classes, you will learn about alignment and the subtle body and breath in order to be transported into new territory and possibility. She creatively and intelligently interweaves asana, meditation and restorative yoga to help students regulate the nervous system and find a sense of presence.

Teaching and sharing yoga has been Vickie’s passion for over 20 years. She graduated from the Advanced Studies Program at Piedmont Yoga and has been greatly influenced by many teachers including (and not limited to) Richard Rosen, Rodney Yee, Judith Lasater, and Tony Briggs.

Yoko Yoshikawa

BIO.

Website : yokoyoga.com

Yoko has been teaching yoga in Oakland since 1996. She builds sequences that are effective, often fun and always pithy, sweeping everyone in the class to greater flexibility, body intelligence, core strength, deeper breathing and more ease. Yoko is also a bit of a yoga philosophy geek — feel free to talk to her about it at any time! Contact her for private instruction and check out her website (plus blog).

Margi Young

BIO.

BORN: to explore
CURRENT TOWN: oaktown
OCCUPATION: spreading the news

website

Margi’s classes emphasize clear, individualized alignment, awareness of breath and relaxation so that the benefits of yoga reveal themselves. She roots her alignment-based vinyasa classes both in Buddhist philosophy and in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to invite the physical practice to result in a calm mental state. She offers personal attention, both verbal and hands-on, to help her students clarify and deepen their practice. Taking a cue from the Buddha, Margi’s classes are light-hearted; it is imperative that we come together and study this vast subject with joy. 

After receiving an MFA from New York University ‘s Tisch School of the arts, Margi was a professional dancer and choreographer in New York. But, her yoga mat and teaching called her name loudly and in 2001 she became certified from Cyndi Lee’s OM Yoga Center, where she taught for 10 years, was a primary teacher on the teacher training staff, and headed the restorative department of the studio. She is also certified in pre-natal yoga through Integral Yoga Center and restorative yoga through Judith Lasater, and continuously studies the teachings of BKS Iyengar. She has lead numerous workshops and retreats in the USA and around the world, and regularly leads teacher trainings in Bali with Recharge Retreats. Margi relocated to her home town of San Francisco in 2010 and has recently happily moved to Oakland. For more info please visit www.margiyoung.com.

Baxter Bell

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Baxter Bell, MD, C-IAYT, eRYT500, YACEP


Baxter has been studying Hatha yoga since 1994 and teaching since 1999, both public classes and specialty back care classes. He is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio's 680-hour Advanced Studies 2000 program, and has studied in the past with Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Donald Moyer, Erich Schiffman and TKV Desikachar. Baxter blends his background in Western medicine and yoga therapeutics for safe and healing yoga experiences. He teaches a nurturing style of yoga, with a strong emphasis on re-awakening our innate curiosity about ourselves and our world. Learn more at www.baxterbell.com . He is also co-author of the book Yoga for Healthy Aging, and a certified Yoga Therapist.

Maggie Zebrine

Maggie finds the magic of yoga is in quieting the chatter of the mind to be fully in the present. She blends Katonah Yoga with other styles of yoga and movement practices to inspire students to find freedom in their body and mind. She believes that time spent on your mat should provide you with techniques to have a more enjoyable life. Join her for playful imagery, nurturing asana, and tools to become more well-rounded on and off the mat. Maggie first completed her yoga certification with her teacher Jill Sockman and since has been certified in Katonah Yoga and Fascia Flossing. She believes it is just as important to remain a student of yoga as it is a gift to teach the practice. Don’t be surprised to see her in Richard’s Friday morning class!

Lynn Ursic

Lynn arrived to the heart of Hatha Yoga in 2010 at Piedmont Yoga Studio,

training with Richard Rosen and esteemed faculty. Since that deep dive

she has continued her studies including a second teacher training, anatomy, 

pranayama and The Roll Model Method.

She brings an athlete‘s sense of body and a designer’s sense of space to her

teaching. Relentlessly kind and attentive, Lynn sends her students out of practice

feeling relaxed, refreshed and self reliant. Her mission is simple, bring into the

world more clarity, more compassion, more connection, more love.

She has great gratitude for her many wise, wonderful teachers.

website: lynnursic.com

Darren Main

For over thirty years, Darren Main has been writing books, teaching yoga and speaking about mindful living. His work has evolved to support yoga teachers and studio owners in growing a successful and ethical yoga business. He currently lives in Northern California with his son Jaden where he teaches yoga in San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral.

Melina Meza

Melina Meza is a pioneer in the field of yoga, nutrition, and Ayurvedic Health, sharing her knowledge with yogis around the world for more over 20 years.

She is the creator of Seasonal Vinyasa Yoga, a holistic practice that features lifestyle, diet, and yoga practices tailored to the rhythms of the four seasons to help people stay healthy as they age. Her passion for Nature, the five elements, beauty, and humor forge the foundation of her unique approach to well-being.

Melina facilitates year-round yoga and Ayurveda workshops, leading retreats in extraordinary sanctuaries around the world. She is the author of Seasonal Health and Wellness and the Art of Sequencing books as well as the creator of the Yoga for the Seasons – Fall Vinyasa DVD. Her unique teachings can also be found on Yoga Anytime, YogaUonline, and Gaiamtv.

From her very first yoga class in 1993, she has never stopped exploring the physical, mental, and spiritual practices passed down from the ancient sages. Yoga has been the “launching pad”—as her teacher Gary Kraftsow describes it—that has rocketed her into a life journey of cultivating the disciplines necessary to gain insight and wisdom integral to being healthy, compassionate, and radiant, as well as how to share those gifts with others. In addition to teaching yoga to thousands of practitioners since 1997, for over 16 years Melina led the 200- and 500-Hour Teachers’ Training Program at Seattle 8 Limbs Yoga Center as either Director or Co-Director.

With creativity at the center of her passions, Melina loves to inspire and be inspired, bringing this not only to her teaching but to her artistry as well. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious, igniting the creative fire in those with whom she connects.