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Jacoby Ballard is the co-founder of Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn, NY, a worker-owned cooperative offering acupuncture, yoga, massage, and herbal medicine at sliding-scale prices. Third Root's mission is to make holistic health accessible to those who wouldn't afford these modalities or consider it culturally accessible, which is Jacoby's mission in teaching yoga; Jacoby wants to go beyond bringing yoga to 'underserved' communities, and rather expand who, in oppressed communities, can be empowered and trained to teach to their own people. Jacoby began teaching Yoga for All Genders at the NYC LGBT Center 6 years ago, and began teaching Queer and Trans Yoga when he opened Third Root in 2008, both classes have been outrageously successful, and Jacoby has brought these classes and workshops to other cities around the country. Jacoby received his 200-hour training at Kashi Atlanta Ashram with Swami Jaya Devi Bhagavati, in an environment specifically supportive to LGBT community, where he was welcomed as queer, and where he came out as transgendered. Jacoby went on to receive his 500-hour training at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2010. Jacoby's teaching style is challenging yet fun, light-hearted, yet deep. He currently is studying Ayurveda and involved in national conversations about 'Transformative Justice' and 'Healing Justice' with like-minded organizations and communities.
Julia Butterfly Hill brought international attention to the plight of the world’s last remaining ancient forests when she climbed 180 feet into the branches of a 1000 year-old redwood tree and refused to come down. Her historic protest to the environmental destruction caused by the clear-cutting of ancient redwoods culminated after 738 days with an agreement that provided permanent protection for the tree known as Luna and a 3 acre buffer-zone around it.
Julia Butterfly Hill is an activist, a writer and a poet. She is the author of the national best seller The Legacy of Luna, co-author of One Makes The Difference, and her latest release, Becoming, poems, pictures, and short stories. The audio release, Spiritual Activation, captures Julia’s vital message as it is given at standing-room-only appearances across the country.
The recipient of numerous prestigious awards and distinctive honors, Julia Butterfly Hill is one of the most internationally recognizable figures in environmental activism.
Julia founded the non-profit organization, Circle of Life and was the visionary of We The Planet, setting the standards for green festivals, events, and tours in the US. She co-founded the Engage Network and is the inspiration behind What’s Your Tree. She also acts as a strategic advisor for numerous other organizations. Julia Butterfly Hill speaks regularly on university campuses, has addressed the United Nations, lobbied congress, and has continued to stand on the front lines of environmental and social justice issues all over the world. Her courage, conviction and profound clarity in articulating a message of hope, empowerment, and love and respect for all life has inspired millions of people worldwide.
Teo Drake is a yoga and martial arts teacher, educator, and activist. As a queer-identified trans man living with AIDS, he has 101 reasons to not want to be present in his own skin. The physical and spiritual practice of yoga and Buddhist traditions made it possible to begin to heal and feel at home in his own body. As a yoga teacher, he works mainly with adults and children who do not have access to mainstream yoga venues for a variety of reasons. As an activist and educator, he works with institutions to increase queer and transgender individuals' access to care.
Shakti grew up a competitive dancer; passionate about the body, movement, rhythm, breath, vibration and expansion. Naturally when discovering yoga in 2001 it was an instant coming hOme. Marrying yogic studies with psychology studies at university, Shakti dove heart first into the mind/body connection, beginning to examine existence at all angles. After completing her BA degree in psychology and first series of Yoga Teacher Training with Jonny Kest, she began to seek the sweetest nectar to quench her undeniable thirst to TASTE Life.
Shakti has spent the last few years on a pilgrimage of the heart, of truth, of liberation and optimal expression. Traveling where mother calls with only a backpack, a hula hoop and bare feet on the ground. She has taught ʻTantra Majikʼ workshops throughout the US (including Omega Institute), Costa Rica, India, New Zealand and Australia, continuing to share the wisdom that she has uncovered through her journey. Shaktiʼs classes are expansive, liberating, ecstatic and will leave you hungry for more MOTHER LOVE. Shakti is most known for her boisterous laugh, raw nature, love of Life, and her ability to awaken the pulse in every Body. Her classes will empty you out and peel you open, while filling you up with bliss vibes and deeper connection to Self. Shakti is well versed in asana, pranayama, meditation, mantra, mudra, yantra, ecstatic dance, poetry, master manifesting, and all inclusive CELEBRATION.
Coming soon
Rina Jakubowicz has been active in the field of yoga for more than ten years. Known in Miami as a teacher of teachers, her studios, Rina Yoga, continue to serve the community. She is an inspiring young author whose first book, Choose Peace, empowers others to feel the potential that they have within and instill motivation for deeper healing.
She is a frequent guest personality on Univision's Tu Desayuno Alegre and was chosen for Discovery Channel's first yoga segments to be aired in Latin America. Rina continues to conduct her unique teacher trainings and travels extensively hosting workshops and international retreats. For more information about Rina, please visit www.rinajaku.com
Shakta Kaur Kezios, E-RYT, is an international teacher of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan. She owns Kundalini Yoga in the Loop (KYL) located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. KYL offers its 200-hour “Aquarian Teacher” Training Program (certified by the Kundalini Research Institute) each year beginning in the fall. For yogis/holistic business owners interested in improving their business skills Shakta teaches and co-hosts a “Teach more, Earn More, Serve More” twice each year. She is certified to train Breathwalk® (walking meditation) instructors. From 2004 to 2008 Shakta served as Secretary, Chair of the Board and Interim President/CEO of Yoga Alliance (YA). In 1987 Shakta (aka Susan P. Kezios) founded Women in Franchising, Inc. (WIF) and in 1993 she founded the American Franchisee Association (AFA).
By way of breath, Jonny brings a beautiful balance of intensity and grace to each therapeutic class where he encourages the student to ‘get out of their own way’ and allow one’s own healing powers to inspire each practice.
One of the most fascinating people on the tantra landscape is Lawrence Lanoff. Truly a renaissance man, Lawrence is a film director, photographer, author... and a deeply enlightened healer and teacher. He grew up on the streets of New York City in the 1970’s, in a tumultuous time that provided him with some of his greatest spiritual lessons and bringing a grounded practicality to Lawrence’s work. He calls himself a "rubber meets the road kinda guy" as he applies this practical essence to his artistic and spiritual skills over a 20 year span, to an amazing array of disciplines, starting with a couple of dream jobs - the directing of movies and as a photographer for Playboy Magazine. This is a man who has discovered that the way people understand movies is similar to the ways in which they understand dreams, symbols, and ultimately, themselves – and used that knowledge to unlock the secret of life. During this time, Lawrence studied physics, yoga, spirituality, neuroscience, photography, meditation, magic, social biology, semiotics, advertising design, computer science, philosophy, anatomy, meta-physics, psychology, NLP, hypnosis, fine art, massage therapy, secret tantra, Taoism, film, television, art therapy, marketing and business communication. He even managed to work in a Doctorate in Cognitive Studies.Over the past seven years, Lawrence has been in a process of refining his radical teachings, leading people into a new kind of freedom, literally deprogramming them from the sleep imposed by cults and religions. What is slowly evolving is a revolutionary new theory of consciousness that incorporates evolution, symbolism, metaphor, neurobiology, and their relationship to healing, spiritual evolution, and neuro-economics — the neural pathways that influences our deepest feelings about self worth and money, and, of course, sex and relationships. Lawrence helps people unleash the life skills of enlightenment - helping people to live a enriched, authentic life, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
Yoga with Les (www.YogaWithLes.com) is a vinyasa/flow yoga practice. Les is one of San Francisco’s most popular and sought after teachers around the world. Les’ classes and videos are filled with all the basic technique and alignment cues you will need to get your yoga practice started. They are also filled with lots of variations and occasional longer sequences to challenge the more seasoned practitioner. The prana (life force) comes from within. So be prepared to sweat and let the rasa (the sap and the juice) flow freely. Les’ studies and ceremonies are steeped in Forrest tradition, having completed Ana Forrest’s teacher training. Les has also assisted Ana’s teacher training and studied many additional hours with her. Also, Les has completed several trainings with Tias Little and has learned much of his alignment and technique cues from Tias, as well as a firm foundation in the 8 Fold path of Buddhism which compliments the asana practice with a sense of grace and elegance that allow you to take classes whatever your yoga experience and whatever traditions you have in your own life. Les pays careful attention to weave in the 8 limbs of yoga and keep the traditional styles and intentions of yoga a part of his classes while making great strides into opening a window into our global cultural shift. Les’ yoga will give you an opportunity to heal your heart and laugh, cry, dance and just let go. Some classes flow freely, while others will explore holding postures a bit longer. Many classes have music. Most of all, is that in Les’ classes, you have an opportunity to modify and do what you need to do in order to take care of your practice and that in learning to take better care of yourself, you can then take better care of those around you and they might then take better care of those around them.
Thomas and Claudia believe that all people have the capacity to tap into their sacred selves and find real freedom. Understanding this Truth they fill their classes with the motivation and space to allow people to explore their inner world while finding strength, fluidity, and resilience in their outer world. Having known each other since kindergarten and being in the middle of their life long love affair since 7th grade, these two invite you into their world of love and acceptance. As students breathe their way through one of their challenging vinyasa classes they begin to discover that their connections and ties run deeper and farther than they ever imagined, and that this yoga of acceptance is the yoga of unconditional love.
...Thomas and Claudia run and teach at their own yoga and fitness studio in Austin, TX- Del Sol- www.delsolmaf.com
They have studied in depth vegetarian and vegan cooking and offer personalized classes, lectures, and retreats on Vegan cooking, Yoga, Kung Fu and Qigong. Thomas is a 16 year practitioner and Master instructor of 7 Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu. They are Best selling co- authors of 3 Steps to Your Best Body, specifically writing on "Fitness with Soul- Offering the Fruits of Your Actions to a Higher Purpose". Both have studied yoga under the guidance of Jonny Kest.
Moses is a down to earth spiritual warrior whose main inspiration is drawn from the infinite well of human divine love. Moses is known to be straightforward while creating a safe, fun and loving space to evolve.
He is also the founder of iloveyoga.com
Vajra Ma teaches outside the codification of traditions and doctrines. The Tantric Dance of Feminine Power® evolved from her decades working with women in dance and ritual and exploring the innate powers and knowledge encoded in Woman’s womb and body. The Dance is a direct transmission from the Universal Mother, the Ancient Future Sisterhood and the Dakinis. It is the source work for many “tantric dance of… ” derivatives. For more information visit www.GreatGoddess.org
Lezlie Frye is a yogi, activist, performance artist, and scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. She is committed to slowing down, making room, and holding space for all of the communities and movements she holds dear. Frye was a company member of GIMP, a NY-based interdisciplinary dance project and a former member of SINS Invalid, San Francisco–based artist’s collective exploring disabled sexuality. She aims to address intersecting forms of oppression and to teach and practice embodied resistance in our lives and hearts. In conjunction with yoga, movement work and performance, she leads workshops and teach-ins around the country. Frye is currently a doctoral student in the American Studies Program, Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, at New York University. Her work explores embodiment and citizenship, with a critical focus on race, disability, gender, and social justice.
As a yoga instructor and board certified Holistic Nutrition and Health Counselor, Holly fully engages in every client’s journey; her goal is to help clients find their own individual path to wellness through self-nourishment and conscious decision making around food and lifestyle choices.
Holly is a speaker and educator on yoga and wellness. She was an Active Elite Athlete and has been featured on the cover of Runner’s World Magazine. She is the co-owner of Uptown Yoga Lakewood and the co-founder of The Embody Love Movement, where she integrates yoga principles and nutrition to support others through individual consulting, cooking, meal planning and group programs.
It is my dream to create a shift in our society, a self-love revolution… where the feminine spirit is celebrated, where we feel our pain instead of fear the scale, where we live our truth from harmony between our head, our heart and our gut and where we enfold all; refuse none. With this clarity, we can do our most important work… bring understanding, hope and love to all beings.
As an experienced-registered yoga teacher (E-RTY) Janie has the privilege of using the agent wisdom of yoga in a twenty-first century setting to help create a space and practice where healing the mind/body connection becomes part of each day’s experience.
Over the past 20 years of yoga practice and teaching, Janie has trained with many great master yoga teachers. Her knowledge of anatomy and physical adjustments helps hold the safest place possible for physical exploration. Her passion for teaching yoga can be felt each time she creates a unique and specific environment for the student and client who is in front of her.
Janie believes at the deepest that we are each our greatest teachers. “I believe and feel we are each amassed with the great fortune of abundant knowledge and all of this information is useless unless we can return to the simple and rare moments where thinking, feeling, knowing and being are all the same. One flowing into the other as silent teachers – activated by love we live awakened, blessed and matterful”.
“Today, I am a yoga instructor. I am love and I love. I am wrapped in gratitude for the deep presence of each and every human being in my life. I am blessed by the trust that the human beings who come to me for guidance place in my ability and I am sure that the passion I have for this work is illuminated by their brilliant light”.
Melody Moore, Ph.D., has a vision of a world where all girls and women radically embrace their bodies and themselves, and has envisioned and co-founded Embody Love Movement to create this revolution, one already beautiful body temple at a time.
Following undergraduate study in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Pepperdine University in 1999, Dr. Moore earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 2005. She then completed a Post-Doctoral internship at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas’ Center for Eating Disorders and served as the coordinator for their Intensive Outpatient Program for Eating Disorders before opening her private practice in Uptown, Dallas, in 2006.
Dr. Moore’s passion lies not only in helping clients to restore balance in their relationships with food, themselves, and others, but more so in creating conditions for clients to thrive, to live fully in love with themselves and with an abundance of possibility and a commitment to purpose.
Nikki is an accomplished teacher and practitioner on the path of Yoga. A unique focus of her path has been the integration of yoga in healing. In fact, Nikki came to yoga in the midst of her own health crisis, but quickly realized yoga was centering and firmly grounding her in a sacred space that allowed healing to happen far beyond the physical. Nikki’s studies lead her to: The American Viniyoga Institute, under the leadership of Gary Kraftsow, where she received certification as a Viniyoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist. She is currently a third year student in Somatic Experiencing, the distinguished trauma healing program under the directorship of Peter Levine. Nikki regularly assists and co-teaches with her sister/friend Seane Corn at workshops and conferences across the U.S. She is a regional leadership ‘Diva’ for Off The Mat, Into The World and her extensive travels have lead her to joyous work/study in Africa, Cambodia, India, Thailand and more.
Born out of her personal struggles with addiction, Nikki is a co-founder of Y12SR, the Yoga of 12-Step Recovery. Featured in the New York Times, Yoga Journal and more, Y12SR is quickly becoming a feature in the curriculum of addiction recovery centers all across the United States.
Nikki is quick to tell the world, ‘The 12-step program and yoga saved my life - one is my lifeboat, the other my launching pad’.
Since 2004, David Romanelli has been traveling the world sharing his Yoga for Foodies, Yoga + Chocolate, Yoga + Wine, Yoga + Jazz, and Grateful Dead Yoga Hour experiences. David's work has been featured in Food & Wine, The New York Times, Newsweek, and Oprah Magazine; and his book Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin the Moment reached #1 on the Amazon Self-Help Bestseller List. David is getting ready to launch a revolution inspiring a movement to restore the sacred and Live in the Moment. His new book Yeah Dave's Guide to Victory will be released in 2013. Check out his website:www.yeahdave.com
Zeina Smidi, teacher and student, leads workshops and classes worldwide on health, nutrition, meditation and yoga. She also leads Women Healing Circles. She blogs and vlogs on her website , www.zeeluv.com <http://www.zeeluv.com> , chants and sings and plays the harmonium in a kirtan band for the bliss of it and makes a mean raw vegan chocolate cupcake.
Jo has worked in the health & fitness industry for 20 years, is a 500 E-RYT Certified Yoga Teacher, a Certified Yoga Therapist, & is part of the LifePower Yoga Teacher Training faculty. She is also a Peak Pilates Certified Trainer, holds 3 cycling certifications, 2 personal training certifications, & a degree in Exercise Science. Currently, Jo is a fitness consultant for Easton/Bell Sports & is the National Spokesperson for Savasa, Easton/Bell's new line of mind/body products. She has appeared in 7 Instructor Training videos, stars in 5 Savasa Yoga & Pilates Consumer Videos & 2 Savasa Heart Rate Training Videos.
Dr. Will Tuttle, educator, author, pianist, and composer, has lectured and performed widely throughout North America and Europe. He is the author of the #1 Amazon best-selling book The World Peace Diet and is a recipient of The Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award.
The creator of the online World Peace Diet Mastery Program and Facilitator Training Program, Dr. Tuttle has been traveling with his spouse Madeleine full-time for 16 years in their solar-powered “rolling home,” presenting over 150 lectures, retreats, workshops, and concerts per year through colleges and university groups, progressive churches, conferences, spiritual gatherings, and for yoga, meditation, vegetarian, environmental, peace, and social justice communities.
A peace activist and vegan for over 30 years, he is a Dharma Master in the Zen tradition, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, focused on educating intuition and altruism in adults. He has taught college courses in creativity, humanities, mythology, religion, and philosophy, and has created 7 CD albums of original piano music. He is noted for his clear and inspiring presentations, which often include evocative animal paintings by Madeleine, a visionary artist from Switzerland.
Diana is a teacher, storyteller, healer and soul activist. She has dedicated her life to guiding people toward the path of their soul. She is very grateful that her first ever student showed up with some of the strongest resistance she's ever seen. Through understanding bound with grace, she committed to never giving up on that one. Trusting the soul's course, even when that path begins with multiple layers of fear, pain and deeply buried emotions leads to profound healing. Today, Diana can live to tell that freedom of the soul is possible, because that first student is herself.
Diana's incredible ability to connect to all people and her deep commitment to understanding the human condition makes it possible for her students to truly see themselves. She believes that having the courage to feel and locate your fears in your body leads to an understanding of them. From this perspective of acceptance, you gain the ability to begin a life that isn't run by your past, old beliefs, stories and ego identifications. Diana is a teacher that is committed to seeing and loving each student where they are, right now. Truth would never reject anyone or judge anyone’s reality. That's the commitment. She is willing to meet people at that very real place and to invite them on the powerful journey to create their destinies. She sees the infinite potential of each student and teaches intuitively to each class, inspiring expression of that potential, invoking everything from the playful to the divine. All of her classes are an inimitable creation. She uses body, breath, heartfelt words and stories as tools to remove emotional and mental blocks, as a prayer that each person may remember they are free. Because that freedom is what we were made for.
Mark Whitwell has enjoyed a life long relationship with the teachings of Professor T. Krishnamacharya "the teacher of the teachers," notably BKS Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois and T.K.V. Desikachar. Having studied since 1973 in the home of Krishnamacharya Mark is committed to communicating the timeless yoga principals with compassion and clarity.
Yoga is every person’s direct intimacy with reality, which is an entirely abundant, regenerating and nurturing power. This is yoga from the heart for the heart. It is made clear in TKV Desikachar's book The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice to which Mark contributed and edited. Mark's book is Yoga of Heart: The Healing Power of Intimate Connection (Lantern Books) Soon to be released his new book is: The Promise of Love Sex and Intimacy. How a Simple Breathing Practice Will Change Your Life Forever www.thepromise.com
Mark lives in Los Angeles and Fiji. He travels throughout the world teaching the timeless principles of ancient Yoga wisdom. In 1996 Mark established The Heart of Yoga Association a non-profit foundation that provides yoga education around the world. Having studied with many known and unknown yoga masters, Mark is most interested in revealing actual yoga and how each person effectively practices. www.heartofyoga.com
