Since 2000 I have been teaching regular Iyengar yoga classes in the Berkeley community. I grew my work in the therapeutic vein, primarily in clinical settings, with a team of professionals that invited me to develop a yoga program (within a SF Dept of Public Health mental health clinic; and at Harborside Health Center, Oakland). From this direct client experience, I organized workshops in studios like Brentwood Yoga, Diablo Yoga in Danville, and Emeryville Health and Wellness Center. These were either around Repetitive Stress Injuries, or more recently on Trauma Recovery.
At the same time, I want to highlight my intermediate yoga teaching and workshops to suggest the quality of energetic sequencing which make challenging poses available. I have developed a workshop on Lotus pose (padmasana), which is rarely taught in classes, but of interest to many meditators and flexible students. I also have a passion and deep caring caution to bring students into regular practice of Inversions (Sarvangasana cycle, Sirsasana, Pincha Mayurasana, and Adho Mukha Vrksasana). My longest running class is a group which I brought to the Yoga Room in 2011 from the Albany YMCA, Saturday 8am. Each week we refine one or 2 of these Inversions. Many of the class were beginners when we first started, and I am grateful and often amazed at how far they have come.
For the past 8 years, I have also taught a class at the North Oakland Senior Center. This group only does preparation work for inversions!
Finally – I would like to mention yoga study that I have engaged outside of the Iyengar sphere. Three teachers in particular have had a great influence on me. The poetics and esoteric anatomy of Tias Little looms largest, and my study with him includes a silent retreat, the Anatomy of the Prana Vayus, and the Anatomy of the Chakras. I studied Yin yoga with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. And for over 3 years, I was initiated into Tantric studies with Dharmaniti Saraswati.