AMY BETH TRECIOKAS
Amy first started Yoga at a suburban Boston high school where Sivananda yoga was offered as a gym elective. She thought headstand was fun and that shavasana was a great time for a nap. She was lucky enough also to study the Bhagavad Gita in her high school English class.

She restarted her yoga studies as an adult in 1993 at the Evanston Athletic Club with Kim Schwartz of the Temple of Kriya Yoga. He taught an Iyengar-based yoga with a very loving and gentle style. Kim had a profound effect on Amy’s teaching technique. After a couple of years of study with Kim, he moved to Albuquerque, NM.

Amy then studied with Suddha Weixler of Chicago Yoga Center (formerly N.U. Yoga). Suddha introduced Amy to Ashtanga Yoga, and told her about the founder of the Ashtanga Yoga system, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Guruji). Amy went to Mysore, Indiai for the first time in December 1996, for the first of many visits to see Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson, Sharath Rangaswamy at the yoga shala in Mysore. Amy also studied with Manju Jois, Guruji’s son, whil he was teaching with Guruji while Sharath was in Chile. Amy returned numerous times to Mysore, India over the next several years, spending over 2 years total in Mysore. In 1999, she was granted authorization to teach Ashtanga Yoga. She also learned to lead kirtan while in India.

On July 8, 2003 Amy founded Yoga Now Edgwater where she taught the traditional method of Ashtanga Yoga (Mysore-style) as well as Yoga Basics classes, and led her kirtan band, Amy and the Ananda Bliss Tribe. Yoga Now NORTH continued to grow each year, so that expansion was needed.

On March 25, 2006, Amy founded Yoga Now Gold Coast, an all eco-friendly studio with earthen clay plasters on the walls, bamboo flooring in the yoga rooms, organic wool carpets in the massage rooms. All the appliances are enrgy-star efficient and the walls are insulated with recycled blue jeans. There is a lighted, heated bench made of sand, clay and straw (cob) in the lobby, and trees made of cob on the walls. Yoga Now gold Coast also has upscale amenities such as a sauna and steam room and 2 massage rooms. Yoga Now Gold Coast employs the best yoga teachers in the city in each discipline and it is an earthen oasis away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Come visit us soon!

AINE ROCK
Check back for Bio soon.

Cara Jepsen
Cara Jepsen began studying yoga after her mother died and believes that regular practice can help people weather difficult times with dignity and grace. She's been teaching yoga since 1998.

Since 2002 she's spent eight months studying in Mysore, South India with the living source of ashtanga vinyasa yoga, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and his grandson, Sharath Rangaswamy (the former singled her out as a "bad lady" only twice). She has also spent ten weeks with them in New York City.

She has completed teacher trainings with Suddha Weixler and Manju Jois; her other primary teacher is Lino Miele. She's also studied with Dena Kingsberg, Annie Pace, Karen Haberman, Eddie Stern, Tim Miller, David Swenson, and David Roche; her articles about these experiences can be accessed via Yoga Chicago website, www.yogachicago.com. Yoga Chicago is also where her restaurant reviews, India diaries and her cartoon "On the Mat" appear.

For more information visit: my website at www.carajepsen.com.

Carl Gartner
5Rhythms Certified Teacher, began his journey into the 5Rhythms Movement Practice in 1994. He was introduced to the work by a friend, Karyn Tonkinson, who would later become his wife. Carl began to study with Karyn and continues to do so. He has also attended workshops offered in Chicago, California, New York and Canada with Gabrielle and Faculty of her International Organization – The Moving Center School.

In 2003, Carl became a co-founder of Mandala – Center for Transformational Arts, a non-for-profit organization, that focuses on the work of the 5Rhythms and also is the Midwest base for Workshops offered by Gabrielle Roth and her faculty.

In 2004, Carl was invited into the 5Rhythms Teachers program by Gabrielle. Carl was certified in April of 2005 to offer this wonderful practice to the world. He is the proud parent of Jasper and Chloe, two adorable little ones --- white Maltese puppies.

For more information visit: www.mandala-cfta.org

JESSICA GOLDSMITH
Jessica is originally from New York City but has been living comfortably and at a more relaxed pace in Chicago for the last 10 years. She came to the Midwest to study art and dance at Beloit College, and discovered yoga shortly after graduating. Her first teacher was kind, and encouraging, and though Jessica can’t remember her name, it was this teacher that first inspired her to develop a yoga practice. After moving to Chicago in 1999, Jessica found the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Edgewater and so began her yoga journey. She completed her Teacher Training Certification in 2004 at the Sivananda Ashram in Val Morin, Canada. There Jessica met, trained, and befriended many amazing yogis from all over the world. This was a very humbling experience for her and she began to greater realize how yoga is a unifier.

She has since then been teaching yoga on the side for many years, taking classes and participating in workshops and trainings whenever possible. Her humble yoga beginnings are rooted in Sivananda, but she enjoys and incorporates various others styles of yoga in her practice and classes. She encourages her students to be open and free to discover their best self, and to be comfortable in their own skin. She has been teaching yoga to adults, children and families at The Old Town School of Folk Music for many years and has loved developing herself as a teacher in the diverse and richly creative venue. She is a kind and encouraging teacher, and enjoys bringing a light mood to her classes. Jessica follows a playful and creative spirit; one that she feels is nourished by spending time with children.

Yoga has been in the background of Jessica’s life for a long time, but she more recently has begun to put her yoga practice and teaching in the foreground. She has desired to be part of a yoga community where she could share her passion of yoga with a diverse group. She is very delighted to have joined Yoga Now and looks forward to practicing and growing with her peers.

JENI O'KEEFE
Jeni O’Keefe has been practicing yoga since 1998, initially to supplement the many miles she logged as long-distance runner. She continued to practice yoga to serve as a stress release throughout her graduate studies. Jeni entered a yoga instructor training program to deepen her own yoga practice and discovered her true passion of sharing and enjoying yoga with others. She believes in practicing yoga to learn to slow down and appreciate the small joys of everyday life. Jeni is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) through Yoga Alliance and completed her yoga instructor certification through the Global Yoga and Wellness Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Brian Pace
Brian Pace has been practicing yoga for over 15 years. He came to yoga because of a chronic neck problem and stayed because yoga gives him the excuse to be barefoot every day. Through the years he has studied a number of styles including Desikachar, Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Kundalini Yoga. He now focuses almost exclusively on Iyengar and Kundalini Yoga. He received his teacher's certification through Spirit Rising Yoga in Chicago.

Brian has an empathic style of teaching: gently, but firmly encouraging his students to challenge and expand themselves. His style is also informed by his study of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practices. In his classes he stresses the importance of being in the moment and opening to the higher self through body and energy awareness. The ultimate goal for each class is to achieve a deeply meditative connection with the Self.

Dearbhla Kelly
Dearbhla Kelly left Dublin, Ireland, in 2001 to pursue a Ph.D.in philosophy in Chicago. She began her practice of yoga 11 years ago while living in Amsterdam.

A dedicated student of Ana Forrest, Dearbhla also gives significant time to service and reflection in the ashrams and centers of the Sivananda lineage.

The yoga she loves cultivates compassion, radiates calm, and celebrates play, and her teaching hopes to inspire these qualities in others. She also finds great joy in the heart-opening chanting practice known as kirtan.

Currently, Dearbhla is maintaining a committed teaching schedule and personal practice while continuing work on her dissertation. Her studies of both Yoga and Western philosophy give balance and nuance to her teaching style.

Katy Schaffer
Katy started practicing yoga five years ago at NU Yoga (now Chicago Yoga Center). She was drawn to yoga because of a marathon running injury that conventional medicine would not heal. Just a month after beginning yoga, the injury was gone and Katy was hooked on Ashtanga. Katy instantly fell in love with the disciplined Ashtanga practice and slowly transitioned from a daily running regimen into a daily yoga practice.

In January 2004, Katy gave up her corporate chemical engineering job to take the year off to travel, volunteer, and deepen her yoga practice. While traveling throughout SE Asia, Katy studied with Paul Dallaghan in Koh Samui and was inspired by his dedication and in-depth knowledge of the Ashtanga System. After spending 3 months in Nepal, Katy traveled to Mysore, India to spend 6 weeks studying with Pattabhi Jois (Guruji) and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy. While studying in India, Guruji often asked Katy if she knew Amy Beth Treciokas in Chicago. He obviously had a fondness towards her and Katy decided to seek out Amy upon her return to Chicago.

After returning to the United States, Katy began studying at Yoga Now with Amy Beth Treciokas and continues to teach and study under Amy’s guidance. Katy returned to Thailand in October, 2005 to attend Paul Dallaghan’s intensive 5 week teacher training which intensified her interest in prayanama, the study of anatomy, and yogic philosophy. Katy has committed her life to teaching and sharing her passion for Ashtanga while strengthening and deepening her own practice.

JONATHAN MEYER
Jonathan's somatic therapy combines aspects of massage, physical therapy, energy work, and movement education. A typical session would involve some hands-on work and some movement facilitation. Somatic therapy is a broad and flexible approach readily adaptable to the specific needs of the client. Client and therapist work together to determine the best approach to the meet the client's needs. It can offer massage and relaxation, pain and stress reduction, recovery from injury or surgery, and overcoming difficulties with organs, nerves, or endocrine glands. It is a powerful approach for addressing trauma and psycho-somatic issues. It provides valuable tools for growth in physical practices such as yoga, dance, acting, and sports.

Somatic therapy also works with developmental movement and reflexes: the basic physiological patterns and responses an infant is engaged with in order to develop complex adult coordination. This can be valuable for infants with developmental challenges and for parents seeking to better understand their infant's developmental arc and help facilitate this journey.

Jonathan Meyer has a certificate in Somatic Movement Education (The School for Body-Mind Centering) and is a graduate of the Carolina School of Massage Therapy. He holds a BA in dance from UNC Greensboro. Over the last 20 years, he has studied a wide range of movement forms and healing modalities, including aikido, taiji, capoeira, butoh, yoga, contemporary dance, gymnastics, meditation, healing touch, and authentic movement. His work is particularly informed by Body-Mind Centering (BMC). For more on BMC, visit www.bodymindcentering.com).
Jonathan is Artistic Director of Khecari, a non-profit contemporary dance company (www.khecari.org).

Lynn Mutchler
The way I see it, whether we intend on it or not, at some point or another, yoga finds us...as much as we seek Yoga...

On The Mat…
I spent about 5 years, exploring in depth, many types of Hatha Yoga like Bikram, Kundalini, Anusara & Iyengar, and gathered many valuable tools along the way from teachers like Vinnie Hunihan, Claire Mark & Tom Quinn. I was gradually drawn to Ashtanga Yoga, as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. I remember the first year not being able to even explain why. It is not that I “enjoyed” it SO much more than other disciplines. It is not that I was GOOD at it either, (which certainly was not the case!) But I liked the concept of “JUST DO IT”. 99% Practice 1% Theory. This appealed to me greatly. It was from this place that I found Paul Dallaghan, a remarkable teacher based in Thailand. For the past three years I have returned over and over again to deepen my understanding, & develop my practice under his guidance. Last year I spent 2 months in Mysore, India studying with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Directly through this set series of postures I have learned to practice, I have learned to focus, and I have learned to surrender to the teachings. In the past few years alone I have seen my own practice, develop to levels I couldn’t have fathomed when I started all this and I am truly grateful. In my gratitude I offer my experience.

Off the Mat…
I grew up a swimmer, swimming competitively for 8 of my formative years. I have found a career working in various aspects of Film Production for the past 12 years now and counting. There was a point early on in my yoga journey where I thought in order to go any further, I’d need to quit my job since it is TOO stressful, too not yoga. What actually happened was that through a dedicated yoga practice I learned how to appreciate my job more, and as a result work more efficiently. Through detachment, my job became much less stressful, and I became far more confidant in my own abilities. I have learned that yoga doesn’t ask us to “quit” anything. We just naturally re-prioritize as we go along.

Sarah Cruze
Sarah Cruze has been practicing yoga since 2003. Always a conscious athlete, Sarah decided to undertake a teacher training course primarily for her own practice while attending school. During the certification, Sarah found her calling. Sarah is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) through Yoga Alliance and received her instructor certification in 2006 at Corepower Yoga in San Diego, California. Recently moving to Chicago in the spring of 2007, Sarah has been teaching community class at Yoga Now throughout the summer and has just began to guide a Vinyasa flow on Thursday evenings. Apart from yoga, Sarah enjoys eating naturally, nature hikes, traveling, world music, mastering new skills, reading, meeting people from all walks of life. In class, Sarah likes to set a comfortable, peaceful and encouraging space to practice asana. One aspect of yoga Sarah particularly resonates with, is the non-competitive, non-judgmental philosophy and implements this in her instruction. Sarah believes the only thing you need to practice yoga is a flexible mind and the body will come in time.

Sarah’s intention for this year is to build community and share it through her classes, communication with others and spread enthusiasm to the expansion of consciousness on this planet.

AHARONA SHACKMAN
Aharona has been practicing Ashtanga yoga under the guidance of Nancy Gilgoff since 2003. Nancy was one of the first Westerners to learn the method of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, and to bring that tradition home to the West; and Aharona teaches in the traditional, hands-on style that Nancy inherited from her close connection with Pattabhi Jois.

Originally Aharona began a daily practice of Ashtanga simply as a means of keeping herself in shape for her greatest passion (and first spiritual practice), West African dance. Ashtanga particularly appealed to her as a vigorous practice, as a traditional system, and as a set series conducive to home practice. It wasn’t long before yoga became much more than a way to keep fit, and after a year of practicing mostly on her own, a few months after meeting Nancy at one of her workshops, Aharona traveled to Maui to live and study with Nancy Gilgoff. There she learned the intermediate series, and she soon found that all the back-bending in this series finally cured the chronic back pain that she had been dealing with over the preceding four years. Already she felt inspired to someday teach and share this healing practice, and in the spring of 2004 she attended Nancy’s Primary Series Adjustment Clinic.

Seeking further explorations into the traditions and philosophies behind her practice of asana, pranayama, and meditation, in 2005 Aharona completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at the Mount Madonna Center in California, where she was gratefully blessed with the teachings and presence of Baba Hari Dass. She is also grateful to have been able to attend workshops led by both the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his son Manju Jois. Most of all she is grateful for the opportunity to have her practice continue to deepen under the loving guidance of Nancy and her assistant Casie Newhouse as she has continued to make extended trips to Maui.

Aharona is also a massage therapist and a Reiki practitioner, and she feels that her background in massage now informs her understanding of her students’ bodies as well as her hands-on adjustments. Besides yoga, dance, and bodywork, Aharona’s other main practices include writing and dietary cleansing. She is currently finishing off her first book, a memoir about her time in West Africa. Her next book concerns her experiences with dietary cleansing, which she has been researching and experimenting with for over ten years, during that time having passed back and forth through periods of vegetarianism, veganism, whole foods, raw foods, “mucusless” diet, fasting, fruitarianism, liquitarianism, and “living on light.” She is passionate about the transformative power of dietary cleansing and is also available for counseling on these matters. Aharona firmly believes in the power of maintaining a yoga practice and a clean diet, as well as a joyous pursuit of right livelihood, to achieve an optimum state of health.

Niema Wilson
Niema Wilson is so pleased to be joining the YogaNow family. She has been teaching yoga for over a year, and practicing for four. She received her Hatha Yoga teacher training and certification from The Temple of Kriya Yoga under William Hunt and Mary Samanos, and since then has taught at many studios throughout the city. Her style is a combination of precise, classical alignment and breath awareness with blissful, explorative flow and earthy spirituality. She creates a nurturing, playful, and transformative environment for self-evolution. Niema is also an actor (BFA from Roosevelt University), singer (jazz and kirtan), painter, dancer, lover, and beautifier. She is cultivating the idea that the Universe is constantly conspiring to shower us with blessings, and yoga helps us let go of the umbrella. Jai Ma!

Patricia Hyland
My students experience and growth is my sole focus. I believe and encourage the study of our strengths and weaknesses carefully with joy. Through self-practice, great teachers, and motherhood my teaching and adjusting techniquies have matured. My understanding of the benefit of yoga is clear. Yoga is the ultimate healer without a doubt in my heart. My teaching began in college 20 years ago. I have completed teacher trainings with Suddha Weixler, Chicago Yoga Center and Advanced Forrest Training with Anna Forrest and Johnathan Bowry. I have a private labour assisting and lactation consulting practice since 1991. I am the honored mother of Elias (14), Henry (10), and Isaak Altenberg (6).

Yoli Maya Yeh
Yoli Maya Yeh (Ma Kurukulla Prajna) is a yogini of the Buddhist Aghora Nath order. A certified Yoga Therapist and Hatha Yoga practitioner from the age of five, Yoli has lived in India for seven years studying Buddhism, yoga, language, and philosophy in the unique cultural lineages of the Himalayan mountains and Bengal. A yoga teacher since 1999, Yoli Ma has brought innovative yoga programs to the corporate sector, children with special needs, seniors, teens, universities, and schools. Yoli believes in walking the path of wisdom and compassion by balancing the inner and outer natures, in order for harmony to emerge.

Tracy Wozniak
Tracy believes that through the practice of yoga, we are open to express the divine qualities that are found within each of us. She allows her students to be aware and comfortable to express their inner radiance through prana, the breath or life force, and encourages them to shine out their innate beauty through their poses. By accepting who we are in the present, we are able to be more fulfilled with the joy of offering our hearts and joining the celebration of life through the mind, body and spirit as one. Her yoga teaching is influenced greatly by Anusara, yet she integrates many benefits from other styles as well, but it was through her own personal birthing experiences that led her to choose a specialty in teaching prenatal yoga. She is also a certified HypnoBirthing® childbirth educator in which she teaches parents relaxation and incorporates the numerous benefits of yoga to bring about a safer, easier and more comfortable birth.

Karyn Gartner
5Rhythms Certified Teacher has been studying with Gabrielle Roth, creator of the 5Rhythms Practice since 1990. Along with Gabrielle, she has also studied and continues to study with core faculty of Gabrielle Roth’s International Institute, The Moving Center School in Chicago, New York, California and Canada. In 1994, Karyn was invited into the 5Rhythms Teachers Program. She was certified as a 5Rhythms Teacher in 1996 making her the first 5Rhythms Teacher in the Midwest.

Karyn also in the Founder of Mandala – Center for Transformational Arts, a non-for-profit organization, that focuses on the work of the 5Rhythms and also is the Midwest base for Workshops offered by Gabrielle Roth and her faculty. She has also produced other workshops in the Healing Arts at Mandala.

She is very honored to be offering 5Rhythms in the Midwest. She also is the proud parent of Jasper and Chloe, two adorable little ones --- white Maltese puppies.

For more information visit: www.mandala-cfta.org

Terry Wohl
My intention is to assist people in connecting with their Divine Sacred Essence and Experience a lasting sense of wholeness within themselves and with all aspects of their lives. I am a Healer, published Author and Facilitator. I have been teaching alternative healing classes since 1990. I hold a Doctorate of Divinity, am a member of AOBTA and a graduate of numerous healing and I am also a master practitioner of Yuen Energetics and MariEl Healing and certified Hendricks Body-Mind Vibrance Coach. I have also been a certified Skydancing Tantra teacher since 1996. My partner Victor and I hold monthly Sacred Saturday Evenings Healing Circle at Yoga Now on the second Saturday of each month, where we facilitate people accessing and celebrating their exquisite divine loving essence. Blessings,
Terry Wohl

Website: www.terrywohl.com
Email: terrywohl@aol.com

Helen Lee
Helen is a Chicago native but flew away to the island of Oahu to study dance and theatre at University of Hawaii. Upon her return to the Windy City, she studied yoga as way to compliment her dance studies only to find herself in more yoga classes than dance classes. After a few years of practicing various styles of yoga, she finally decided to study with Suddha Weixler at Chicago Yoga Center and received her teaching certification.

Helen loves the healing power of yoga and encourages student to apply simple elements of yoga into their daily lives like "opening up the heart", "building a foundation" or "being present". She finds joy in exploring and connecting the possibilities of what yoga and dance movements can bring together. She believes while technique is important, beauty is more than technique. She hopes that students will walk away from her class feeling lighter, more energized and possibly even having learned something new about themselves.

Helen also dances for The Humans and Clinard Dance Theatre and is the Artistic Director of Momentum Sensorium. In her spare time, Helen enjoys drinking a variety of tasty beverages, trying to sing like a bird, and wiggling her toes.

Liza Ferguson
I am a 2002 graduate of Moksha's Teacher Training Program. I completed David Swenson's Primary Series Teacher Training and his Second Series Intensive. I am also certified through Forrest Method Advanced Teacher Training, and have worked with a number of senior teachers including Duncan Wong, Andre Lappe, Tim Miller and others. I hold a black belt in Shotokan karate, and teach cycling, advanced sports training, stability and BOSU balls, and am a certified Personal Trainer specializing in rehabilitating athletes from sports related injuries. I am a Certified Child Exercise Specialist, and hold certifications in stability ball training, BOSU, sports training, kick boxing and mat pilates. I teach the Yoga for Athletes class at Niyama, and also lead yoga classes throughout the North Shore.

Gwen Mihaljevich
Gwen is a Chicago based yoga instructor helping students discover their authentic self, and develop a feeling connection to body and emotions through Forrest yoga.

Forrest Yoga strengthens and centers you as you connect to your core. Heat, deep breathing and vigorous sequences sweat out toxins while long holds in a series of poses help flush, oxygenate, and rejuvenate every cell.

Forrest Yoga does not require strength or flexibility; it only requires that you bring a willingness to learn how to feel authentically and respond honestly, thereby allowing you to feel fully the spectrum of human emotions. With practice, you will begin to trust your innate intelligence, investigate your edges, and begin a healing path toward more fully integrated senses and experiences.

After years of running, weight lifting, karate, and biking, Gwen has turned to practicing Forrest yoga and has completed over 500 hours of teacher training with Ana Forrest (qualifying her to teach beginners to intermediate). Gwen brings compassion and strength to her students' physical and emotional injuries building upon her skills as a music therapist. Interested in each student's growth, she challenges you to overcome your personal barriers that keep you dulled or numb as you discover a more energetic being, a freer self, and a more joyful connection to life.

Erin Walsh-Rodriguez
Erin Walsh Rodriguez, RYT is a certified Viniyoga Teacher through American Viniyoga Institute (500 hours) having studied with Gary Kraftsow since1999. Erin teaches safe and effective group classes as well as develops personalized practices for individuals and an introduction to Yoga Philosophy.

Through AVI, Erin continues to learn and grow, developing her skills in Yoga Therapy. She is a member of Yoga Alliance (500) and the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

Erin spent two weeks studying at KYM (Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram) in Chennai, India to further her knowledge and experience. The curriculum included Yoga Therapy, Vedic Chanting, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and Yoga Theory in addition to Asana, Pranayama and Meditation classes. Erin thanks her husband Francisco for all his support.

Erin also owns a company, Urth Gurl, with her sister Therese. They specially blend therapeutic organic essential oils to achieve health, balance, and deep meditation, featuring a chakra collection.

For more information visit: www.urthgurl.com and www.chakrayoga.net

Email me at: erin@chakrayoga.net

Suzanne Clores
Suzanne Clores discovered yoga in 1997 while she was living in New York and writing her book, "Memoirs of a Spiritual Outsider" (Conari, 2000). Once she ventured into the Jivamukti Yoga Center, she fell in love with the dance-like yoga sequences and the firey mantras of Sharon Gannon and David Life. Eventually she was drawn to study traditional Mysore Ashtanga at a small shala in Chinatown, the only place in Manhattan where she could experience being quiet and internal. It wasn't until Suzanne left New York to attend graduate school in Arizona's Sonoran desert that she found Anusara yoga. Suzanne fell in love with the yoga community of Tucson, and revolutionized her practice with Anusara's focus on opening the heart to the current of grace. She is currently a student of John Friend and the many instructors who celebrate the same principles. Now in Chicago, Suzanne continues to write about spirituality and holistic lifestyle, among other subjects, while she teaches yoga. She is grateful to have the opportunity to live a double life as both writer and yogi. Suzanne is continuously uplifted by the spirit of fun in Anusara, and hopes to spread that quality of enjoyment to all her students.

Judith Sample
Judith Sample aka: Rebecca Giggle-Hawk received her Laughter Yoga Leader Certification from The American School of Laughter Yoga. A friend recommended laughter Yoga to her because she is a joyful spirit who laughs easily and often. She is a Licensed Massage Therapist, holds a black belt in Aikido, is a Taiko drummer and Drum Circle Facilitator and has been trained in Science of Mind spirituality. She also has Inprov training from Second City. An artist and performer, her mission in life is to be a catalyst for others to find the joy and creativity within them.

Laura Landecker
Laura Landecker tried yoga to help heal a back injury. She worked with many different styles of yoga but it wasn't until she did a workshop with Ana Forrest and starting taking Forrest classes, that her physical injury began to finally heal. She was determined to carry that message to others and became a certified Forrest Yoga instructor. Her personal experience with injuries and diseases, along with her deeply caring nature, make her an assest to students needing extra care in their yoga practice."

LIBBY GALIN

Libby Galin began her study of yoga six years ago while attending graduate school at Northwestern University. What was at one time a weekly class at the rec center developed into a more regular, devoted part of Libby’s life until 2007, when she enroll in the Hatha and Pre-Natal Yoga training program with Rhonda Kantor and the Global Yoga and Wellness Center. She is certified through the Yoga Alliance at the 200 level. Libby emphasizes self-love and body awareness in her classes. Libby was a track, cross-country and marathon runner for 15 years before finding yoga. She has found that yoga has made her feel better mentally and physically than any other type of activity and is eager to share her love of the practice with others. Libby is excited to teach the joy, balance and peace that can be brought to any life though yoga and believes that yoga is for everybody and can fit into different lifestyles in small or large ways. She is eager to share her teaching and practice at Yoganow.

Laura Pascow
Laura Pascow, MSW, has her Master's degree in Social Work and has been practicing yoga for 14 years. Healing and working with mind-body dualities and alternative healing is a family matter for Laura. Her mother is a Reiki master and reflexologist. Her brother is a personal trainer and energy healer, as well as currently studying to become a Thai Massage therapist. Laura has trained with yoga masters, Ana Forrest, Tias Little, and YogaKids founder, Marsha Wenig. As a yogi and social worker, Laura works with the mind-body-self connection by embracing modalities both mainstream and not. Her experience has been with group and individual therapy as well as therapeutic yoga. Her approach to yoga is one of healing and growth. Laura emphasizes exploring alignment on and off the yoga mat to discover where the individuals are holding their tension and pain. Working with her clients to help them to understand their bodies, asansa (poses) are adapted to respond to the individual's needs. Laura's goal in working with her clients is to help them to thrive-physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Mary Herman
Bio coming soon. Please check back.

Mark Lerro
Certified Yoga instructor /Thai Yoga Therapist
Mark Lerro began his practice in Seattle, Washington before moving to Chicago and finding deeper immersion into the yoga disciplines and community that the change in cities offered. Working and training for the past five years with many mental, physical, and spiritual disciplines has opened up Mark's nurturing qualities and his power to inspire others. Elements of Martial arts, Thai Yoga massage, sound therapy, fire ritual, and Zen meditation can be experienced in his classes.

Fire Arts Instructor
Mark Combines his dedicated practice of yoga with the development of his Fire Arts, integrating two ancient practices into a beautiful and spiritual pursuit. Agni, the yogic term for the fire element , governs Marks personal yoga practice and performances. He explains that fire, as a combustive force, is one that burns within you, one that moves you, and then one that becomes a part of your natural flow. Nourished by the same oxygen, fire and practitioner breathe and move as one. It is this sacred connection to fire and its symbolic representation as an initiation and rebirthing process that inspire Mark to teach others the beautiful and powerful Fire Arts.

For more information visit: my website

Miguel Elliott
A Northern California native, Miguel began his Yogic journey while practicing with his Grandfather, long before he even knew what yoga was. Inversions were always his favorite pose, giving him opportunities to see the world from an altered view early on. Growing up on a country farm, Miguel enjoyed his long summer days away by trying to dig a hole clear down to China, which proved to be impossible, but discovered he could dig tunnels, thus beginning his passion for natural building. Upon completion of his studies in psychology and music at Humboldt State, in the heart of the Redwoods, Miguel taught environmental education in a program he helped develop, and discovered his teacher within. He then helped his uncle build a straw bale house, which raised money for his trip to Thailand, a two week trip that turned into two years, where studied Thai massage, spent 5 months living in a Buddhist monastery, and another 5 months working as a councilor at the New Life Project for troubled youth, where he first taught yoga to the 80 teenage boys living there. Upon returning to America, he moved to Chicago, and instantly started teaching music to disabled, followed by running his own ceramic tile business, and getting certified to teach yoga at 8 limbs yoga studio. Meanwhile, he discovered his knack for cooking, and took on the position of cooking for spiritual retreats. Miguel followed a lead to Argentina to build a school out of sand, clay & straw (cob), where he spent nearly a year, refining his skills as a natural builder. It was in Argentina where he began his studies in Mayan astrology, and stayed at a Mayan community called the "Garden of Peace". He then returned to Thailand where he helped build an orphanage out of cob & adobe, and helped with the areas affected by the Tsunami, and spent more time practicing his massage work. Miguel has since started his own company, ChiCobCo, building cob benches, and recently completed the construction of Yoga Now Gold Coast, which has a cob dome, a heated cob bench, cob trees sculpted, and clay plasters. He is currently building the Butterfly Cafe featuring all natural materials, and teaches his own style of yoga, called "Lom Yoga". Lom, which was also his nickname in Thai means "Wind", and in English, is a type of fertile clay, suggesting that through being grounded & rooted, allows us to be free like the wind. He also teaches the Mayan Mudras, which are hand and body movements which align us with the 20 Mayan archetypes.

For more information visit: my website

Rich Logan
Rich Logan has traveled the world studying and teaching massage therapy and Yoga. He has been on faculty at the Chicago School of Massage therapy and The Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Rich has also been a guest speaker on Western massage techniques at the Auyurvedic College in Mysore, India. A student of Yoga for 10 years, Rich incorporates his knowledge of anatomy and physiology with a unique understanding of spirituality in the modern world. Rich has studied in the Forrest Yoga discipline as well as at the prestigious Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Madras, India. Rich's significant teachers have been Anna Forrest, Kim Shwartz, Tias Little and currently interns at the Yoga Circle under the tutelage of the enigmatic and brilliant Gabriel Halpern in the Iyengar tradition.

Brooks Hall
Brooks Hall has been practicing yoga since childhood, and has taught yoga since 2002. She feels that the practice feeds and enriches her life, by helping her to relax and accept the good that life offers. This summer (2008) she became a certified LifeForce yoga practitioner--this is yoga that meets the mood, especially to help alleviate anxiety and depression. She has also trained with certified Iyengar Yoga teacher, Gabriel Halpern since 2002, assisting in therapeutic yoga, general classes and workshops. And she is a certified yoga teacher by YogaView at 200 hours.

Jamie Klausing
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Matthew Wiley
Matthew Wiley has studied and practiced Traditional Tantra, Shamanism & Yoga for many years, in India and worldwide. For the past 8 years he has been teaching both publicly and privately on Yoga, Tantra, Shamanism, the core mechanics of Western Occultism & comparative religion. He holds a Yoga Shiromani (degree in Classical Yoga) & studied at Bihar School of Yoga, India.

Michelle Bullington
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Rachel Sledd
Rachel first began practicing yoga as a toddler, spending Sunday mornings in Yoga for Children class at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago. After years of studying Hatha and other forms of yoga, in 2003 Rachel began a daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga as a student of Noah and Kimberly Williams in Los Angeles. She has also studied Ashtanga Yoga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India, Eddie Stern, David Swenson and currently Amy Beth Treciokas here at YogaNow. As an instructor, Rachel places emphasis on Ujjayi Pranayama breathing as the primary means to develop mindfulness, proper alignment, and to facilitate physical safety and healing. Students are encouraged to practice with a balanced sense of ease and discipline, and to encounter challenges in their practice with an open heart and playful spirit.

Tonya Melendez
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Jennifer Enders
Jennifer started practicing yoga in 2001, searching for a mind body connection. It was through this exploration that inspired her to rethink and refocus her life. In 2005 she quit a career in finance in order to pursue and dedicate herself to her practice and to teach others. Her intention in teaching is to empower and to motivate students to their greatest potential not only on the mat, but more importantly, to take what they learn about themselves in yoga and incorporate it into their daily lives. She has studied and completed teacher training with Yoga Alliance certification from Paul Dallaghan in Thailand. She also has done teacher trainings with Tim Miller, Andrey Lappa, and has studied with Sri K Pattabhi Jois in the U.S. and India. Jennifer teaches classic Ashtanga and more contemporary Vinyasa Flow classes.

Julia RAE Antonick
Julia Rae Antonick is a dancer, choreographer, videographer and yoga teacher whose primary passion is the the language of the body. Finding true love in the movement of the body through space, she is a believer that ones anatomy holds the history and secrets of life and in order to begin existing in the constant rapture of being alive we must be curious about our skin while listening softly and humbly to the stories etched in our own physicality. Her yoga classes use the structure and fundamentals of classical hatha asana practice from both the vinyasa and Iyengar lineage while incorporating her various threads of knowledge from different somatic techniques such as Body Mind Centering, Laban Bartenieff, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Klien/Mahler Technique and Contact Improvisation.

Julia has been dancing since whe was five years old and continued to train in her Grandmother's dance studio throughout her childhood. She graduated from the Chicago Academy for the Arts with the Dance Department's Award of Excellence where she trained in Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, Art and Anatomy. While attending the Jacobs Pillow Modern Workshop and studying with Ralph Lemon, Meredith Monk and Randall Sanderson, she found a passion for Contemporary & Improvisational Dance and Yoga. She pursued these passions along with Balinese & Javanese Dance, Pilates, Laban Bartenieff Technique, Feldenkrais, Anatomy & Kinesiology and CI at CalArts where she earned her BFA for Dance on partial scholarship. It was here that she fell in love with Anatomy and also began playing in the hinges between words and movement, two-dimensional image and performance, and the crossroads between science and the arts.

Recently she has deepened her studies of Contact Improvisation and the UnderScore with Nancy Stark-Smith, wandered throughout Europe performing and researching dance, spent time in NYC at Om Yoga diving into a silent and personal yoga practice and at The Kitchen developing site specific performances. She returned to Chicago upon receiving a residency for dance choreography and videography at Links Hall. Julia completed her Yoga Teacher Training at Moksha Yoga Center in Chicago where she had the pleasure to study under such visiting practitioners as Tias Little, Mark Whitwell and Shanna Linn. She began apprenticeship with Gabriel Halpern with his yoga therapy workshops and gentle classes at the Yoga Circle and Asanas and More in early 2006 and continues to benefit from his knowledge. She recently received a grant from Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance to develop a yoga workshop that is free to the public which reveals different applications of yoga to the process of dance making and performance.

Julia feels completely invigorated and alive each time she shares a practice with her students and encourages a physical space of compassionate vigor with a balance between the science of anatomy and the poetics of emotion.

YUKTA GIRARD
Each of us is unique, yet each of us shares a common desire to enhance the quality of our life. My vision and purpose, is to provide this opportunity for you. I have studied and practiced yoga for eleven years and I know that it can be a powerful tool to help you feel good. That is why I teach yoga - because it makes us feel good.

My intention is for you to get to know one of the most important things on Earth, yourself. In meditation - we gather the energy of our senses to a center within. When we become deeply absorbed in the center it is called meditation. The practice of yoga fills our lives with inner tranquility and great joy. It is a prayer of the heart, it is a vision of the highest truth - it is honoring life - it is acknowledging the presence of divine energy in your life. It is the way to make life more meaningful. The fruit of yoga is immense.

ANNA SCHABOLD
Anna Schabold has studied Forrest Yoga since 2005 and is a graduate of the Forrest Yoga Teacher Training Foundation Course with Ana Forrest, fulfilling her 200-hour RYT certification. Born and raised in East Rogers Park, Yoga Now is nestled right in the neighborhood in which she grew up and now resides; as a new work study participant, Anna is thrilled to be able to share her passion, become more involved and give back to her community.

Forrest Yoga is a Hatha-Vinyasa-based system in which founder Ana Forrest has taken the ancient practice of yoga and applied it to the needs of today’s people and the stresses and ailments of modern society. The pillars of Forrest Yoga are breath, strength, integrity and spirit – through intense pose sequencing, taught in a safe learning environment, students are encouraged to find their truth, explore their edges, and go deeper in search of physical and emotional healing.

Anna sees the yoga mat as a place of sanctuary from the demands of everyday life, and emphasizes the benefits that can be found in taking time out of one’s day to connect to the breath. Drawing from the strength she discovered in herself through her practice, Anna left her corporate position in June 2008, and embarked on a journey of self-discovery. Realizing that her passion lay in sharing yoga with others, she decided to answer her calling to teach and became certified in April 2009. One of the greatest lessons Anna has learned through practice is the idea of balance: balance is not a state of complete stillness; rather, it is actively adjusting to each moment and to find equilibrium, something which is ever-changing. Applying this concept to life off the mat, Anna has found focus and calm in times of great change and seeming chaos.

In addition to being a yoga instructor, Anna is a martial artist, training at Degerberg Academy of Martial Arts in the Degerberg Blend System. She finds endless fascination with the body in motion, and Blend provides training in many cultures’ fighting styles, from English boxing, French savate, American kickboxing, Filipino and Thai martial arts, with a philosophy closely aligned with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Anna believes sharing the healing art of yoga with her martial arts community to supplement, as well as counter-act the rigors of training to be an important part of her mission as a teacher.

Compassionately holding safe space for joyful exploration, Anna empathically guides her students with a supportive voice, strong breath, and healing touch. She desires to lead others to breathe deeply with mindfulness, connecting to their bodies and creating awareness, and discover the gifts of yoga: quieting the mind, strengthening the body, and nourishing the spirit.

Her training off the mat includes a B.A. in International Studies from Loyola University Chicago, a Green Belt in the Degerberg Academy of Martial Arts International Blend System, and is currently studying Burmese Bando Yoga, comprised of Dhanda (which utilizes a staff), Longi (which utilizes a rope), & Letha Yoga (similar to Thai Yoga/Massage). Anna also teaches at Degerberg Academy. She holds great respect and love for her teachers and mentors, especially Ana Forrest and Allison English. Anna is honored to be able to walk this path and is excited to see what lies along the way; she looks forward to sharing Forrest Yoga and breathing with you!

RUBEE BLACKRIVER
Rubee Blackriver found yoga and his mystic path 15 years ago while on assignment in Africa as a dignitary protection specialist. After contracting malaria in West Africa, he was healed holistically by a village shaman with herbs, prayers, and drumming. That same shaman later named and initiated Rubee into the shamanic arts. Since being infused with the healing spirit, Rubee has created a unique practice combining several healing and expressive arts that honors his African and Native American ancestry. Rubee uses a holistic approach to protecting and securing the mind, body, and spirit. His work assisting and advising high profile clients has earned him the title of "Local Light!" by Chicago Sun Times celebrity columnist, Bill Zwecker.

DARREN SARDIGA
Darren Sardiga has been studying various philosophical and meditation practices primarily with Gelek Rimpoche and other Tibetan Buddhist teachers at Jewel Heart, a worldwide Tibetan Buddhist organization. He has also received teachings from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Llama Surya Das as well as spent time at Green Gulch Farm, a Zen Buddhist Monastery in California. He was raised Catholic and is familiar with Christianity and other world religions as well.

Darren believes that a daily meditation practice is essential to access a higher state of awareness. There are a variety of techniques and approaches that can be effective for someone, but the first obstacle is "laziness." We have to overcome "laziness" in the form of thinking we are to busy or spending to much time vegatating to make the time to sit on a daily basis. Five minutes a day can be life changing with good technique.

Darren works professionally as an investment advisor and teaches financial planning at Northwestern University. He has a unique gift of integrating business and personal finance with spirituality. A regular meditation practice has many benefits that manifest in our life on a mental, emotional and spiritual level. Understanding how to integrate spirituality in our life, especially at home and in the business world, our important parts of the path.

Join Darren for meditation practice and philosophical discussions offered as a FREE community class at YogaNow. Meditation has a variety of definitions and intent. This class will explore various aspects of meditation that is dependent on what the students wants to learn and practice in class. Most classes begin with "What do you want to learn in class today?" which sets the tone for the rest of the class.

GUY SPIRO
Guy Spiro has over 45 years of experience with meditation, beginning at 10 years old. Join him in a simple practice that reflects the essence of meditation that leads to the taming of the three lower bodies (physical, emotional and mental), realization of the I Am consciousness based in the silence, and consciously tapping in to the source of being. We begin to gather at 7pm for discussion and sharing. The meditation starts around 8pm. Love offerings accepted. Guy Spiro is the publisher of the Monthly Aspectarian magazine.

KAREN FAITH
Introduced to yoga in the Sivananda tradition, Karen Faith's practice began in 1998, like many, as a last-ditch effort to reduce pain, and surprised her with a glimpse of something far beyond her expectations. Over the last 10 years, Karen has been inspired by the movers and shakers of Sivananda, Anusara, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Ishta and Viniyoga, as well as the writings of Pema Chodron, Matthew Goulish and George Saunders. She has taken countless hours of study in movement practices such as Lecoq, Alexander, Feldenkrais and Cunningham techniques. Her work Any Body Home, a movement-based community ceremony, was presented in London in 2006 at Performance Studies international, along with A Fire Called Grace, a collective transubstantiation; she was honored that year as a Conquergood Scholar for her cross-disciplinary work with under-served communities.

An orchestral violist from age 15, Karen diverted a career in music in 2002 to pursue an expansive performance practice at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her BFA, with concentrations in ceremony, sound practices and movement-based work. It was there that she found a vernacular spirituality in art, with the guidance of artist (and yogini!) Lin Hixson. While an artist-in-residence at the Contemporary Artists' Center in 2005, she completed her yoga teacher's training with Jacqueline Heisel at Frog Lotus Yoga in North Adams, Massachusetts. Formerly of Ruby Room Yoga in Chicago, Karen teaches full-time in studios and spaces throughout the city. She continues her study of vibrational healing and energy-based practices with mentor, healer and master of good-witchery, Laryl Fett (MDiv).

Both Karen's yoga practice and performance work are a practice of awakening through collective presence. She teaches students to trust their inner knower, to start a conversation with their bodies, and to allow themselves to be surprised. Integrating the meditative and the vigorous, introspective and celebratory, Karen's classes are filled with music, laughter and the occasional epiphany.

JESSICA AIKEN, R.Y.T.
Jessica Aiken is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT), registered with The Yoga Alliance at the 200 hr level. She teaches Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga as well as assists Amy Beth Treciokas in the Yoga Now teacher trainings. She completed her 200 hour teacher training with Larry Schultz - founder/owner of It's Yoga (San Francisco, California). It's Yoga is a Ashtanga Vinyasa school dedicated to teaching Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Jessica also spent 2 1/2 months in India studying yoga, ayurveda, sanskrit, yogic philosophy, classical Indian dance and Henna art. Her primary study durning this trip was 7 weeks in Mysore studying Ashtanga at Pattabhi Jois's Ashtanga Yoga Research Center with her teacher Sharath Rangaswamy.

Jessica feels very lucky to be a part of the Yoga Now community and the Chicago yoga community as a whole where she draws her daily inspirations from many of her teachers: Amy Beth Treciokas, Patricia Hyland, Cara Jepsen, and Chris DeLizer.

Jessica regularly attends yoga workshops with senior teachers and some that have been the most influential to her teaching have been: Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty, David Swenson, Danny Paradise, Rolf and Marci Naujokat, and especially David Life and Sharon Gannon. In Jessica's yoga classes she emphasizes the breath as the primary tool for healing. Jessica believes that all of our tools for healing ourselves are already withen us waiting to be discovered and applied. The yoga practice is a ancient gift that we can utilize to uncover those tools to heal, calm, relax, and live a life of pure freedom and peace. Jessica's teaching style will creatively guide you through your practice to unlock new possiblilities. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi.

SILVITA DIAZ BROWN
M.Silvita Diaz Brown is a dancer, performer, choreographer, movement certificate instructor and Yoga teacher. Born in Puebla, Mexico, she started her movement career at the age of 13. She obtained her BFA degree in Dance from the Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP) in 2003 and was part of UDLA Danza Dance Company in Puebla, Mexico from 1997 to 2001 (directed by Sunny Savoy). Silvia studied physical theatre at Juniata College, PA under the direction of Andrew Belser and Don Rieder, where she performed European clowning and Comedia del Arte. In 2004, Silvia obtained her Hatha-Ashtanga Yoga certification and in June of 2008 she finished her MFA in Theatre and a Movement Teaching Diploma from York University in Toronto, Canada. She has performed and taught dance, theatre and Yoga throughout her career in Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada. Silvia recently moved to Chicago to continue her movement and artistic career. This June, she was a guest Movement teacher at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Silvia truly loves Yoga and the opportunity to share this wonderful practice with her students.

Alyson Green
A long distance runner for years, Alyson began practicing yoga 10 years ago at her gym in order to increase her flexibility. In 2003, after years of recurring back pain, a growing awareness of her scoliosis and eventually a stress fracture in her spine, it became clear that running was no longer an option. Alyson began to explore yoga more deeply at Yoga Studios around Chicago.

Alyson is a professional theatre actress, married to an actor and mother to a very active toddler … becoming a yoga instructor was not part of her plan. However, Alyson has experienced first hand the transformative powers of yoga, first through physical healing and second from a centeredness & a genuine sense of contentment that years of running never gave her. She truly believes that though she found yoga, it is more accurate to say that yoga found her. One day it just became clear that teaching yoga was the next logical step.

Alyson’s yoga foundation began with Ashtanga, which continues to be a large part of her own personal practice. She received her Teacher Training with Suddha Weixler of The Chicago Yoga Center studying Hatha traditions, the Iyengar approach, Ashtanga Vinyasa technique in addition to Anatomy, Physiology & basic yoga philosophies. She has also taken Yin Yoga workshops with Paul Grilley. She teaches weekly classes at Yoga Now in Edgewater and privately throughout Chicago.

“I strive to bring the joy that I have found in my own practice to my teaching. While I do stress proper physical alignment in the asanas (poses), I encourage students to strive for a playfulness of spirit & kindness towards themselves throughout the class. I believe that what happens on the yoga mat is mirrored in our actions and attitudes when off the yoga mat.”

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” ~author unknown.

Zachary Zube
Zachary Zube has a varied background in movement arts and practices. In 2001, he began dance classes and continued his training at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he earned his BFA in Music Theatre. He began his journey with yoga in 2006 by practicing Bikram, and then expanded his practice to include vinyasa, hatha, kundalini, and ashtanga styles. In August 2008, he completed the 200-hour teacher training at Yoga Now under the guidance of Amy Beth Treciokas. He has since taught a variety of styles including ashtanga, vinyasa, hatha flow, and basics at both studio locations of Yoga Now and two clubs in the Fitness Formula family. A survivor of childhood cancer, Zachary believes in the healing power of yoga as a way to strengthen the immune system, condition the body for toned and flexible muscles and a healthy aligned skeleton, and mostly to nurture a strong and radiant spirit. As an instructor, he believes in compassion and peacefulness as gentle energies to guide others on their journeys. As part of his interest in healthy living, Zach began reading about macrobiotics in the fall of 2007. Inspired, he turned to a mostly vegetarian diet influenced by the philosophy of the macrobiotic way. He enjoys cooking for himself as often as possible and values such time spent as therapeutic and relaxing. One day, he would like to attend the Kushi Institute to earn a certificate in macrobiotic cooking. Though he prides himself on healthy eating, rest assured there is always a container of ice cream in his freezer. Another growing interest of Zach's is the Feldenkrais Method, which is a movement based learning modality that helps increase body awareness and mental plasticity, among other things. He enjoys taking group classes and receiving individual body work as a part of his journey to better understand his body and mind.

Zach has also spent his time since 2006 as a professional actor, dancer, and choreographer in the Chicago area. He has been on stage with such theaters as Theatre at the Center, Marriott Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory, and Light Opera Works. Favorite shows include Cats, Hello Dolly, Grease, La Cage Aux Folles, and High School Musical. Pursuing his love of modern dance, he danced one season each with Li Chiao-Ping Dance in Madison, WI and Hedwig Dances of Chicago. He continues to find inspiration in classes and workshops led by Molly Shanahan (of Mad Shak Dance Company). His choreography has been seen at Steel Beam Theatre of St. Charles, Bailiwick Repertory, and Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL. In the spring of 2009, he proudly joined the Actors' Equity Association.

Teresa Espenas
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Lorelei Sturm
Lorelei is an actress who has been practicing yoga for the past 10 years. In 2007, she participated in the teacher training at Yogaview in Chicago and received her 200 hour certification. Her first yoga class was at an anusara studio in Seattle, and she continues to take many classes in the anusara style. However, her total yoga background is an eclectic mix of different schools of teaching from ashtanga to iyengar to kundalini. She loves yoga for how good it makes her feel, and strives to pass that good feeling along to her students.

George Maglares
George began practicing yoga in 2006 to manage stress from his investment banking career and adopt a healthier lifestyle. Yoga immediately captured his interest, and he knew he was hooked when he began spontaneously performing arm balances at cocktail parties. George credits yoga with helping him quit smoking and lose 40 pounds, and he has gained numerous other health and wellness benefits along the way.

His primary practice is rooted in the Ashtanga tradition, primarily under the loving guidance of Patricia Hyland and Amy Beth Treciokas, at YogaNow. However, he firmly believes in the merits of practicing other styles of yoga to introduce more variety and deepen one’s personal practice. George admires numerous other Chicago-area teachers, including Cara Jepsen, Wade Gotwals, and Allison English. He has studied with many senior teachers, including Nicki Doane and Eddie Modestini, David Swenson, Richard Freeman, Lino Miele, and Kino MacGregor, among others. He attempts as best he can to transfer this knowledge and information to those he works with.

George believes in putting forth serious effort in one’s asana practice while at the same time listening to the body and remembering not to take asana practice too seriously. They’re just poses, after all. Patanjali writes, “The mind can reach the state of yoga through practice and non-attachment” (1.12). You can take George’s Vinyasa 2-3 class at YogaNow’s Gold Coast location on Saturdays at 4 pm or an all-levels Vinyasa class on Thursdays at 7:30. He also frequently fills in for Ashtanga classes at both YogaNow locations.

George has a degree in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale and is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of Chicago. He is married and the proud father of a juicy baby boy.

Jen Shin
Jen Shin is a graduate of the Yoga Now Spring 2009 Teacher Training with Amy Beth Treciokas, and a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher. She's also a product of the work-study program at the NORTH studio, and remains active in our community. Jen also teaches yoga with Latin Street Dancing, Inc. Jen is particularly inspired by two styles: the grace and incredible discipline of Ashtanga, and the heart-centered discipline of Anusara. She is continually inspired by her teachers in these styles: Tomoko Horikawa, Amy Beth Treciokas, and Patricia Hyland.

Jen is an actor and has also trained in various movement disciplines, including Feldenkrais, Viewpoints, and Alexander technique. These disciplines have had a profound effect on her and helped her see how deeply the body holds memory. She strives to incorporate elements of these techniques in her classes as well.

Recently, Jen took Buddhist precepts and goes to the Zen Buddhist Temple, following the Korean Zen tradition. She received her dharma name, Noju, which means "a pillar standing by itself." Jen participates regularly at the temple, and has learned to incorporate both a meditation and chanting practice in her life. She strives to incorporate and meld this aspect of spirituality and mindfulness into every yoga practice she teaches.

Jen is also a recent practicioner of Mysore, and has struggled through each and every practice. She finds herself deeply humbled by the experience. It has made her feel like a beginner all over again. It was a reminder of the compassion, patience and diligence needed in practice. Jen hopes most importantly to share that--above everything--with her students. On that note, Jen has also recently discovered her favorite pose is Sivasana. A close second is Child's Pose. And her third is Legs Up the Wall Pose.

It has been almost exactly a year since Jen first started as a work-study at Yoga Now. Jen believes deeply in the profound healing and growth yoga can inspire and has experienced it firsthand. Jen is very happy and honored to be able to teach and share this with her students.

Monika Andreas
Monika Andreas, former owner of Lakeside Yoga Center, has traveled all over the world, over the past 33 yrs., to receive training from international teachers such as Angela Farmer and VictorVanKooten in Greece, Francois Raoult in France, BKS Iyengar in Chicago in 1975 &1989 in SanFrancisco, Ramanand Patel in India and Roger Eischens who taught at her yoga center as a guest teacher for six years.

Monika has developed a precise style of teaching, where alignment helps people with a "Seasoned Body", regain flexibility, balance and strength throughout their life.

MELISSA SIMO
Melissa Simo is interested in the inseparable duality of the mind and body and how it can enhance our freedom of expression. She loves exploring the depths of who we are, what moves us, and how we sense fulfillment and satisfaction.

She went to the School of The Art Institute of Chicago before falling in love with dance, the sensations of falling and flying, and the release of the body. She immediately enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to follow her curiosities, ended up staying longer than she anticipated, and earned her B.A. in dance. Then, Melissa followed her loves of contact improvisation and Butoh to San Francisco, where she studied and danced with several master teachers who continue to inspire her.

However, old injuries began to take over, and to cause new injuries. Melissa started to become interested in perception and awareness, and in what The Feldenkrais Method so eloquently defines as integration . The Feldenkrais Method connects movement with sensing, feeling, and thinking—or the whole person. It brings dignity to life. It wasn’t until her love of movement that she began to heal and understand how to embody her life-mentally, emotionally, and physically. She began to realize how she needed to honor her state of being and use that as a tool to find her voice as a dancer and an artist.

“The Feldenkrais Method has given me a sense of value in my own experience,” Melissa said. “It teaches me every day about being responsible for myself and present, how I can be my own teacher, and how change is possible.”

Melissa continues to be interested in how she can sustain and continue to explore freedom through rehabilitation and learning. She is dancing now without fear, without pain, and with a new sense of joy and curiosity.

“Teaching has been an opportunity for me to give the gift of raising consciousness, awareness, and self-discovery to others,” she said. “The Feldenkrais Method, to me, is something that I believe can change the course of our lives.”

COREY TERZO
Corey is an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher. He has been practicing yoga since 1994 and has teaching since 2002.

His classes beam with playfulness, direction toward alignment within the body, and an awakening of the self.

He continues his studies with Anusara founder John Friend, and other leading Anusara instructors such as Betsey Downing and Jaye Martin. Corey is Actively Pursuing Anusara certification.

When Corey isn't teaching a class or in a back-bend laughing with friends, you can find him enjoying nature or reading a good book.

Kimberly Pugh
Over two decades of success in the hospitality industry led Kimberly to her first yoga mat in 1999. From the outset, yoga was like a spiritual “homecoming” and she wondered why it took her so long to find the very thing she had been looking for her entire life.

“I remember a feeling of deep connection within myself to my SELF. I was amazed that I sweat as much after a few minutes of downward facing dog as I did after an hour on the treadmill at the gym! My upper body strength increased after only weeks of yoga practice and the relaxing nap after class was absolute bliss.”

Kimberly was also shocked when she noticed that her feet, which had been turned inward since birth, were soon straightening and her spinal scoliosis was less noticeable. Still managing one of Chicago’s busiest restaurants, yoga became Kimberly’s solace from her endless hours on high-heels and a frenetic work atmosphere. Through her yoga practice Kimberly began to appreciate yoga’s mental and spiritual benefits, which allowed her to cope with challenges “off the mat.” Her avid practice and study allowed Kimberly to ultimately shed the conventional shackles of the hospitality industry and pursue a full-time career as a yoga instructor with an emphasis on yoga’s therapeutic and healing aspects.

She has completed a 300-hour teacher training certification through Moksha Yoga Center with Daren Friesen and she is a member of Yoga Alliance. Kimberly is also an adjunct professor at Columbia College’s Dance Center, where she teaches Beginning Yoga Studies. She has been a yoga instructor in both the group and private setting at many of Chicago’s studios and she also owned and managed her own yoga studio. Presently, Kimberly is working her way through Rod Stryker’s Para Yoga teacher training program and is also a student of Samudra: Global School of Living Yoga with Shiva Rae. Kimberly holds basic certification in Thai Yoga Massage through Paul Weitz and has studied Ayurveda with Robert Svaboda. She is both grateful and honored to have studied extensively with yoga masters Ana Forest, Tias Little, Seane Corn, Erich Schiffman, Dharma Mittra, Gary Kraftsow, Baron Baptiste, Andre Lappa, and Jaime Lynn Turner.

DONNA WILLIAMS
Mantra: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein

Donna found yoga by accident three years ago when a friend convinced her to sign up at a local gym--one that just so happened to have a fully equipped yoga studio inside. Her first yoga experience with instructor Diane Banducci, who was in her sixties, left Donna amazed with her with her youthful appearance, flexibility and strength. Seeing this woman in sirsasana (headstand) blew her mind. By savasana, when Diane took the class on a journey to a place of peace and happiness, Donna was hooked on yoga. She felt renewed, and knew immediately that this was what she needed to be doing.

She soon decided that she wanted to train to teach, but right before signing up, she got tendonitis in her wrists from overexertion due to her tendency to be overzealous when it comes to physical activity. Her job as a server lifting heavy trays combined with weight training and her intense daily Vinyasa practice really took a toll on her body. This lasted several months and she began to fear that she wouldn’t be able to continue practicing yoga. She researched and found some gloves online specifically for wrist injuries. The gloves gave her a new start, and she continues to use them today. While setting her back, the injury ultimately helped her learn her limitations--and to listen to her body.

After allowing a full year to recover, Donna enrolled at the Chicago Yoga Center with Suddha Weixler where she completed the 200-hour program. She has learned so much during her training, and met so many amazing fellow yogis. Last summer, a friend introduced her to the work study program at Yoga Now. She has found such pleasure in belonging to the studio and the camaraderie it has brought. They have welcomed her with open arms and given her the opportunity to teach and share her practice with others. Donna loves practicing Vinyasa, and has also found an interest in Anusara yoga while practicing with fellow Yoga Now instructor Tomoko Horikawa.

Having suffered injuries in the past, Donna has learned the importance of not abusing the body. She now knows to be mindful of how her body is feeling and listen to it--and she encourages her students to be the same. "You will find nothing but an inviting atmosphere where you never feel pressured to go beyond your limits, but at the same time are encouraged to challenge yourself," Donna says of her class. Throughout her journey, Donna has found that yoga can be a vehicle for transformation saying that "If you can figure out your tendencies on the mat, you will ultimately learn to apply those lessons to real life situations."

Callie Munson
Callie hails from the mossy, low country of Hilton Head Island, SC. Trekking to Chicago to attend DePaul University’s acting conservatory; she was introduced to yoga through a required Iyengar course, taught by Gabriel Halpern, and fell hard for the practice. After studying Buddhism/meditation in Japan, bicycling across the country/building houses along the way (with the organization Bike&Build), and volunteering in Ecuador, she settled back in Chicago, deciding to teach yoga, the thing that kept her grounded along the way. Passionate about helping students discover their bodies in new ways, embody their full potential, and tap into the inner and outer links; Callie received a RYT 200hr certification from Yoga Now Chicago.

Ceci Morales
Ceci Morales started on a conscious path earlier than most. An important spiritual crisis at age 11 prompted her to begin exploring different schools of thought searching for the “right” answers. She read books by philosophers such as Richard Bach, and eventually made her way to the mountains of Mexico, where she participated in Toltec workshops based on the writings of Carlos Castaneda and Victor Sanchez.

Years later, in an attempt to cure chronic insomnia after moving to Chicago from Mexico, Ceci took her first yoga class. Having tried several other strategies in vain, she found sweet, long-term relief from yoga. Yoga also introduced her to a range of benefits and clarity that no other discipline had been able to deliver.

She found truth in the claim, “Yoga gives back ten times what you put into it,” and found herself taking workshops and teacher trainings from yogic icons such as Ana Forrest, Andre Lappa, Gary Kraftsow, Kim Schwartz and Shiva Rae.

Today Ceci uses Ana Forrest’s method as a foundation of healthy alignment principles for modern-day, Western bodies. She also incorporates an evolving range of pose variations, applying what she learns from her teachers and through her own instruction, to optimize outcomes for her students

Tina Ward
My yoga journey began 13 years ago while living abroad and searching for alternative methods for coping with life-long, chronic asthma, and related symptoms. After dedicating myself to a regular practice and combining it with zazen meditation, Tibetan medicine, acupuncture, and various types of massage therapy, I eventually found my way to a more balanced and healthful way of life.

I have practiced and taught a variety of styles of yoga including Astanga, Hatha, Bikram/Hot, Anusara, Vinyasa, and Iyengar. The intensity of each class I teach depends on the group dynamic and individual requests, and may have students from beginner’s level to advanced in the same practice.

It has been an exciting and educational path along which I have been blessed to meet many truly wonderful people from all over the world. I am grateful for my continued opportunities and personal growth, and hope to share my experience and knowledge with my students in order to help them find comfort and strength as they heal and grow.

Denice
Denice is originally from Chicago but lived between Oregon and LA for nearly 7 years until she came full circle back home.

However, it was living abroad in Europe where Denice feels her path of awakening really began when she decided to take the leap out of advertising and walk a different path.

She started her teacher training with Gos and Patrick at SvahaYoga, Amsterdam where they combine Hatha with other paths influenced by their Jivamukti and Iyengar background. It was their compassion, devotion, and love that truly influenced her teaching style.

Before leaving Europe, and on the advice of her teachers, Denice attended an Anna Forrest workshop in Amsterdam where she met some Chicago Yogis who insisted she continue her studies at YogaNow Chicago.

She completed her RYT 200-level at YogaNow Chicago and has since been humbled by the guidance and inspiration of her teachers, Rich Logan, Amy Beth, and Jen Enders.

Denice teaches a steady and intelligent Hatha and Vinyasa class, each of which are mindful of connecting the breath with each movement. Building heat to open the body, but sequenced with attention to alignment.

She wants each of her students to walk away from each class with a sense of bliss that will carry into all aspects of their lives, compelling them to show love to all beings.

Today, Denice continues on her Sadhana with infinite gratitude and hopes to continue learning and growing towards her Atman.

Of course, she is always up for travel, surfing and searching for the perfect ocean view as well. Some things, of course, never change. But what Yoga has taught her is that your journey starts exactly where are, it’s modifying your mind to get to where you need to be.