Yoga Village Anusara Yoga Studio

Get Fit * De-Stress * Have Fun

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Our Teachers 480-905-8801

	Barbara Adams, owner E-RYT 500, Anusara Certified teacher Barbara is the owner of Yoga Village Fountain Hills since 2003 and Yoga Village Scottsdale since 2006. She has studied and practiced several styles of yoga but has enthusiastically embraced Anusara Yoga since 2003. She is deeply appreciative to John Friend and her fellow teachers for daily inspiration. Barbara worked in behavioral health for 15 years and is delighted to see how yoga can bring contentment to so many hearts. Barbara's husband and two grown children have been a constant source of delight. Her husband (Wiley) and daughter (Mae) offer sure and steady support in running the studios and keeping it all fun. Barbara is a delightfully fun and witty, thoughtful and highly skilled teacher of Anusara Yoga. She is exemplary of all the best qualities in Anusara, both as a student and as a leader, and offers her wisdom in a heartfelt way through her teaching.
	Paulette Bodeman, E-RYT 500, Anusara Certified Teacher Paulette is a dedicated and passionate student of Life, Anusara® Yoga and the teachings of Tantric philosophy and meditation. She humbly bows to all of her teachers, especially to John Friend for his brilliance and the gift of the Anusara® method of yoga and its life–affirming Shiva–Shakti philosophy. Paulette has completed studies with Professor Paul Muller–Ortega, Carlos Pomeda and Douglas Brooks. Paulette’s gift as a teacher is to gracefully weave the technical aspects of the Anusara® method with the rich foundation of its Tantric philosophy. Her light–hearted approach to the depth of the practice empowers her students to courageously explore and move through the limitations blocking them from enjoying a loving and joy–filled life. As a Certified Anusara® teacher Paulette leads immersions, teacher–trainings, workshops and retreats. She is also a mentor for those teachers aspiring to Anusara® Inspired and Certified status.Paulette lives in Scottsdale, AZ with her ever supportive loving husband, Steve, her son and guru, Steven, and their wild and silly Wheaton terrier, Max.
	Angie Santucci, Anusara Certified Teacher Angie is articulate, compassionate and inspiring. Her most influential teacher has been Desiree Rumbaugh. Angie began her yoga studies in 1995 and has taught since 1998. Angie is dedicated student, passionate about Anusara yoga, yet she has a light-hearted, playful way of sharing this powerfully transformational yoga practice. Angie also has experience teaching and speaking to groups including: seniors, children, athletes, corporate groups and yoga workshops. Her knowledge and experience have also provided her with a successful yoga therapy business. She happily shares her life with her loving husband, Phil and 4 boys, Phillip, Patrick, Luke and Jake.
	Katrina Abrams RYT, Anusara Inspired Teacher A devoted student of Anusara yoga, Katrina finds joy in her practice. Deeply grateful to all of her teachers, her experience has been one of transformation that integrates body, mind and soul. The study of Tantric philosophy has infused her spirituality with a new vibrancy and the physical practice has helped facilitate and maintain a 50 pound weight-loss. After completing the Anusara Immersions and Teacher Training at Yoga Village, she began teaching in 2007. Katrina believes there is a yoga practice available to every single body, regardless of age or body type. Her invitation to yoga is come-as-you-are. With her encouraging and empowering teaching style, she endeavors to make every class a playful opportunity to explore and expand. Katrina lives in Phoenix with her husband and two children. Eat well and prosper.
	Martie Carr, RYT Martie completed a 200-hour certification in Raja Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training with Elana Case at Focal Point Yoga and Health Center in Stow, MA. She taught at Sue Luby’s Body Sense Yoga and Fitness Center in Andover, MA from 2001 to 2003. She then moved to Fountain Hills, AZ and teaches at Yoga Village. Martie is a physical therapist that works at a private school for children with disabilities in Phoenix, AZ. Martie is also a third degree master teacher of Reiki having trained with Sheryl A. Benson in the Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki method of natural healing. For Martie, Yoga and Reiki together is her spiritual path toward empowerment and enlightenment.
	Stephanie Smith, RYT, Anusara Inspired Teacher Stephanie is an RYT with 200 hr. training in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga and 200 hr. training in Anusara Yoga. She is Anusara Inspired, and has a professional dance background. Stephanie brings a bright, delightful blend of meditative flow and inquiry to her classes. She loves to meet her students where they are and inspires many to move deeper into the richness of life both on & off the mat. Stephanie has deep gratitude for all of her teachers, colleagues, and friends. She will forever remain a student of yoga.
	Mae Adams RYT, Anusara Inspired Teacher Mae began studying and practicing yoga with her mother at the age of 13, and began teaching in 2008. Mae has a great love and appreciation for the yoga community – our kula – and the underlying tantric philosophy. She owes her practice and her ability to teach to her mother, Barbara, and influential teachers Paulette Bodeman, Martin and Jordan Kirk and Jacqui Potokar. Mae also recently graduated from NAU with a degree in Visual Communications and helps Yoga Village with design work.
	Nicki Byrd, RYT Nicki has been teaching yoga for twelve years. Determined to heal herself after having her hip and pelvis broken in a car accident nearly fifteen years ago, she has effectively used yoga as a therapeutic tool. Nicki has made a remarkable recovery and continues with a dedicated practice. She regularly studies with senior Iyengar and Anusara teachers and radiates her love of yoga in everything she does. Nicki holds a special interest in therapeutics and is passionate about helping those who can most benefit from it. Nicki also teaches special workshops in Thai Yoga Therapy and chant.
	Pam Mulligan RYT Pam is a registered nurse with extensive critical care background. Her first introduction to yoga was in 2004 while in physical therapy for a rib fracture related to osteoporosis. The experience on her mat created a conscious awareness of the breath, and the dynamic synergy of the physiologic, psychic, and spiritual connections between the mind and body. She personally discovered the impact of treating the whole body and deepening the mind-body connection as a crucial approach to health and healing. With an ignited spirit and strong desire to help others discover freedom in their own bodies, her teaching began. She has accumulated more than 500 Anusara credit hours with specific interests in yoga therapeutics and integrating this evidence based practice into healthcare. She is grateful to her teachers, John Friend, Martin & Jordan Kirk, and BJ Galvan for sharing their wisdom and lighting her path. “My intention as a teacher is to skillfully guide students into their own experiences on their mat, with an open heart and mind, filled with love and gratitude to promote a healthier, happier life.” Her classes are infused with precise alignment instruction and a playful spirit.
	Alicia Beale RYT 500 Growing up, Alicia began practicing yoga with Rodney Yee's home videos. Years later, when immersed in a management career in IT, she tried a hot yoga class and instantly resonated with the practice of breathing, sweating, and being. Alicia has continued to grow her practice, studying with a variety of teachers including: Tim Miller, Dave Oliver, Matthew Sweeney, Rod Stryker, Eddie Modestini, and Nicki Doane. But her most influential teachers she met during the teacher training at At One Yoga, namely John Salisbury, Cheryl Hall, and Jenn Chiarelli. Alicia's classes are a fusion of what she loves and what she's learned from the traditions of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Tantra. Her classes are demanding and healing, emphasizing that learning to love others begins first by learning how to accept and nourish yourself. From this self-acceptance comes a Yes to life- as Dag Hammarskjold said "At some moment I did answer Yes to Someone - or Something - and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal."
	John Jaksich RYT In 2006 John felt called to share his yoga practice and completed his teacher training at Chicago Yoga Center. John has extensive training in both the Iyengar and the Ashtanga yoga styles. He has also studied with numerous national known teachers including Jason Crandell, David Swenson, Sienna Sherman & others. John has been teaching continuously since 2006. Today John’s asana practice is an eclectic form of vinyasa flow and is quite vigorous. As a teacher he mixes physicality with soulfulness to create an experience that leaves students spiritually centered, as well as physically cleansed and strong. John believes that the greatest teachers lie within, so if he were to have only one goal with his students it would to help them discover their own body as teacher. “If we can move from ‘doing’ the pose, to feeling the pose, to discovering the pose, then perhaps in time we might also more fully discover ourselves.”
	Jen Brooks   RYT 500 Jennifer Brooks came to yoga in 2001 in order to find strength and flexibility. She immediately noticed benefits beyond the physical, and began her search for deeper meaning. Her yogic influences include Sharon Gannon and David Life, founders of Jivamukti Yoga. An ethical vegan, Jennifer's personal practice is focused on Ahimsa (non-harming) and Bhakti (devotion). Trained at the 500-hour level (Yoga Pura, Phoenix, AZ), Jennifer has been teaching since 2007, Her challenging classes include philosophy, music and a sense of humor that will leave you feeling relaxed and inspired.
	Abbie Chapman RYT Abbie grew up in a small town in north central Missouri. After graduating from the University of Missouri, she started a career as an IT business consultant, traveling full time and often working over 70 hour weeks. After 10 years, she left consulting to become a mom and discovered being at home with three small children could be just as hectic and exhausting. Abbie found yoga as a way of getting back into shape and more importantly, a way of calming her mind and opening her heart. One of her favorite teachers encouraged her to go through teacher training with Martin and Jordan Kirk at Yoga Village. The experience was transforming. Abbie completed the Anusara Immersion program in January 2008 and immediately began teaching. From her Anusara training, she brings focus on alignment and meaningful messages to her classes, while her sequences and teaching style reflect her interest in many styles of yoga. She designs her classes to challenge students at all levels. She weaves the poses with music from many genres (folk, alternative, reggae, hip hop, and traditional) to make the classes fun and flowing. Abbie is inspired by her teachers, her friends and family, and above all, by her three children who remind her to stay present, laugh a lot and to keep breathing.
	Jeanette Rosario RYT Jeanette has been a Massage Therapist since 1997 and a Registered Yoga Instructor since 2004. Her education background from Toronto, Canada consists of a Bachelors Degree in Kinesiology and Psychology, and a 3000 hr Diploma in Massage Therapy. Jeanette moved to sunny AZ in 2000 with the thought of never having to shovel snow again. Having taught Massage Therapy for 7 years and taking a 200 hr Anusara based Yoga Teacher Training course, she decided to incorporate the two modalities into her own private practice called “The Little Bohemian” located in north Scottsdale. Being a vegetarian for over 10 years and reaping all the benefits of a clean diet, prompted her decision to actively pursue a Master’s in Clinical Nutrition and an additional 100 hr Ashtanga Yoga Training, which she is currently in the process of obtaining. In her free time she enjoys hiking and rock climbing and firmly believes that the secret to a long and happy life is finding balance between meaningful work, healthy relationships, a clean diet, an active lifestyle and positive attitudes.
	Lisa Weeden RYT 200 Lisa’s yoga journey began as a newly-wed transplant from New Zealand in the late 90’s. Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager, she was drawn to yoga as a way to find healing, balance, ease, and to cultivate a keener mind-body connection. Lisa began teaching in 2003 after completing a 200 hour hatha yoga training at White Lotus in Santa Barbara. She has practiced various styles of yoga through the years but after moving to Scottsdale, Lisa finally found her yoga ‘home’ in the vibrant Anusara yoga community here in the Valley. She adores Anusara’s intelligent attention to alignment and the tantric philosophy which dives deeply into the heart of yoga - and life. Lisa completed another 200-hour yoga teacher training with Martin and Jordan Kirk in early 2011 and is grateful for all the fabulous teachers she has been fortunate to study with. Lisa is married with two young children, a cat and a dog, who remind her every day that yoga is more than practicing on the mat.
	Adam Johnson Adam lived in Massachusetts for 18 years before moving to South Carolina where he experienced his first yoga class. He told the friend who had invited him, "Thank you, but I don't think this is for me." Three hours later, he felt better than he'd ever felt in his life. From then on, he was a yoga addict. After exhausting all the yoga resources that Greenville had to offer, he flew to Arizona for his 200-hour teacher training. A month later, he moved to Arizona and began teaching at multiple studios in the north valley. His classes are playful, experimental and challenging. Adam helped for the band Waking Avalon, which finished recording a six-song album in May 2009. Adam often serenades his students during savasana, allowing the melodic vibration of his voice enhance their experience.
	Lisa Kneller RYT Lisa fell in love with the practice of yoga at age 43. Her fist influential teachers were Jordan and Martin Kirk with whom she studied for her 200 hour certification credentials. Lisa began teaching around the Valley in 2003 and has been a devoted student at Yoga Village since the cork floor was laid and she helped to paint the walls. Anusara Yoga makes her feel most "at home" and she credits the very talented Anusara teachers who have shown her how to expand her heart, mind and body. She enjoys taking a great flow class and loves to teach beginning students. Lisa also holds a master level certification in Holy Yoga (M-HYI) and offers classes using Biblical themes to local area churches. Lisa is married and the proud mother of two great children. Her greatest passion is inspiring people to reach their potential in mind, body and spirit.
	Valere Schlesinger RYT Valere has been practicing yoga for over 15 years. She did her teacher training with Dave Oliver in Ashtanga. She has also been practicing Anusara for the past several years. Her classes reflect a blend of the two styles into a Vinyasa flow. Valere's classes focus on opening your heart while linking the breath to the postures with an emphasis on alignment. Her classes provide a deeper sense of self-awareness. Valere uses yoga as a way to energize and transform the body while calming the mind, and she wants to share that experience with her students. She is inspired by her teachers, friends and family, but mostly by her two children who help her to stay focused on what's important and being present.
	Rasoul Sobhani RYT 500 The inspiring Rasoul brings a beautiful blend of experience to Yoga Village. He has over 20 years of experience as a martial artist and teaches Tai Chi and Chi Qung. He is a registered yoga teacher and graduate of the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. He is a 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) graduating from the Scottsdale Community College, with a focus on yoga therapy and alignment. He is the creator of Chi Yoga Do Witch, where he creatively blends yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Qung into one fluid, yet meditative class. Rasoul has a weekly yoga program featured on online at www.timebroadcasting.com. To learn more about Rasoul, please visit www.chiyogado.com.
	Rachel Walsh RYT 500 Rachel graduated from the Yoga Pura, 500-hour Advanced Studies Teacher Training in 2004, and has taught kids and teen yoga classes ever since. Rachel has been working with people of all ages, including infants and toddlers, for more than 15 years. She has managed numerous "Kids Camps" as for many local studios. In 2008, she moved to the UK where she accrued over 90 hours getting certified to teach yoga and meditation to teens for Yoga Bugs in the London Public Schools. In 2009, she was recruited by the world famous Camp La Jolla Fitness Camp to teach yoga and meditation to preteen, teen and adult women. She continued on this career path becoming certified in Reiki levels 1 and 2 in 2009 and completing the advanced Yoga Nidra certification in 2010. Rachel has dedicated her life to all children and their physical, emotional and spiritual well being.