Instructor Biographies
Judy Brennan
Judy Brennan is a Certified YogaKids International Teacher and has completed over 400 hours of child focused study with Marsha Wenig, the internationally recognized founder of YogaKids. YogaKids is a Yoga Alliance certification program and is endorsed by Dr. Deepak Chopra, MD, Dr. Andrew Weil, MD.and Jean Houston, PhD.
Linda Burkard
Linda Burkard has integrated yoga in her daily living for 14 years. If you enjoy a class with strength, movement and spirituality, Linda will share her passion for yoga with you. Her training is extensive. She is a 500 hour certified yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance, specializing in yoga therapy. Her first teacher training was at the Moksha Yoga Shala School of Hatha yoga. She continued with a second teacher training and 200 hour advanced studies in the Iyengar style at the Yoga Movement Center. She completed all the requirements of the Niroga Institute Yoga Corps, a yoga training program offering tools for working with at-risk populations. Her 500 hour yoga therapy training at Ananda Seva Mission included teachings of Ayurveda for yoga therapy with Sarasvati Buhrman, PhD, Yoga Nidra with Richard Miller, Yoga for HIV/AIDS, Cancer and other Life Challenges with Jnani Chapman. Next? Her certification in Thai Yoga Massage with the master himself, Saul David Raye.
Mary Cameron Smith
Mary has been teaching Yoga for Seniors for more than 12 years. She helps people going through the cancer experience also. She is a graduate of the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program in Berkeley and a member of the Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level. Yoga first came into Mary’s life in 1965 when her daughters were little. Since then it has been a source of healing, well-being and inspiration, as she ages. She focuses on sequencing and adapting poses to allow students of all ages and abilities to benefit from classic Iyengar poses, and to increase respect for their bodies. Her classes are good for beginners who need extra help, seniors and those wanting a moderate practice. Her approach is gentle, encouraging and playful. Call Mary with questions at 925-283-0422 or email her at smithmcam@yahoo.com.
Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis co-founded the Danville Yoga Center. When she visits us from Myrtle Beach, she brings with her new and challenging ways to enjoy a practice, lightened with a bit of humor. Please visit www.laurendavislive.com.
Kathleen Genereux
Kathleen has delighted in teaching Iyengar influenced yoga for 16 years. She recieved her certification after studying for 3 years in the Advanced Studies Program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley and also studied for 3 years in the teacher training program at the Iyengar Institute in San Francisco. Kathleen’s classes are balanced, accepting, grounding, supportive and mindful. She is a caring and knowledgeable teacher who helps with their practice wherever they may be in life. kathlyog@mcn.org
Harla Hathaway Rairigh
Join me in the journey that is yoga: a discovery process of breath, mind, body & spirit. Classes are structured to accommodate all seekers, from novice to veteran. Change is the universal constant, so expect to stretch, strengthen, lengthen and experience your body differently each week. Come to honor your body’s own physical limitations AND limitless potential. Be ready to “hold space” for yourself during the practice—get out of your head, into your body—and breathe! Please bring a sense of curiosity, joy, and of course humor, to class. My background includes years of dance and gymnastics training, hiking and much time pushing around weights at the gym, so I’m familiar with unwinding those short twitchy muscle fibers. To keep class offerings fresh and innovative, I continually expand my skill sets and knowledge of the body with classes and workshops in varying forms of yoga. Please join me for a yoga experience that leaves you relaxed, revitalized, and in tune.
Walter Hurd
For forty years, Walter has studied and practiced the traditional yoga style and meditation practices of the American born Spiritual Master, Mr. Walt Baptiste. Walter was one of a handful of people working full time at the Baptiste Health and Yoga Center in San Francisco for eighteen years. In 1986, Walter helped Mr. Baptiste construct and manage a health and yoga retreat in El Salvador, Central America. Walter has also specialized in working privately with people suffering from physical, mental, or emotional limitations of every kind. Walter’s approach to yoga emphasizes an inner harmonizing through breath and yoga posture integration. The result has a very soothing yet energizing effect, leaving people with a deepened sense of well being.
Download PDF of Walter’s Class Description
Gloria Persico
Gloria has over seventeen years of teaching experience. Though we are an Iyengar center, in every class, Gloria offers this type of practice and that of her certification of 500 hours as a Kripalu Instructor. She has an amazing ability to teach to all levels in one class: beginners will feel comfortable learning a posture as the advanced students are being challenged in the same one. We hope that you explore the world with Gloria – her international yoga retreats (Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Belize) will advance your practice in some of the most exquisite locations. Her website is www.gloriousyoga.com
Greg Riley
Greg Riley graduated from our advanced Studies Program some five years ago and then continued his studies with a teacher training program directed by Mark Horner. He is a licensed massage therapist. In every class, students are assisted and guided on their path to wellness. He draws students of all levels to his classes because they know that their practice will develop with him. Students enjoy his thorough warm ups which then allow us to experience postures borrowed from martial arts and other sacred movement systems. He focuses attention on alignment with a true awareness and thorough practice of the breath. His extensive experience as a world-champion Frisbee competitor may help students optimize their own mental, emotional, and physical potential but what students most appreciate - his genuineness (and funny sayings!) to their presence of being in class. upwardspiralyoga@yahoo.com.
Download PDF of Greg’s Upward Spiral Yoga Curriculum
Deb Stone
Having studied yoga for over ten years, Deb received her education and in depth apprenticeship with the world renowned Aaidel Palkhivala. She has been teaching one amazing Friday class at the Center for many years now. New students are drawn to her deep yoga knowledge and advanced students return because with Deb, her class is truly about studying yoga postures. Her teaching offers a sense of the physical foundation and alignment of the body as she aptly guides the breath into every posture. You leave class having moved your way closer to your heart center. Deb’s students follow her around the world, to amazing yoga retreat locations where, thankfully, she brings her beautiful yoga practice.
Kamla Sufi
Kamla is our Director. She has been a very happy yoga student for some thirteen years. She too had to decide one day to “finally” come to class and walk up the beautiful path leading to the Center’s front door - and step in! Sometimes, she can do a handstand, sometimes her dog pose hurts, but every time she leaves class a better being, mentally and physically. These classes keep her healthy and now, she is delighted to be working for the Center developing the true practice of “yoga” – making the connection between the mind, body and the spirit. It’s all yoga: our Book Club, dinners or coffee/tea after class, art classes, life coaching sessions, writer’s workshops, retreats around the world and amazing offerings that continue to pour in from acclaimed and certified practionners. Kamla strives to support and maintain a sacred space for all ages and abilities to come together in beautiful Danville. Her love for the Center, its teachers and students is enormous! You can contact her: kamla@danvilleyogacenter.com