Instructor Biographies
Judy Brennan
Judy Brennan is a graduate of the Advanced Studies Program through the Yoga & Movement Center in Walnut Creek, CA, with an emphasis on Iyengar and Yoga Therapy methodologies. She is also a student of the Yoga of Sound and the fascinating depth of mantra, meditation, and music with the world-renowned musician, author, and teacher of Eastern Spirituality - Russill Paul. She is a Certified YogaKids International Teacher and received her training through YogaKids founder Marsha Wenig. Judy works with families, schools, yoga centers and the community, to teach yoga asanas and relaxation techniques to help bring peace to our planet. You can contact her at: 925-785-6652 or Judyabrennan@comcast.net. Her website is www.judybrennanlive.com.
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.
Christy Crawford
Christy completed training with Judith Hanson Lasater in Restorative and Advanced Restorative Yoga and is a graduate of YogaWorks 500-hour teacher training, after having practiced herself for over 15 years. She brings clarity to her students’ practice in her sequencing of one pose after the other which helps the working crowd move out of their heads and into their bodies. Her classes are filled with music, getting students into a yoga mind state, and also include quiet time at the end for meditation. Christy creates a safe, comfortable and nurturing environment in which students can focus on their own bodies and practice.
Ruth Ann Davidson
Ruth fell in love with yoga the minute she first walked in the door at Diablo Yoga Center (now Danville Yoga Center) 14 years ago. She has studied extensively for these past 14 years with Iyengar-style yoga teachers trained at The Yoga Room in Berkeley. Ruth will graduate in June 2012 from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program with a 500 hour teacher certification from the Yoga Alliance. From 2000 to 2001 she was the managing partner of this yoga center. Her goal is bring to her students a sense of their personal practice with emphasis on their yoga poses and yoga journey. As BKS Iyengar so simply stated: “Words fail to convey the total value of yoga. It has to be experienced.” Join Ruth in exploring your journey.
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 received 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. Contact her at kathlyog@mcn.org
Kathleen’s Beginners’ Yoga Class
Maria Haswell
Maria is a Reiki Master, medium, life coach, and host of the center’s Reiki & Meditation evenings. Her spiritual journey began in 1996, and since then she has been helping others understand their experiences and answering their deepest questions. She never asks “what’s going to happen to me tomorrow?” Instead, she asks “what do my actions and choices today say about the course I’ve mapped out for my life tomorrow?” The focus is on today. Visit her website at www.mariahaswell.com.
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.
Walter’s Yoga & Breathwork Class
Adrienne Lanigan
Adrienne’s passion within the world of yoga is teaching Restorative Yoga and meditation. Being a Certified Yoga Instructor whose practice spans over 30 years, Adrienne first received her CYT in 1998 from Mt.Madonna Center, in Classical Ashtanga (Raja) Yoga before finding her calling after completing certification training in Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater, PT, CYT and PhD. Adrienne works with men and women (peri and post menopausal women, busy young mothers, harried corporate executives, cancer patients, dancers and athletes) and all those who need to relieve stress levels, feel rested, and naturally balance their bodies. Being a mother, grandmother, and cancer survivor, she is very empathetic to her students and cares deeply that they feel replenished, tranquil, and rested after class. Contact her at nurturingyoga@yahoo.com
Heathyr Nicole
Heathyr Nicole has been an avid and enthusiastic practitioner of all forms of yoga for the past 15 years. In 2006, she began teaching yogis worldwide from California to Pennsylvania to Budapest, Hungary. She graduated from the 200-hour teacher training program with YogaWorks in Walnut Creek, CA and has a BA in Philosophy and Religion, with an emphasis on Eastern religions. She assists all level students in rediscovering their body and breath in a gentle, joyful way. She takes a very balanced approach to yoga instruction and carefully tailors her classes to the particular needs of each individual student, holding space to allow them to explore their edges with respect and grace.
Dorinda Nyberg
Dorinda loves yoga. She believes teaching yoga is about demonstration, and the only thing worth demonstrating is love. Dorinda creates a setting for joyful discovery in her classes that offers a demanding yet reachable practice for students of all abilities. Based on more than 14 years of study in the Iyengar yoga tradition, she helps students focus on intention and anatomical alignment. Dorinda recently completed a year of extensive training at The Yoga Room, in Berkeley, in their Advanced Studies Program, and expects 500-hour certification by June 2012.
Sarah Watkins
Sarah graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has always been fascinated by the mind and body connection. After college, she pursued her love of yoga and completed her first Teacher Training at YogaWorks in 2008 and a second in 2010, and is also a 500 hour RYT.Sarah also has Yoga for Youth teacher certification from the Niroga Institute Yoga Corps, and she received a yoga teacher certification for kids through It’s Kids Yoga in San Francisco. Presently, Sarah teaches yoga to kids in the classroom as well in yoga studios. Sarah’s intention as a yoga teacher is to inspire, educate and guide her students on a path where they can clear away the distractions of the mind and body in order to reach a place of stillness and peace. Her classes focus on proper alignment and attention to breath allowing students to work at their own pace in a safe and nurturing environment. Contact her at sarahwatkins@me.com
Director’s Biography
Kamla Sufi
Kamla (MA in Educational Administration from Saint Mary’s College) is our Director. Back in 1996, she too had to make the leap and “finally” come to class, after a really long day of being a local high school Vice Principal. She has been a very happy yoga student ever since. Kamla Sufi is delighted to be running the Center since 2007 and developing the true practice of “yoga” – making the connection between the mind, body and the spirit. Kamla continually creates and invites a staff of qualified, dedicated and intelligent teachers to come to the Center for you because she understands your needs and perspectives as a student. She brings together a variety of community events for Danville: 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 practitioners. Kamla strives to support and maintain a sacred space for all ages and abilities to come together in beautiful Danville. The Center is not a gym; it is an accepting, nurturing environment where you can become stronger physically and emotionally. Our students continue to vote us “The Best” because of their love for the Center’s setting and our teachers. You may contact her at kamla@danvilleyogacenter.com with your questions, and then begin your new journey on a yoga mat. Namaste.
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony 2007: Kamla, teachers and the Town re-creating a caring community for every age, every ability at the beautiful Center.
