Let
me welcome you to Learning To Listen's Teaching Collective,
it is made up of a group of people
committed to promoting tools for conscious living in
the areas of the arts, body treatment,
family focus, environmental awareness, service projects, food
awareness, classical yoga, daily meditation practice, therapy,
and various other awareness-based professional support offerings. Please
have a look around, there is something mindful here for each
person engaged in the path to greater awakening.
"If
we are a teacher of Yoga, we can pause frequently and assess
our work in terms of its allegiance to the spirit and essence
of the Yoga tradition. Are we loyal to the spirit of
the teachings, or are we abusing the tradition for our own
ends? The word abuse is derived from the Latin
word ab, which means "a departure from" the use or
purpose. When we're not sure of our actions, we can ask
ourselves honestly whether we are departing from the larger
purpose of the practice. We may be giving students practices
for which they are ill prepared in order to curry favor, like
a parent dispensing candy to a child. This has become
a common practice that leaves students prone to serious injuries
and also perpetuates their own delusions about their level
of understanding. If we're a student seeking a teacher,
we can be on the lookout for such behavior. Perhaps the
teacher is in the habit of showing everyone all the terribly
advanced postures he can do, and the class becomes about him
rather than being relevant to the students who came to learn. Or
the teacher may subtly and not-so-subtly be altering the content
of the class to cater to those who came just to get a workout. Maybe
as a teacher we get sidetracked in an effort to become popular
or to get enough people in our class to make it work financially,
and these concerns gradually change the focus of our teaching. It
can be difficult to balance the very real challenge of making
a livelihood and maintaining integrity. Yet when the
teacher departs from the larger purpose, he or she abandons
the real quest and thus removes the context through which we,
the students, can pursue ours. Finding a teacher who
holds the integrity of his or her intention can help us hold
to ours." —Donna
Farhi, from Bringing Yoga To Life
Photo
by Chris
Andre
Anil
Shanker Vyas was born in Varanasi India in 1959.
Originally drawn to yoga as a quest of self-development, he
soon adopted yoga as his teaching profession, and began teaching
in 1978. His teaching gurus include Shyam Shanker Vyas
for hatha yoga studies, and Sataya Charan Lahriji for his study
of the discipline of kriya yoga. In 1980 Anil was awarded Yoga-Charya
by D.A.V. in New Delhi, and then in 1990 he was awarded Yoga-Ratan
by the Yoga Training Center of Varanasi.
Anil is a bindu yogi, and thus he practices the ancient techniques of kechari
and vajroli mudras. He lives in Varanasi and teaches yoga at the Swami
Chander Bindu Yoga Research &
Training Center near Assi Ghat. To contact Anil,
simply send him an email by clicking
here, or just drop by for a class if you're in his neighborhood.
He’d love to hear from you. More
Info on Anil's Offerings
Ben
Dineen first
began his practice of yoga in 1996.
Since then he has had the good fortune to study with many excellent
teachers in a variety of yogic traditions. In his classes,
Ben encourages each of his students to gradually undue any
knots or tension present in their body and mind, through the
mindful use of breath and posture. He sees yoga as an
invaluable system, complete with all the tools necessary to
safely undue these knots, and thus helping to bring about a
healthy body, a peaceful mind, and ultimately a direct knowing
of one’s Self. www.wakefulway.com Ben's
Online Meditation Book
Bill
Scheinman teaches
8-week courses in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
in San Francisco, and he is a founding teacher at Stress
Reduction At Work, a business providing mindfulness meditation
training to Bay Area businesses. Bill also volunteers
at the San Francisco County Jail teaching meditation classes
and stress reduction techniques to men overcoming issues of
substance abuse and violence. To find out more about
Bill and his teaching, visit: www.stressreductionatwork.com
Daniela
Kratz became
interested in Ayurveda in 1999 when looking for a natural
way to improve her own health, a health impacted by her
profession in a global, competitive and fast-paced business
environment. Fascinated by the positive effects of
implementing already simple Ayurvedic routines into her
life-style, her interest continuously grew and she decided
to enroll in the Ayurvedic Diploma Program at
the Ayurveda
Institute of America.
Daniela would love to share her experience of this 5000 year old ancient Indian
science with everyone who is interested. Considering all aspects of body,
mind and spirit, she offers tools to reveal ones innate constitution and to find
routines that fulfill its individual needs, and to help each of us to live in
a harmonious and balanced way. Ultimately, this natural balance will promote
one's natural health and prevent disease. Daniela can be contacted via email.
FOUNDING
TEACHER
Darshana
Weill is
the founder of the FRUITION WOMEN'S HEALTH
PROGRAM. Her passion is to support women
to find their power, strength, and voice in the
world without compromising their health. She
uses the tools of nutrition, yoga and counseling
to find this balance.
Darshana's inspiration to be a health counselor came from her own struggle with
food, body image, digestive issues and hormonal imbalances. She knew she
didn't want to take medications or pills. She also wanted to take charge
of her own health and intuitively knew that she could do so with the right food
and a steady yoga and mediation practice.
She is a graduate and former program director of The
Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York City, as well
as BAUMAN COLLEGE in the Bay area. She is a certified Yoga teacher and
has studied yoga and mediation with Erich Schiffmann, at the Kripalu
Yoga Center, Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC, Anusara Yoga with John Friend, Spirit
Rock Meditation Center, and at the OSHO International Commune in Pune
India.
She received her counseling certification through the Interchange Counseling
program in San Francisco. For more information about Darshana, yoga or
health, please visit her website. www.fruitionhealth.com
FOUNDING
TEACHER
Jen
Burk first
experienced the transformative power of yoga in 1994 and
realized immediately that she had found a completely new,
more authentic way of being in the world.
What began as a simple desire to balance mind and body
quickly became a full-blown love affair with the art of yoga.
Over the past twelve years Jen has studied various styles
of asana and continues to fall more deeply in love with the
practice each day. As a heart-centered practitioner,
Jen strives to bring love and compassion to each of her classes.
Her vinyasa style uses the awareness of breath and flowing
movement to liberate body, mind and heart. A true
believer in the power of yoga to heal the various ailments
of a society living life out of balance, Jen hopes to ease
suffering and cultivate the expansion of consciousness
by sharing her practice wholeheartedly with everyone around
her. www.jenburk.com Jen's
Yoga DVD
Jill
Boadway is a holistic chef and culinary
instructor. She is a graduate of the Culinary Management
Program of George Brown College, Toronto, and is also
certified as a yoga teacher. Jill has worked as the head
chef at two Ayurvedic wellness spas and at the Sivananda
Yoga Ashrams in Val Morin, Quebec and Grass Valley,
California. She is currently the head chef at the Radha
Yoga Center in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Jill is co-founder of the Conscious
Table, a silent 5 course dinner experience offered as a meditative celebration
of the senses. She is dedicated to empowering people with creative nourishment
skills, and to viewing the kitchen as a sacred space - out of reverence for ourselves,
others and the earth.
FOUNDING
TEACHER
Jonathan
Reynolds has
studied with the White Lotus Foundation, Erich Schiffmann,
Spirit
Rock Meditation Center, and many other wonderful
teachers. His
love of chanting as a devotional practice has drawn him to
regularly seek out both Bhagavan Das and Krishna Das, and Jack
Kornfield has infused his meditation teaching with compassion,
playfulness, and story. Drawing on many wisdom traditions,
Jonathan’s
teaching is centrally rooted in Buddhist Vipassana Meditation,
the Classical Yoga of Patanjali, and the Nondual Advaita Vedanta
philosophy of Shankara. His teaching and practice
are greatly informed by the cultural present and historical
context of the sacred land of India.
Jonathan
lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area for seven
years, and during that time he helped found the Learning
To Listen Yoga & Meditation Center. He
is a husband and father, and currently lives in Portland,
Oregon, where he teaches meditation, yoga, and leads
retreats worldwide. www.ayogisway.com
Karma
Moffett is the founder of the Tibetan
Bell Experience, a vibrational sound experience
and wish bestowing ceremony.
For 32 years he has collected and played a unique collection
of rare old Tibetan singing bowls, black metal hand bells,
ten foot long horns, large and small cymbals, native
flutes, and an assortment of many other instruments. Karma's
CDs
Most of the music presented by Karma is designed to activate and harmonize
the chakra system, and then dissolve the listener into the stillness of the Great
Mystery. www.karmamoffett.com
Kristin
Bredehoft was first introduced to the Holistic Arts
at San Francisco State University, where she earned
her Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science, with a concentration
in Holistic Health. While at SF State, she studied Eastern
Perspectives in Healing, Yoga and Meditation, Imagery and Shamanism. She
has practiced yoga and meditation for over 15 years. In
the summer of 2007, Kristin attended and completed the basic
(110 hour) massage certification course at The
Pacific School of Massage and Healing Arts in Gualala,
CA and earned her CMT. Later that year, she completed
an additional advanced training course in Transformational
Bodywork. Kristin continues her education in bodywork
and the healing arts by attending additional courses offered
by the Pacific School of Massage, namely a 3-day course in
Yoga-Massage, and workshops in Complex Homeopathy and Identity
Clearing. Although not a bodyworker by trade, Kristin
enjoys working on family and friends and expanding her knowledge
and understanding of the healing arts. Kristin believes
in the integration of her spiritual practice into everyday
situations and environments, to the end that all places and
beings are sacred.
Kate
Roades has specialized in working
with children for over 10 years, teaching classes to children and families in
schools and studios. Kate, along with her partner Rosey, also leads teacher
trainings for yoga practitioners, parents and educators throughout the Bay Area
and beyond.
Kate
has practiced yoga since 1998 and completed Ashtanga yoga Teacher
Training at It’s Yoga, San Francisco in 2003. She
has also earned certifications from Radiant Child Yoga Levels
1 and 2, as well as Shanti Kids with Stacey Rosenberg. She
earned her Elementary Education Teaching Credential in 2004 and
began combining her two passions – youth and yoga. In
her work with children she creates the space and safety for kids
to connect to themselves and their own inner wisdom. Kate's
Family Yoga Article
Inspired
by children on a daily basis, Kate’s classes focus on meeting
the groups’ needs and connecting with each student. Through
validation and self-awareness her students thrive, connect and
grow. Kate can be contacted by email,
or visit her website for more information about classes and teacher
trainings. www.yogawithkateandrosey.com
Kate
Truka teaches Restorative
Yoga, Hatha, Flow and yoga for children in
San Francisco, striving to cultivate students'
curiosity and kindness towards their own experience
moment to moment. As a longtime dancer, Kate
was first drawn to yoga by its systematic, artful methods for aligning, strengthening,
and opening the body.
Her study of yoga and meditation sprouted amidst
the green rice seedlings while living in Japan,
and she completed her teaching certification
at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2005.
In 2006, she completed specialized certifications
in both kids and restorative yoga and pursued advanced therapeutic restorative
training in 2007 (Advanced Relax & Renew). In
asana practice, Kate guides awareness towards
precise alignment and conscious movement of
breath and energy to deepen access to the spirit
of the postures, and the spirit!
Classes
include jnanic (self-inquiry), bhakti (honoring),
pranayama (breathing), and pratyahara (turning
the energy of the senses inward) practices. Kate
aims to create conditions for students to
more fully inhabit their bodies, and unfurl
into their own wisdom and well-being. More
Info on Kate's Offerings
Lindsay
Wilson encourages
us to consider where we are and what
we are connected to; this being a couple
of the primary goals of permaculture
theory and design. She has taught
workshops in earthen building, fruit
tree care, soil/gardening, outdoor education,
and community processing. Since
the year 2000 Lindsay has been working
in social services cultivating community
participation and empowerment as well
as social and environmental awareness. Through
her work experiences she has developed
a deep understanding of the importance
of caring for the self so that one may
then skillfully care for others. Lindsay
also has a regular practice of yoga and
teaches in the Anusara and Hatha lineages – her
primary teacher is Katchie Ananda. Lindsay
is currently working on outdoors-based
retreat curriculum focused on service
workers and secondary trauma.
Paul
Rosenberg is a Tea Master (tea monk is
a better term) who resides in Portland, Oregon. He has
spent over a decade studying tea, serving tea and performing
sacred tea ceremonies, and believes tea is a perfect tool for
bringing divine awareness into people's lives and for teaching
them to create sacred time and space in their days. Good
tea has the potential to shift us into higher states of ecstatic
love; of god, nature, ourselves and those we share our life
with. About
Paul's Tea Tasting Sets
Paul spent 15 years living in an Ashram of the Nityananda lineage studying Kudalini
yoga with Swami Chetanananda. His background includes years as a chef,
studying and selling sacred Himalayan art and a life devoted to becoming a more
true, grateful, devoted and loving human being. www.heavenstea.com
FOUNDING
TEACHER
Stephen
'V' Allario's training in the healing arts
began in January 2001 with the first bay area Kundalini
Yoga Teacher Training in Hayward, CA. This
training was a 200 hour program with in-depth study
and practice of meditation, pranayama, asana, anatomy,
physiology and the yogic lifestyle. Steven
currently has a regular Kundalini practice and teaches
both public and private classes as well.
Soon after his yogic training, he then attended and completed the basic (110
hour) massage certification course at The
Pacific School of Massage and Healing Arts in Gualala, CA.
Following this certification, he continued on to an
advanced training in their Transformational
Bodywork Program, and has acquired 250+ hours of classroom
time, hands on training, and classroom assisting in the basic
massage course. Since January 2004 Steven has been dedicated
to developing a full time bodywork practice in San Francisco.
V's work blends a number of modalities: including Swedish/Deep Tissue, Shiatsu,
Accupressure, SHEN, and Reiki. During his offerings, he help's the recipient
access one's pranic energy thru simple breathing techniques that support the
healing experience.
His work involves using intuition - this allows access
to the Universal Life Force which opens the flow of energy
throughout the body, and helps us understand the body/mind/spirit
connection, thus leaving us relaxed and rejuvenated.
Stephen strives to create "Healing thru Awareness and Awareness thru Healing".
www.thespiritualrevolution.com
Susan
Keale, M.A., has studied art and art
history in conjunction with world religions. She selects
symbols and imagery that have both traditional and contemporary
meaning to nurture the seeds of joy in each of us. www.StudioAkhyana.com Susan's
Art Book
Sydney
Gressel has studied and
practiced Eastern contemplative
traditions for the past seven years,
including yoga and meditation from
Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The depth of her practice is supported by
meditation retreats she attends each year, under the instruction of her
precious dharma teachers. Sydney is a meditation instructor and
a certified yoga teacher. Sydney teaches Vipassana and Tibetan
Buddhist meditation techniques, with an emphasis on body-based awareness
practices drawn from Tibetan yoga. In this exploration of body,
mind and spirit, the awakened state is accessed through breath work,
deep relaxation, and a sense of playfulness. Sydney
received her BA in Religious Studies
and Psychology from Naropa University in
Boulder, Colorado. She
is currently pursuing her Graduate
degree in Nursing, from the perspective
that care giving and service are
spiritual practice.
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