Instructors, Advanced Studies
Jennifer Martin
Jennifer Martin has been practicing yoga for over twelve years, starting in her late teens. Yoga has been a touchstone and a balancing force for her ever since she was introduced to it. Foremost in her practice, yoga serves as a spiritual grounding force that always provides a new and fresh perspective, keeping her in line with the real truth of a changing life, body and world. It gives her great joy to share this practice with others.
Jennifer’s classes are meditative, creative, and her sequences build strength and stamina, while inspiring movements that give a sense of freedom and ease. Her classes are focused on linking breath with movement, while maintaining awareness of proper alignment and effort during a class. She encourages students to be their own teachers and find their edge; to celebrate their strengths and push gently against their limitations.
Karen Johnson
In 1980 Karen used crutches to walk into to her first yoga class. It was a great type of physical therapy that led her to a career in barefoot movement and modern dance. She studied at Cal State University Long Beach, winning a Dance Magazine award and an A.D.F. national title. After leaving Los Angeles to live in the Bay Area, she received her degree in the LEAP program at St. Mary’s College then studied with Leah Gillman in her first flow yoga teacher training.
Karen loves the way yoga allows the mind to find itself inside the body, awakening the physical to allow the practice of mindfulness and the letting go of judgment. Her classes honor the moments between asanas as opportunities to deepen the breath and be fully in each moment. She connects the poses in a playful manner with the goal to
guide others through their journeys in a non-intimidating and fun environment. When Karen isn’t practicing inversions and half moons she is happy making messes as an art teacher at Lakeview Preschool and Redwood Day School.
Leonora Willis
Leonora Willis established her connection to Yoga during a major transition in her life. During this time, Yoga provided an anchor to secure her, as well as the sails to help her move through life with grace. This experience fueled her desire to become a Yoga instructor, not only to enhance her own continued Yoga practice, but also to help others move through the every day and unexpected transitions of life with awareness, strength and flexibility. Leonora recognizes individual students’ needs and knowledgeably meets those needs in a myriad of ways: with helpful guiding directions, hands-on adjustments, keen Vinyasa sequences. Leonora teaches Yoga classes in the Vinyasa Flow Style, which links the breath to the body’s movement, not only within a pose, but also in the transitions between poses, thus moving students through sequences that challenge the body, aiming to balance mind and spirit. In a Yoga class with Leonora, students are physically challenged while also feeling a sense of being nurtured, safe and supported, which encourages the connection between body and mind, self and universe. By incorporating pranayama, meditation and chanting, Leonora provides her yoga students with a balanced practice that fuels and reenergizes the mind, body and spirit. www.leonorawillis.com
Mary Beth Ray
Mary Beth (MB) has been exploring yoga as a philosophy and physical practice for many years. She has studied with wonderful teachers and participated in classes and workshops in various traditions including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yin, and Anusara. She is especially drawn toward the moving meditation of a vinyasa style of practice and since 2006 she has been a dedicated student of Ashtanga Vinyasa in the classical self-paced Mysore tradition of Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.
As a teacher MB wishes to share yoga as a day-by-day, moment-by-moment practice of well-being. In her classes she guides you through dynamic sequences of movement while you play with the subtle alignment cues of the postures, and most importantly tune your awareness to the quality and presence of your breath during both exertion and stillness. Through the practice she encourages you to discover balance between effort and ease, to develop your own inner and outer strength and flexibility, and hone a more graceful engagement with your everyday life. In this way “yoga” can become a daily practice both on and off the mat. www.mbryoga.com
Theresa Kelly
Theresa has only lived in the Bay Area for a few years, but loves what it has to offer. She graduated from Barefoot Movement’s Level I Teacher Training Program in the Spring of 2011 and has been teaching steadily ever since! She received her Kid’s Yoga certification through mini yogis® in Spring 2012 and is continuing her training by participating in Barefoot Movement’s Level II teaching training which she is scheduled to complete in May 2013. Theresa finds incredible joy in teaching and draws from all her experiences to bring a well-rounded class to her students. She has a background in music and theatre and also teaches Kid’s Kung Fu at Soja Martial Arts, and after-school enrichment classes in East Oakland. Yoga has brought a positive transformation to Theresa’s life and she hopes her classes bring some transformation to her students as well. She ends each class with “May the best part of your practice follow throughout you day” and she really means it!