DEVI YOGA CENTER

Devi Yoga Center Teachers

• Kashi
• Kai
• Zoe
• Sara
• Ileana
• Mercy
• Yusuf
• Suze
• Clare
• Gabriel
• Kari
• Christine
• Rachel

Kashi Ananda

Kashi is the owner/director of Devi Yoga Center. She is a senior teacher of TriYoga International, has studied with Kali Ray, the founder of TriYoga since 1991 and is on the TriYoga teacher training staff. Her lifelong exploration of movement, breath and spirit has strongly influenced her teaching style. She has been a professional modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She performed and toured with Poppo & the GoGo Boys in NYC and Group Motion Dance Theatre in Philadelphia among others. Most recently she has begun a choreography project around the flow of TriYoga. Kashi has introduced and inspired many students in the flow of TriYoga who have since gone on to open their own yoga centers from Pennsylvania to South Africa. She is grateful for this comprehensive and complete method of yoga to higher awareness and the Divine Inspiration of Swamini Kaliji. In her classes, Kashi creates a safe and joyful environment for students to enter deeply into the inner flow while giving clear and precise guidance for the correct alignments and the gentle spinal wave-like movements unique to TriYoga. The devotion, dedication and compassion that she brings to her teaching, reflect her many years of study with her Guru, yoga master, Kali Ray. Kashi has over 19 years experience in teaching group classes, private and semi-private sessions, corporate classes, children, teens, monthly workshops, retreats and teacher training.

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Kai Panym

Kai began her in-depth study of yoga fifteen years ago through living at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Grass Valley, CA. From this comprehensive and classical foundation, she has practiced and taught a variety of styles, including Bikram hot yoga, Vinyasa flow yoga, and the Ashtanga primary series. Inspired by numerous vipassana meditation retreats, Kai views all forms of yoga as opportunities to cultivate the art of mindfulness. Most recently, Kai was certified to teach the TriYoga methodology and is an intern furthering her study with senior teacher Kashi in Sebastopol and workshops with her Guru Kali Ray in Santa Cruz. She is inspired to practice and pass-on the systematic and graceful Flows of the TriYoga system which seamlessly unite asana (postures), mudra (focus), and pranayama (breath control) in ways that mirror the elements and cycles of the living Earth. Kai cultivates a sacred and nurturing context for her students, encouraging fellow yogis to sense the support and honor the guidance of their inner wisdoms.

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Zoe Rivers

As a massage therapist for many years I understand the importance of taking care of the body on all levels, honoring where it is at each moment. When I discovered TriYoga in 2007 I knew I had found the perfect yoga practice. After completing the Basics teacher training to deepen my own practice I then felt drawn to share this with others. Having this practice in my life has given me greater flexibility and strength, at the same time gaining a deeper connection of mind, body and spirit. Combining the trinity of breath, postures and focus, TriYoga is truly a complete yoga practice. Zoe is a certified TriYog Basics teacher and teaches Gentle TriYoga.

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Sara Alexander

In teaching TriYoga I hope - at best - to share with each student some of the transformations that Tri Yoga has brought to my life: a calmer mind, a free-er spirit, a more open heart, a stronger - and largely pain free - back! At the very least, each yoga class is, potentially, a sanctuary in a hectic world. I first studied yoga (Iyengar) and dance and studied and taught Tai Chi Chuan in Paris in the early 1970's. I pursued my fascination with the interface of mind and body, and of Eastern spiritual thought and Western psychology in San Francisco, completing a M.A. in Holistic Psychology in 1983. I have been a Marriage and Family Therapist in San Francisco (and, soon, also Sebastopol!), for almost three decades. Severe back pain led me to study TriYoga with Kashi in 2005, and I became certified to teach Basics in 2008. www.saraalexandermft.com.

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Ileana Champlain

Ileana began practicing yoga in 1990. Shortly after her discovery of yoga she went to live at the Ananda Ashram in Nevada City. Soon after that her love for the practice led her to India where she lived, and studied with Papaji, studying the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, ( the practice of the non-dual). In 2001 she recieved a yoga teacher certificate from Kripalu and has been teaching ever since. She went on to study Anusara yoga with John Friend and bhakti yoga with Saul David Raye. Ileana also graduated from Ayurvedic studies in 2006, with a speciality in ayurvedic nutrition. She has studied classical Odyssey dance with Guru Vishnu, and currently dances with the bollywood troupe Amrita. Ileana invites all of her students to join her on the journey of deep nourishment, strength, and liberation through the practice of yoga.

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Mercy Sidbury

Pilates

Educated at Mount Holyoke and Oberlin Colleges, Mercy Sidbury cultivated a passion for the study of somatics through her 25 year dance career in the Bay Area and New York. Besides her own personal movement investigations, other influences on her practice in movement education include Bartinieff Fundamentals, Feldenkrais principals, Body Mind Centering, therapeutic exercise, Reiki, Caritas energy work, Iyengar, Kundalini and Kripalu yoga, tai chi, Authentic Movement in addition to 30 years in the field of Pilates. Since 1988, she has taught dance technique, choreography, pedagogy, anatomy, kinesiology and somatics work in the California State University system and other professional and university settings in California and across the U.S. She currently runs Bodywise Pilates Studio in Sebastopol, CA.

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Yusuf Erskine

O.N.E. Yoga
Doctor J. Yusuf-Quddus Erskine began hatha yoga in 1972. He completed his teacher training in 1974 at the Swami Vishnudevananda yoga ashram in the Bahamas. For 10 years, in Charlottesville, Virginia, he presented yoga classes and meditation seminars, integrating Sufi philosophy with hatha yoga. In 1981, while on a pilgrimage to India, Yusuf-Quddus had an epiphany activating his desire to be a healer. A process of discovery ensued, in which he discovered that osteopathic medicine was the best pathway that would allow him to incorporate his yogic experience with medicine and healing. In 1992 Yusuf-Quddus Erskine D.O. started in private practice in Sebastopol, Ca.
Currently his focus is in Osteopathic manipulative medicine, HIV care and classical Homeopathy. Combining his expertise in osteopathic manipulation, therapeutic exercise, and a lifelong practice in hatha yoga, Yusuf Quddus Erskine teaches an ongoing O.N.E. Yoga class series and occasional workshops. New students are welcome!

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Suze Pringle-Cohan, M.A.

Suze brings 25 years of knowledge and experience to TriYoga Flow as an exercise physiologist and fitness specialist. She discovered TriYoga in the early 90’s after several decades of yoga practice in other lineages. It felt like coming home. TriYoga is a carefully systematized method, which guides the student naturally and progressively through the flow of kriya/asana to a deeply meditative state: Meditation in motion. Suze uses her knowledge of physiology and anatomy of movement to enhance smooth transitions and alignment in the flow. Through this understanding, the student can more fully experience the flow of prana throughout the body We enter the universal flow through the physical. The inner knowledge and bliss that emerges is physically, emotionally and spiritually transformative.

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Clare Maguire

Clare began her study of TriYoga in 2005 at the TriYoga center in Santa Cruz, CA. Over the next three years she began to experience the true and fundamental benefits of this systematic, hatha inspired method. Experiencing the flows as a way to connect the breath, postures and focus leading to the continued meditative state TriYoga embodies, led Clare to a more peaceful, fulfilling and balanced life.

Continuing her studies of TriYoga became a priority and she commuted to Sebastopol while spending the next few years living in San Francisco to study with senior TriYoga teacher Kashi Ananda, who she considers her mentor.

Clare continues to grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically from embracing the flow and brings its benefits to all areas of her life. She recently completed the Basics training and is currently an intern studying with Kashi at the Devi Yoga Center. She attends workshops with the founder of TriYoga, Swamini Kaliji, whenever possible. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Counseling at Sonoma State University and lives with her husband in Sebastopol. She believes movement can be a gateway to inner peace and healing and sets that intention to create a safe space for students to explore their inner realms of consciousness and awareness.

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Gabriel Benjamin

Gabriel Benjamin, TriYoga teacher from Santa Cruz, California, has been practicing TriYoga since age 11 when he was first introduced to the practice by his mother. Gabriel brings a deep commitment to his practice and to his teaching and is certified in levels Basics through Level 3. Gabriel is a guest teacher at Devi Yoga Center and all enjoy the space that he holds for the TriYoga teachings.

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Kari Stettler

Kari Stettler’s personal yoga practice has been influenced by many dedicated teachers over the past 13 years in the styles of Iyengar, Classical Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Integrative Yoga Therapy and TriYoga. She received her teacher training in Integrative Yoga Therapy in 2001 and Basics certification in TriYoga in 2010 and TriYoga Level 1 Certification in 2011. Her passion for vibrant living has guided her study and practice of whole foods nutrition, living in harmony with natural cycles and ancient healing ways. Kari’s body and energy work practice, Inner Earth Healing Arts is located in Sebastopol where she offers therapeutic sessions in Zen-Shiatsu, Tibetan Cranial, Massage and Integrative Yoga Therapy. www.innerearthhealth.org and www.polcumsprings.net/index.html

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Christine Tulis

Harpist, singer and healing artist Christine Tulis is a visionary, pioneering transformational combinations of music, healing arts and sacred performance. She composes and performs music intended to deepen the awareness of our Divine Essence. Her songs feature spiritually uplifting lyrics originating from her inner experiences or inspired by the poetry of Rumi and other mystic saints.

Christine has performed for two United Nations events and during Labyrinth pilgrimage at Chartres Cathedral, France, in addition to many healing centers, yoga studios and churches.

She is the founder and director of Sound Temple Music and Healing arts, her multi-faceted music business, healing arts practice and record label.
www.christinetulis.com

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Rachel Balunsat

Years of chronic pain from 2 car accidents and major health issues led Rachel on a journey to heal. A chiropractor inspired her saying "if everyone practiced yoga, chiropractors would become obsolete." Rachel began studying Iyengar yoga in 1990. Since then she has broadened her studies to include Vinyasa, restorative, Ananda Seva, Bikram and most recently Tri Yoga.

Tibetan Buddhist meditation has also become a prominent resource for inner transformation which Rachel believes is the source for outer healing and health. Yoga classes with Rachel will cover Hatha basics, focusing on the breath and include meditation.

As a recent graduate from the Dhyana center and Alive and Well Rachel offers Ayurvedic massage and Conscious Bodywork as well as Cranial Sacral Therapy.

Rachel Balunsat
707.548.9321

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