Sandy Blaine
Sandy Blaine is one of the original cofounders and a co-director, with Betsy Weiss, of the Alameda Yoga Station. She has been practicing yoga since 1987, and teaching full time since 1993. Sandy taught yoga at UC Berkeley for many years, and she is a faculty member of the Berkeley Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, from which she graduated herself in 1995. Sandy has a joyful devotion to her daily yoga practice, and seeks to bring these qualities to her classes, which combine her experience and training in the Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa, and Kripalu methods. Her writing has been published in Yoga Journal, Yoga International, and Ascent magazines. Sandy is the author of the bestselling yoga book, Yoga For Healthy Knees, and her next book, Yoga For Computer Users, will be released by Rodmell Press in 2007.
Betsy Weiss
Betsy began practicing yoga in 1988 and has been teaching since 1994. She is one of the original founders and a co-director, with Sandy Blaine, of the Alameda Yoga Station, which opened in 1995. Betsy graduated from the Berkeley Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program in 1996. She is also an elementary school teacher, on a women's rowing team, and a mother of a young child. Betsy has found yoga provides equanimity to her full life. She finds great joy in assisting other people in their quest for self-awareness through her teaching. Betsy teaches restorative classes the last week of every month as an antidote to our busy lives. [back to top]
Ada Shedlock
Ada's practice of yoga and meditation began in 1993 as an organic progression from her work as a professional dancer and Pilates instructor, and a path to healing career-related injuries. She guides students of all levels and life stages through a challenging yet accessible practice in which postures are explored incrementally to facilitate deepening awareness, openness, strength, and healing of the body. Ada's teaching is inspired by the wisdom of Donald Moyer, Patricia Sullivan, Barbara Voinar, and Mary Lou Weprin, as well as her passion for movement and study of human anatomy. Visit Ada's website at: www.adayoga.com. [back to top]
Nancy Leigh-Smith
Nancy Leigh-Smith, M.A., has been teaching yoga classes since 1999. Her background includes degrees in music and education, and experience studying and teaching in Europe, Asia, Australia and India as well as the United States. Following an automobile accident in 1997, she began to focus on the practice of asana and is awed by the opportunity yoga affords for healing mind and body, and renewing the spirit. She has studied primarily Iyengar-style hatha yoga, and has been influenced and inspired by her classes with Donald Moyer, Mary Lou Weprin, Judith Lasater, Roger Cole and John Friend, as well as her ten-month apprenticeship with Gay White and classes with Sandy Blaine. She is a graduate of the three-year Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, holds a California State Teaching Credential in Health and Safety/Physical Fitness, and is an Advanced Relax and Renew Trainer. Nancy's teaching is deeply connected to her own experience of practicing yoga in the middle years of life. Visit her site at www.yogainthemiddle.org. [back to top]
Amanda Sharpe
Amanda started practicing yoga in 1998 after working as a Physical Therapist for sixteen years. The study of Yoga has been a natural progression for her, building upon her knowledge of anatomy and human movement. She has recently graduated from the Advanced Studies program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley and is truly inspired by her teachers; Donald Moyer and Mary Lou Weprin.
Her approach to teaching is one of sharing her experience and the sense of contentment and well being that the practice of yoga brings into her own life, and helping students find ease, comfort and space in their asana practice.
Amanda teaches classes in Oakland, Castro Valley and Alameda, including classes for people with limited mobility at the Cerebral Palsy Centre in Oakland. She is also a Certified Yoga for the Special Child teacher. [back to top]
Johanna Svedberg
Johanna Svedberg is a certified yoga instructor and has taught yoga and meditation in the East Bay for several years. Her classes are known for being insightful and challenging with a vinyasa flow, longer held breath-centered poses and guided self-reflection. Different themes of mindfulness and yoga are explored in her classes, with an emphasis on integrating these practices into our daily lives. She co-teaches mother/daughter, child/parent and teen classes with her children and offers private yoga and yoga therapy sessions. Contact Johanna. [back to top]
Lylia Guion
Lylia Guion graduated in 2003 from the Feldenkrais Berkeley training under Elisabeth Beringer, David Zemach-Bersin and Carol Kress supervision.
Her background as a professional violinist brought her to this unique approach back in 1996.
The Feldenkrais method is a very gentle and safe way to regain flexibility, release tension, become more aware of ourselves and eventually feel better.
She is now delighted to offer this class. [back to top]
Jon Morgan
Jon accelerated his study of Iyengar yoga after it brought continued functionality while suffering through herniated discs in 1999. A graduate of The Yoga Room in Berkeley, Jon teaches from the perspective that yoga is for everyone, made accessible via appropriate propping. He blends his degrees in Biomechanics and Philosophy & Religion into alignment-based asana sequences informed by one's breath. [back to top]
Marcia Newlin
Marcia began practicing yoga in the late 1980's and has been studying Iyengar-style yoga since 2000. She enjoys sharing the benefits of the practice with her students — whatever their level — with challenging yet approachable sequences to gain greater strength, flexibility, and balance, along with a sense of lightness in the body and calmness in the mind. She is a 3rd year student in the Advanced Studies Program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley, graduating June 2008. She draws inspiration from her own teachers; Donald Moyer, Mary Lou Weprin, and Sandy Blaine. [back to top]
Nancy Clarke
Nancy Clarke began studying Yoga in 1991, finding her current teacher and mentor, Susannah Bruder (a student of Shandor Remete, founder of Shadow Yoga) in 1997. Nancy graduated from a six month Teacher Training at Yoga Sita in 2006, and, encouraged by her teacher and fellow students, teaches there three days a week.
In July of that year, Nancy moved to Alameda, where she began enjoying classes with Betsy and Sandy at AYS. She is delighted to share her lighthearted, yet sincerely devoted approach, and her enthusiasm for early morning practice with other islanders (and mainlanders!) at their wonderful studio.
Her classes include asana, vinyasa, long-held poses, twists and spirals—all to access the deep breath supporting the practice. [back to top]
John Robert Nieters
John Nieters, L.Ac. began his studies of Chinese Internal Martial Arts over 30 years ago. John has been teaching Internal Martial Arts and related courses for over 20 years. He first became interested in Tai Ji Chuan as an alternative to surgery. In addition to teaching Tai Ji, John practices Traditional Chinese Medicine at his clinic in Alameda, teaches at Five Branches Institute, and hosts The Balancing Point, a health radio talk show on Thursdays at 8:00 AM on KEST 1450 AM. For more information please visit www.johnnieters.com. [back to top]
Nasi Raissian
Nasi has been practicing yoga since 1996. Inspired by teachers such as Elise Browning Miller and Donald Moyer, she has become a dedicate yoga practitioner. She believes that yoga can transformed any body in becoming flexible and strong, but more importantly, yoga can make you aware of your body and your abilities both on and off the matt. It is this awareness that she shares with her students showing them what they can do with their asana practice and how they can take that experience into their life to remain sane and centered. Nasi is in the third year of her studies at the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program and is continuing her own studies with Donald Moyer and Sandy Blaine. [back to top]