Burlington Yoga Conference

Meet the Instructors:

This year’s BYC features the following expert teachers and practitioners.
You’ll find some returns from last year and some new faces from both near and far.

Myra Lewin

Living Yoga: Pranayama, Meditation for Daily Living

With over 15 years experience in nutrition, holistic treatments and energy management, Myra Lewin is the owner of Maui Yoga and Ayurveda at Hale Pule in Maui, Hawaii. She teaches Raja Yoga and Ayurveda, as well as meditation, asana, pranayama, mantra, mudra, and daily living practices. Through Maui Yoga and Ayurveda, Myra has assisted many people in moving away from destructive habits to fulfilled living. Her new book, Freedom in Your Relationship with Food: An Everyday Guide is designed to help individuals break unhealthy eating cycles and gain a greater respect for what they put in their bodies. Before becoming a Yoga and Ayurveda teacher, Myra led a successful career in executive management and business consulting. After earning a Master of Accountancy from the University of Tennessee in 1980, she worked in the corporate sector until 1992. However, the longer she stayed in the business world, the more alienated and cut-off she felt from nature – and from herself.

Prem Prakash

Founder of Green Mountain School of Yoga: Union of Flesh & Spirit, Kirtan

Prem Prakash is an American-born yogi who serves as the Director of the Green Mountain School of Yoga in Vermont. He is the author of The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion, Three Paths of Devotion, Yoga American Style, and The Universal Yoga. In 2007, the Institute of the Himalayan Tradition presented Prem Prakash with the Annual Service Award, and in 2008 he was honored by the Institute as a Yogiraj, “An Accomplished Yogi.” For more information: www.gmsy.org.

Martha Whitney

Living Yoga at Evoloution: Restorative Yoga to Inspire Breath

Martha offers a mindful, inspiring and welcoming yoga environment that fosters self-acceptance and a sense of embodied well being. Her training in anatomy, movement, and breath allows her to artfully guide postures that access ease and aliveness. Martha meets her students where they are and compassionately guides them to stretch beyond what they have known to experience who they truly are. Students leave class feeling more present, confident, and resilient in themselves and in their lives. Martha has been studying yoga and body-mind therapy since 1991. In addition to group and private yoga classes, Martha is in private practice supporting life change through Hakomi, a body-centered psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing, which gently supports healing from trauma. Martha’s other great passion is long canoe trips in the open landscape of Canada, where she feels vastly alive.

Jane Jarecki

Kripalu: Conference Coordinator

Jane Jarecki Lanza is co-founder of the Liberate Music & Arts Festival and the Burlington Yoga Conference. Jane is a certified Kripalu yoga instructor who considers it her karma and honor to live yoga in the world. Through Jane’s focus on non-judgemental awareness, relaxation, and on yoga as a healing modality- for any person, in any stage of life, she helps people to connect with their true self, one another, and the infinite. Jane recognizes we are more than meets the eye and what we need is love. Through yoga balance is available, along with peace and positive energy. View Jane Yoga blog.

Emily Garrett

Emily Garrett Yoga: Yin Yoga and Meditation

Emily Garrett is certified in both Kripalu and Vajra Yoga. She has been teaching for ten years and continues to be amazed at yoga’s ability to heal physically, mentally and emotionally. Emily leads trainings, workshops and retreats both nationally and internationally as well as private and group classes in Burlington, VT. She has experience teaching kids, adolescents, adults, homeless women, at-risk youth, and people living with physical and mental disabilities. Her students offer her tremendous insight into the human experience. They keep her energized and inspired to teach. Her hope is that we all find a practice that inspires us to stay curious about life while cultivating great compassion for ourselves and others. Learn more about Emily at www.emilygarrettyoga.com.

Andrea O’Connor

Working Well VT: Strong on the Inside, Light on the outside

Andrea has practiced and taught yoga for eight years. With a background of study in Bikram and Astanga, she now teaches Anusara-Inspired Yoga and pursues training with John Friend, Todd Norian and other senior Anusara teachers. Anusara-Inspired Yoga includes a simple and powerful set of physical alignment principles that you can use while doing any form of yoga or standing in the grocery line or sitting at your desk. And this practice includes a life-enhancing outlook and focus on life that you may find to be inspiring and fun! Choose a gentle or vigorous class.

Sarab Kaur

Dhatri: Kundalini

Sarab Kaur is a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Reiki Master. She began her work with the kundalini in the late ‘90’s with a primary focus on meditation under the instruction of her teacher, Sue Moon, and went on to receive her certification in Kundalini Yoga in 2002 with the late Yogi Bhajan. Since then, Sarab has taught numerous Kundalini Yoga classes, workshops, and courses in studio, fitness, corporate, academic, and ayurvedic settings.

Sarab has worked with clients suffering from cancer, kidney failure, automobile accidents, trauma, and sexual abuse, as well as clients simply seeking deep relaxation, emotional or stress relief.

In addition, Sarab holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Indiana University and has taught a variety of college English courses at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana; and the College of St. Mary and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. Sarab currently resides in Burlington, Vermont where she teaches Kundalin Yoga and offers Reiki bodywork promoting healing in body, mind, and spirit, as well as the world.

Susan Cline Lucey

Evolution: Core Yoga

Susan Cline Lucey is the director and co-founder of evolution yoga in Burlington. Her formal yoga training began in 1998 with Cyndi Lee of OM yoga center in New York City and later with an advanced certification in prenatal/postpartum yoga from Colette Crawford of the Seattle Holistic Center. Her classes are known for being accessible, fun, and down-to-earth. She loves to play with unusual and quirky vinyasa sequences while seamlessly blending correct alignment techniques and Buddhist mindfulness. For Susan, teaching yoga is a gift not to be taken lightly; she is honored and humbled to be in a room of students who are willing to meet themselves daily and balance on the edge of risk, hope and acceptance. Susan’s classes blend her experience as a yoga teacher, a mother of two boys, a childbirth professional, and a modern dancer to create a practice that is honest and full of joy. Feedback from the Burlington Yoga Conference last year included that “. . . the teacher (Susan) was amazing! She was informative and funny and made you feel very relaxed.”

Annelies Smith

Embodyoga

For more than 17 years, Annelies has been inspired to help people find out more about their bodies and to help them move through pain toward greater openness and ease. As a dance major at the Naropa University, she was introduced to the work of Body-Mind Centering, founded by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and to the Shambhala Buddhist teachings of Chögyam Trungpa.

Both Body-Mind Centering and the Shambhala Buddhist Teachings are comprehensive systems that help people understand their experience by exploring the mind and the body. She went on to study Somatic Movement Therapy and Education with Martha Eddy at The Moving On Center in California in 1995. At that time she also studied yoga, massage and Shambhala Training. She has been a student of Sakyong Mipham, the current leader of Shambhala International for 14 years. When Annelies moved to Burlington in 2000, she began to teach yoga drawing on her experience with meditation and movement skills. She taught Body Awareness at Community College of Vermont. In Patty Townsend (of Yoga Center Amherst), Annelies found a teacher who had created a yoga instructor training called Embodyoga, which synthesizes the various systems she had studied within one discipline.

Jennifer and Matt Harris

Partner Yoga

Jennifer and Matt have been practicing yoga together for ten years, Jennifer has been teaching since 2002. One evening several years ago they decided to try some aerial lifts that their son loved doing, and what they discovered was a new way to connect that was energizing and playful. That night inspired the exploration of moving together on the mat that they have been teaching in Partner Yoga for the last five years. When they are not on their yoga mats, you can find them in the mountains or in caves with their children.

Carmen Maron Walker

Ayur-Yoga: Ayurveda, Digestion, Nutrition

Carmen Maron Walker is a certified Ayurvedic Consultant and Yoga Teacher. She is a graduate of The Ayurvedic Institute, where she studied and gained clinical experience with Dr. Vasant Lad, a world-renowned Ayurvedic physician. She is a certified Ayur-Yoga teacher and helps both clients and students apply yoga and Ayurveda to address specific health concerns. She has lived in Vermont for the past 12 years and will be graduating with a masters degree in Mental Health Counseling from Antioch Unicersity in 2010. Introducing Ayurvedic medicine with her burgeoning counseling practise, Carmen offers a holistic approach to maintaining optimum health.

Janet Carscadden

Evolution: Yoga Nidra

Janet Carscadden is a licensed Physical Therapist, Certified Yoga Teacher and owner of Evolution PT and Yoga Studio in Burlington Vermont. For the last 14 years her physical therapy practice has evolved to incorporate yoga as a healing treatment method. Her Yoga for a Healthy Back series and Yoga Therapeutics classes have garnered a strong following in the Burlington yoga community. Janet is committed to reducing injuries that occur during yoga practice due to improper positioning or sequencing of postures. She is a dynamic speaker who has lectured at the University of Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care and medical conferences.

Lydia Hill

Iyengar: How to Use Props in Yoga

Lydia Hill has over 20 years’ experience teaching and practicing in the Iyengar tradition. While her primary teacher is Patricia Walden, she has trained with many senior Iyengar teachers. She currently finds her inspiration from the wisdom inherent in the yoga sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and Marianne Williamson. She thanks her friend Jane for inviting her to participate in this wonderful Burlington yoga event.

John McConnell

YogaLIVE!

John has been practicing and experiencing yoga for nearly 11 years. In his classes John interweaves a combination of humor, light-heartedness, and intensity – while maintaining a keen emphasis on celebrating the true joy of life! When not on the mat, John and his wife Jane Taylor can be found retaining their breath while rolling kayaks on Lake Champlain.

Kathy McNames & Scott York

Yoga Vermont: Ashtanga

Kathy McNames is the Co-Owner and Co-Director of Yoga Vermont. Kathy began studying Yoga with Analisa Cunningham in 1983. She continued to practice with Michael Martin of Chico, California until moving East to Vermont in 1988. Here she found Penny Holden who urged her to explore Astanga. Her first taste was a five day workshop with Beryl Bender Birch and Thom Birch at the Omega Institute in 1995. She’s been hooked ever since. Isolation in practice made her incorporate the Astanga style into her Yoga classes immediately. Classes became more traditional as she went along. Kathy met Liza Ciano in 1997 and they teamed up and started Yoga Vermont in 1998. She is honored to be involved with such a dedicated Yoga community as we have here in the Northeast. She is grateful for the oportunity to teach.

Scott York has been practicing and teaching with Yoga Vermont since 2001. Scott was born and raised an only child in the steel town of Gary, Indiana. His father (a steelworker at one of the large mills) and mother (a homemaker) supported him greatly in all of his childhood endeavors including drum lessons and many long Saturdays in various gymnasiums for wrestling tournaments. Scott wrestled until his Junior year of college. He attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana (one of the only all-male liberal arts schools remaining in the U.S.) from 1990 until 1994 where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, serving in different capacities. During his college years, Scott worked in a lead factory through the summers to help pay for his education. This was also the period where he began to attend Grateful Dead, Phish and various other concerts. In 1994 Scott began following Phish around the United States on their tours logging many miles and many shows. He helped with their Green Crew recycling program during this time while on tour and landscaped during many of the off-tour seasons. He settled down in Burlington in 1996 still touring consistently through 1998 when he tore his hamstring dancing at a show. He continued to attend many shows until 2004 but with less consistency than the earlier years. The hamstring injury set Scott back for a period but also served as a vehicle for his move towards yoga. He had dabbled in yogic practices, picking up bits of information here and there, but had no defined practice per se. Seeking a restored state of health, he learned some basic postures and breathing techniques from a friend who was learning Kripalu style yoga. A year or two later he discovered Yoga Vermont and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and has been a constant presence at the studio since that time.

Tre McCarney

Ashtanga: Opening Ceremony

Tre’s journey with Ashtanga yoga began a decade ago shortly after Yoga Vermont opened its doors. After her first primary series class with Kathy she knew that she had found what she had been searching for. She has practiced alongside many disciplined students and teachers of Ashtanga and has studied with several senior teachers including Nancy Gilgoff, Tim Miller, and David Swenson. She has had the honor of practicing alongside hundreds of others during Guruji�s visits to the US. Tre wishes to thank her primary teacher, Christine Hoar of Bristol Yoga for her guidance, love and healing touch.

Her yoga practice has evolved to fit into her life as a mother of two toddlers. In many ways, she has learned more about yoga and her practice as a result of her changing role into motherhood. Getting on her mat and doing the sun salutations, breathing through a particularly challenging mothering moment or taking her children to the park to play may be the practice for the day. You may find her ujayii breathing while in her car on the way to her daughter�s yoga class or engaging her bandhas while preparing a meal for her family! Most of the time you will find her with her children exploring the beautiful landscape that Vermont has to offer.

By sharing the Astanga method, Tre is able to deepen her understanding of this powerful system and is committed to maintaining the integrity of the practice as it has been handed down to her.

Ambika Lesley Gibbs

Green Mountain School of Yoga: Gentle Yoga

Ambika, (Lesley Gibbs) has studied yoga asana, meditation and related disciplines formally with teachers from several different lineages, including Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Anandi Ma, and Amma Sri Karunamayi. Together with her husband, Prem Prakash, she serves as Co-Director of the Green Mountain School of Yoga in Middlebury, Vt. Ambika has devoted herself to studying and practicing yoga since 1995. She has been teaching asana classes since 2004. She is an avid gardener, student of herbalism, and mother of an energetic 7-year old son.

Carolyn Conner

Copper Crane Yoga: Anusara-Inspired

Carolyn Conner, RYT is an intuitive woman who brings insight, compassion and levity to her yoga classes, bodywork sessions and life. Since 1996, the core of her learning and teaching has evolved through practice, self-study and grace. In 2005 she completed a 300-hour Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Todd Norian and has stepped wholeheartedly into the practice and study of Anusara Yoga. Carolyn is an Advanced Certified Thai Yoga Bodywork practitioner, she holds certification in Reiki and she is enrolled in the Zero Balancing certification program. She is available for private consultations and specializes in creating programs for those with medical concerns, injury rehabilitation and structural issues. Out of the studio she dances the Tango with her beloved Jared and savors the outdoors whether swimming, hiking or simply strolling with her beagle-shepherd, Phoebe. In 2009 her daughter Genevieve was born, swept her off her feet and incited a passion and vibrancy she had never experienced, which she is now integrating in her practice, classes and bodywork.

Felicia Foster, D.Ay.

Ayurveda

Felicia Foster is a cardiac Registered Nurse with extensive experience in the rehabilitation of head trauma, stroke, and cardiac patients. She has studied with Dr. Deepak Chopra, and is certified as an Educator and practitioner through the Chopra Center in La Jolla, Callifornia. She is a graduate of the New England Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine and has a BA in Transpersonal Psychology. Felicia also curently teaches “The Biological Expression of Conscious Intention” at UVM.

Anjali Budreski

Yoga Mountain Center: Restorative Yoga

Come bliss out in this extra-gentle class for all levels and abilities. Learn to breathe fully into the present moment with a compassionate, loving, and open heart. Let go of deeply held tensions in the body and mind. Learn to become present, as the witness, to the full spectrum of emotions, thoughts, and sensations, in a deeply supportive atmosphere. Unravel layers of chronically held tension, as well as outdated patterns of holding in the body and mind. Breathe fully, relax, and allow yourself to relinquish the ‘doing’ mode and revel in ‘being’, with no agenda or expectations. In restorative yoga, all poses are done on the floor, while the student is supported fully by props, blankets, and pillows. Each pose is ‘held’ for about 5 minutes, although there is no physical efforting, only letting go. Light touch and aromatherapy are offered to those who wish. Cultivate radiant health, deep healing, and inner peace within, as spring blossoms around us. * Please bring two sturdy blankets, one pillow, and an eye pillow or eye covering if you have one.

Sukhada Repass

Ray of Light: Healing Workshop

Sukhada has been doing Reiki for ten years and does so because she wants to help people. In the past she has had major health issues that were helped by Reiki immensely. Within her Reiki Practice Sukhada also performs Hot Stone Reiki, Lightwork, Reflexology, Aroma and Flower Essence Therapies, Crystal Healing, Chakra Balancing, Dowsing, Sound Healing & Body Centered Therapy to increase natural healing energies throughout the body.

Julieta Rushford

Rushford Chiropractic: The Anatomy of Yoga

Dr. Julieta I. Rushford-Santiago has a B.S. in Exercise Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She received her Doctorate in Chiropractic in 1994 from Life University in Marietta, Georgia. Dr. Rushford has taught Anatomy & Physiology at Community College of Vemont (Montpelier and Burlington) and Touchstone Healing Arts School of Massage, VT. At CCV she helped to pioneer its first animal dissection-free anatomy course, which remains part of the curriculum and is now being offered at other sites.

An enthusiastic lecturer, her presentations on the subjects of natural health and wellness, natural fertility awareness, and wellness-based chiropractic models continue to inspire and motivate audiences.

A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Rushford first began practicing yoga at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts in 1993. Since then she has been studying yoga and practicing on a regular basis. She currently operates Rushford Family Chiropractic Center together with her husband, Dr. Matt Rushford,in South Burlington, Vermont. She is the mother of 8 year old John Storm and the Spanish teacher at his elementary school. When not adjusting or teaching, Julieta can be found creating magic in the kitchen or enjoying the forest behind her home in Williston.

Miv London, Ph.D.

University of Vermont Counseling Center: Mindful Meditation

Miv London, Ph.D., is a senior staff psychologist at the University of Vermont Counseling Center. She co-founded the UVM Mindfulness Practice Center in 1999, and is currently its coordinator. She runs meditation groups and mindfulness workshops for UVM students, and in the Burlington community, and has co-facilitated professional trainings on mindfulness-based programs at the Omega Institute. Miv has integrated mindfulness into her professional and personal life for over 10 years.

Danny Morris

Anusara-Inspired, Ashtanga, Kripalu: Tiger’s Eye Practice, Science of Meditation

Danny Morris an electrical engineer by day explores Buddhism, Yoga, Meditation and the parallels with modern physics by night. His influences grew by the introduction to the mind and life institute which joins western objective science with eastern contemplative science. launching his study of the “mind/body” to include neuroscience, psychology, quantum physics, integral theory, and various meditative techniques. When he moved to Burlington in 2006 his yoga practice began to unfold studying in the traditions of Ashtanga, Bikram, Kripalu, Anusara and Jivamukti with all of the wonderful teachers that Burlington has to offer. He has studied with Kathy McNames through the Yoga Vermont teacher training as well as completed the Anusara Yoga Immersion with Todd Norian and Ann Green. Danny has deepened his meditation practicing Basic Mindfulness with Shinzen Young. In addition to teaching at Yoga Vermont Danny leads Mindfulness and Yoga at IBM with the intention to develop innovative and healthy minds in the workplace. Danny continues his investigation of yoga, meditation, study of the mind and the nature of reality while integrating modern science and technology in a context that culturally agrees with our present day situation. There is much about objective reality that we have learned through the careful rigorous observation of phenomena, but to limit our view and experience to this materialistic reduction is to do a disservice to our true selves. He believes that it is also necessary to look inward at our subjective experience and cultivate the tool of our minds in which we use as the lens to view our relative reality. Yoga is one of many paths capable of helping us to achieve this goal.

Roger McKeever

Sacred Tremor: Trance Dance

Roger McKeever, E-YRT-500 has a creative and passionate interest in yoga and movement, which infuses his teaching style and his life with playfulness and a sense of wonder. He is dedicated to the path of service, love, truth, and freedom. It is lifelong journey to share his heart and body wisdom with others. He has studied extensively with many master teachers including Shiva Rea, Sean Korn, and Kofi Busia. He interacts with the world through his open, ecstatic heart. His classes are exhilarating, grounded, spirit-filled, and playful. Check him out at www.sacredtremor.com