Teachers of RiverGarden Yoga Center
Payment should be made to the teacher whose class you are registering for; packages are not interchangeable between teachers
Maggie Kessell, M.A., MSW, Maggie is the founder of the Riverbend Yoga Studio. She has practiced yoga for over 40 years and was first certified to teach yoga through the American Viniyoga Institute, where she has also studied yoga therapy with Gary Kraftsow. Maggie is a student of Sonia Nelson of Santa Fe, N.M., and was certified in 2006 by the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation in Chennai, India. She is registered with Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) at the 500 hour level. She has trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn in Mindfulness Meditation, and for 10 years taught Mindfulness Stress Reduction classes at HealthPartners. Maggie practiced psychotherapy for many years and worked with Outward Bound in adventure programming. She believes yoga to be a powerful process for healing, as well as actualizing a person’s full potential.
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Beth Cleary is certified through the American Viniyoga Institute at the 500-hour level. She has been a student of yoga since 1984, and has been teaching in various settings--acting classes, nursing homes, yoga studios--since 1990. She has learned from excellent teachers in the kundalini and Iyengar traditions, and, in Minnesota, from Faye Berton and Maggie Kessell in the Himalayan and Krishnamacharya/Desikachar traditions. Beth's own complementary studies have included Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique, and currently, she is enrolled in the professional training program in Global Somatics/Body-Mind Centering work of Suzanne River. For Beth, yoga is ground and sky, root and dream. She is also an Associate Professor of Theater and Dance at Macalester College.
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Mary Salisbury, R.Y.T., is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hr. level, and is certified at that level by Maggie Kessell and RiverGarden Yoga Center. In addition to her yoga training, Mary formerly taught secondary English, holds an M.Ed in Teaching and Learning, and also has an M.A. in Theology.
At a time of serious illness and stress in my life, I was lucky enough to find yoga. It gently challenged, changed, and healed my life on many levels. I now feel blessed to have the opportunity to help other people discover the transformational power of yoga for their own lives.
Liz Lacey-Gotz has completed a 200-hour training with Maggie Kessell in the tradition of Krishnamacharya and Viniyoga. In October of 2009, Liz traveled to Colorado for a Yoga Journal conference intensive in "The Healing Power of Yoga" that allowed her to study with Maggie's teachers: T.K.V. Desikachar, Gary Kraftsow and Sonia Nelson. Liz has been a student of yoga for more than 8 years, and appreciates the consciousness around movement and the stillness of mind that arises from a dedicated practice. She enjoys incorporating poetry, chanting, and yoga sutra study into her asana classes. Liz is also the Development Director for the Minnesota Waldorf School and she writes a monthly baking newsletter and blog for Land O' Lakes. She is well aware of the importance of relaxation and focus as a counterbalance to the stress we all face in daily life.
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Tami Eshult has been practicing yoga since 2000 and became certified to teach yoga through NETA in 2006. Her yoga classes are done in a vinyasa style, blending different aspects of yoga together. She blends her love of children and story telling with teaching yoga to create fun, explorations in yoga stories for children and families. She also combines yoga with her first childhood love of ice skating to create a yoga practice for figure skaters that emphasizes core stability and strength. Tami enjoys blending participants’ personal goals into her adult yoga class structure. This creates a yoga practice with greater potential for growth. Tami lives in St. Paul with her husband and 2 young sons.
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Lauren Sat Rattan Asheim began her Kundalini Yoga journey in April 2007 and finished Level I Teacher Training Certification in February 2008. She graduated from Saint Olaf College in 2003 with a B. A. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts and an emphasis in Dance. Lauren is an active participant in the Twin Cities performing arts community. Principles of Creativity, Prosperity, Projection and Radiance have intersected in her experiences with the fine arts as well as her continued study of yoga, meditation and Sat Nam Rasayan.
In teaching Kundalini Yoga, my goal is to serve others in their quest for a connection within themselves and also a connection beyond themselves. I want to share the transformative tools of Kundalini Yoga so that my students can have the energy, focus and fearlessness to reach their full potential
Beth Berila, Ph.D. completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training with Senior Anusara Practitioners, Martin and Jordan Kirk of Kirk Yoga. Beth has most recently been teaching yoga to the recovery community in the Twin Cities.
www.bethberila.com
For me, yoga has helped me reclaim my body, mind, and spirit by reminding me of the beauty and gift that we all have to share with our communities. I am particularly interested in the style of Anusara Yoga because of its emphasis on self-honoring, life affirming principles, cutting edge alignment practices (that teach us how to do the poses), and the yoga kula or community. Each of these principles fit perfectly with recovery principles. In my work with Women’s Studies, I have learned how many of us devalue ourselves and our lives. Yoga provides the tools through which to embody the value of our full potential, and rediscover joy, laughter, and connection.
Susan Schwartz has been practicing Yoga for 4 years and is a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. Susan completed her teacher training through Corepower Yoga; specializing in Vinyasa Yoga. After running 17 marathons in 6 years, Susan found the path of yoga later in life. Susan believes that everyone has the capability to find serenity and peace through yoga and meditation. My role as teacher is to guide students to make their practice their own and their intention personal - each student is encouraged to embark on their own spiritual journey. Susan warmly invites you to her join her in healing through mindful and meditative Vinyasa Yoga.
I am only here to be your guide. You know your body best, listen to it and follow your intuition.
Stephanie Mauceri a native New Yorker, has recently relocated to the Twin Cities area. She has been practicing yoga for 18 years, received her first teaching certification from Om Yoga in 2004 and has supplemented this with Prenatal, ‘Yin Yoga’, Anatomy, and ‘Yoga Therapy’ trainings. Initially beginning her practice in the Vinyasa and Ashtanga traditions, a motor vehicle accident in 2005 (getting hit as a pedestrian at a cross walk) caused her to rethink her yoga practice and embark upon the exploration of yoga as a therapeutic and restorative vehicle. As she began to create greater symmetry in her own body through this exploration, her teaching practice as a Yoga Therapist began to grow. Upon departing from NYC, she had been studying with Genny Kapuler at the Iyengar Yoga Institute, and had a private yoga therapy client base of twelve long-term, devoted students. She is also a writer and holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in Drama. She encountered a great sense of joy in building community through five years of teaching Yoga in New York City and hopes to help to establish this same sense of community at River Garden amongst seekers of greater freedom -- in movement and in the way one’s life is unquestionably enhanced through the practice and art of Yoga.
Note: Stephanie Mauceri will begin a leave of absence at the end of August. Yin/Yang flow will resume after the birth of her twins.
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One of the Twin Cities' most respected instructors, Julie Schmit has taught Vinyasa (Flow) Yoga since 1991 to all ability levels, from beginners to professional athletes. She has trained extensively with Tim Miller, Ana Forrest, White Lotus and Shiva Rea. As a certified massage therapist and massage therapy instructor, Julie is grounded in anatomy and physiology. As a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of healing, she has intensive training in energy healing and intuitive development. In 2000, Julie created a special curriculum in Yoga and energy consciousness for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater actor training program where she served as a faculty member for three years. In 2002, Julie created a Yoga program for the University of Minnesota Gopher Football team worked with the players for six seasons. In 2005, Julie began working with the University of Minnesota department of Public Health and Epidemiology in a pilot program that uses Yoga to help lower the BMI (Body Mass Index) of girls in high school, as well as working with “Girls on the Move”, a program developed by Tolerance Minnesota, which also brings Yoga to High Schools. In addition, Julie teaches classes that at the St. Paul Yoga Center and has been on the faculty there since 1999.
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Aamera Siddiqui, is a certified yoga instructor RYT-200, an actor, playwright and educator. She completed her training at Core Power Yoga, Minneapolis, led by Sarah Goble and Lisa Bloom. Aamera has practiced various forms of yoga including Hatha, Vinyasa, Bikram and an ancient yoga inspired by an Indian martial art form known as Kalari.
Yoga for Aamera is 10 percent on the mat and 90 percent off the mat. The benefits she has experienced include healing injuries from a devastating accident to better focus, self-awareness, more empathy for others, gratitude and living in the present moment. Her goal as an instructor is to help you find what yoga means to you and how it can improve your life- on and off the mat.
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Liz Wentworth began her exploration of the science and art of yoga about 10 years ago with a dear friend and an open heart. In 2008 she began her 200 hr. level training at the Yoga Center of Minneapolis and is now a certified yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance. This journey has continued to bring new opportunities and revelations of the complexity, beauty and grace of the human body, mind, and spirit. Liz strives to teach a class that emphasizes self-trust and love, true body alignment (both inside and out), and a strong sense of being part of a supportive community. Her personal practice and teaching approach is influenced by Anusara, Kripalu, and Kundalini philosophies and she continues her training in these methods.
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Tara Russell is a native of St Paul and holds a BS from Villanova University. She first came to Yoga with physical goals in mind. She started her body quest practicing Bikram, Power and Vinyasa yoga , but discovered the deeper benefits of yoga during recovery from an illness. Tara began to understand the mind/body connection that yoga brings to one’s whole life and re-prioritized “living the yoga lifestyle.” With that transformation in mind, she was certified at the 200-hr level at “It’s Yoga” in San Francisco, with a focus on Ashtanga Vinyasa. It’s through that training and the consistent practice of yoga that Tara’s able to aid her students in remarkable transformations of their own.
class description and feesWe are all beginners in our own right. Whether your goals are physical, mental or spiritual, this yoga is the key to re-connecting to our Self.
Laurie Lopesio has been practicing yoga since 1996. In 2006, she was certified at the 200 hour level by Maggie Kessell of Riverbend Yoga School to teach asana and pranayama in the same tradition of her own teachers, Gary Kraftsow and Sonia Nelson, both students of TKV Desikachar. Laurie is currently studying with Gary Kraftsow of the American Viniyoga Institute to broaden her teaching skills and to become certified at the 500 hour level. Laurie enjoys teaching people of all ages.
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Ashleigh Penrod, M.F.A, has been practicing and teaching a variety of movement forms since she began figure skating at age five. She is a registered teacher with Yoga Alliance at the 200-hour level, and received her certification from the Marianne Wells Yoga School in Costa Rica. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Temple University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Gustavus Adolphus College. In addition to teaching yoga, she teaches Beginning Ballet and Science and Somatic Foundations for Movement at Gustavus Adolphus College. In all, she maintains a commitment to holism, striving to impart genuine understanding of the body, the mind, and how they work together to obtain health and happiness. Her love of movement, extensive knowledge of anatomy, and fascination with the mind run deep, and she is wholeheartedly committed to helping others reap the mental and physical benefits of yoga.
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Eric Skarjune teaches the traditional Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do. Eric received his black belt from the American Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do Association under Grand Master Jae Joon Kim. Although, Karate has changed with American influence and has become a competitive sport, Eric teaches the traditional way of Tang Soo Do with strong emphasis on the art of karate with self discipline, respect, and virtue as important goals. Students are taught to have self discipline to help further their training and advancement. Respect is expected to be given to instructors by students, but also instructors are to show respect and patience to students. Personal, mental and physical development are at the heart of the lessons.
Saint Paul Tang Soo Do
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