Diablo magazine's Best Yoga Instructor 2010, Diane Valentine is the director of The Yoga & Movement Center, where she teaches weekly classes and leads workshops in Iyengar-based yoga, Restorative Yoga and Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons. She has been studying yoga for more than 30 years and teaching for the past 20. She has studied with and assisted senior Iyengar Yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD.,in working with the therapeutic aspects of yoga and restorative practices. Diane has written articles on Restorative Yoga for Menopause and Yoga and the Feldenkrais Method. She is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner and teaches weekly Awareness Through Movement classes. She also has an active private practice in hands on Functional Integration and Therapeutic Yoga sessions.

Diane has developed a deep understanding of the body, mind, and emotional connections through her work as a yoga teacher, massage therapist, and Feldenkrais practitioner. Her own life situations have given her deep insight into the way our body's work. After being diagnosed with a debilitating illness many years ago, she found deep healing in yoga's restorative practices and continues to help and teach students learn to listen to their body's own natural wisdom.

Today, her methods are aimed at teaching beginning and continuing students to listen to their bodies through the fluid movements of yoga and Feldenkrais, as well as learning to practice "living in the present moment" by becoming aware of themselves. Diane places emphasis on developing and maintaining postural alignment to support the organs and the internal functions of our bodies, allowing us to be fully aware, awake, and alive.

Diane offers individual, private sessions using therapeutic methods she has developed over the years that are designed to release tension as well as alleviate chronic and debilitating conditions and help us live our lives fully. Both yoga and Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement classes are suitable for all body types and ages.

Wendy Beckerman is an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher with a passion for making yoga accessible to everyone. In 1994, she turned to yoga to help balance her lifestyle as a touring singer/songwriter. In 2005, Wendy took the next step in deepening her practice and began studying Anusara Yoga with teachers Abby Tucker and Sianna Sherman. In mid-2007, she earned her credentials as an Anusara-inspired instructor, and has continued on that path, teaching at the Yoga and Movement Center, and other locations in the Bay Area.

In late 2005, Wendy founded East Bay Yoga to bring on-site yoga to the workplace, emphasizing stress reduction and promoting a sense of community among coworkers. Her teaching style is often described as clear, calming, and centering, and includes the use of imagery to emphasize moment-to-moment awareness and inspire people to more fully experience everyday life.

Kelly Callahan Black has been studying and teaching Yoga and Pilates and the Healing Arts for the past 13 years. She is a long time Bay Area resident and got her certification to teach Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yoga Bhajan in New York City. In addition to Kundalini Yoga she is inspired by the teachings of Iyengar, Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga. Kelly did her advanced Pilates training through Balanced Body with world-renowned Pilates teacher Elizabeth Larkam and at the ABsolute Center in Lafayette.

Kelly brings to her classes warmth, love and humor and she always loves to find new and exciting ways to challenge and uplift her students. Kelly is available for private Reformer, Mat Pilates and Yoga and Prenatal Yoga Instruction.

Marcia Conroy has been practicing yoga for over 13 years, primarily in the traditional Iyengar style. She is a graduate of the Advanced Studies program at The Yoga & Movement Center in Walnut Creek; and, a graduate of the Advanced Studies in Yoga Therapy at Seva Ananda in Santa Rosa. In addition, Marcia attended the last two annual conferences of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. For the past 3 1/2 years Marcia has been teaching yoga primarily to seniors at the Walnut Creek Senior Center, San Ramon Senior Center and Danville Parks and Recreation; and, therapuetic yoga to people who have disabilities at the Yoga & Movement Center in Walnut Creek; and, Downtown Yoga, in Pleasanton.

Christy is a graduate of YogaWorks 500-hour teacher training class of 2010. With Nikki Estrada as her mentor, she studied with Melanie Salvatore-August, Erika Trice and Mynx Inatsugu. Christy loves the YogaWorks method because of its intelligence and clarity in both sequencing and instruction, making complex asanas readily available to beginners.  
She has also completed training with Judith Hanson Lasater in Restorative and Advanced Restorative Yoga.

Her interest in Restorative yoga came about from her own experiences with anxiety, insomnia and depression. She has found yoga in general and restorative yoga in particular to be a powerful tool in combating these conditions. She has practiced yoga off and on for over 15 years.

Christy strives to create a safe, comfortable and nurturing environment in which to facilitate the deepest relaxation and restorative time possible for students.

Martha Deaton is a certified Primordial Sound Meditation and Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga teacher with the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, CA. She has been practicing and teaching yoga to friends and family and given private lessons since January 2006. She fell in love with meditation when she first learned to meditate in 1996 and since then has been practicing regularly. Meditation changed her life in many ways and she became a meditation teacher in April 2003. Her favorite saying: “Meditation allows me to unfold my best potential. The best thing I’ve done for myself is to learn how to meditate.”

Janine studied exercise physiology in college, which was the start of her passion for understanding the human body and its functions and learn different modalities to bring harmony and health throughout the body and mind. She has worked over the past 25 years as a college athletic trainer, personal fitness instructor, personal trainer and corporate wellness director. Janine is always in search of learning new ways to help students to become their personal best in body, mind, and spirit. Her quest has taken her down many healing and therapeutic paths, one of them being yoga. After taking her first Iyengar yoga class in 1994 from Diane Valentine her true passion for Iyengar yoga began. The principles of Iyengar yoga are close to her heart, with its focuses on correct body alignment allowing the body to develop harmoniously in an anatomically correct way so that no  there is no suffering from injury or pain when practicing correctly. This has been her philosophy in all the movement forms she teaches. In 2002, Janine began studying with Donald Moyer at The Yoga Room, along with other mentors Mary Lou Weprin, Gay White and Sandy Blane. She completed the Yoga Room Advanced Studies program in 2006. She has additional training in prenatal yoga, restorative yoga, pranayama, therapeutic yoga, Pilates, and Yamuna Body Rolling.

Looking for a practice that would bring balance, integrity and aliveness into my daily life I found yoga in a small book titled 28 Days of Yoga, by Richard Hittleman. Now, nearly 40 years later yoga continues to bring a depth of richness to my everyday experience. I have been blessed with the opportunity to study in the East Bay with many wonderful teachers including Mildred Partansky, Janet McLeod, Ramanan Patel, Diane Valentine, Kathy Alef, Donald Moyer, and Mary Lou Weprin. I studied in the Teacher Training Program at the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco, took a 200 hour course of study in massage so I could understand how the anatomy of the body worked, then took the two year Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley where I received certification to teach Iyengar Yoga and Pranayama. In the year 2000 I moved to the Mendocino coast and opened the Fort Bragg Yoga Studio where I taught gentle, beginning, all levels, pre-natal, post-natal, restorative yoga and meditation classes. Back the east bay now I have been busy teaching classes in Walnut Creek, Danville and Pleasanton. I also practice chi gong and I wear a humble orange belt in Aikido. I have studied Ayurvedics, the life science of yoga, and hold certification as a Reiki Master. My teachings are safe, vibrant, balanced and fun! I invite all levels of yogis to come and adventure into yoga with me!

Debbie Gilman M.A., R.Y.T., has been studying yoga for 20 years and has been teaching throughout the Bay Area for over 12 years. She graduated from the Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program and is a student of Donald Moyer. She is on the faculty of the teacher training programs at The Yoga Room in Berkeley and at Downtown Yoga in Pleasanton. Debbie has a rich experience in yoga therapeutics having taught one-on-one yoga-based rehabilitation at Innate Chriopractic & Wellness Studio in Albany and healing yoga at the Women's Cancer Resource Center in Oakland for many years. She has taught middle, high, and graduate school (and lowland gorillas) and brings a love of teaching to her classes. Debbie has a BA from Stanford and an MA from Harvard.

Torie Henderson is a teacher, speaker and life coach who helps parents stay sane in the land of crazy. One of the easiest ways she found to do this, is with yoga. By focusing on pain reduction, strengthening exercises, flexibility, and relaxation, Torie helps new Moms and Mommies-to-be, feel fit, energized and well rested. Torie has been teaching prenatal yoga and Mommy & Me yoga/pilates for the last 8 years and loves every minute of it. Come join the fun!  

David is a recent graduate of the Yoga Movement Center’s teacher certification program.  He has been practicing yoga for over 5 years. He has spent time practicing yoga with many of the more popular teachers in Central Contra Costa.  He has gone from the trenches on the gridiron to climbing the ladders in corporate America to the yoga mat. He believes each one of our journey’s is different and unique. With the help of yoga, he has found a new way to savor life’s journeys. His yoga practice is built around Iyengar philosophies and allows every student the opportunity to explore their journey in a safe and supportive way.

Katie graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a psychology degree in 1999 and has been a life long athlete. Katie discovered yoga as a way to combine the two things she was most passionate about; physical fitness and psychology. The mind body connection of yoga felt like a perfect fit for her. Later on, when she became a mother she found yoga even more rewarding. She feels that prenatal yoga is such a wonderful way to prepare both the body and the mind for the demands of childbirth and motherhood. She feels practicing yoga can create more peace and patience when dealing with the challenges and rewards of motherhood, from infancy on.

Katie is guided, in life and as a teacher, by the principle of Ahimsa, non-harming, or compassion for all living beings. This principle reminds her to be thankful everyday and appreciate the many blessings life has to offer.

Katie graduate from Cloud Nine Yoga 200 hour level in 2006 and 500 hour level in 2009. She completed a pre/postnatal teacher training with Jane Austin in 2010. She is currently in another teacher training program with Yoga Works, due to complete in June 2011.

Tyler holds an M.Sc. in economics and an undergraduate degree in pre-medical life sciences and is a recent graduate of the Berkeley Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program. In addition to studying under the tutelage of Donald Moyer and Mary Lou Weprin, Tyler worked for more than a year working as a teacher's assistant for his primary teachers, Gay White and Sandy Blaine. Iyengar yoga's intellectual and mechanical approach to asana drew Tyler to study Iyengar yoga. The use of props and study of human anatomy allows for a broader scope for the student to benefit from asana practice. His outlook on life is one of curiosity and love. His classes are taught in a safe, relaxed and supportive manner. His students have described him as a gentle and encouraging instructor.

Greg, a graduate of Diablo Yoga Center's advanced Studies Program, combines attention to alignment with awareness of the breath.

He draws from his extensive experience as a world-champion Frisbee competitor and massage therapist/bodyworker to help students optimize their own mental, emotional, and physical potential. Greg seeks to practice yoga from the heart, with an emphasis on re-establishing the free flow of life force through the body resulting in healing and greater capacity to express one's innate splendor.

Karen is a graduate of The Yoga & Movement Center's Advanced Studies/Teacher Training Program. She has studied ballet, aerobic dance and pilates. Karen is currently studying yoga with Mark Horner, Diane Valentine, and Greg Riley. Karen is also a life coach.

 

 

 

Sarah graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has always been fascinated by the mind and body connection. After college, she pursued her love of yoga and completed her first Teacher Training at YogaWorks in 2008 and a second at YogaWorks in 2010. She has studied with many uniquely gifted teachers including Nikki Estrada, Melanie Salvatore-August, Erika Trice, Christy Brown and her mentor Mynx Inatsugu. She continues to assist Mynx and is inspired by Mynx’s incredible devotion to her students and by her gift for intelligent sequencing and precise instruction.

Sarah also completed all the requirements of the Niroga Institute Yoga Corps, a yoga-training program offering tools for working with at-risk populations and she received a yoga teacher certification for kids through It’s Kids Yoga in San Francisco. She has taught yoga to kids and teachers in the early childhood educational system. Her kids’ classes are inspiring, playful and fun, using music, asanas, props and games to teach kids self-awareness, balance, strength, flexibility and mindfulness.

Sarah’s intention as a yoga teacher is to inspire, educate and guide her students on a path where they can clear away the distractions of the mind and body in order to reach a place of stillness and ease. Her classes focus on proper alignment and attention to breath allowing students to work at their own pace in a safe and nurturing environment.

There is a stillness, an ever-present wisdom, knowing or light, that quietly lies behind the oceanic waves of breath...I'll meet you there.

Susan graduated from The Yoga & Movement Center's Advanced Studies/Teacher Training Program in February 2011. Her background includes years of meditation, a love of hiking & backpacking, and many years of fitness training in the gym. When her body began to oppose these intense gym workouts, she knew she had to follow the advice of a wise yogi who once told her, "Do not grow old without adding yoga to your life!" Susan invites you to come in for a chane to put down the "thinking mind" for a bit, and experience the harmonizing efectis of yoga.