Kim began practicing yoga in 2002, and quickly
discovered that this was not another exercise routine but a path
to physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Since then her practice
has ranged from an athletic style complimenting her other activities
(including running, cycling and swimming); to a focus on prenatal
health, preparation for labor and birth and post-natal recovery
(she has three young children); to the spontaneous joy of sharing
a yoga practice with her children. She completed a 200-hour instructor
training with Kimberlee Orenstein in 2002, and is a Yoga Alliance
Registered Yoga Teacher. She now uses her personal experience and
her training to share her love of yoga and is unceasingly grateful
for the wisdom and energy her students bring to every class. Her
classes integrate breath and body mindfulness, postural alignment,
and yoga philosophy in a flowing and exuberant practice. She also
teaches at the Tahoe Yoga and Wellness Center in downtown Reno.
Yoga has transformed Linda's life and is
her path to self-realization. Linda teaches both Hatha Yoga, completing
her teacher training with Rod Stryker in L.A., and Kundalini Yoga,
receiving her teaching certificate from Yoga West Kundlaini Yoga Studio
in Vancouver, B.C.
Denise has been practicing yoga since 1996 and
started to teach in 1998. Due to injuries to her tailbone and collarbone
at a developmental age, she had weaknesses in her spine affecting
the neck, middle back and lower back. Yoga has been a key element
in her strengthening and bringing balance back to her body. Denise's
background includes studying with Doug Swenson and Lilias Folan,
and she has completed the 200 hour teacher training with Kim Orenstein.
She also brings her studies with Jack Kornfield of vipassana meditation
to assist in training the mind to be more present while practicing
yoga, and in daily life. Along with these practices, she enjoys
gardening, hiking, movies, reading, decorating and crafts. Her husband,
Larry, shares her passion for yoga and combined they have two grown
daughters and one grandson, as well as a son and daughter at home.
By profession, Larry is
a graphic artist. By desire, he is a practicing yogi. He is, as
many are, an avid student of Kim Orenstein's and has been since
he started yoga. When he enrolled in his first teacher training
course, his plan was not to teach, but to "learn more yoga." He
has now been teaching for a year and a half and loves every minute
of it. "To teach is to learn" he says. "I learn where I will go
with my body, heart and soul by where I go with my teaching." For
the past 5 years Larry has been studying with some of the nation's
top teachers and hopes to pass this knowledge on to others who wish
to learn.
Tom Burton moved from
Virginia to Northern Nevada in 1984, at which time he had no idea
either where Nevada was or what yoga was. After reading a Yoga Journal
article in 2000 that recommended yoga as a perfectly balanced workout,
he began to explore the concept through reading, an occasional class
and a daily home practice. Then, after seeing first hand what a
difference yoga can make in one's life, and attending a 4-day yoga
conference in San Francisco, Tom began a more focused study program
with Kim Orenstein, including participation in her 2005 - 2006 advanced
yoga study and teacher training program. Tom's main objective in
teaching is to convey how gentle and spiritual and nurturing the
practice of yoga can be for absolutely anyone, no matter a person's
age, body type, flexibility or physical strength. One of Tom's basic
tenets in yoga is that anyone can do any pose - you just do it in
a modified manner.
As a mother of three, Mandy knows first hand
that the practice of yoga is one of the most effective ways for
a women to prepare to bring her baby into the world a calm, mindful,
and comfortable way. Mandy completed her yoga teaching certification
with Kim Orenstein at Yoga Loka in May 2004 and is also certified
as a HypnoBirthing instructor. Her classes create a safe, supportive
and informative environment for pregnant women, birth companions
and new mammas in her work as a pre/post natal yoga teacher and
a HypnoBirthing child birth instructor. Mandy's classes draw on
a variety of practices including meditation, breath awareness and
movement that flows with one's breath.
Jim Dakin is an electrician and trained yoga instructor,
with 28 years of construction experience. Flexibility, balance,
and body awareness are but a few of the limitless benefits of practicing
yoga. he encourages growth and change and believes you are as vast
as you act. Jim invites you to ask yourself, "What will you
do with your one wild and precious life?"
Mary's personal practice
began in 1995 with meditation, based on the method of her spiritual
teacher, Sri Eknath Easwaran. Over the years, she started dabbling
in asana (posture) practice, eventually studying with Yoga Loka
Director Kim Orenstein and local teacher Sally Schuster, completing
Kim's Teacher Training in 2003. Mary finds that meditation and the
use of a mantra provide a spiritual foundation for each day. Asana
practice builds on this foundation, developing not only stamina
and strength, but also providing a release for the tension and frustration
that daily life can bring. Yoga, in total, provides Mary a haven
from her other professional life as an attorney. And yoga, she says,
is teaching her, or trying to teach her, patience. "I don't have
too much trouble being patient with others, but being patient with
myself is another story." Mary loves teaching and the opportunity
it brings to share her commitment to yoga with others. She also
credits yoga, in all its forms, with enabling her to maintain a
sense of balance in her life and juggling a professional career,
four children, a husband and her yoga practice puts this to the
test daily!
David Funk began practicing yoga in 2000. His
interest in yoga originally began as a way to improve his flexibility
but he soon realized that the practice of yoga is a powerful and
transformative way to live your life. David leads an active lifestyle,
participating in activities such as cycling , running, snow boarding
and long distance backpacking. Yoga helps him to remain strong and
healthy while pursuing these passions. He has completed the 200
hour teacher training course with Kim Orenstein. David hopes, through
his teaching, to share his love of yoga with others and to guide
and inspire them on their journey.
Jackie Gallagher,RYT, MFT has
been practicing yoga since 1999. She has trained extensively with
Kim Orenstein and began teaching in 2004. Jackie was looking for
some spiritual fulfillment when she discovered yoga on a women's
white water rafting retreat. Since then, she has continued to explore
her spirituality through yoga's transformational qualities. Also
a high school counselor and a practicing marriage and family therapist,
she has found yoga to be invaluable in assisting students and clients
to learn how to allow their breath to be their internal guide. I
can't believe I lived without yoga for as long as I did!
Willie had his first love
affair with yoga in the 1970’s, and was reintroduced to Yoga in
1998. Since then this “incredible experience,” as he describes his
yoga practice, has given him the opportunity to study with many
fine teachers, Kim Orenstein being his primary inspiration, Lorna
Benedict, Mark Horner and Desiree Rumbaugh. Willie believes that
everyone can experience the benefits and wonders of Yoga, whether
it is improved flexibility and strength, better posture, better
breathing habits or taking a journey into Self-realization. Through
his teaching, Willie feels his responsibility is to help students
discover these benefits, which he believes contribute to the feeling
of being more centered, less stressed out and a greater sense of
being at peace with ourselves.
Katie Louvat has always enjoyed exploring creative
movement. She is delighted with the way yoga deepens and enriches
her experiences on and off the sticky mat. Katie teaches with an
emphasis on flowing movements, breath and playfulness. She strives
to lead her students toward a more spacious and meaningful experience
in their bodies and minds.
Whether it be tennis, golf, tai-chi or yoga Helen
loves to teach and has been teaching since she was a teenager. She
has been practicing yoga, tai-chi and meditation for the past 12
years and upon moving to Reno 2 years ago,she began teaching Tai-chi
Long Form at Yoga Loka. Helen completed the Yoga Loka Teacher Training
with Kim Orenstein and is also a certified Reiki Master Level Teacher
under Reiki Master Laura Bruno. Through Tai-chi (moving meditation),
Reiki (energy healing) and yoga Helen practices walking softly and
gently on this planet, being fully awake in each and every moment,
enjoying all she encounters as a student and as a teacher, on this
wonderful journey of life.
Mery Mares held her first asana pose in an Eastern
Philosophy class at the University of Southern California in 1998.
This class inspired her to take Yoga from the Sivananda Center in
Madrid, Spain where she lived and completed courses for her degree.
Mery has also practiced Ashtanga and a style of vinyasa yoga taught
by Gabriel Hall in Long Beach, CA. After spending most of her college
career working with children and teens of all ages through tutoring,
nannying, and volunteer camp counseling and mentoring, she was led
to the profession of teaching. In Long Beach, she taught Social
Studies at an at-risk alternative high school for both teens and
adults. She was blessed to start a yoga program there. Mery says,
“My students needed a refuge from their gang-ridden world. Somewhere,
where they could find peace and melt into asana. I wanted them to
see for themselves how Yoga can uplift them from a negative environment.”
Mery attributes Yoga to giving her a more, healthy, fulfilling,
and spiritual life. She recently completed the Yoga Loka Teacher
Training from Kim Orenstein and is currently on leave, from teaching
World History and Spanish, to raise her son. www.yogawithmery.com
Sally McGrew is a contemporary yoga teacher who
practices the art of stillness and teaches yoga both in US and Mexico.
Her passion for the evolution of herself and humanity has lead her
to study how the biological body and the energetic body relate to
each other. She became a certified yoga teacher under Kim Orenstein
of Yoga Loka. She has studied under several yoga teachers in the
US and is certified to teach and practice EMF Balancing Technique
an energy modality to assist the etheric body through its own transformation.
Amy Monette began her practice of Yoga in 1996
and teaching in 2000. She became a National Yoga Alliance Registered
Yoga Teacher in 2003 after completing teacher training with Kim
Orenstein at Yoga Loka. She received a BS in Nutrition in April
2007 through Clayton College of Natural Health, and recently completed
a post-graduate Certificate Nutrition for Optimal Health, Sports
and Fitness through UNR. Her love of movement, food and healthy
lifestyles inspire her to share healthy exercise and eating habits
with the Reno community. Amy also owns and operates Perfect Balance
Therapies in Reno.
Heather Myers took her first yoga class in 2000.
She immediately knew that there was something different about yoga.
She noticed the inner peace she felt after she left a yoga class,
and wanted to share that feeling with other people. Yoga has helped
her grow spiritually, emotionally and build physical strength. Heather
completed her teacher training with Kim Orenstein at Yoga Loka and
is currently working on her Master’s Degree in Human Development
& Family Studies where she will incorporate yoga into her thesis.
She is enthusiastic about continuing to grow as a spiritual being
as well as a yoga instructor.
Kimberlee Orenstein, M.S., E-RYT is the founding
director of Yoga Loka. She has a Master’s Degree from UNR in Exercise
Science and Wellness and has been instructing people In the movement
of their bodies for over 25 years. Kim’s yoga practice began in
1992 following a knee surgery that suspended her mountain bike racing
and professional dancing. It continues with 15 years of study in
the Krishnamacharia tradition (Astanga, Iyengar and Viniyoga), plus
Forrest Yoga, Yin Yoga and Pilates. She is also a certified Yoga
of the Heart® instructor, a program that adapts yoga for people
with heart disease, cancer and other debilitating diseases. “My
intent in teaching yoga is to inspire people to discover how to
move through life effectively and gracefully by learning to dissolve
the disconnections to themselves and others.”
David began practicing asana in 1997, and since
2000, is a dedicated practitioner of the Anusara style of yogasana,
a style developed by his principal teacher, John Friend. In addition,
David is a student of the Yoga traditions with Dr. George Feuerstein,
a leading scholar and author of over 30 books on Yoga. David is
presently completing Dr. Feuerstein's 3-year, 800-hour, distance
learning course on the traditions, history and philosophy of Yoga.
David is also a student of Dr. Douglas Brooks, Professor of Religion
& Classics at the University of Rochester—New York, who presents
the Yoga traditions from the Rajanaka Tantra perspective. David
uses his solid understanding of the bio-mechanical principals of
asana and his widening grasp of Yoga's wisdom and liberation teachings
to create an authentic Yoga class that encourages the experiential
through personal experimentation while practicing within Anusara's
distinct method.
Yoga is a wonderful lifetime discipline and
path, to be practiced at any age. It's a way of connecting to the
here and now. Tiffany has studied Iyengar, Tibetan Heart, and Vinyasa
yoga and found Kim Orenstein's teacher training program in 2005.
A clinical laboratory scientist, Tiffany sees yoga as a way of making
changes in, and opening up the body on a subtle and cellular level.
Most importantly, she feels yoga can help one to become an instrument
of peace.
