MEET YOUR GUEST TEACHERS

200hr Yoga Teacher Training

GARY KISSIAH

Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Law and Ethics

Gary’s Philosophy Background: Gary was introduced to Eastern philosophy in college when he discovered the writings of Alan Watts which led to studies in Zen and Zen-inspired poetry. Gary found yoga in 2000 as a way to recover from back trauma and has been studying and practicing yoga since that time. Gary has a Certificate of Yoga Philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has studied yoga at Esalen Institute, Big Sur California, Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, India and Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, Virginia. Gary has photographed many spiritual sites and experiences in his travels throughout Asia. After four years of study and writing, he recently published his first book entitled: “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali- Illuminations Through Image, Commentary and Design.” The book provides a new and inviting approach to studying and living the Yoga Sutras by using imagery, poetry and quotation to illuminate the heart of the Sutras. After Gary’s book on the Yoga Sutras was published, he began to get speaking invitations and now teaches workshops on the yoga philosophy, ethics and law for Yoga teacher training programs including being a faculty member of Body Temple Yoga School™. Gary was on a Yoga Alliance Committee that wrote a new Code of Conduct and is on the Board of Directors of the Integral Yoga Institute-San Francisco. Gary’s Law Background: Gary Kissiah has practiced corporate and business law for over 20 years. He has been a corporate partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a large international law firm, and a Senior Attorney with Microsoft. Gary recently taught a series of five Webinars on yoga law through Yoga Alliance. These covered the top ten things you need to know about the law, independent contractors and employees, liability, Internet laws, and opening a yoga studio. Gary currently represents yoga studios, teachers and wellness businesses.Gary has a Certificate of Yoga Philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, is a RYT 200 and teaches yoga philosophy and law for teacher training programs in the Bay Area. In 2012 Gary published his first book, “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – Illuminations through Image, Commentary and Design.” He recently published “Light on Law: A Path to Legal Wellness for Yoga Teachers and Studios.” This book explores the legal issues relating to the business of yoga and contains over 35 legal forms for yoga businesses. Vist Gary’s website HERE

Satya Shiva

Introduction to Ayurveda

Satya Shiva is a teacher and advocate of Integrative Medicine, Buddhist Education, and Sustainable Community.

She is a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist, Acupuncturist, Herbalist and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has served as resident faculty of the Yogic Medicine Institute since 2004 and specializes in Panchakarma, the purification and rejuvenation techniques of the ancient Himalayan Yogis.

Since 1999, Satya has offered natural health and sustainability consulting within assisted living and residential care facilities for the elderly. She is passionate about infusing the current model of senior living with the eastern medical practices for longevity and compassionate care.

Satya is also a Meditation Instructor in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. She has studied with Pema Khandro Rinpoche for over 17 years and is the Managing Director of Ngakpa International and the Community of Buddhist Yogis. She also serves as the director of fundraising and outreach for Ngakpa House, a charity which sponsors education for children and orphans in the Himalayan border regions.

Amy Fowlkes

Applied Musculo Skeletal Anatomy

Amy is a physical therapist and manual therapy specialist with over 20 years of practice. She has both a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology, as well as a Master’s of Physical Therapy Degree. She is a Board Certified Orthopedic Certified Specialist (OCS) through the American Physical Therapy Association. She has well over 500 hours of Orthopedic Manual Therapy (OMT) post-graduate education with various leaders in the field. OMT includes skilled, hands on techniques to help diagnose and treat soft tissue and joint structure pathology. Most recently she has been focusing on the scientific approach to rehabilitation, as taught by the Ola Grimsby Institute. Treatment with Amy consists of patient education regarding functional anatomy, injury pathomechanics, and effective body mechanics; manual therapy techniques, neuromuscular facilitation and re-education techniques; muscular and joint flexibility exercises; exercises to increase muscular endurance and proximal stabilization; movement assessment. Amy’s distinct blend of exercise science, extensive manual therapy skills and yoga training makes her rehabilitation style innovative and fun. She has been teaching yoga in the Bay Area since 2008 and was initially certified through the Anusara school of yoga. She is registered with Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500 and integrates yoga into her physical therapy practice daily, offers private yoga sessions, and teaches therapeutic yoga and anatomy in workshops.

“The heart-based Head to Heart Personal Transformation Program provides a high level 200-hour yoga teacher training. It is a unique personal growth course and yoga education training program that is exclusive to Body Temple Yoga. In addition to learning how to teach detailed internal alignment and become a highly trained yoga teacher, there is an incredible opportunity built into this training focusing on personal development. This blended program is on the level of the Heart, and serves as a rite of passage into who you really are. Regardless of whether you teach in the end or not, the offerings and teachings included within are transferable and applicable to either an instructor based practice, or your own personal growth. It would be our honor to help you walk to the other side.”

Daniella Cotreau E-RYT500, YACEP

CEO and Founder, Body Temple Yoga™ School

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300hr Advanced Yoga Teacher Training

Daniella Cotreau

Founder of BTYS, Heart Wisdom Mentor, Body Temple Yoga™ Method creator, Lead Instructor

Daniella Cotreau is the founder and fearless leader of Body Temple Yoga™ School and the creator of the Body Temple Yoga™ method. She has dedicated her life’s work to the study of the of the wisdom of the Heart and is passionately driven to share that wisdom with all whom she comes in contact. Her deepest desire is that all become free to be who they truly are and live by what is written on their heart. Her expertise in yoga is in internal detailed alignment, energetic alignment, pranayama, meditation, application to modern life and her life changing Heart Wisdom Teachings. She gives her students incredible tools to advance their practice and their lives to one that is aligned their authentic and empowered sovereign selves. She turns yoga teachers into Heart-Based Leaders.

Christopher Tompkins

The Roots of Yoga in the Tantras

Christopher presents on the history, roots, and evolution of the Yoga Tradition in India and specializes on the lost practices of Hatha Yoga in the Tantric traditions. He holds advanced degrees in Sanskrit and Religious Studies from Harvard and UC Berkeley, where he currently teaches. He has presented to thousands of Yoga students worldwide in Yoga-based events, conferences, and teacher trainings.

Michelle Nayeli Bouvier

Embodied Anatomy: Fascia & Tensegrity AND Patterns in Practice

Michelle Nayeli Bouvier is a Prana Vinyasa™ Yoga Teacher Trainer, certified Yoga Therapist, Hoopdance pioneer, AcroYoga teacher, Thai-Yoga bodyworker and dancer devoted to the art and science of embodiment. Michelle’s mission is to bridge somatics, circular movement, and new understandings in anatomy with yoga āsana and the roots of vinyāsa.

Michelle is a co-creator of Hoop Vinyasa on Shiva Rea’s Yoga Alchemy and co-founder of Movement, Medicine & Magic Retreats. With nearly 5000 hours of advanced study, Michelle is currently focused on the Axis Syllabus, Ayurveda, Integral Anatomy, and various styles of primal movement, which all inform her teaching. Her background in science has influenced her ongoing study of biomechanics and anatomy of the human body, in large part through the work of Gil Hedley, Tom Myers, Frey Faust, and others who are challenging the status quo through science.

Michelle has taught full-time since 2000, at local studios, teacher trainings, and events across the country and around the world.

Satya Shiva

Advancing in Ayurveda

Satya Shiva is a teacher and advocate of Integrative Medicine, Buddhist Education, and Sustainable Community.

Gary Kissiah

Yoga Philosophy & Yoga Law and Ethics

Gary is a lawyer and a yogi. He was introduced to Eastern philosophy in college when he discovered the writings of Alan Watts which led to studies in Zen and Zen-inspired poetry. Gary found yoga in 2000 as a way to recover from back trauma and has been studying and practicing yoga since that time. Gary has a Certificate of Yoga Philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has studied yoga at Esalen Institute, Big Sur California, Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, India and Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, Virginia. Gary has photographed many spiritual sites and experiences in his travels throughout Asia. After four years of study and writing, he recently published his first book entitled: “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali- Illuminations Through Image, Commentary and Design.” The book provides a new and inviting approach to studying and living the Yoga Sutras by using imagery, poetry and quotation to illuminate the heart of the Sutras. After Gary’s book on the Yoga Sutras was published, he began to get speaking invitations and now teaches workshops on the yoga philosophy, ethics and law for Yoga teacher training programs including being a faculty member of Body Temple Yoga School™.

Joanie Cartal

Alignment Based Yin Yoga

Joanie Cartal was first drawn to the practices of meditation and yoga during the 1970’s.

This discovery answered a deep indescribable, lifelong yearning to uncover the inner wisdom of body, heart, and mind. She has been actively teaching yoga and meditation over the last two decades while continuing to be a student of ancient wisdom practices and healing modalities. She leads a practice that gently guides one into an ever deepening intimacy with the subtle body, heart wisdom and intrinsic knowing.

Under the guidance and tutelage of Sarah Powers and other master teachers, Joanie is Insight Yoga Institute (IYI) trained and endorsed. She also serves as a mentor in the institute offering support and guidance for students enrolled in IYI. Joanie offers a learning environment that helps students open to their personal journey and to their own process in embodying mindful, compassionate, and healing and presence.

Nanci Shakthi Nardona

Pre and Postnatal Yoga

Nanci became certified to teach prenatal yoga while pregnant in 2001. The impact of the Whole Birth Yoga classes changed the course of her pregnancy and helped her navigate through those early years of parenthood. Her prenatal community was essential during her transition to motherhood, and it is this concept of community which inspires her to teach, educate, and support mamas during this sacred time of transformation.

As a TM meditator for more than 27 years, Nanci’s journey began on her meditation cushion which led her to the healing arts of yoga, massage, martial arts, Reiki, marma, and Ayurveda. She weaves the richness of ancient Vedic knowledge and traditions into her teachings and is an alignment-based Hatha yoga instructor and a Whole Birth Yoga prenatal and postnatal instructor, both certified with Yoga Alliance with their highest accreditation. Nanci applies the therapeutic applications of yoga in her classes serving the perinatal, restorative, and gentle yoga communities. She completed the CAPPA Birth Doula training and is now a doula-in-training to further support and assist her new mamas.

Skye Allison Birdsall

Trauma Sensitive Yoga

Skye is a Bay Area native yoga teacher who began her journey in 2004 in her college yoga class. Her teaching experience evolved from prenatal yoga to aerial to trauma focused and most recently a mentorship with Daniella Cotreau at Body Temple Yoga School. Other teachers who have inspired her path are Rusty Wells, Mark Tanaka, Tias Little and many more. She has a deep well of compassion and desire to serve as well as a thirst for knowledge and innerstanding. Since studying trauma and working in facilities such as the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, Ca, she has continued to deepen her offering in yoga for healing trauma of all kinds. Her mission is to remind as many people as possible of their innate healing gifts and that they can be whole again.

Lorena Martinez

Pre and Postnatal Yoga

Lorena is an experienced alignment-based yoga teacher that has lead prenatal and postpartum yoga classes in the bay area for over a decade. She is passionate about integrating her yoga and childbirth training to empower women and share with them the gift of yoga for a more fulfilling pregnancy, birth and motherhood experience by building a strong sense of community in her classes. While going through pregnancy and motherhood herself, she completed numerous trainings including her advanced yoga certification. Lorena deepened her foundation in pregnancy, birth, and early parenting through Birthing From Within Childbirth Training. Lorena’s first language has allowed her to reach a broad population in the Hispanic community bringing mindfulness based yoga to low income moms in the bay area and also by leading prenatal yoga teacher trainings in Mexico.