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We take the time to select exceptional, experienced teachers who genuinely care about you as an individual. Yoga practices are adapted to the each student's current needs. From seniors to seasoned yogis, from stiff hamstrings to stress relief, we empower you to connect with your own Yoga - to heal, transform, and renew.
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The caliber and quality of teachers is what makes Ojas Yoga Center a sanctuary where people of all bodies and experience levels come to receive deep healing and self-acceptance.
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Nicole Becker, Founder|Owner
HATHA YOGA & MEDITATION | RESTORATIVE YOGA | AROMATHERAPY Nicole has been studying classical Yoga (philosophy, movement, breath, meditation, devotion) and holistic healing for over 20 years, including extended education in anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanics, eastern & herbal medicine. She excels in observing the habits of tension and movement in each student's body and works patiently and enthusiastically with each person to demystify and free the body of tensions to reveal a "new normal". Nicole's unique classes are spiritual and meditative, informative, and humor-infused. Nicole assists people of all ages, experience, and fitness levels - brand new beginners, injured and adepts alike - to get curious, stay compassionate, and discover the appropriate practices to balance their particular constitution and lifestyle. Nicole teaches weekly public classes, private yoga & meditation, workshops and retreats. Learn more here Rhoda Rossman HATHA YOGA | CHAIR YOGA FOR SENIORS Be ready to be guided down a stream of postures and take a detour from your usual mental focus and competition. Along the way, each pose will be shown and fully explained. You will grow more sensitive and step up the abundance of your precious physical and spiritual resources. By the end of practice, you will arrive at a purified state of health and well-being. Rhoda took up Yoga in her late 30-s after a variety of athletic pursuits; she began with the Bikram form and later turned to Iyengar Yoga, which is her main influence. She started teaching in 2001 after completing the Yoga Alliance-certified Yoga Source Teachers Training Program. Her class is very nurturing and suitable for beginners as well as intermediate students. James Michael Ryder HATHA YOGA & MEDITATION James Michael Ryder is a dedicated student and teacher of hatha yoga and insight meditation. These potent technologies restore us to native embodied wisdom and an undefended heart. Yoga provides excellent tools (awareness practices, postures, extended breath, cleansing, energetic bonds, concentration and meditation) to refine attention, body and breath and, ultimately, the qualities of mind. As we grow steady, even faced with difficulties, we can begin to recognize the filters that obscure clear seeing of self and the world around us. This freedom, then, is the essential fruit of yoga practice. Come find out for yourself! www.jamesryderyoga.com Adrienne Shamszad HATHA YOGA Adrienne Shamszad has been a commited yoga student for nearly 15 years. She received her 200 hour teacher training certification in 2014 and is currently completing her 500 hour training with her teacher and mentor Nubia Teixiera. Adrienne combines her love of music, singing and dance with her passion for anatomy and all thing structured to make her yoga classes both liberating and grounding. Her classes are infused with lightness, humor, patience and healthy alignment principles. Adrienne’s main interest in teaching is in providing a safe and healing container for students to explore the range of their breath and movement. Students will be encouraged to approach the yoga practice with compassion and with curiosity as they explore new sources of energy within their bodies. Classes always include some form of chanting or singing and all are welcome to participate or simply listen. Adrienne is also a professional musician, songwriter, vocalist, music teacher and voice coach. adrienneshamszad.com Jennifer Kang HATHA YOGA & QI GONG Jennifer's practice is a culmination of knowledge and experience gained from the intensive healing process that launched her into paradigm-shifting transformation. She incorporates creative visualization, Qi gong inspired movement and Reiki into her gentle Hatha yoga offering at Ojas Yoga Center. In addition to her training as a yoga instructor at Purusha Yoga School, Jennifer is a certified level II Reiki practitioner and a spiritual coach. She has trained in shamanism, psychic intuitive work, and bodywork and she draws upon these various disciplines to create a unique holistic healing experience. Her intention is to help people come to know and love themselves and to reclaim their sense of worth, freedom and joy. | www.everydayissacred.com Melissa Felsenstein RESTORATIVE YOGA & SOUND HEALING “Silence is the root of everything. If you spiral into its void, a hundred voices will thunder messages you long to hear.” This Rumi quote is the core of Missy’s own sound journey and teachings. Through the use of live sound with quartz crystal singing bowls and specifically tuned gongs, expect to indulge in conscious relaxation and sweet stillness as you explore the meditative like states induced by these unique instruments.Missy is a certified 700 hr yoga therapist through Loyola Marymount University and a Relax & Renew Restorative teacher. Her mission is to use sound and yoga to shorten the distance between yourself and your truth. More at www.innersoundsyoga.com Kendra Diaz-Ford HATHA YOGA Kendra believes in the transformational power of yoga as a path of self-discovery, healing and joy. Since beginning her yoga studies in 2002 she’s continually experienced the deep personal, physical and spiritual healing available through yoga, pranayama, ritual and meditation. As a yoga teacher, PhD in transpersonal psychology, energy healer and massage therapist, she teaches yoga from an integrative lens that combines these healing modalities to offer integrative classes that are grounded, accessible and focused on empowering students to experience greater inner and outer alignment. Her classes are also accompanied by the soothing sounds of harmonium. In addition to her weekly classes, Kendra offers private women’s leadership coaching, teaches workshops and leads retreats. www.kendradiazford.com Mitch Hall HATHA YOGA Mitch began practicing yoga in 1968. Since then, he has continued exploring the integral cultivation of wellness, healing, and peace through mind-body practices from diverse spiritual traditions as well as from contemporary somatic therapies. As a holistic wellness counselor, he guides clients in yoga-based, mindful breathing, movement, and meditation, and uses sound healing. The Indian Board of Alternative Medicines, located in Kolkata, India, honored him with a Ph.D. in Alternative Medicines. A faculty member of the Niroga Institute’s yoga therapists’ training program, he has taught about the immune system, neurobiology, and trauma-sensitive yoga. Mitch loves teaching yoga and is known for his gentleness, warmth, humor, humility, care for students, advocacy of self-acceptance, and the soothing effects of his voice, chanting, and harmonic steel drum playing. His classes integrate seated and standing meditation, chanting, pranayama, asanas, qigong, and gentle flowing movement sequences. More information is on his website www.breathepeacefully.com Mai Tran HATHA YOGA Mai is a Yoga Alliance Registered yoga instructor who expresses a strong foundation in classical yoga philosophy and Vipassana meditation practice while staying open to new information that emerges about health and wellness. She believes learning how to nurture body and mind as a healthy home for the soul is crucial for life. Her experience as a teacher, as well as her genuine devotion to her students, resulted in a high level of teaching for many students at ashrams where she has lived and volunteered at since 2011. Josephine Kelly HATHA YOGA Josephine has been practicing yoga for nearly 10 years. Originally looking for a fun way to build strength, she later turned to yoga to help with her severe anxiety and depression. She found linking movement and breath began to relax the body and settle the mind.Josephine teaches from Hatha and Iyengar yoga traditions and has completed a Yoga Alliance registered 200-hour teacher training. Her classes incorporate challenging postures with plenty of constructive rest and reflection. Hoping to support her students in their own Self-discovery, she offers a well-rounded practice designed to honor and nourish both body and soul. There is nowhere to go but here, now. Our true nature is peace. Yoga teaches us the gratitude to experience this truth in the deepest level of our Self as we connect with the breath and heart. mindfulmsjosephine.com Monica Matthews Dayanand HATHA YOGA Monica’s personal journey with yoga began over 10 years ago, and she received her teaching certification in interdisciplinary yoga through the Nosara Yoga Institute while living in Costa Rica in 2011. She is a licensed acupuncturist and herbal medicine practitioner, a self-proclaimed "herb nerd,” and is currently pursuing a postgraduate doctoral degree in the fields of pain management, women’s reproductive health, and pediatrics. As a forever student of both the practice of yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Monica has a deep appreciation for the human body and its fascinating possibilities. In her yoga classes, she draws upon her knowledge of anatomy and physiology, ancient body therapeutics, as well as her own creativity, to develop physical and mental strength, flexibility of body and mind, and individualized healing overall for each of those with whom she has the opportunity to work. Ashley Brown HATHA YOGA Ashley’s approach to teaching is alignment and anatomy based, suited for the individual practitioner; investigating how the body can move to the fullest range of motion with awareness of placement and breath. Ashley’s classes, are inspired by her teacher Nubia Teixeira, where she encompasses all aspects of the yoga with chanting, mudras and pranayama (breathwork) honoring the tradition with it’s many different branches to self awareness. Besides practicing asana, chanting, and meditation, Ashley is a dance teacher at the Stapleton School of the Performing Arts and East Bay Center of the Performing Arts. Ashley is continuing her education with a mentorship from Nubia Teixeira, trauma sensitive trainings and teaching yoga to youth through programs with Niroga Institute in Berkeley. Broderick Rodell HATHA YOGA Broderick is a dedicated practitioner of a comprehensive approach to yoga that aims to enhance well-being as well as our capacity to love. His system emphasizes an integration of the whole person incorporating tools that support the development of mind, body and soul. He feels that his daily, personal practice is the means by which he is able to express his highest self in service to others. In Broderick’s yoga classes, workshops, trainings and retreats he incorporates knowledge gathered from the western sciences of psychology, physiology and anatomy to compliment the rich yogic science from India. Broderick also has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University. www.broderickrodell.com Stephanie Sandleben HATHA YOGA Stephanie’s love for Yoga began as a teenager growing up in a small Arizona town. Nurtured by hippie parents, a Kripalu-inspired Yogini and Sufi Sheikh, it grew into a lifelong passion that took root in New York City and now the Bay Area. Having taught for 15 years nationally and abroad, she is inspired by a multitude of gifted teachers, her travels to India, Amma, Reiki, and most importantly her students. The birth of her children began the next chapter in her path of service and ignited a deeper desire to explore the therapeutic potential of asana and pranayama. This path has grown to include Pelvic Floor Yoga, Postpartum Doula support, and healing sessions that are a synthesis of Yoga, Reiki, and Rebozo (traditional body wrapping). Her soulful classes are subtle, deep, and thoughtfully sequenced so that you leave feeling grounded and invigorated. www.thesamamama.com Sierra Wagner THERAPEUTIC YOGA Sierra Wagner, Yoga Therapist, E-RYT. Her yoga practice began at 13 years old and by age 18 Sierra had started teaching. Over the last 20 + years she has taught yoga and meditation workshops, thousands of classes and has developed a private yoga therapy practice, Sierra Laurel Yoga. As an advocate for equal rights she focuses her work as a therapeutic yoga teacher on serving older adults, the elderly and other under-served populations. Dalila Solis RESTORATIVE YOGA Dalila was born in Mexico, raised in Texas, and moved to California to study Anthropology and Art. She fell head over heels in love with yoga in 2003 and has been practicing ever since. Dalila is trained as a yoga instructor and continues to study and explore many different styles of yoga--Hatha, Vinyasa, Bhakti, Kundalini, Yin and Restorative. She weaves and synthesizes elements from these styles into her classes to include meditation, pranayama, mantra, mindfully linking breath with movement, and aligning the heart, body and mind. Dalila is a Reiki practitioner, a Certified Massage Therapist and a student of Ayurveda--living in tune with the seasons and elements. Her knowledge of Ayurveda, 5 element theory and the healing arts inform her yoga classes. She considers Mother Earth and nature to be her deepest inspiration and connection to the divine. Giulia Divina RESTORATIVE YOGA Giulia Divina is originally from Rome Italy and has lived here in sunny Bay Area half of her life . In 2003 Giulia Divina obtained her 200 hours ashtanga yoga training certificate from IT’S YOGA in San Francisco while also pursuing a career as a personal trainer at the local Golds gym by Lake Merritt. Giulia combines different disciplines inspired by Hatha , Iyengar , Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga . She also teaches restorative yoga and guided meditation drawing a more spiritual crowd in her classes who values and seeks a more gentle healing practice geared towards self care and self compassion. |