175 Combined Years of Yoga Experience
Teachers
2013 MASTER TEACHERS
Nancy Gilgoff was the first western woman to study Ashtanga Yoga with Pattabhi Jois 38 years ago in Mysore, India. As a result of her long and close association with Pattabhi Jois, Nancy is able to teach with a style and touch that comes directly from Guruji. When Nancy asked Jois how she should teach, he told her to “teach the way I taught you”—advice which she took to heart and continues to follow today. Nancy’s studies have also led her to other teachers, including Baba Hari Das and various Iyengar Yoga teachers. Nancy has and continues to pursue the dharma teachings of the Dalai Lama, and spends much of her time traveling and teaching in the United States, Europe and Asia with an intention to foster loving-kindness and to share her experience of yoga with others. Nancy is the director of the House of Yoga and Zen on Maui.
Dena Kingsberg has been studying and practicing traditional ashtanga yoga for over 25 years. Having completed the fourth series in 1996 she has been certified to teach by Sri K.Pattabhi Jois of Mysore South India. Dena and Jack were married by Guruji in 1997 and the arrival of Zoli and Izac has completed the picture.
Life is full and sweet.
Tim Miller has been studying and teaching Ashtanga Yoga for over thirty years and was the first American certified to teach by Pattabhi Jois, with whom he shared a long and close relationship. Over the years Tim traveled often to Mysore, India, and hosted Guruji ten times in Encinitas, California. Tim was blessed with the opportunity to assist Guruji on many occasions during his US teaching tours, an experience that was profoundly educational.
Tim has a thorough knowledge of Ashtanga Yoga, which he imparts in a dynamic, yet compassionate and playful manner. “My goal as a teacher is to inspire a passion for practice. The practice itself, done consistently and accurately, is the real teacher.”
Tim teaches workshops and retreats throughout the United States and abroad, and has been the director of the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas California since 1981.
http://www.ashtangayogacenter.com
Eddie Stern has been teaching yoga in New York City since 1989. He studied under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois for eighteen years and is the director of Ashtanga Yoga New York (AYNY). Over the past years, Eddie has published four books on Pattabhi Jois and Ashtanga Yoga including the translation of Pattabhi Jois’ 1960 book Yoga Mala and is as well the co-publisher and editor of a monthly Indian philosophical journal entitled Namarupa, Categories of Indian Thought. He has served for ten years on the board of directors of Bent On Learning, a 501c3 that teaches yoga and meditation to 2,800-disadvantaged public school children every week.
David Swenson began practicing yoga at the age of 13 under the guidance of his older brother Doug, and later was introduced to Asthanga Yoga in 1973 by David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff in Enciintas, California. At their invitation Sri K. Pattabhi Jois made his first trip to the U.S. in 1975 and David was fortunate to meet and begin study with him. Two years later David made his first trip to Mysore, India and learned the full Ashtanga system from Pattabhi Jois.
David teaches yoga throughout the world and is recognized today as one of the world’s foremost practitioners and teachers of Ashtanga Yoga.
Richard Freeman (2012 master teacher) has been a student of yoga since 1968. He has spent nearly nine years in Asia studying various traditions, which he incorporates into the Ashtanga yoga practice as taught by his principal teacher, K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. Richard’s background includes studying Sufism in Iran, Zen and Vipassana Buddhist practice, Bhakti and traditional Hatha yoga in India. Starting in 1974 he also began an in-depth study of Iyengar yoga, which eventually led him to Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Richard is an avid student of both Western and Eastern philosophy, as well as Sanskrit. His ability to juxtapose various viewpoints, without losing the depth and integrity of each, has helped him develop a unique, metaphorical teaching style. Richard teaches classes at the Yoga Workshop in Bolder, Colorado as well as teaching extensively throughout the world.
2012 ASSISTANT TEACHERS
Johnny Smith began his yoga journey over twenty years ago and maintains the traditional method of Ashtanga Yoga. He traveled frequently to Mysore, India to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangaswamy, and is one of a small number of practitioners in the world who has been certified by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and The Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore. Johnny teaches Ashtanga Yoga classes at the Westside Yoga Studio in Sebastapol, California.
Leigha Nicole has been teaching yoga for 27 years and taught at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, CA from its inception in 1987. Her love of Ashtanga Yoga brought her to India 19 years ago to study extensively with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and was authorized to teach by him in 1996. Leigha has a gentle approach and encourages students to embrace the contemplative aspect of the practice with attention to alignment and the cultivation of awareness. She has an intimate knowledge of anatomy that stems from a 25 year bodywork practice which enables her to address the specific therapeutic needs of her students. Leigha moved from Point Reyes, California to the spiritual town of Crestone, Colorado in 2005 where she built a straw bale solar home and yoga studio. She returns regularly to the San Francisco area for group classes and workshops.
Mary Taylor began studying yoga in 1971 while earning a degree in psychology. It was not until the early 80’s, when she moved to Boulder, CO and started studying yoga with Richard Freeman, that yoga became a central thread in her life. Before that, yoga had provided a means of relieving stress and honing a sense of focus and well being. In 1988, Mary traveled to India to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and began to see the overlay of yoga with her interests in food, cooking, movement, anatomy and art. Mary has authored three cookbooks and co-authored a book which explores yoga, meditation and finding one’s personal dharma as a means of bring lasting meaning and happiness. (“What Are You Hungry For? Women, Food and Spirituality.”) As the Yoga Workshop’s director, Mary has attended all of Richard’s teacher trainings and feels she’s just beginning to understand the subject at hand. She brings a deep respect to her teaching for the healing and calming effects of yoga. Her classes are engaging and fun, focusing on the flow of breath, steady movement and the feeling of completeness that can be cultivated through a lasting practice.
Noah Williams began practicing Ashtanga Yoga in 1993 with Tim Miller at the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas, California. At Tim’s suggestion, Noah traveled to Mysore, India in 1995 to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Noah returned yearly to India to further his studies and, in 2001, received Advanced Teaching Certification from Pattabhi Jois – one of only a few dozen Advanced Certifications personally bestowed by Jois. Noah has since studied yoga with Sharath Jois. Noah has also studied sanskrit recitation, the yoga sutras and philosophy under Dr. M.A. Jayashree and Professor M.A. Narasimha of Mysore. Noah currently resides in Los Angeles and founded Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam, teaching a daily Ashtanga Yoga Mysore-style program hosted at Studio A Dance.
Shelley Washington has had a stellar career in the world of Modern Dance and Ballet, studying and performing with such legendary figures as Twyla Tharp, Mikael Baryishnikov and Martha Graham, to name only a few. She continues to work with Twyla Tharp as a Repetiteur, Setting, Staging and Directing Ballets for various dance companies. In 2000, Shelley initiated her studies of Ashtanga Yoga and dove fully into the practice. She made her first trip to Mysore, India in 2003 and has since made 14 subsequent pilgrimages to Mysore, receiving her First Level authorization from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in 2005 and her Second Level authorization from Sharath Rangaswamy in 2010. Shelley brings a fresh and invigorated energy into the classes she teaches. Her deep compassion, humor, energy, joy and depth of understanding of movement combine to make her a wonderful asset to all of those that have the opportunity to study with her. When not traveling the world, Shelley lives in Austin, Texas with her husband David Swenson, their cat, “Yogi” and 16 Koi fish.
Teachers Gallery