Genevieve Yellin, e-RYT500, PYT500; Integrative Yoga Therapist

Paul Kevin Smith, MEd, e-RYT500, PYT500; Integrative Yoga Therapist

Caroline McCarter, MLS, eRYT500, PYT500
Caroline McCarter has been practicing yoga for 15 years. Her earliest training was a yoga philosophy course in 1997 during her undergraduate years at University of Michigan. Since then she has studied with many Yoga teachers around the nation. Most importantly she has trained with most of the Indian Guru's in the Krishnamacharya lineage. Desikachar, Ramaswami, and most deeply with A.G. & Indra Mohan. She has a yoga therapy practice downtown Austin (http://www.yoga-rx.com) where she creates customized yoga practices for physical, mental, and spiritual issues/goals for individuals. Her mental specialties include yoga for Eating Disorders, Substance Abuse, Anxiety/Depression - her physical specialties are in Scoliosis, back pain, and all spinal related injuries. She views yoga as a vehicle for healing and has made yoga therapy her life's work.

Kerry Meath, C.Ayur, RYT
Kerry has been actively practicing and studying holistic health for the last eleven years. She graduated with honors from Brown University, completed her Yoga Teacher Certification in Washington D.C., and spent 2007 through 2009 training in depth at The Ayurveda Institute with Dr. Vasant Lad and Dr. Claudia Welch. She currently serves on the Faculty for Texas A & M College of Medicine, is a Professional Member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, and actively involved with promoting Ayurveda through workshops and private consultations in Texas and countrywide. She feels blessed to have learned with outstanding teachers and hopes to honor them by helping others find greater joy and balance through Ayurveda.

Raquel Currah, Physical Therapist, Cert. Pilates Instructor
I have been a Physical Therapist since 1992 and worked in various settings with adult and geriatric populations. I received specialized training in treatment of stroke, dementia, balance problems, vestibular dysfunction, and Parkinson's disease. In 1997, I was introduced to a form of exercise called Pilates. Eleven years later, I began my journey as an instructor with Balanced Body University. I have completed training in Pilates Mat and Pilates Reformer. I am the CEO and founder of Austin Re-Fit, an in-home Physical Therapy, fitness and Pilates service for adults with medical complexities. I live in Austin with my husband, twin boys, daughter, and dog.

Meg Brooker, MFA, RYT
During the summer of 2002, I began my hatha yoga studies in New York City at the Iyengar Institute and at Movements Afoot. In the fall of 2004, I began to explore a vinyasa practice at the Inwood Peace Yoga Center, and I am grateful to director Michael von Stange for first encouraging me to pursue a yoga teacher training course. Upon relocating to Austin in 2006 for graduate studies at UT, I found the Austin yoga community to be warm and welcoming, and I completed a 200 hour teacher training program at Yoga Yoga in the fall of 2007. Since moving to Austin, my practice has consisted primarily of Anusara Yoga, and I recently finished the Anusara Immersion Part I with Christina Sell. My yoga classes emphasize optimal alignment, discovering a rhythmic relationship between breathing and moving, cultivating awareness of how mental patterning manifests in the physical body, and rekindling an innate sense of joy. In addition to my yoga studies, I danced original Isadora Duncan repertory as a member of Lori Belilove & Company (Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation) and as a guest artist with the Duncan Dance Collective. From 2002-2006, I trained intensively in Duncan technique with Lori Belilove, Cherlyn Smith, and Marie Carstens, studying historic Duncan dances as passed down through the lines of Anna, Irma, and Maria-Teresa Duncan. I have taught dance in New York City on the faculties of the School at Steps on Broadway and the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation. In Texas, I have taught at UT Austin and held guest artist residences at Texas State and Northwest Vista College. I have shown my own choreography in Duncan technique in Austin, New York, and Sevastopol, Ukraine. In May 2009, I completed my MFA in Performance as Public Practice at UT, and I have presented scholarship on Duncan contemporary Florence Fleming Noyes for the Society of Dance History Scholars and the Congress on Research in Dance.

Jennifer Fairbank, MSW, RYT, PYT, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist
After several years in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, I became a Registered Yoga Teacher in 2003 to enhance my knowledge and further explore the mind/body connection. Falling in love with the practice, I yearned for more knowledge; I earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a Mental Health Concentration at the University of Pittsburgh. Feeling the need to approach my practice more psychosomatically, I searched for a way to treat the mind and physical body as one, not as two disconnected parts. I discovered Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and the more I learned about it the clearer it became that this would be the next step in my journey. I completed the 650-hour intensive training and I am now a certified yoga therapy practitioner. I rounded out my practice by integrating more philosophical and spiritual teachings-I graduated from the Dharma Teacher Training program.
Jennifer is the owner of Mind Body Yoga Therapy on Research Blvd in Northwest Austin; she also offers Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Sessions-for more information please check Mind Body's website. Mind Body Yoga houses our teacher training program.

Melissa Spamer, LMT, C.Ayur, e-RYT
I have been a practitioner of yoga for more then eighteen years. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to teach yoga for the last thirteen years, both in the U.S. and S.E. Asia. My love of the practice has guided me through multiple teacher trainings, directing a yoga studio and developing my own 200 hour yoga teacher training. My classes infuse both fluid grace and conscious embodiment inviting students to attune to the natural flow of energy that guides all of life. My teaching has been inspired by Angela Farmer & Victor Van Kooten, Rama Vernon, Shiva Rea, Kali Ray, and the students of T.K.V. Desikachar in the lineage of Sri Krishnamacharya. I am an experienced registered yoga teacher at the 500hr level, an ayurvedic practitioner and massage therapist. For more information about Melissa's professional services and classes please visit her website:  http://www.lotusintheflame.com

Yves Oberlin, certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher
I started a dedicated and serious yoga practice more than 20 years ago and I have been fortunate to study with some of the best yoga teachers in the world, including the Iyengar family in India. I travelled there several time to further my studies, and have also worked with senior Iyengar teachers such as Manouso Manos and Gabriella Giubilaro from Italy. I have been teaching for many years in Austin, but also in Florida, Europe and Canada. In my classes, I hope to inspire students to learn this beautiful practice in a methodical, safe, but also challenging manner within a harmonious learning environment. I grew up in Switzerland and have been living mostly in Austin for about 30 years. Yves is also a faculty member of Sundara's yoga therapy's IYT 200 hr yoga teacher training program; he teaches sadhana, alignment principles, and Teaching Essentials.
Note: Yves will not teach in the Fall 2011 Teacher Training-he will be in Vancouver, but will be back for our Winter 2012 training!

Mandy Eubanks, RYT, Certified Anusara™ Teacher
Mandy Eubanks is a certified Anusara® Yoga teacher who was introduced to yoga in 2003 while still living in her hometown of Tulsa, OK. In 2005 she moved to Austin, Texas where she was first introduced to Anusara Yoga. Mandy's heart was touched by the method, practice, and the Anusara community and since then Mandy has been a dedicated student of Anusara Yoga. She has trained extensively with John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga. She has also studied closely with several other certified Anusara Yoga teachers. Mandy's teaching style is playful and nurturing. She strives to create a safe and supportive space in which students can grow and expand in her Anusara® classes. Visit her Website at www.mandyeubanks.com

Liz Belile, MFA, LMT, RYT, Anusara-Inspired™
I am a writer, performer, yogini and mother. I have been practicing hatha yoga for nearly twenty years, and have been teaching for ten. I am an Anusara-Inspired™ instructor, having studied extensively with Anusara founder John Friend since 1999, including therapeutics trainings and many teacher trainings. I am certified in prenatal and postnatal yoga, have been a massage therapist and bodyworker for 7 years, and I lead writing and performance workshops. I have been a faculty member of the Yoga Yoga Teacher Training program for several years, and I continue to mentor advanced studies teacher training students; I am particularly inspired to teach yogic literature and philosophy. I have studied with my spiritual teacher, Mary Keator, since 2002, exploring yogic texts and even deeper levels of asana, therapeutics, and meditation. Liz is also a faculty member of Sundara's yoga therapy's IYT 200 hr yoga teacher training program; she teaches the Literature, Philosophy and Yoga For Fertility.

Libby Dembe, e-RYT500
I am an artist and dancer whose love for the human form and movement brought me to Hatha Yoga in 2000. I have been intimately involved in the Austin yoga community since 2003, serving as a studio administrator, yoga teacher and a teacher trainer. At nearly 3,500 hours of classroom teaching experience, I draw from my training in Ashtanga, Anusara, Iyengar, vinyasa, restorative yoga, injury prevention, meditation, and I specialize in yoga philosophy. This combination of studies has sustained my long time love of connecting the exploration of body-mind and breath to invigorating, well informed creative movement. I appreciate the process of synthesizing many different teachings, consider myself a life long student, and I encourage my students to do the same. I love the support and inspiration that grows out of a yoga community, and I seek to share my love of yoga as a philosophy that nourishes the capacity for creativity and resilience on life's paths. For more information, visit www.libbyyoga.com.