Mindful Minkeys Yoga

The first step is understanding the needs of the student. What physical issues are of concern and what brings them to yoga. The next step is understanding the student's level of experience. I teach mindful yoga and can incorporate more or less of the mindful awareness practices as per the student's preference. This can interwoven through the yoga asanas or applied moreso at the end of practice. 

I have two yoga certifications, one in Hatha Yoga, specifically Power Yoga as taught by Bryan Kest and another in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. 

I have certificates of training in teaching children mindfulness from:

-Susan Kaiser-Greenland, author of The Mindful Child and Mindful Games and founder of Inner Kids

-Soryu Forall, mindfulness educator and founder of Modern Mindfulness and the Center for Mindful Learning in Vermont and

-Dr. Kristin Race, author of Mindful Parenting and founder of Mindful Life.

I have been a devoted student of Yogi Bhajan, attended numerous White Tantric Solstice Retreats in Espanola, New Mexico with Yogi Bhajan, and made a spiritual trip to India with him that was the pivotal turning point of my life. He encouraged and mentored me in teaching adults. I also edited the book, Kundalina YOGA The Flow of Eternal Power, written by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa.

I taken all the Insight and PAT trainings with MSIA, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. My first spiritual trip was with John Roger and John Morton to Egypt and Israel. 

Since my first silent, ten day Vipassana retreat in 1996, I have taken Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR and I presently practice a mindfulness/insight based meditation. I have studied with Goenka, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein and Shinzen Young. I have attended many of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings for over twenty years, the last one being in Dharamsala, India. I currently keep up my studies with various acclaimed Tibetan Buddhist scholars.

Yes, my standard pricing for an hour is $60. However, depending on travel this is negotiable. 

I got started teaching under the tutelage of Yogi Bhajan. Yoga West on Robertson Blvd., in Los Angeles was the first studio in which I taught. I was the second teacher to teach yoga at 24 Hour Fitness in West Hollywood over 20 years ago. That was integral to my learning how to teach everyBODY. I worked with over four decades of ages and many diverse body types and abilities in one large room with over 30 people. 

I have worked with ages 2 - 76! And, just about every body type barring handicapped. 

The advice I would give would be to look for a teacher who is sensitive to the student's needs and teaches to those needs rather than teach at the student. A good teacher must "tune in" to the individual student especially if it is a private session and tailor the practice to that student's specific needs.

Best for the student to think about why they want to practice yoga. Introspection is an integral aspect of yoga practice. So, it is important to examine their intention and their goals. Yoga is more than just physical exercise. It is perfectly fine to approach it from this angle but then invariably something deeper will occur since it is a mind/body/breath practice.