Teachers
Richard Freeman
Richard Freeman 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 public classes at the Yoga Workshop as well as spending a good part of each year traveling as a guest instructor, teaching at studios throughout the world. As the founder of the Yoga Workshop, Richard sets the standard for the classes at the studio. As part of that he offers Teacher Intensive courses and special classes through the Yoga Workshop and also gives Studio Talks on Indian philosophy at the studio on a regular basis.
Alison Litchfield (currently on maternity leave)
Alison Litchfield has been a student of yoga since 1990, having studied extensively in both the Ashtanga and the Iyengar traditions. She is a long time student of Richard’s, completing his Teacher Intensive in 1999. As a compliment to yoga, Alison became a Certified Rolfer, deepening her knowledge of the body as it relates to yoga and movement. Alison began teaching yoga in 1997 and continues to work closely with Richard as well as other senior teachers, including Aadil Palkhivala and Shiva Rae. Alison’s approach to teaching reflects a thorough understanding of the biomechanics and alignment within postures and movement. She is able to guide students to find their safe edge in the practice through her gentle, but strong presence. Alison brings to her classes a warm, genuine and engaging style that reflects her own internal understanding of postures. As a mother, Alison has grown to see how yoga practice is a way of life, a place for us to experience the fullness of being alive in an ever changing universe.
Asha Wolf
Asha Wolf began teaching yoga in 1992, while dancing professionally in NYC. She started teaching yoga in the Ashtanga tradition in 1998 after being introduced to this classic form of the practice by her teacher, Dr. Ranjani Cobo. Asha's teaching is grounded through this long-time apprenticeship with Ranjani, who blends together elements from the Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga traditions with Zen practices and Native American spirituality. Asha holds a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is a Certified Movement Analyst. She brings to her teaching over 20 years of exploration of our internal landscapes through anatomy, physiology, movement, and a variety of therapeutic body-mind modalities. Her teaching style is direct, clear and accessible with a strong, hands-on approach. Asha moved to Boulder in 2006, and is happy to be part of the wonderful community at The Yoga Workshop. In addition to teaching yoga, Asha has a private practice, Wolf Physical Rehab, in which she uses yoga as the primary modality of treatment.
Ashlee Dunn
Ashlee Dunn’s natural vivacity and friendliness is reflected in her approach to yoga and in her teaching style. Having grown up in a family of yoga practitioners, Ashlee’s formal study of yoga began in 1995 while she was at University. Her training includes certification in the Kripalu tradition as well as in depth study in the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition. Ashlee traveled to Mysore to study with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangaswamy. While in India she also received certification from Sunil Kumar of the Yoga Training center in Varanasi, and she studied Iyengar yoga with Peetamber Mishra. In 2000 Ashlee settled in Colorado with her family. She taught yoga in Denver and also began studying with Richard, completing his Teacher Training in 2003. Ashlee’s classes are informative, engaging, friendly and alive with enthusiasm. She brings a blending of knowledge from her own experience as a teacher and practitioner to make yoga both accessible and non-intimidating to her students. When not teaching, Ashlee spends much of her time practicing the true art of yoga—mothering.
Bill Goldman
Bill Goldman began studying yoga with Richard in 1981, and by the early 90's his yoga practice had grown to be a central focus in his life. Bill's studies with K. Pattabhi Jois, both in India and the United States, have expanded his understanding and appreciation of the Ashtanga Vinyasa system. In 1994 Bill began teaching at the Yoga Workshop, and continues to deepen his understanding of yoga and the mind/body connection through advanced study with Richard, senior Iyengar instructor, Gabriella Giubilaro, and the practice itself. Bill's classes are a comfortable mix of sharing the details of alignment in the postures with a visceral understanding of the internal feelings that act as cues to movement within each posture. His classes are an attempt to foster an environment where the student can feel their individual circumstances and work with them directly.
Dan Michael
Dan Michael brings to his teaching a quiet intensity and depth of knowledge, fueled by his advanced asana practice and work as a body worker certified in Structural Integration. Dan’s interest in the interplay of movement, alignment and form as a means of understanding body dynamics has been a lifelong pursuit which began when, as a teenager he became an avid rock climber. After a serious climbing accident in 1994, Dan started studying healing arts at Heartwood Intstitut. As part of his recovery from his injury, Dan was introduced to the strengthening and healing aspects of yoga, an angle that continues to bring insight into his teaching. A Boulder native, Dan returned home in 1995 and since then has completed four Teacher Trainings with Richard. He also traveled to India to study with K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangawami. In the past five years, Dan’s understanding of yoga as an integral part of life has been complimented with extensive studies with Tibetan Buddhist teachers, allowing him to experience yoga is integral part of a healthy life.
De West
De West's teaching is grounded in keen observation and knowledge of the body as it relates to a balanced approach to yoga postures. She began pursuing the path of yoga in 1992, first practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga in Seattle, then moving to Boulder to study with Richard. She has studied extensively with Richard and has completed two of his Teacher Intensives. De's teaching reflects her experience in both Ashtanga Vinyasa and Iyengar yoga as well as a deep interest in anatomy and philosophy. She has studied yoga with K. Pattabhi Jois, Rodney Yee, Aadil Palkhivala, Norman Allard and Gabriella Guibilaro. She also has worked extensively with yoga therapy for specific physical needs. After participating in a prenatal teacher training with Gurmuk (as part of the Yoga Workshop Teacher Endowment Program), De has begun to apply the principles of therapy and yoga to teaching prenatal yoga. De's teaching style is warm, precise, and detailed. She also brings a sense of enthusiasm for the interrelated nature of mind and body into her classes.
http://dewestyoga.blogspot.com
Luke Iwabuchi
Luke Iwabuchi's yoga practice began in 1997, out of his commitment to Zen meditation. After rigorous tai chi training, he dove into sitting meditation, being lay ordained in the Soto Zen lineage with Ryushin Paul Haller and receiving bodhisattva vows with the Nyingma lama, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. He has completed four of Richard's Teacher Intensives and has participated as a student, assistant and teacher at the Yoga Workshop, since 2001. Luke's teaching style is gentle, warm, and inquisitive and it is informed by the Ashtanga and Iyengar traditions. He is strongly influenced and inspired by Richard, Rodney Yee, and the Yoga Workshop community. Luke is dedicated to inter-faith dialogue, the social engagement of diversity and sustainability, and the joyful discipline of sitting meditation. He describes himself as a calm, swift Manhattan driver. Luke enjoys tinkling on the piano, cooking and learning languages
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Marcia Solomon
Marcia Solomon has been a dedicated yoga practitioner for over 30 years and a yoga teacher for more than 25. While living in Ottawa, Canada, she completed her first yoga Teacher Training in 1978 with Swami Vishnu Devananda, founder of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams. She remained a close student of his for 15 years until his death. She opened and co-directed the Santosha Yoga Center in Ottawa, and not long after that she began traveling to study Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga with Richard. In 2004, after eight years of commuting to Boulder from Canada, and after participating in a number of Richard’s Teacher Trainings, Marcia and her husband moved to Boulder. She continues to study, practice, and teach, blending her extensive background in yoga with her newfound love of the Ashtanga system. In addition to her lifelong interest in yoga, Marcia holds a B.A. in philosophy and anthropology, an M.Ed. in education, and is currently studying Sanskrit with Vyaas Houston through the American Sanskrit Institute. All this adds to Marcia’s well-rounded knowledge of classical hatha, jnana, bhakti and most especially karma, yoga and is reflected in her kind, accessible and comprehensive teaching style.
Martha Griffin
Martha Griffin began practicing yoga in 1991, drawn to yoga as a means of bringing balance to her life. Having spent years as an avid athlete, running, swimming and cycling, she had begun to experience significant physical pain which yoga alleviated. Yoga also provided relief from emotional stress in other aspects of her life. In spite of feeling like the stiffest person in the classes when first beginning, the positive effects kept Martha coming back. She has studied in both the Ashtanga and Iyengar traditions, working extensively with Richard. Martha finds that the meditative flow of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga is central to settling into one’s natural state of balance. As a mother, teacher and personal trainer, Martha has become increasingly interested in how yoga and meditation are compliments that work together to bring the practitioner into the present experience. Working with Richard and Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen center has added a new dimension to Martha’s teaching which possesses a depth of authenticity and understanding that allows students to feel a genuine connection to their bodies, their breath and to their own experience of the practice.
Mary Taylor
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 and started studying yoga with Richard, 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 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 to her teaching a deep respect 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.
Michelle Anderson
Michelle Anderson's yogic yourney started in 1991 after many years as a dancer and horseback rider. Inspired by yoga's healing influence, she practiced Integral yoga for nine years and traveled to India to attend the Sivananada Teacher Training. She began studying Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga with Richard in 2002, and has completed three of his Teacher Intensives. Michelle has studied with many leading teachers in therapeutic, Iyengar, and mondern flow styles of yoga, including Shiva Rae, Manouso Manos, Gabriella Guibilaro, and Aadil Palkhivala. She has also studied extensively with Ammachi. Her training as a geologist allows her to see things in perspective and as a whole. She also has a strong interest in anatomy and health. All of this is reflected in her warm and knowledgeable teaching style which blends the exploration of dance, the precision of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, and the meditative flow of breath awareness. Her teaching is infused with enthusiasm and humor, steady peacefulness, and vibrancy. Michelle invites students' individuality, and guides them into an aligned experience through descriptive cues, the use of props and hands-on adjustments.
Michal Lebowitsch Dayan
Michal Lebowitsch Dayan attended her first yoga classes as a teenager while living in Israel. While attending film school in New York at NYU, she was fortunate to continue her yoga studies with Swami Buaji. In 1999, after working as a producer in the film and television industry, getting married and having a child, she missed her practice so much that she schlepped her family all the way from Israel to Boulder to begin studying with Richard. Since then Michal has completed two of Richard’s Teacher Training’s and has also studied with various Iyengar influenced teachers including Aadil Palkhivala. Michal's interest is in cultivating the mindfulness that flows naturally from a focused and continuous asana practice. Her teaching style is authentic, precise and strong, bringing together a clear understanding of the details of postural alignment with the uninterrupted flow and tapas of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. This clear manner of engaging her students is an invitation for them to quiet the mind, continually returning to the present experience.
Susan Chiocchi
Susan Chiocchi brings to her yoga and her teaching a calm, precise and deep understanding of the body from the inside out. Her initial exploration of yoga, more than 20 years ago, was in working with the energetic aspects, which focus on prana and the movements of subtle energies withint the core of the body. As a former dancer, Susan connects easily to the precision and flow of the Ashtanga Vinyasa system, and has an insightful understanding of alignment. Through this combination of internal focus and external expression, she coaxes students into deeper awareness of their core while encouraging dynamic exploration of the physical body. Susan has worked extensively with Richard, beginning with his first Teacher Intensive in 1999. She has also studied in the Iyengar tradition and continues to study tantric yoga and healing practices through the teachings of Tenzen Wangyal Rinpoche in the Tibetan Bon tradition. Susan is a Certified Reiki Master Teacher and has a diploma in Brennan Healing Science. She has a private healing practice in Boulder utilizing Reiki, Brennan Healing Science and her ongoing studies in Tibetan yoga.
All of our Teachers
The teaching staff at the Yoga Workshop brings a strong and diverse depth of knowledge to the classes we offer. Our diverse backgrounds allow students to experience the common ground of Ashtanga yoga with insights from complimentary perspectives. Teachers are usually available after classes to answer individual questions, and all of the teachers (when available) offer private instruction upon request.
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