Teachers (teaching on a weekly basis)
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. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Mirror of Yoga" (Shambhala Publications, Fall 2010).
ANgel Lin
Angel came to yoga in 1992 out of curiosity, and as a way to reduce the stress of graduate school in interior design, while acting as the “surrogate mother” to her 2 teenage brothers. She began her formal training with Alan Finger in 1995, later completing his ISTHA teacher training. She has also studied with many renowned teachers including Shiva Rea, Sarah Powers and Tias Little, and in 2004 began working with Richard Freeman. She has completed 3 of Richard’s teacher intensives. Having been raised in a moderate Buddhist family, mindfulness is an aspect of her life that is inseparable from her practice. Also as a late bloomer to the Ashtanga tradition, she understands its challenges and also its accessibility. Her teaching style is infused with kindness and humility, simplicity and lightheartedness. Her natural inquisitiveness and deep interest in the human body give her keen observation skills and an intuitive hands-on adjustment style. She invites her students to explore their "authentic self" and to cultivate mindfulness through their practice.
www.shriyoga.com
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.
Barry Gillespie
Barry Gillespie began practicing yoga in 1974, and took the first of several teacher trainings in 1978. He taught for 25 years in Ottawa Canada, including 12 years when he ran a studio, Santosha Yoga, with his wife Marcia. He started studying with Richard Freeman in 1998 and has taken several teacher intensives with him. When Barry moved to Boulder in 2004 he gave up teaching, needing a break and a chance to focus on his art. Gradually he started subbing more and more, and is happy to be back. His teaching style combines his love for ashtanga vinyasa yoga, his deep interest in Theravaden Buddhist practice, and a sense of his own limitations; making his classes joyful, still and approachable. When not teaching or practicing Barry can usually be found in his painting studio.
Jonathan Peterson
Jonathan's journey to yoga has taken him through myriad philosophical thought systems and practices which fuel his life's passion for practice and learning. He began studying asana in the Iyengar tradition and became fascinated by both the rigor and subtle forms within the Ashtanga Vinyasa system. This brought Jonathan to begin studying with Richard in 2005. He has since completed three of Richard's Teachers' Intensives, and continues to study on an ongoing basis. In Jonathan's classes, practitioners are encouraged to start "right where they are", laying the foundation for a safe, challenging and fulfilling yoga practice. Based in gross and subtle principles of alignment, classes emphasize self inquiry, self-regulation, and self-respect. Jonathan strives to creat a class environment that is non-intimidating, lighthearted, inquisitive and one in which students are encouraged to question themselves, the teacher, and the practice.
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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.
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.
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.
Adjunct Teachers (teaching special courses and classes)
Braddon Hall
Braddon Hall has a playful and gentle approach to yoga. He began yoga in 1987 after he broke his hip in high school. Yoga helped repair his posture and back pain and continued as a daily practice. This led him to study Hatha and Yin yoga with Suddha Weixler in Chicago. Suddha sparked his interest in meditation and showed him that yoga can be a life long discipline much more than an exercise routine or physical therapy. Braddon moved to Boulder in 1989 and quickly found the Yoga Workshop and the ashtanga system that matched his physical lifestyle and love of snowboarding, dirt bikes, rugby, football and wrestling. Yoga also brought mindfulness of body that ached from many broken bones and injuries. In 2005 Braddon traveled to Mysore, India to study with K. Pattabhi Jois. During Richard’s teacher training in 2003 Braddon fell in love with meditating. He continued on with his studies to complete all of the Shambhala Levels and Graduate Levels. In 2005 he met Reggie Ray and began his life long journey in Tibetan Buddhist studies. He is a meditation instructor and is currently working on his ngöndro. As a child Braddon starred on the children’s TV show Romper Room. He has two sons who like to practice yoga and meditation alongside their father. His life experiences have inspired him to offer Circus Yoga as a playful gateway for mindful practices.
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
Laura Kupperman
Laura has been practicing yoga since 1995, teaching since 2002, and working with cancer survivors since 2005. After her own cancer diagnosis in 2003, Laura experienced the profound impact that yoga had on healing and recovery, and it became her dream to share that opportunity with others. Following more than 1,000 hours and 2.5 years of study to become a Professional Yoga Therapist, Laura began teaching yoga to survivors at HealthLinks Clinic in Boulder. Laura also established Yoga for Survivors™ classes at Longmont United Hospital, Tebo Cancer Center at Boulder Community Hospital and various yoga studios in Boulder. In addition to her yoga therapy certification Laura has completed many other trainings and workshops. She is especially influenced by what she’s learned from Scott Blossom, Joseph and Lilian Le Page, Rod Stryker, Sonia Sumar, Richard Freeman, and Paul Grilley.
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.
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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