Jennifer Sadugor, B.A., AVI Certified Yoga Therapist, E-RYT/500 hour level Yoga Teacher, relocated in 1996 from Los Angeles to Sacramento where she founded The Yoga Solution. Jennifer teaches Hatha Yoga in the Iyengar tradition. Classes are adapted for all ages and levels with a primary focus on alignment, form, breath work and deep relaxation.

She has taught yoga classes at the YMCA, Sierra Community College, California State University, Sacramento, Sutter Senior Care Center, Mercy Women's Center, Options for Recovery, Planned Parenthood, Gold River Racquet Club and Natomas Racquet Club. Jennifer is teaching a series of yoga classes at Mercy Hospital.  Jennifer, a hospice volunteer, also teaches at UCDavis Hospice Bereavement program on a regular basis.   She is currently teaches classes to a group who have MS or other physiological/neurological issues. Jennifer conducts private sessions upon request.

Jennifer also works therapeutically with students who are dealing with chronic pain, anxiety, panic attacks, grief, and cancer.

Jennifer's primary teachers are Donald Moyer, Judith Lasater and Mary Lou Weprin. She is a graduate of the 500 hour Advanced Studies/External Degree Program from The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA. Jennifer also received her certificate as an AVI Certified Yoga Therapist with master yoga teacher, Gary Kraftsow.

Patricia Cornelius - After reading an article in the Learning Exchange catalog in the mid-nineties, Patricia attended her first yoga class at Turn Verein - an intermittent experience, but one that began her appreciation of yoga. Patricia began Vipassana (Insight) Meditation in 2004 and in 2005completed Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program combining Vipassana and asana with concentration on the deep interconnection between mind and body.

Patricia completed a yoga certification for a flow-based (Dyupatha Yoga) practice in 2007 and taught in this genre until 2008. While this practice was invigorating, Patricia was looking for a practice with a more encompassing approach. B.K.S. Iyengar’s traditional yoga style with focus on alignment and strength as well as spiritual values provided the practice she sought. This path led to the Yoga Solution and the completion of the 200-hour certification program in 2009. In this practice, Patricia nourishes and supports her body, mind, and spirit with breath and awareness. It is from this light in which she teaches her students.

Stacey Dreizler's class blends a lifetime of physical therapy practice and exploration in healing with her deep love of yoga and dance. The focus is toward a fuller embodiment which grows through the play with breath traveling through us; our connection to gravity, grounding, centering, opening, surrender; and the feel of release, power and touch. This internal experience combined with recognition of our relationship to others lets healing unfold. And, since our bodies love to speak in metaphor, a deep sense of our fundamental animal nature and authentic meaning for our spirit often emerge as we move. Bella has expanded her study and practice of yoga to include Yin Yang Yoga.

Simone Palmieri  If there were such a word, Simone would call herself a “yogologist.” She spends her spare moments engulfed in books and articles that explain the “science” behind yoga (even though yoga is a science in itself), or rather how the western medicine world believes yoga can heal the body. Having degrees in biology and psychology and spending many years as a dancer and as a schoolteacher, Simone has a long-term goal of combining her abilities to become a yoga therapist. She holds a great respect for Iyengar yoga and its transformative effects on people with all kinds of ailments. She is curious about how such seemingly simple movements and control of the breath can have such healing qualities, and brings both this curiosity and respect into her teaching. She is especially passionate about teaching yoga to people with Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, having lived with both illnesses for the past 14 years, and crediting yoga for bringing her out of a wheelchair and enabling her to complete the Yoga Solution’s 200-hour teacher training program.

Simone teaches hatha yoga in the Iyengar tradition, with an emphasis on breathwork, alignment and helping people to accept unpredictable wellness.

Simone is a mother of two teenage daughters, and can’t believe how little available yoga there is in Sacramento for children and teens. She is currently studying how to bring yoga to these age groups.

Yvonne Shanks is dedicated to teaching yoga with awareness, integrity and compassion. She was drawn to yoga through a need for a body practice to support her meditation practice, and soon found the magic of yoga. She quickly realized that yoga and meditation are not separate, but petals of the same flower that provide the unfolding which allows rediscovery of a sense of wholeness. Yvonne received a 200 hour certification in Anusara yoga in May 2004, and went on to earn a 200 hour certification from the Yoga Solution in January 2005. She has studied with many gifted and dedicated teachers and completed the 500 hour Advanced Studies program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley. She is currently studying with Manouso Manos in San Francisco, CA.  Yvonne encourages students to listen to their bodies and experience the joy of being.

   Phil Smith's experience of yoga began with a copy of Richard
Hittleman’s Yoga: 28-Day Exercise Plan that he picked up as a
teenager. For several years, he used it as a guide for an
on-again/off-again home yoga practice. He began a serious studio practice of yoga in 2006, and he has been studying and practicing at The Yoga Solution since 2009. Phil has studied a variety of yoga styles including Iyengar, Vinyasa (Flow), Bikram, Power, and Yin.  He completed his yoga teacher certification at the White Lotus Foundation with Ganga White and Tracey Rich in Santa Barbara. His classes at The Yoga Solution incorporate classic yoga postures, slow vinyasa routines, and pranayama (breath exercises) as well as the use of bandhas, mudras, and relaxation techniques to enhance the yoga experience. He is currently on Day 67 of a 108-day personal yoga practice commitment he began in July.
 

Gary Vercelli has studied and practiced Iyengar yoga since 1992.  His primary mentor has been Senior Advanced Iyengar Instructor, Manouso Manos ('94-present).  Gary's most influential teachers have been Manos, Mary Dunn, and Ramanand Patel, with whom he studied in India in 2000.  Vercelli has taught Iyengar yoga at American River College since 2000.  He was certified by the IYNAUS at the Intro 2 level in 2003.  Gary has attended four Iyengar National Conventions and studied with Geeta Iyengar in Pune, India (12/04) and with B.K.S. Iyengar in Estes Park, CO. (10/05).  A popular broadcaster on Capital Public Radio (90.9 FM), Vercelli brings to his craft as a yoga instructor a dynamic presence and a reverence for the subject.

Bhavani Girard has been a practicing yogi for over 30 years. She will be teaching the philosophy component of our program. Bhavani first discovered yoga in 1969 and began teaching in 1975. She took formal certification training at Ananda Village in 1978 where she studied the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian Master who lived and taught in the United States from 1920 to 1952. The certification that Bhavani received from Ananda qualified her to teach hatha yoga, meditation, and yoga philosophy. She has continued to teach these subjects since that time.

Bhavani became a formal disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda in 1979. She has lived in community with other disciples of Yogananda at Ananda Village. Her teaching reflects her years of discipleship and lifestyle training. She has shared the teachings of yoga in many venues; at Ananda Village, at various Ananda Centers, and in public classes all over Northern California. Bhavani was the Director of the Yoga Teacher Training Program at Ananda Village in the early 1990s. Currently she is on the faculty of both American River College and Sierra College where she teaches classes in hatha yoga and meditation. She is also the director of the teaching training program of the Sierra Center for Yoga Studies.

Bhavani is an ordained Interfaith minister. Interfaith training has allowed her to perceive the universal message of the yoga teachings within all faith traditions. This has allowed her to communicate successfully with people of many different backgrounds. She has recently completed her first book, entitled We Are One. In this book she shares the unitive vision of yoga as it has been taught by Master teachers of every time and place.

Donald Moyer, a yoga teacher since 1974, has been practicing the Iyengar method of yoga since 1971. He is the founder and director of The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA, and is a former president of the California Yoga Teachers Association (CYTA). Donald wrote the "Asana" column for Yoga Journal in 1987, 1989 and 1992 and Yoga: Awakening the Inner Body in 2006. He studied with B.K.S. Iyengar at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India frequently between 1976 and 1988.