9 Teachers, 1 Life-Changing Year

Baron Baptiste

For more than 20 years, Baron Baptiste has been an inspirational yoga teacher, author, trainer, and leader in the realm of personal growth. Since he founded Baptiste Yoga in the 1980s, he has influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world with his internationally best-selling books, video/audio products, public-speaking engagements, teacher trainings, workshops, and appearances. Born into a lineage and heritage of health, yoga, and spiritual educators, Baron was born and raised to teach and educate.

Alan Finger

Alan Finger, South African Tantric and Kriya Yoga Master, began studying yoga at the age of 16 with his father, Mani Finger, and renowned swamis of the past century. Alan and Mani created ISHTA Yoga, which integrates breath-based flow yoga with alignment, meditation, and healing bodywork. Before creating a home for ISHTA, Alan co-founded Yoga Zone, Be Yoga, and YogaWorks. Alan has coauthored several books including Introduction to Yoga with Al Bingham and Chakra Yoga and Breathing Space with Katrina Repka. He travels the world to share his teachings and currently lives and teaches in New York City where he co-owns ISHTA Yoga with his wife, Sarah Finger.

Sri Dharma Mittra

Sri Dharma Mittra founded one of the early independent, and longest-running schools of yoga in New York City in 1975. He has taught hundreds of thousands of students over a half century and created more than 300 popular yoga postures and variations. Sri Dharma Mittra is the author of The Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures, ASANAS: 608 Yoga Poses, and the Maha Sadhana DVD series. He continues to disseminate the complete traditional science of yoga through daily classes, workshops worldwide, and his Life of a Yogi Teacher Certification programs at the Dharma Yoga Center.

Carrie Owerko

Carrie Owerko is a Senior Intermediate Iyengar teacher and continues her studies with the Iyengar family by traveling to India on a regular basis, as well as by continuous in-depth studies with her yoga teacher, Patricia Walden. Before studying yoga, Carrie earned a BFA in dance and theater, graduating from the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse Theater School in NYC. Carrie then spent several years working for a movement, educational, and experimental theater company called The Irondale Ensemble Project. After Irondale, she continued her inquiry and became a Certified Movement Analyst, completing her studies at The Laban Institute of Movement Studies. She has spent years enthusiastically exploring human movement with the intention of helping people develop clearer, more fully embodied communication and expression. Curiosity, openness, and affection are of utmost importance in her approach to Iyengar Yoga, as is the integration of science, yoga philosophy, and poetic imagination. Most importantly, she loves to explore the relationship of discipline and playfulness and is a firm believer in the power of controlled folly.

Aadil Palkhivala

Aadil Palkhivala began the study of yoga with B.K.S. Iyengar at the age of 7, and was introduced to the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo at the age of 10. When Aadil was 20, he embarked on his first teaching tour of Europe and North America. Two years later, Iyengar awarded him the Advanced Yoga Teacher’s Certificate. Aadil and Savitri are the founders and directors of internationally renowned Alive and Shine Center and the College of Purna Yoga, both in Bellevue, Washington. Constantly educating himself in his passion for teaching the “whole yoga,” Aadil is the author of the book Fire of Love. He has studied holistic healing and Ayurveda extensively. He holds degrees in law, physics, and mathematics, is a professional speaker, and co-hosted the Alive and Shine Radio Show with Savitri. Today, he is considered one of the finest yoga teachers on earth.

Shiva Rea

Shiva Rea is an activist, yoga teacher, and author of Tending the Heart Fire. Music and movement are key to her unique style of yoga, which is based on Krishnamacharya’s teachings, Tantra, Ayurveda, and bhakti. An avid surfer and longtime philanthropist, she uses yoga to raise money through her initiatives Moving Activism for 1,008,000 Trees, Yoga Energy Activism, and the Global Mala Project. She travels for retreats and workshops most days, but you can often find her once a week leading a public class at Exhale in Venice, California.

Natasha Rizopoulos

As a dedicated Ashtanga practitioner for many years, Natasha Rizopoulos is equally captivated by the precision of the Iyengar system. These two traditions inform her teaching, creating a mindful and dynamic blend of Vinyasa Flow. Now a Senior Teacher with Down Under Yoga, and a writer, teacher, and DVD instructor for Yoga Journal, Natasha is known world-wide for her ability to communicate the essence of sophisticated postures and ideas in ways that have a transformative effect upon one’s understanding of Yoga.

Over the past 20 years, Natasha has refined a method of teaching that empowers students to make profound connections between the alignment of the body and the mind, the physical and the spiritual. This perspective on Yoga and Asana is Align Your Flow®:

• It is meditation in motion.

• It’s about using the linking of breath and movement to become completely absorbed in the present moment.

• It’s an approach to Vinyasa that emphasizes alignment as a way to develop what the ancient Yogis called eka grata or one-pointed focus.

• It’s a physical practice that encourages the most vital and intelligent Self on the mat, disengaged from the chatter that so often distracts and defines.

• It’s a way to move the body consciously and thoughtfully, accurately observing the effects of actions and therefore acting more skillfully, which is both the essence and the goal of Yoga.

• It’s about cultivating a quality of attention in asana practice that translates into daily life.

• It’s a way to create a relationship between what you do on the mat and who you are off the mat.

Colleen Saidman Yee

Colleen Saidman Yee has been teaching yoga for 16 years and is featured in 13 yoga DVDs. She owns and directs Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor, NY, and continues her studies with her husband, Rodney Yee. Her passion for working in health care started in junior high at a geriatric center and continues today as co-chair of the Urban Zen Health and Wellness Foundation.

Rodney Yee

Rodney Yee who has been practicing yoga for 30 years and teaching for 25, got his foundation from Iyengar Yoga. He continues his studies together with his wife, Colleen Saidman Yee. Thirty DVDs and two books later, he has turned his yoga passion toward health care by co-chairing the Urban Zen Health and Wellness Foundation, founded by Donna Karan.

FAQs

1. How much does the year-long Master Class program cost?

It’s $295 for current Yoga Journal TeachersPlus members, or $365 for those who aren’t Yoga Journal TeachersPlus members (this price includes all the benefits of a TeachersPlus membership excluding insurance).

2. When do the Master Classes begin?

The first three Master Classes have been released. They are: YOGA NIDRA with Sri Dharma Mittra; THE EVOLUTION OF SURYA NAMASKAR with Shiva Rea; and CONNECTING PHILOSOPHY AND ALIGNMENT with Aadil Palkhivala. The rest of the year’s schedule is as follows:
·       IYENGAR YOGA FUNDAMENTALS with Carrie Owerko; September 18, 2017
·       RESTORATIVE YOGA with Colleen Saidman Yee; October 30, 2017
·       SMART SEQUENCING FOR ARM BALANCES with Natasha Rizopoulos; Dec 11, 2017
·       PRANAYAMA with Rodney Yee; January 22, 2018
·       MEDITATION with Alan Finger; March 5, 2018
·       POWER YOGA BASICS with Baron Baptiste; April 16, 2018

3. Does this course give me credit towards Yoga Alliance Certification?

This class qualifies as 30 hours of continuing education non-contact credits as recognized by Yoga Alliance.

4. What if I cannot keep up with the weekly coursework?

No problem! In all of the classes, students work at their own pace. Each week we will release another module with coursework, but feel free to experience this on the timeline that works best for you. You will have access for the full year of your membership.

If you’re having problems and would like to have a representative contact you, please email us at masterclass@yogajournal.com.