It will be no surprise to anyone who has seen Anna practice to learn that she has a background and training as a classical ballerina. Her elegant pursuit of intricate backbends or tortuous twists will display such grace that it can’t help but inspire you to dance through your own practice.
Anna began practicing yoga at 18, while looking for an exercise routine that would maintain the strength and conditioning developed from her ballet training. She next added training as a Pilates instructor to her expertise, so don’t be surprised by the cat-like athleticism you’ll develop in her classes. Prior to joining the Practice Yoga team, Anna was a sought-after instructor at East Sac Yoga.
Anna’s yoga classes focus on core strengthening and emphasize a constant awareness of maintaining the breath throughout the entire practice. In May 2010, Anna graduated from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. She then went on to pass the California Bar exam in November 2010. Anna successfully integrates her yoga technique and meditation practice with the rigors of a fast-paced legal career.
KRISTINE CLARK
She's currently in Mysore. We'll get her bio added soon.
KATHY DOMINIC
Kathy Dominic is serious about teaching a fun yoga class! She has been practicing traditional forms of yoga since she was a teenager, and appreciates the physical and mental benefits that one cultivates over a lifetime of practice.
Kathy was a popular yoga teacher in both Tulsa, OK and in Portland, OR, but since coming to Sacramento has preferred to concentrate on the polished refinement that is her personal practice. With much pleading and cajoling, she has been persuaded to join our teacher team and be a shining example of just how Classical Hatha is practiced.
Kathy brings to her teaching a respect for the discipline of yoga, and an understanding that every body is different, with different abilities and different needs. Harmony happens when your body’s abilities blend smoothly with your body’s needs. Her class will make you work, laugh, and play, and have your body singing a happy melody!
BART FIRCH
Bart's bio will be added soon.
PAIGE LABRIE
Paige’s interest in yoga started at age 11, beginning with library books on meditation. On her own, she developed a practice of meditation and conscious breath which sustained her through her early years . Her formal training began in the early 1990s at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco.
Study at the Institute was followed by numerous classes & workshops with an array of teachers and styles, all of which have contributed to her thoughtful and diverse style, both in her personal practice and as a yoga teacher.
Paige has taught yoga in the Sacramento area for the last eleven years. While Ashtanga Yoga greatly influences the content of her practice, much of her teaching background has centered on Classical Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga. Paige has pursued a devotion to Shadow Yoga which adds even more diversity to our programs. The teaching of the Shadow School is based upon the ancient Hatha Yogic texts.
MIRANDA RASBAND
Discovering the difference yoga made in her body during and after her second pregnancy, Miranda began her yoga journey. This path has led her to experience many different styles of yoga over the last 9 years of personal practice. After dedicating much time to self study and exploration she decided to lend her love and knowledge of yoga and formal education in Anatomy and Kinesiology to those who are on their own path and looking for guidance. Miranda continually seeks to increase her knowledge base by studying under some of the top mentors in the yoga community and keeping a daily practice of her own. Humbly teaching yoga to everyone, from the brand new person to the more experienced, provides her with inspiration and appreciation.
After graduating from Ashmead College, in Washington State with a focus in Kinesiology she started a therapeutic massage company in Northern California and trained in Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy. Throughout her life, Miranda has been moved to help people in great need, from adopting a family each Christmas to arranging a fund raiser paying for cancer treatments for a local single mother. Miranda spends her time racing her 2 spirited children up rock faces, scouting new hiking trails or convincing her youngest child why they can’t live in Yosemite National Park. Instead, she lives in the wilds of Northern California.
Miranda is our “Mistress of The Wall” and leads our Yoga Wall program. You’ll be challenged, inspired and rewarded by her calm mastery of the ways of The Wall!
SHANNON TOBIN
Shannon Tobin teaches a powerful and playful Ana Forrest inspired class that ensures students are feeling” inside the body,” by concentrating on the core and connecting to the breath.
Forrest Yoga is renowned as an intensely physical and internally focused practice that emphasizes how to carry a transformative experience off the mat and into daily life. The practice challenges students to access their whole being and to use Forrest Yoga as a path to finding, and then cleansing, the emotional and mental blocks that dictate and limit their lives
Shannon will guide you through a challenging, safe and nurturing class intelligently sequenced with our modern bodies in mind. Dissolving tension and tightness through breath and perspiration, you will leave feeling rejuvenated and restored.
Shannon’s yoga journey began in 2004 and has brought changes and empowerment to her life that she never thought possible. She uses the empowerment of yoga to heal herself and others as the body and mind continue to evolve. With almost 1000 hours of yoga training in Forrest, Classical Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga, Shannon adds both depth and range to our teacher team.
Shannon is enrolled in a mentorship program for continuing education through the Forrest Yoga Foundation. She appreciates the inspiration and mentorship of Ana Forrest, Marilyn Castilaw, Destiny Goldsberry, Scott Emerich, and Bill Counter. Armed with her constantly evolving education, love, joy and compassion Shannon looks forward to meeting you on your mat.
BILL COUNTER
Bill has been teaching yoga to all levels of students for 20 years. He tries to keep classes playful to encourage students to have a good time with the practice and gradually improve their skills in a non-competitive atmosphere.
He's studied with leading teachers in a variety of traditions including Iyengar, Ashtanga and various lineages of more traditional hatha yoga practice.
As a result, his classes offer a synthesis of the best of ancient and modern yoga teachings. Both his own daily practice and his teaching style emphasize a meditative focus, attention to the breath and awareness of good body mechanics.
There are a lot of gentle hands-on adjustments in Bill's classes to help students find the perfect pose -- and that means not some classic ideal of a pose but whatever is "perfect" for you today. Sometimes backing off, some days exploring more deeply.
He feels that the practice gets much more fun when we drop the focus on performance and goals in the poses. It's better to judge the success of your practice by how it affects your life when you're NOT on the mat.
Prior to moving to Sacramento, he was owner and principal teacher at two yoga studios: Yoga Bhoga in Portland, Oregon and (prior to that) Yoga Oasis in Tucson, Arizona.
BILL COUNTER TALKS ABOUT 12 OF HIS FAVORITE POSES...
Utthita Parsvakonasana [extended side angle pose]
Let's start with a standing pose to get it over with. At least that's how I felt about all of the standing poses for about the first 10 years of my practice. Just wanted to get through and on to more interesting work.
Now, I love them for building leg strength, stretching the hamstrings and opening the hips. In my Sacramento yoga classes we do lots of them.
In poses like this one from the Ashtanga opening sequence I'm always talking about how the external rotation in the hips is is the beginning of your prep for foot behind the head work
Vasisthasana [ a pose dedicated to the sage Vasistha]
A great standing balance that appears frequently in our Sacramento yoga classes. We can start with a spotter or leave the upper leg bent.
I love this because it is such a great hip opener. Plus the balance work. I just try to open up more and more until I ruin it by toppling over.
But it's an easy fall. You'll be ready to try it again in a moment.
Vasisthana is the first pose of Ashtanga 3rd series. Come to class...we'll work on the rest of the series.
Urdvha Dhanurasana [upward bow pose]
I love backbends. Especially this one if you drop back from standing. I was amazed when I first became able to do it. And I still find it amazing.
Part of the wonder of this pose (and a lot of yoga) is overcoming your fears. And I don't have a very tight backbend so there's (on most days) still a bit of a free fall. Some days it's more controlled and it'd just like gently reaching over backwards and touching the floor.
We'll work on it. Or you can put it off for awhile.
Parsva Dhanurasana [side bow pose]
Another great backbend. What's not to like when you can just lie on your side and feel that extraordinary stretch of the quadriceps and the expansion all up and down the front of the ribcage?
If you're in one of my yoga classes in Sacramento and you're still stiff, you can just lie there grabbing your ankles and wait for the pose to be over. Or if it's a day you feel like working, the feet can push back, the belly comes forward for backbend bliss. And no fighting gravity with this one.
Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana [the flipped over staff pose]
Another great backbend, especially as demonstrated here by Sacramento yoga adept Kathy.
Part of the fun with this one is you can start in headstand and then drop over backward.
Just look at all the great adventures happening in one terrific pose. The shoulder area gets opened. Great work in the hips as one leg gets extended upward. Amazing expansion on the front of the body.
Don't you love backbends?
Sirsasana [headstand]
I love headstands. We were doing them (or some of us were) in the first yoga class I ever attended. I got hooked. I went home and practiced everyday. Within 6 weeks I was in the middle of the room. And I certainly don't have exceptional balance skills.
I'm still amazed by the number of students that come into my yoga classes (even quite experienced ones) who still can't do a headstand in the middle of the room. Or even at the wall. It's basic yoga. And it's so much fun. We gradually build neck strength so you can do different arm positions (8 in the standard syllabus) and lots of leg variations to maximize the fun.
Ardha Matsyendrasana II [a twist dedicated to the sage Matsyendra]
I need twists. I can breathe more freely after rotating the spine and getting that great expansion of the ribcage.
Ardha Matsyendrasana II is great because both sides of the ribcage are expanding rather than getting compressed due to resistance in the hips or squeezing against a thigh or a half lotus foot in the belly as in many twists. And you get that nice hip opening work of the half lotus. What's not to like? If the half lotus doesn't work for you, just put the foot of the bent leg on the floor.
Adho Mukha Vrksasana [ downward facing tree -- the handstand]:
Isn't it great getting upside down? We don't do it enough but we need it.
Any of the inverted poses are wonderful for developing upper body strength, giving the inner organs a massage and clearing the cobwebs out of the brain.
If you haven't been doing inversions, come to one of my Sacramento yoga classes and we'll get started developing the strength to make poses like this possible.
Mayurasana [peacock pose]
Many arm balances develop abdominal strength, but none in quite the same way as the peacock.
Here with all the weight on the elbows pushing into the belly, the challenges are immense. Of course, you can leave the feet on the ground for awhile. Or we'll spot you.
It's worth working on although it may take a few years.
Astavakrasana [ the crooked in 8 places pose]
Unlike the peacock (which really is hard), this is one of those great poses thet's easier than it looks.
If your Sacramento yoga adventures haven't included this one yet, you're missing out. The fun part is all the hip opening prep we do prior to the pose itself.
This pose offers great work focusing on more rotation in the hips to prepare you for lotus and foot behind the head work. We can start this one with a straight arm version and let the strength in the triceps develop gradually.
Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana [half bound lotus stretch of the body's west side]
The "west" in the pose's name comes from the tradition of facing east during asana practice, thus the back of the body is referred to as the "west" side.
If I haven't done this pose in awhile, it's always a revelation coming back to it. I forget how simple but productive the pose is. You get that nice half lotus work with the reach around to get the toes. In many lotus poses, you don't want to (or can't) work on tightening the lotus up. Here, if you're up for it, it's an ideal chance to sneak that foot a bit higher on the other thigh and get the knees closer together.
And like the other janu sirsasana variations, you can play this one as a bit of a twist as you slide the torso over toward the straight leg a bit. Nice simple fun.
Marichyasana C [the 3rd in a series dedicated to the sage Marichy]
As you can see, I like twists. And this one gives you some nice hip opening work as well. My Marichy sequence pose favorites come and go. The forward folds are great, especially Marcichyasana B, with one leg in half lotus.
And how about Marichyasana E, that nice forward fold with one leg folded back and the arm looped around the other knee that's up in the air?
And let me tell you about that other wonderful Marichy pose...
Enough for now. Come to class. We'll work on your favorites. Namaste.
KATHY DOMINIC
PAIGE LABRIE
MIRANDA RASBAND 
SHANNON TOBIN 
BILL COUNTER 
Let's start with a standing pose to get it over with. At least that's how I felt about all of the standing poses for about the first 10 years of my practice. Just wanted to get through and on to more interesting work.
A great standing balance that appears frequently in our Sacramento yoga classes. We can start with a spotter or leave the upper leg bent. 
I love backbends. Especially this one if you drop back from standing. I was amazed when I first became able to do it. And I still find it amazing.
Another great backbend. What's not to like when you can just lie on your side and feel that extraordinary stretch of the quadriceps and the expansion all up and down the front of the ribcage?
Another great backbend, especially as demonstrated here by Sacramento yoga adept Kathy.
I love headstands. We were doing them (or some of us were) in the first yoga class I ever attended. I got hooked. I went home and practiced everyday. Within 6 weeks I was in the middle of the room. And I certainly don't have exceptional balance skills.
I need twists. I can breathe more freely after rotating the spine and getting that great expansion of the ribcage.
Isn't it great getting upside down? We don't do it enough but we need it. 
Many arm balances develop abdominal strength, but none in quite the same way as the peacock. 
Unlike the peacock (which really is hard), this is one of those great poses thet's easier than it looks. 
The "west" in the pose's name comes from the tradition of facing east during asana practice, thus the back of the body is referred to as the "west" side. 
As you can see, I like twists. And this one gives you some nice hip opening work as well. My Marichy sequence pose favorites come and go. The forward folds are great, especially Marcichyasana B, with one leg in half lotus. 
