Jennifer Sadugor, E-RYT/500 hour level, 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.

Jennifer views her practice as a mirror for living life. After a serious car accident, she suffered physical injuries, which changed the perspective of her practice. Her practice has deepened not only to focus on the value of proper alignment and breathing, but the importance of developing inner strength with the balance of letting go. Jennifer understands the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of the poses she practices and shares this philosophy with her students.

She has also taught yoga classes at the YMCA for over six years along with classes for 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. Jennifer conducts private sessions upon request.

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 received her certificate in Foundations for Yoga Therapy with master yoga teacher, Gary Kraftsow, and the American Viniyoga Institute this past year. She will complete her advanced studies in Yoga Therapy with Gary Kraftsow April 2011.

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.

Andy Fourney began reading Yoga: The Iyengar Way and practicing poses in 1991 while working in Angola. A year later he began taking formal classes in El Paso and was inspired by workshops with John Friend. His enthusiasm carried him to Houston where he was mentored by George Purvis. Under Georges tutelage Andy was certified by the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States at the Introductory Level I in 2000. He has taught yoga for over 10 years and continues to study with Senior Iyengar teachers in the Bay Area.

Andy structures his classes to facilitate the integration of yoga into daily activities. He encourages spacious breathing and teaches poses to increase strength, flexibility and develop stamina. He draws on his background in Public Health, passion for ultimate Frisbee and cycling to create classes that will give students a chance to work hard, be curious, and restore.

Andy does yoga because it feels good.  Andy is currently on sabbatical until 2011.

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.

Margaret E. Ruchte was first introduced to Iyengar yoga in 1986 in Arcata, California and has been actively incorporating Yoga into her daily life since. She has studied and practiced more intently over the last several years, completing a 200 hour teacher training certification in the Iyengar tradition with Jennifer Sadugor of the Yoga Solution in March 2007 and registered with the Yoga Alliance. She has a profound respect for the treasures of Yoga and strives to maintain curiosity and openness to new learning. Margaret creates a nurturing atmosphere for Yoga students to discover Self. Her work includes attention to breath, energy, and proper alignment. Margaret firmly believes with her background in Biology and Clinical Social Work, and her long-standing interest in the energy of the body, that Yoga is the optimal strategy for body health and peace of mind.

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 is soon to complete the 1000 hour Advanced Studies program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley. Yvonne encourages students to listen to their bodies and experience the joy of being.

Kendal Smeeth - From her first yoga class at a community center in 1978, Kendal has been in love with the poses of Iyengar yoga – focusing on alignment and breath to bring heart, mind and soul into balance. In1998, she undertook classes in earnest, studying several days a week and on weekend retreats with Mark Horner and Rodney Yee. She has attended a 4-day intensive with Shandor Ramete and a new year’s intensive at the Ananda Center in Grass Valley, CA. While visiting Sacramento, she began taking classes with Jennifer Sadugor at Turn Verein. With each experience her respect for the inner freedom yoga offers each of us has deepened. After back surgery in December 2004 and a 6-month recovery in 2005, she participated in and graduated from the Jon Kabat-Zinn's designed course in pain management through mindfulness, breathing and meditation. In 2009 she achieved her 200-hour yoga certification from The Yoga Solution, enabling her to teach Hatha Yoga at levels 1 through 3. Kendal believes the joy of yoga is found by inviting the life force into every layer of the body. We do this by bringing our breath and attention to all aspects of the pose.

Baxter Bell, MD lives in Northern California, where he teaches a healing, nurturing style of Hatha yoga, balancing our desire for action with our need to quiet the mind, emphasizing the qualities of curiosity and meditation in the practice. He is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studios 18 month Advanced Studies Program, under the directorship of Rodney Yee, with whom Baxter has also assisted in workshops around the country. Baxters other major yoga influences include Patricia Walden and Erich Schiffman.

Baxter teaches public, corporate and specialty Back Care yoga classes in Oakland, Berkeley, Novato, & Petaluma California. He is a contributing writer to Yoga Journal magazine and the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Baxter is also involved in the integration of therapeutic applications of yoga with Western medicine, lecturing to health care professionals around the country, as well as adding Hatha yoga asanas and pranayama to his care of patients in his medical acupuncture practice.

He also leads daylong, weekend and weeklong retreats in Northern California and around the country. Baxter has had the great honor of teaching yoga to Cuban yoga teachers in Havana, Cuba for the last several years through the Cuba-US Yoga Exchange, a non-profit venture based in Oakland.

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.

Mary Paffard began her yoga journey in Europe in the early '70s. She has been teaching in rural Northern California, the Bay Area, and other parts of the US and Europe since 1985. Mary's yoga practice and teaching are influenced by her commitment to Vipassana meditation and the desire to unearth the inner guru in herself and her students. In recent years, the breath, belly and the chakras have proved powerful mirrors in her exploration of the spirit in movement and stillness.

Mary is currently Director of Advanced Studies and Teacher Training at Yoga Mendocino, a non profit corporation that seeks to evolve an inspiring Yoga space in downtown Ukiah and support the growing interest for yoga in this community with her colleague Maggie Norton. Yoga Mendocino (Yomo for short) is committed to bringing Yoga to a larger community not normally seen in yoga studios, to developing programs for teachers and a support and referral network in this area and beyond.

Barbara Papini, mother and grandmother, has been practicing yoga since l974. She is on the staff of the The Yoga Room Advanced Studies Program and has studied with Geeta Iyengar at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India. In addition to general classes, Barbara teaches prenatal yoga, workshops for menopausal women and offers Yoga Retreats for Women.

Mary Lou Weprin is Associate Director of The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA where she has been teaching since 1980. She has studied with B.K.S. Iyengar and Gita Iyengar at Intensives in India, and with many of the senior Iyengar teachers since the 1970s. Working closely with Donald Moyer, Mary Lou has helped develop the three-year Advanced Studies program at The Yoga Room where she teaches courses in asana analysis and technique. Through her innovative courses, Mary Lou has influenced many young teachers, locally and nationally, with her quiet, careful approach and her deep understanding.