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DURGA DEVI (DENISE TEPERINO)
Durga Devi, the name given to Denise by her beloved teachers, Sharon Gannon and David Life, is a former dancer and competitive gymnast who grew up in New York City. After high school, she studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and hung out in Manhattan's East Village soaking up the downtown music and art scene, which inspired her to take up guitar and become a singer/songwriter. Durga spent ten years performing as the lead singer for several bands, most recently Lady Luck, which released an EP and a full-length album and toured Europe and the United States.
Several close friends introduced Durga to yoga in 1994 . Asana practice felt very natural to the former gymnast, but it was the chanting, the philosophy and the ancient and holy teachings of yoga that really hit home.
Durga has been a devoted student at the Jivamukti Yoga Centre, N.Y. for over eight years. Durga taught at the New York Centre for over 3 years and is currently living in London to help launch the London Jivamukti Yoga Centre. In addition to her Jivamukti teacher training and most recent Jivamukti Yoga Advanced Certification, she completed teacher training at the Laughing Lotus Yoga Centre in New York City. Durga is especially inspired by Sharon Gannon and David Life, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Ammachi, John Friend, Yogeswari (Estelle Eichenberger), and Joan Suval (direct disciple of Shri Brahmananda Saraswati). Kirtan training with Jai Uttal inspires her chanting which is a very important component in her teachings. She also is inspired by Bhagavan Das and Krishna Das for opening up the doors of bhakti, uniting song and heart. All of her teachers have brought many blessings to her life for which she is truly grateful and she will continue to inspire and uplift the lives of all whom she teaches.
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STEWART GILCHRIST LLB HONS
Following a severe back injury in his mid twenties, Stewart experienced an amazing recovery through intensive Ashtanga Vinyasa Mysore yoga practice as taught by Sri K Patthabi Jois.
Eight years on and Stewart's sadhana led him towards an extensive yoga education with teachers from around the world who have had a profound effect on his unique style of teaching. He has and continues to study the system as taught by Sri K Patthabi Jois (Mysore), Hamish Hendry(Ashtanga London), Sri Shreshadree (Mysore), and the teachings of David Life and Sharon Gannon (Jivamukti Yoga, New York).
Stewart qualified as a Jivamukti Yoga teacher in 2003 and since has taught extensively in the UK and internationally including London, Hawaii, Cornwall, Mexico and New York. His students include: world renowned musicians, Hollywood actors, judges, footballers and most importantly a broad cross section of working people.
His extensive academic studies have included post graduate studies in Law, ethnopharmacology, nutrition and Stewart has worked as a teacher, legal advisor and youth worker in inner city London mainly working with disadvantaged youths, the homeless, animal rights, anti-globalisation/capitalist and community groups. He also opened the UK's first rawfood vegan and approved organic cafes.
He founded Satyagraha Yoga in 2004 and attains to live and pass onto others its principles of satya, tapas and ahimsa. Stewart offers his eternal gratitude to all his teachers past and present: Sabel Thuram, Guy de Bord, Guruji, David Life and Sharon Gannon, Hamish Hendry, Bob Marley, Chogyam Trungpa, Ghandiji and Swami Niramalanda.
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EMMA HENRY
Emma was born in Cambridge and went to ballet school before starting her career as a professional dancer. Emma initially started practicing yoga to complement her contemporary & classical dancing, and martial arts training. She found the benefits of yoga enhanced her flexibility, strength, balance and focus.
Emma has studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangaswami in Mysore and completed her Jivamukti training with her inspirational teachers, Sharon Gannon and David Life in 2005
She is a founder teacher of Jivamukti Yoga London.
Filling her classes with warmth and humour, Emma draws on her dance and broad yoga experience to teach the gift of yoga. Emma would like to thank all her teachers, especially Yogeswari and Durga Devi for their support and inspiration, as well as Manizeh for bringing this amazing method to London. Om shanti.
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ANDREA KWIATKOWSKI
Andrea trained as a professional dancer and worked extensively around the world where her interest in yoga and eastern philosophy began.
She was a busy yoga teacher for the BWY when she was given the Jivamukti yoga book by a friend and found the method that would change and inspire her teaching and her life.
Andrea completed the Jivamukti teacher training in 2005 with her inspirational teachers Sharon Gannon and David Life and alongside her Jiva soul mates Emma and Cat.
She has studied and taught in India, Thailand, Egypt, France, Sri Lanka, Spain and Turkey as well as teaching in Peterborough Cambridgeshire where she lives and has set up Santoshayoga giving a percentage of all profits to animal welfare and local charities.
Andrea believes that yoga can enable us to become self aware and fill our lives with compassion and love. She offers thanks and blessings for all her teachers and gurus,to her students for constantly inspiring her to do and be better and to Manizeh and the Jivamukti crew for their support and love. She is thrilled to be at the centre to teach a regular class and looks forward to meeting and sharing her love of Jivamukti yoga with everyone.
Be the change you wish to see in the world – Gandhi
Om shanti
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RACHEL MIDDLETON
Already a busy yoga teacher since 2003, and a North-West Londoner born and bred, Rachel rushed to try the Jivamukti Yoga method almost as soon as the London studio opened its doors. The Bhakti (devotional) approach of the method, its vibrant soundtrack and creativity appealed and she was hooked. Two years of practice with the inspirational London team led to teacher training with Sharon Gannon and David Life in 2007 and a subsequent apprenticeship with Durga Devi. Now, finally, she is ready to unite the down-to-earth-ness of her Bikram teaching experience, the medical insight of her yoga therapy and pre-natal training and the hands-on application of her Thai Yoga Massage work with the sheer joyfulness that is Jivamukti yoga!
Rachel has taught yoga in Paris, Los Angeles, Ibiza and on retreats in Turkey and Spain. She extends warm thanks to Bikram and Rajashree Choudhury, Michele Pernetta, Dr. Robin Munro and Ruth Gilmore and all at London's Yoga Biomedical Trust, Kira Balaskas, Dharma Mittra, Manorama and of course Sharon and David, not to mention every day's nameless yoga teachers.
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LIZZIE REUMONT
Lizzie experienced her first yoga class while earning a living as a creative director in interactive design over 10 years ago. Living abroad since 2001 in the Netherlands, Austria and Kosovo, it was in Amsterdam that she came into contact with the Iyengar and Astanga yoga methods and became a devoted yoga practitioner. In 2004, a longterm illness followed by a process of healing led her to Svaha Yoga Shala where she was introduced to the Jivamukti yoga method. Since this time, Lizzie has become a certified Jivamukti teacher, children's yoga teacher, thai yoga masseur, and craniosacral therapist, dramatically changing the rhythm and focus of her own life so that she may uplift the lives of others.
Counting Rusty Wells, Dharma Mittra, and Thich Nhat Hanh as sources of inspiration, her deepest love and gratitude extends to Sharon and David; to the beautiful beings at Jivamukti London Centre - Manizeh for bringing this place to being and Durga for her generousity and support; and to all of those who gave her the courage to jump off the cliff and experience living joyously in the present.
Lizzie holds a BA in Philosophy and Psychology, and an MA in Communications Design, and is preparing to qualify as a Craniosacral Therapist the College of Craniosacral Therapy in London. Check out her website for more info at www.freeliz.com.
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MANIZEH RIMER
Manizeh was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and as a child moved with her family to Geneva, Switzerland. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University in 1996. After graduating she moved to San Francisco where she worked in the high-tech field during the dot.bomb era. After years without sleep she began taking desperately needed Yoga classes. The physical practice was rewarding, but the philosophical and spiritual aspects, which she was always drawn to from a young age, were missing.
Soon after, her sister, Mithra, took her to a Jivamukti Yoga Class in New York. This was what she had been waiting for: in addition to a vigorous asana practice, she learned about karma, she meditated and chanted. The doorway to Yoga was opened.
In March 2001 she moved to London with her husband, Danny, and knew right away that Londoners were missing out on Jivamukti Yoga. She completed Jivamukti teacher training, as well as the Advanced Certification with Sharon Gannon and David Life. She has also worked intensively with Yogeswari at the Jivamukti Centre in New York. She has had the privilege of learning from several renowned Yoga teachers from all over the world.
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KRISTEN RUEBESAMEN
Kristen Ruebesamen is certified with both OM Yoga (2000) and Jivamukti Yoga (2005). She has also studied with Rodnee Yee, Colleen Saidman, David Swenson, Susan Orem, Genny Kapuler, Patrick Broome, Mark Whitwell and many excellent non prominent teachers (the gurus nearby and around us). She holds an MA in German and Russian Literature, published two novels for Random House and is a contributing editor for German Vogue, Vanity Fair and Sueddeutsche Zeitung. She has lived in New York and Berlin where she has taught Yoga since 2001. She gives gratitude to the Jiva London teachers for being removers of obstacles and illusion.
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