Inspire yoga instructors
Mara Katz Colbert, Director
Mara has studied and practiced yoga for more than a decade, and has made a life of teaching yoga for the past seven years. Her interest in the full and varied tradition of hatha yoga has always led her to pursue studies in many forms and lineages including ashtanga, vinyasa, Iyengar, Anusara, and Bikram. She is an Internationally Registered Yoga Teacher, having received the Yoga Alliance 200-hour certification with a concentration in ashtanga yoga at Yoga Yoga Teacher Training in Austin, Texas.
Aside from her teaching certification, Mara has attended teacher trainings with Shiva Rea and Baron Baptiste; and has had the good fortune of training under such master teachers as Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty, Rodney Yee, Ana Forrest, Seane Corn, John Friend, John Shumacher, Aadil Palkivala, and Tias Little.
Mara's in-depth knowledge of various styles of hatha yoga, as well as a thorough understanding of anatomy, physiology, and the strengths and limitations of individual bodies, allows her to tailor each class to suit the participants. All students receive individual attention, as well as the respect and space they require to discover themselves through the practice of yoga.
sumya anani
Sumya Anani is an eager student of yoga and feels that all conscious movement is a path towards wholeness! Sumya has been teaching yoga for 10 years. In addition to her 500hr Registered Yoga Teaching Certification through Yoga Alliance, her love of movement led her to becoming a massage therapist, a personal trainer, and a 4X World Champion in professional boxing. Her eclectic teaching style was inspired and born out of her curiosity, study, and appreciation of all styles of yoga. She has been inspired by Iyengar teachers Manouso Manos, Paula Self, and Aadil Palkhivala, Anusara teachers Doug Keller, Desiree Rumbaugh, and Christy Burnett and Ashtanga teachers Bhavani Maki, Richard Freeman, and David Williams. She also studies regularly with teachers David Lipschutz and Kim Schwartz. She threads asana, anatomy, and philosophy into her teaching. In February 2007, she completed a 40-hour Anatomy in Clay training by Jon Zahourek. A.C.T. (Awakening Change Together) is a karma yoga group that gets together once a month for volunteer projects around the city. To be on Sumya's email, you can contact her through her website www.sumya.com
"Yoga is a wonderful practice to explore and fulfill our potential. I'm grateful for the daily lessons of being a better person, partner, and parent that yoga brings to my life."
Elizabeth budd
Elizabeth is passionate about lifelong learning. "I love to be a part of encouraging growth and development in people. It is hard to imagine many other activities that inspire growth of the body, mind and spirit like a regular yoga practice. I have studied yoga with Max Strom, Beryl Bender Birch, Doug Keller, Christie Burnett, Kim Swartz, and David Lipschutz. Locally, my dear teachers have been Mara Colbert, Lisa Uhl, Gretchen Robinson, Patricia Gray and Mick Goodman. I love the diversity and uniqueness that each teacher brings to the mat. There is so much to learn from each teacher. I have been blessed with many generous teachers who have committed themselves to the growth of others. Thank you, all of you!"
Diana Skill
Diana Skill has been practicing yoga for seven years, and teaching in the Kansas City area for seven years. Her predominant emphasis has been with the Bikram/Hot and Ashtanga styles. In addition to her experience through practice, she attributes her unique instruction style to her own yoga teachers; the Vinyasa style, as taught by Max Strom and Doug Swenson, has influenced her current eclectic approach.
For Diana, yoga is more that just an exercise regimen, "Yoga continually offers me the opportunity to be honest with myself and to honor where I am, which has helped me to create positive, significant changes in my life from the inside out. Yoga encourages me to learn to live more fully in the present."
In addition to practicing and teaching yoga, Diana works full time as a research and editorial assistant at the University of Kansas.
Lisa Uhl
More than a decade ago, Lisa Uhl began practicing yoga. Her background spans a variety of yoga styles including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Bikram Yoga. After graduating from the Bikram Yoga College of India Certification Program in 2000, Lisa quickly became a beloved yoga instructor in Kansas City. With her supportive style and positive outlook, she continues to be a favorite of many devoted practitioners. She's committed to continuing education in her field and has completed an Ashtanga Teacher Training course led by internationally-known Ashtanga Yogi, David Swenson.
Lisa prefers to teach and practice Vinyasa, which she says is a very healing form of yoga that promotes internal balance and core strength. Vinyasa teaches the importance of breath and a quiet mind while it releases tension and stabilizes the body.
Jennifer Rowe
Jennifer's teaching style is a joyful celebration of movement centered on the principles of love, inner wisdom and balance. She feels blessed to bring over a decade of yoga practice to share with her students.
Jennifer turned to yoga to help her after a car accident during her first pregnancy. Over the next fourteen years, she studied Iyengar Yoga and received her teaching certificate in 1997. She also lived in a Kundalini Yoga Ashram for over a year, and has practiced Bikram, Ashtanga and Viniyoga styles. Jennifer's gentle and compassionate teaching technique is firmly rooted in the yogic tradition and also draws upon Feldenkrais, the Alexander technique, and her experience as a certified Montessori instructor. Jennifer began teaching yoga to preschoolers and quickly felt the inner call to intensify her study. In 1999, she moved to the Lama foundation, a spiritual community and retreat center, to teach yoga and practice meditation.
Completing her 500 hour machine and mat work Pilates certification in 2003, Jennifer has extensively studied anatomy and physiology with an emphasis on therapeutic movement. She creates a space that allows each individual to explore the healing and transformative power of yoga and encourages each person to reconnect with their divine nature.
PATTI FUHRMAN
Patti Fuhrman has been practicing yoga since 1999. She completed the level I Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy training in 2004, and completed a one year Teacher Training (RYT) intensive with Mick and Stephanie Goodman. In 2005, Patti also completed a 36 hour vinyasa training course with Max Strom. Also, she has studied under Beryl Bender Birch, Rolf Gates and Ana Forrest, among others. Patti wishes to credit Patricia Gray and Emily Darling as her most influential teachers. She embarked on her journey to share yoga, and began teaching in 2005.
"I began practicing yoga as an alternative to more punishing forms of exercise and quickly discovered there was more more to yoga than mere physical exercise. While the asanas are a wonderful way to stay fit, yoga embraces much more. Practicing offers the ability to nurture and heal physically, mentally and spiritually."
lISA mURPHY
Lisa Murphy spent the past three years teaching yoga in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East. While living in Dubai, Lisa had the opportunity to develop a unique blend of all the yoga styles she has studied: Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Bikram, Sivananda, Iyengar, and Anusara. After Dubai, she spent three months of 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey as a guest teacher in residence at Yogasala, the city’s premier yoga studio, teaching a wide variety of international students. Before her travels, Lisa lived in Kansas City for 14 years, starting her yoga practice with Anusara yoga. After learning much about alignment and discipline from this style of yoga, she enhanced her practice by studying other popular styles such as Ashtanga, Bikram, and Vinyasa. These unique teaching and learning experiences enabled her not only to share her yoga knowledge with others, but moreover helped her recognize the true meaning of yoga on a personal level. While her joy in the asana practice will never diminish, she appreciates that the physical benefits are only the gateway to realizing the ultimate mind-body connection.
shanna haun
Shanna Haun has been practicing Yoga for almost eight years now. She is a registered teacher with Yoga Alliance at the 200 hour level and has over 500 hours of teaching experience. About six times a year she attends workshops and has studied with many wonderful, master teachers. Yoga is her passion, hobby and career and she feels very fortunate to express it in so many ways. She hopes that her students will be able to take what they learn in class and create or deepen their own personal practice at home.
In class, she hopes that students feel comfortable and safe to explore the possibilities in each pose. Shanna’s philosophy is that it is all a practice... each day we get another chance to try again and see how we progress. We use the breath to improve our alignment, our awareness of feelings and connections in the body. It is a wondrous process and path. Shanna believes that Yoga is an opportunity to learn about ourselves and take what we learn on the mat into our life off of the mat. As long as we keep moving forward with purpose and intention, we will improve at whatever it is we practice.
For more information about Shanna, please check out www.yogaheartandmind.com
ROBIN HACKNEY
Having received her degree in Business Administration from Baker University, Robin worked in the corporate world for almost a decade before deciding this was not her path. Motivated by her yoga practice and her passion to help others, Robin left the corporate world and entered the fitness industry as a personal trainer in 2002. In 2003, Robin began instructing yoga and knew this was what she was meant to do. Her classes, which highlight her extensive background in yoga as well as her Pilates mat certification, are designed to provide a nurturing atmosphere that allows students to feel comfortable even in the most awkward postures. Her classes reflect her fun, light-hearted spirit.
"I am so fortunate to have a career I enjoy and am passionate about daily! I strive to constantly learn more to stay atop the industry but to also provide my clients and students with safe ande effective ways to attain their goals." Robin's trainings include YogaFit, Beryl Bender Birch, Doug Swenson, Laura Allard, and Tom Jacobs.
TUNG bui
Tung was introduced to Bikram style yoga in 2001. He pursued his interest in yoga “on again and off again” over the next few years while raising his two beautiful kids. In March 2005 he renewed his commitment to yoga, and since then has consistently practiced yoga in many forms, including hatha, power, and ashtanga. But Tung’s practice and teaching reflect his passion for his most favorite styles---vinyasa flow and hot flow yoga.
Since May 2006 Tung has been giving back to the community, volunteer teaching yoga classes to troubled youths at the Olathe Juvenile Detention Center and to inmates at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
Tung loves learning, and continues his training in workshops and teacher trainings with such notable instructors as Kim Schwartz, Doug Keller, Max Strom, Bhavani Maki, Christy Burnette, Doug Swenson, and Tim Miller. Tung also finds time to attend yoga retreats and recently spent a week on the sandy beaches of Jamaica with Sumya Anani.
Local teachers that have influenced Tung's study are Mara Katz Colbert, Sumya Anani, Lisa Uhl, Nicole Wilt, Vlad Rangotchev, Angela Schaffer, Shanna Haun, Kathleen Kastner, and Emily Darling.
Catch Tung in one of his fun-filled, humorous, and challenging classes!
Liz Franklin
Liz Franklin earned her yoga teacher training certification through the Living Yoga Program in Austin, Texas and is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Alliance instructor. She has been practicing yoga since 1994 and teaching since 1999. Yoga is her passion and her life work. In addition to teaching classes locally, she also leads teacher training intensives nationally and has a set of videos that are sold internationally.
She volunteers her time to lead classes for people with disabilities through the Evening Care Program. She also provides free demonstration programs to various groups such as the Johnson County Library, church groups, DAR, Post-Polio support group, ALS Support Group and many others.
She has studied with numerous teachers in the Kansas City area and has also trained with Kim Schwartz, David Lipshutz, Max Strom, Mark Whitwell, and Mark Blanchard. Liz is always studying and learning all she can to make her classes interesting and therapeutic.
Nicole Wilt
Nicole Wilt has been practicing yoga for five years and has been teaching nearly five years. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State University in kinesiology, which is the study of the anatomy, physiology, and mechanics of body movement, and Nicole states that yoga has allowed her to incorporate all of those elements together. For her, yoga is not just a workout but it is about working on improving yourself. During class, Nicole hopes you will wake up your body, be inspired, and find your true internal strength. "I have truly been blessed with what I do each and every day. My work is not only my passion and hobby but it is exciting for me to be able to share my knowledge and skills to others. This is a declaration that I have made to remind myself how fortunate I am and to keep me motivated. I strive not only to focus on the body from the outside but to create significant changes in your life from the inside out.” Nicole continues developing her yoga skills with workshops such as those from Max Strom, Mark Blanchard, David Lipschutz, Kim Schwartz, Govin Das and Beryl Bender Birch.
Nicole’s website: www.completebody.net
flo klenklen
Flo began studying Anusara Yoga with Sujata Stephens in 1998. She has participated for two years in Sujata's Teacher Training Program as a way of enhancing her own understanding of yoga. Flo has also taken trainings with senior Anusara teachers Christy Burnette and Desiree Rumbaugh. After 25 years of teaching classical ballet with the Kansas City Ballet, Flo is drawn back to the classroom to share the joys and benefits of yoga with others. Flo is a designated Anusara-inspired teacher.
