Santosha Yoga Taos

 

Julie Cortopassi completed her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with UNM Taos in May 2011, and is excited to be teaching a very gentle Yoga Therapy-oriented class.  She has lived in Taos for 11 years, and has two children, Juniper and Santiago.  Julie is inspired by the power & grace of Yoga which has truly transformed her life.  Julie had practiced yoga off and on as a teenager and young adult, but after the birth of her second child she became more dedicated to the practice and has worked over the past few years to deepen her knowledge as a yogini.  Namaste!

 

 

 

Shira, co-founder of Santosha Yoga, fell in love with yoga 12 years ago doing a video at home. She loved how Yoga made her feel, so she began studying & attending classes.  She has since completed two Yoga Teacher Training programs and continues studying with advanced teachers. Most of Shira’s training is in the Iyengar method and in Universal Yoga. Shira is passionate about the science of mind-body connection, the power of Yoga to increase awareness, and has studied movement, anatomy and psychology in many other genres (including Shiatsu Massage and Somatic Psychology). Shira feels that nothing has transformed her life in a more positive way than practicing yoga. It has helped her effectively fight depression, find relief to chronic back pain, realize a level of physical fitness unmatched by other exercise, and gives her life an overall sense of peace, contentment and strength. Her dream is to share this tradition to increase health & happiness in her community and beyond.

 

 

I started doing yoga about 12 years ago after a car accident left me with intense neck and back pain. After discussing my options with a doctor for mainstream treatment and its ultimate ineffectiveness, I decided to investigate alternative treatments. Several sources of information presented Yoga as a means of alleviating pain & stiffness. It started as a physical exercise for me. I started taking basic yoga classes wherever I could. After a couple of years of practice, I began to notice changes and benefits beyond just the physical. I have more energy, I am calmer in general and feel stronger. I also realized at some point that Yoga (Asana) was something I was actually good at. About 5 years after I started practicing here in New Mexico, my primary teacher, Michele Marien, had hip replacement surgery. When she returned to teaching after her recovery, she would ask me to demonstrate postures and sometimes lead parts of Sun Salutation. This planted a seed for me and I went looking for a teacher for yoga teacher certification. Another teacher of mine, Rob Stewart, introduced me to Sean Tebor through several workshops that were offered at Santosha. Sean brought my practice full circle – teaching Yoga with an emphasis on posture placement adjusted for healthy anatomical alignment. I started training with Sean about a year later and will complete training for my certificate this Fall.

 

 

 

Kirstie started practicing yoga in the mid-nineties and hasn’t stopped. She teaches Myofascial Yoga which is alignment based yoga based on the Anatomy Trains methodology developed by Thom Meyers. She is Chair of Integrative Health & Medical Massage where she co-founded the UNM-Taos Teacher Training Program and founded the Integrative Massage Therapy Program. She brings her experience as a bodyworker into teaching asana (yoga postures). She is passionate about continuing her education as a yogini and shares this with her students. Myofascial yoga encourages longer holds in the asana to open up specific lines of the myofascial body e.g., superficial back line. For info: http://www.balinesetraditionalmassage.com

 

 

 

Rob started taking yoga classes in 1996 as an art student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was certified to teach by the Chicago Yoga Center in the year 2000 under the direction of his teacher Suddha Weixler. Rob has consistently taught and practiced an integrated style of yoga drawing from classical Yoga systems, infusing his knowledge of functional anatomy, structural alignment, and most importantly the breath. This fusion invites the beginning as well the advanced student to find insights into their own practice. Rob is also a licensed massage therapist with a passion for Craniosacral and Myofascial release.