teachers

Ashley came across Boundless Yoga in 2005, in a search to reconnect with the movement, flexibility, and discipline that she dearly missed after leaving over ten years of studying ballet and modern dance.

Over time, she came to realize that the physical benefits of yoga, which had initially attracted her to the practice, were just the beginning of a much longer, greater journey.

She strives to continue observing her body and mind while practicing asana on the mat, and hopes to take even a tiny piece of this observation, non-judgment, and joy from her yoga practice into daily life.

Much of her inspiration to teach comes from her awe of the latent strength and alignment of the human body, which, when rediscovered, has the power to quiet the mind.

Her teaching offers students specific instruction regarding the body’s alignment, and she combines asana demonstration with mindful adjustments to give students the tools and space to deepen awareness of their body and mind.

Ashley completed basic teacher training in 2008 and advanced teacher training in 2010 at Boundless Yoga.

Ashley studied dance for twelve years before leaving the art – and her connection to her body – behind when she went to college. Committed exclusively to intellectual pursuits, she suffered for years with chronic scoliosis pain until a massage therapist suggested she try yoga in 2007. Now pain free, Ashley has found yoga to be nourishing and balancing to all aspects of herself, guiding her back to her body and into the present moment. She is interested in how increasing awareness of body and breath in yoga asana can transform life “off the mat,” and is involved in various projects to make yoga accessible and relevant to under-served groups and professional communities.

Ashley completed her RYT 200-hour training at boundless and is a student in the Advanced Studies Program. Her classes emphasize alignment, strength, and expansion, and sometimes include sun salutations set to music. When she is not on her mat, she can likely to be found practicing law, cooking, or running around in her “toe shoes.”

Brion Trivers is Sivananda Hatha Yoga trained & certified at the 200 hour level. Accompanying his yoga is training & certification in Thai Yoga Massage & Pilates. Brion’s movement background in various somatic techniques has moved, molded, and motivated him for the past 20 years. A friend’s mother, a Kripalu Yoga practitioner & teacher introduced him to the practice soon after starting a personal practice of meditation that was encouraged by his doctor when he was 16, to help relieve stress related reflux. Stress management was one of the major factors for him being open to the practice of Yoga at an early age. It also fueled his interest in other spiritual practices (Reiki, Vipassana & various martial art). These spiritual seeds, planted early, were fertilized & sprouted during two soul searching trips to India & Thailand, where Brion delved deeply in the study, practice & cultural lifestyle of the East.

Brion has been highly inspired by Swami Sivananda, Swamiji Vishnu-Devananda, Shiva Rea, Simon Parks, Max Strom, Brian Kest, Amahji (The Hugging Saint), Goenka (Vipassana Meditation), Jason & Jenny (AcroYoga founders), Kam Thye Chow (Thai Yoga Massage Guru) & the countless glorious local teachers DC & Cleveland has to offer.

Brion combines yoga, gymnastics & Thai Yoga Massage to develop & strengthen young athletes as well as adults looking for a more therapeutic approach to mental, physical & in the end, spiritual wellness.

After dabbling in yoga and pilates classes during her college years, Carol began a devoted yoga practice at Boundless four years ago. She graduated from the teacher training program in August 2010 and is certified at the RYT 200 level. At first attracted to yoga purely for the physical benefits, Carol has become increasingly aware and appreciative of yoga’s positive affects on stress and anxiety in practitioners. She is grateful for her wonderful teachers: Liz Marx, Kim Weeks, and Kristen Krash.

Carol’s yoga fundamentals class stresses the importance of alignment in and integrity of poses. This class incorporates various standing poses, core work, and prepatory poses for more advanced asana. She challenges students to observe their own bodies and guides them in attaining increased strength, flexibility, and peace of mind in their practices.

As the clearly senior member of the teacher corps and the lone grandma, I feel extremely privileged to be counted among this wonderful group of teachers. I started yoga at Boundless a little over 3 years ago and was quickly hooked. I joined the Teacher Training class of 2008-2009, and while still involved in that course, jumped into the inaugural Advanced Teacher Training class, which started last spring. It has been a cram course, a roller coaster ride and a wonderful ongoing education. These courses have prodded me to return to an early love of philosophy; and the many facets of yoga have changed my entire outlook on life. It has been especially helpful in the gradual transition out of my life-long pursuit of a high level violin performance. Not to mention the indescribable benefits to the purely physical manifestation of me, more commonly called my body. I feel honored to be given the chance to share some of these life-changing experiences.

Elizabeth Kanter, RYT 200, teaches yoga to increase happiness, beauty and healing in the world. She has been practicing yoga for 13 years, with early foundations in Iyengar and Ashtanga. Blossoming the seed that was planted during her very first yoga class, she completed Willow Street Yoga’s Anusara teacher training in 2009, and her gratitude extends to all of her teachers and the gifts that they continue to offer her on her journey. Elizabeth’s yoga practice has continually revealed to her the deep intelligence of the body, as well as the boundless wisdom of the heart and the spirit – and of the power of integration. She has experienced firsthand how transformation initiates from the core, both physically and energetically. Her classes are heart-opening, alignment based, and playful – in the Tantric tradition of Anusara yoga. She loves sharing the incredible benefits of the practice – and seeing her students light up with the recognition and celebration of the spark within. Yoga has also helped her recover from several injuries and personal challenges, and her therapeutic teaching is geared toward promoting healing and staying healthy in both body and mind. Elizabeth’s goal is for all students to leave class empowered and joyful, compassionate and present.

Elizabeth’s classes are loving and light-hearted, heating and intense in their longer holds, mindful in their observation of body and breath in the moment, and therapeutic in their alignment. Drawing into and strengthening the core are integral to her teaching: poses radiate and shine even brighter when they’re grounded by inner strength and graceful presence. It’s not how far you go, it’s how you go far

Erin Duncan has taught at Boundless since June 2009 and has taken a particular interest in the restorative and therapeutic benefits of yoga. She completed her RYT 200 hour level teacher training at Boundless in August 2008, and has since completed additional training including energy training, yoga therapy, and a teacher apprenticeship that focused on restorative yoga.

Erin believes that yoga is of great benefit for all people, regardless of their physical ability, and that its practice can help bring balance to our increasingly fragmented, hurried lives. She also has a deep interest in the role of yoga and energy as therapy for healing both physical and emotional imbalances.

James Foulkes has been studying personal development for more than eight years. His diverse set of practices includes Yoga, Meditation, Chi Kung, Kung Fu and shamanic movement practices. He is also training in Cranial Sacral Therapy and Chinese Medicine. James enjoys finding parallels between these practices and feels the basis of them is unity, integration and wholeness.

James grew up in England and has recently moved to Washington, after eight years working within a corporate environment. He was initially drawn to yoga after a basketball career left him with a series of injuries. His approach to yoga is based on the work of Vanda Scaravelli, an Italian/ American who studied with J Krishnamurti, BKS Iyengar and TKV Desikachar for 2 decades.

James has recently completed a Teacher Training Course based on this approach, at Natural Bodies Yoga, Movement and Therapy Centre in Brighton, England. The approach is based on awakening the spine through an intelligent practice, which focuses on the breath and gravity. He is extremely interested in the spiritual and energetic aspects of the work and the ability of these practices to shift perception and connect the practitioner with the essence. His classes are suitable for all levels. Email James at jamesfoulkes[at]hotmail.com

Captured at a young age by the power of movement, Joy studied dance from early childhood through adolescence. As an adult, she has rediscovered her love of physical expression through the practice of yoga. She is drawn to the ways in which asana offers a tangible and accessible pathway to enhance and strengthen connection to oneself, others and the energy of the space we occupy. This is the path that led her to dedicate herself fully to the yoga community and join the Boundless Teacher Training program. She has also completed five levels of training at the Shambhala Meditation Center and has a daily shamatha meditation practice. Joy is delighted and grateful to share her experiences and connect with others through her work at Boundless.

Kelly teaches a rad class on how to channel energy. She finds holiness in all things, including the beauty of our relationships, color, light, music, & math. She is from Texas and has deep love for her friends, family, and all things Southern.

She enjoys thousands of forms of art-making and considers the science of yoga an art in itself. Her classroom focus is on honoring your body, grounding, & lightening up. She is certified to teach at the 200 hour level, through Boundless’s program in 2009, and she completed the Yoga Therapy program in 2010. She also studies Energy Medicine with Kim. You can contact her re: programs/marketing at the studio as well at  kelly@boundlessyoga.com.

Kelly teaches Restorative Yoga on Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 pm. She also teaches private sessions. She is grateful to Kim Weeks and James Foulkes for their direct and subtle communication of yoga.

Krista’s yoga classes combine mindful movement with longer holding and playful exploration of balancing and inversions.  In 2009 and 2010 she studied alignment-based yoga in Boundless Yoga’s Teacher Training and Yoga Therapy programs.  Prior to that she studied Kundalini and Ashtanga yoga with Elizabeth Gurumukh Greathouse. Krista has been practicing yoga for over 10 years, initially drawn to the magical way yoga allowed her to feel relaxed and free in her body during times of otherwise high stress.  She strives to make her classes welcoming to students of all experiences and abilities.  Her classes honor the tradition of yoga as a practice for the body, mind, and spirit, inviting students to bring their full selves to their practice.  Krista is committed to taking her practice beyond the mat, and she is especially interested in the intersections of ability and disability, healing, social justice and yoga.  She teaches prenatal yoga, open level classes, and yoga for children with disabilities.

Layne Morrison believes first hand in the power of yoga to transform our lives and cultivate happiness from within. She is a current graduate of the Boundless teacher training and Yoga Therapy program. Layne has practiced yoga in a variety of styles for over a decade and also teaches on a volunteer basis for local nonprofits. In Beginners Flow, she facilitates the passion of vinyasa flow in a therapeutic environment, with attention to alignment & accessibility for all bodies.

Leah began practicing yoga in 1992 and it has been the guiding force of her life ever since.  She remains forever and always in awe of the gentle yet powerful ways that yoga has transformed her life for the better and shares this enthusiasm with her students.  She hopes that every student experiences yoga as an invitation to step into the greatness of who they are and to embrace the mystery of whom they might yet become.

She is particularly grateful to have discovered the Anusara system of yoga as a path that enriches all aspects of a practitioner’s life from the mundane to the extraordinary and everything in between!  Anusara yoga is inspired by Tantric philosophy which affirms the intrinsic goodness of all beings and celebrates the pulsing, creative, intelligent, dynamic principle which is at the essence of all life.  Leah’s classes are heavily influenced by this system.

In class, Leah weaves Tantric philosophy through alignment-based instruction with an adherence to the principles of flow (intelligently and fluidly connected movement).  She is grateful to Shiva Rea for awakening her to the beauty of flow.

Her passions include her family, her dogs, and making sculptures.  She is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and a graduate of the Willow Street teacher training program with plans to pursue Anusara certification.  She would like to thank all of her amazing yoga and yoga philosophy teachers including Shiva Rea, Douglas Brooks, and Paul Muller Ortega.  She gives special thanks to John Friend (the founder of Anusara Yoga) and to her very first yoga teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.

Leigh Ann took her first yoga class in 2000 and has since deeply explored the physical and mental benefits yoga brings. As a former collegiate swimmer, she appreciates yoga’s physical challenge, but she soon realized yoga became more than exercise. Leigh Ann became drawn to the deeper awareness, stillness and joy the practice offers. She decided to become a teacher to deepen her own practice and spread the love. She received her RYT200 from Willow Street Yoga in Takoma Park in 2009 in the Anusara tradition. As a former athlete, her classes are physically challenging, yet she provides a focus on alignment and connecting to one’s self through the heart.

Liz has been practicing yoga since 2002 and was certified through Boundless Yoga’s RYT 200 training program in August 2010. She discovered yoga in college at George Washington University, quickly realizing the long-term benefits of a straighter spine and a calmer mind. After taking a year-long hiatus to teach English in France, she returned to the states eager to deepen her practice. That’s when she found Boundless Yoga and was inspired to become a yoga instructor.

Liz’s excitement for the practice of yoga is evident in her teaching style. Her intentions are to motivate her students with challenging sequences, and to correct harmful alignment in the postures. Most classes involve an energetic warm-up leading to a more complex pose. Modifications are offered for students of all levels.

Mary Munson-Ott began exploring yoga in 2007 after years of chronic hip and foot injuries caused by long distance running. She was instantly hooked on the Iyengar-style of yoga taught at Boundless because it satisfies her craving for high-intensity, physical challenge, her curiosity for how the body works, and her search for balance, stillness, and peace. Mary completed her 200-hour level teacher training at Boundless Yoga in 2010, and she is grateful for the strong, supportive community of teachers and students at Boundless.

Mary’s classes emphasize yoga as a complement to running, biking, and other physical activities, and as a means to improve performance in those activities by strengthening muscles and working towards flexible muscles and joints. Mary’s prenatal yoga classes tap into the natural changes occurring in her students’ bodies, such as the increasing lung capacity, expanding rib cage, and loosening joints. She instructs students on using these temporary super powers to further their yoga practices viewing pregnancy not as a road block to the practice, but as an opportunity to experience asana more deeply.

Melissa is a 2009 graduate of the RYT 200 Teacher Training Program at Boundless and holds a bachelor’s degree in health science from the University of North Florida. She began her yoga practice 12 years ago in search of stress relief and a good stretch, and was pleasantly surprised to discover a life-long spiritual practice. Melissa has a healthy appreciation for all styles of asana and especially gravitates toward vinyasa (flow) practice that is grounded in solid alignment principles.

Melissa has first-hand experience with prenatal yoga from giving birth to her son in 2011. She views pregnancy and birth as normal life events that can be supported through yoga to strengthen, open, and relax the body and mind. She never tires of talk about pregnancy, birth, and babies and takes joy in offering a safe space for women during this unique time in life. Between working, teaching, and mothering, she blogs inconsistently at www.writeonyoga.blogspot.com.

Michael first started practicing yoga in 2006 as a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. His initial interest was in the vinyasa flow style, which he appreciated for its physical vigor and fast pace. Over the next few years he became a more regular and devoted yoga student, and in 2010 he completed his 200-hour teacher training at 4025 Yoga in Richmond, Virginia. Shortly after moving to Washington, Michael started taking classes with Kim Weeks at Boundless, where he learned to value the increased subtlety and intellectual rigor of an alignment-based approach. Since that time, his teaching style has gradually changed, and his classes now focus on combining the physical challenge of vinyasa flow with a more considered and precise understanding of the body and its mechanics. In order to further his understanding of yoga, Michael has recently begun the RYT-500 and Apprenticeship programs at Boundless. In addition to practicing and teaching yoga, Michael is also a Ph.D. student in art history at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he is studying early 20th-century American art.

Nandini has felt the pull towards yoga from a very young age. Dropping in and out of yoga classes while growing up in India and Thailand, the lingering emotional and physical benefits of yoga remained with her always.

However, Nandini truly committed to her yoga practice when she moved to
Washington, DC in 2005. In between jobs and in a completely new city, she decided to sign up for a 3 month unlimited yoga pass at boundless…and found her self returning every day. She was drawn to the boundless teachers, community and philosophical approach to the practice.

Nandini completed her teacher training at Boundless in 2007. She wishes to provide a space where students can discover a steadiness in their practice and a deeper understanding of their own body. Nandini’s classes focus on uniting breath with movement and finding alignment within each pose.

Scott believes a regular yoga practice unlocks the body’s innate intelligence and capacity for transformation and healing. His classes are alignment-based, with a focus on easeful action, strength and integrity in each pose. He uses a variety of props and supports to deepen and expand the experience for each student. Scott’s approach is influenced by the life and teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar, who said, “Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.”

Scott developed his teaching style through the Boundless Yoga RYT-200 Advanced Studies and Yoga Therapy programs. He began his yoga practice in 1998 with Iyengar classes at Unity Woods Yoga Center.

Pursuing a calling to help others, Valerie began a career in social work, but found herself holding onto the pain of the clients she saw. She quickly realized that this was not sustainable or healthy. She began her yoga practice 8 years ago in an effort to learn to ground, let go, and find freedom and joy in her body, which she believes is her greatest teacher. Valerie’s intention for her classes is to help students connect to their physical, emotional and energetic body and find balance. Valerie aspires to help students find their own path for their practice, with the hope that self-adjustment becomes a natural part of their lives.

Valerie is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and therapist at a community mental health agency in Washington, DC. She received her 200-hour level teacher training at Boundless Yoga in 2007. Her hope is that this powerful practice of yoga will begin to soften the hearts of her students and bring more love and compassion into the world.

Winnie’s quest for knowledge and learning led her to Iyengar Yoga in early 2000.   She began her study with John Schumacher at Unity Woods, and later received his recommendation to study at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India.   Winnie has studied at the Institute  numerous times, studying  directly from the Iyengar family: Mr. BKS Iyengar, Prashant and Geeta.  She feels that she has found her path to study, and dedicated herself to their teachings.  On her recent visit, Winnie received her Iyengar Teachers certification directly from BKS Iyengar.

Winnie is known for her style of teaching: vocal, intense and hands-on adjustments.  There is no chanting, incense or spiritual talk, and don’t expect to relax until the end.  Winnie wants students to learn how to feel their body and mind by doing yoga a very different way.

Besides quest of learning, she loves to travel round the globe and she loves animals.