boundless teachers

Kim Weeks

leah barr

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.

liana brooks-rubin

Liana Brooks-Rubin integrated yoga into her life in 2001 at the urging of friends who thought it would introduce some much-needed down time in her life.  Liana was one of Kim Weeks’ first students and a regular at Boundless Yoga from its inception.  Regular asana practice not only improved her sleep and increased her physical flexibility and strength, but also profoundly impacted her overall sense of balance, clarity, and joy.  Later, while pregnant with her first child, Liana discovered the power of breath, meditation, and movement to prepare the mind and body for the journey of childbirth and mothering.  In 2006, Liana completed the 200-hour teacher-training program at Boundless Yoga.  She has studied and drawn inspiration from various styles of Hatha yoga, especially Iyengar and other alignment-focused styles through her teachers Kim Weeks, Kristen Krash, Karin Stefan, and Jill Manning.

Liana wholeheartedly believes that a regular yoga practice is essential for creating space and stillness in the body and mind.  Without such stillness, we remain tethered to old habits and recurring thought patterns and have little mind-space to reflect on life’s big questions.  A regular yoga practice, under the guidance of the right teacher, changes one’s life in subtle and more obvious ways.  Liana has a profound appreciation for the ancient (yet timeless) tenets of yogic philosophy and aims to integrate these principles into her daily life, as well as her classes.  Her asana classes are tailored for students who wish to learn or further ground their practice in basic principles of alignment, while challenging themselves to experiment with more advanced poses.  Liana aims to provide a comfortable space for beginners to get their “yoga bearings,” while focusing on the subtle aspects of the practice with intermediate and advanced students.  Students have characterized her classes as “grounding,” “relaxing,” “creatively sequenced,” and “physically challenging.”

james foulkes

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

erin dowdy

Erin Dowdy came to yoga after being unsatisfied with how long distance running made her feel.  After dabbling in Ashtanga, she came to Boundless Yoga on a friend's suggestion and signed up for the unlimited month trial pass for new students, taking every class Boundless had to offer and was amazed at the quality and dedication of the teachers.  Now almost two years later, she is a committed member of Boundless and in 2009 graduated from the Boundless Yoga Teacher Training program. She is currently apprenticing in the Boundless Yoga Teacher Apprenticeship Program, where is she honing her skills as an open-level teacher as well as a pre-natal yoga teacher.  She is grateful for the quiet strength that yoga and Boundless have brought to her life.

cecilie jones

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.

kelly beavers

kelly's practice is based in natural gratitude. she teaches a centering class on honoring the body, grounding, and lightening up. she offers meditation, clear information, and a welcome space for every body.

kelly hearts: design, friends, and being outside. she enjoys playing on facebook and painting her nails. her other passions include music, color, life and peace.

she supports her students in brightening a creative spark & embracing authenticity. her current teacher training is in yoga therapy. she is also certified through the boundless ryt 200 program, and completed an apprenticeship with kim weeks. she has participated in an intro to energy healing at boundless and an intro to vinyasa teaching at studio serenity. in her spare time, she rocks out in a local band.

from singing, she discovers the connections between sound and embodiment. this is why she so deeply values listening, seeing, and clarity.

lori ritland

Lori L. Ritland is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher. She has studied with John Schumacher, her primary teacher, since 1998, with the Iyengars in Pune, India, and with other senior Iyengar teachers. She holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley and a M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Lori is devoted to fostering the practice of asana and pranayama for those seeking greater balance in their busy lives.

erin duncan

Growing up in rural Nebraska, Erin Duncan never, ever thought she would practice yoga, let alone teach it. After moving to the U Street neighborhood, though, she walked past the Boundless yoga studio every day for over two years before she got up the courage to walk in the door and sign up for a workshop with Kim Weeks. In the years that have passed, her experience of the transformative power of yoga has grown. In August 2008, Erin completed her 200-hour level teacher training at Boundless.

By day, this former Hill staffer lobbies the halls of Congress on behalf of our nation's public schools. Erin believes that yoga can help bring balance to our increasingly fragmented lives. She also has a deep interest in the role of yoga and energy as therapy for healing both physical and emotional imbalances and has deepened inquiry into this field through additional study with Kim Weeks.

Erin's classes are collaborative, approachable, grounded, and fun. Erin did her first handstand the day before her 33rd birthday, and believes that everyone has something to discover and something to offer through the study and practice of yoga.

ariel whitworth

Ariel has been practicing yoga since the end of college, when she discovered Iyengar yoga classes in Asheville, NC. Motivated, she decided to immerse herself in the practice, working and studying at the Sivananda Yoga Ranch in New York for the winter and spring after graduation. When she moved to Washington, DC, she began taking classes in the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions. She came to Boundless in 2009, and was inspired by the knowledge and commitment of the practitioners she met. She studies at Boundless and Unity Woods, primarily with John Schumacher, Liz Marx, Kim Weeks, and Kristen Krash. Her practice is focused on alignment, strength, and breathing.

“Practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time.” —Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, 1:14

andrea chew

Andrea found her yogic home at Boundless in 2007 after years of casually practicing yoga on-again and off-again from Stanford to Dublin to Boston.

Inspired by the intelligence and joy of Boundless teaching, and invigorated with a newfound strength and focus, she was thirsty to learn more about the vast body of knowledge and practice beyond and behind every class she took.

Andrea graduated from Boundless Basic Teacher Training in 2008 and recently completed her Advanced Teacher Training in 2010.

She's excited to pass on these learnings through quiet, alignment-based asana, and strives to help her students find the steadiness and ease she's found in her physical, mental, and emotional body through yoga.

You can reach her at andreac@boundlessyoga.com.

ashley mahood

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.

geeta dsouza

geeta grew up in a home where ayurvedic medicine, yoga and meditation were as common as salt and pepper.  these philosophies have set the backdrop for her approach to living a full life.  she has a deep intuitive love for animals and has a passion for creation -whether in the form of fashion, interior design, music or dance.  she began a more serious asana practice in college and completed the living yoga teacher training program in austin texas in 2003.  her practice cultivates bringing awareness into the body to calm the mind. she is studying chinese medicine at tai sophia school for the healing arts and intends to have a multi disciplinary practice treating humans and animals.  she lives in petworth with her pit bull, shanti, and does administrative and marketing work for boundless.

leigh ann caldwell

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.

susan ruether

Working through severe neck pain and seeking reprieve from a windowless office, Susan began a serious yoga practice six years ago. Having had a steady meditation practice for 12 years, she believes that teaching yoga is an opportunity to engage the principle of embodied consciousness. Linking movement and breath mindfully, she encourages students to seek the wisdom of the integrated body and mind.

As the saying goes, "when the student is ready the teacher appears": Susan completed the Boundless Yoga teacher training program where her teachers are nothing short of a boundless current of energy and vitality. They have guided the evolution of her practice as she shares it with others.

Susan introduces beginner and advanced beginner students to the holistic practice of yoga, one breath and one pose at a time. Her class focuses on, in the context of yoga, how to breathe and why; how to get into fundamental poses and why and how to learn to stay in the poses and learn from them.

The point of her class is to get each person to become comfortable enough in their own mind/bodies (no separation here) that they begin to be able to experience the way yoga, as a system of living, creates positive change within each specific person.

In 2009 she will work together with students as a community in the class for 1.5 hours each week to define goals for the class as a session, marking landmarks along the way for each practitioner. Handouts and individual feedback will be given to those who want it.

email susan at susan.ruether[at]gmail.com

valerie lanham

Valerie is social worker, LICSW, and she works with trauma survivors. She was feeling herself struggling to be more grounded for her clients and herself, when she walked into Boundless yoga five years ago. She was instantly hooked!

Valerie is a Registered Yoga Teacher and received her training at Boundless. Valerie continues to pursue the delicate balance between mind and body in her life, and her passion to help others find their path of wellness.