Colleen 'Lila' Breeckner has been a student of Yoga for over twenty years. Colleen is eRYT 500 with Yoga Alliance and holds several certifications from various traditions and Thai Yoga Massage. Colleen is a lead teacher with over 3500 hours of advanced teacher training and ten years of teaching experience.  She is director of the Lila Tandava Yoga Teacher Training and Co-Founder of Gaia Weaving, retreats which weave the lifesyle practices of Ayurveda, Western Herbalism, Permaculture and Homesteading as well as, meditation and Yoga into daily living. She frequently hosts workshops, classes and outdoor adventure retreats for adults, teens and children. She is known for her playful and spirited style and for her ability to convey complex spiritual teachings in a lighthearted, accessible way. Her clear articulation of the poses along with her creativity make her classes profound, physically challenging and fun. Throughout the years Colleen has kept a foothold in a variety of different traditions including: Anusara, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kundalini, Ashtanga, Jivamukti, Katonah Yoga and more. She feels that all traditions have something of value to offer and truly honors each system for the perspective they give to the teachings. She draws from many spiritual masters to guide her teachings and is currently pursuing study in Kaishmir Shaivism with Christopher Tompkins and Christopher 'Hareesh' Wallis. Colleen feels deeply compelled to uplift and serve all the beings she encounters. She is driven by a deep commitment to humanity, helping others to surmount lifes challenges and find the strength within themselves to prevail. She continues to pursue learning in all areas of health and wellness including: meditation, pranayama, Yoga philosophy, Thai massage, medicinal herbalism and Ayurveda. She has a son Kaleo (19) and a dog Riley (3). -

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MA, BC-DMT, LCAT, ERYT500 - Lauri is a certified and registered experienced-level yoga teacher at the 500 hour level, a member of the American Association of Anatomists, a board-certified member of the Academy of Dance/Movement Therapists Registered, and a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. She is a past president of the YTA (Yoga Teachers’ Association) and has been a professor at Pace University since 2007, where she teaches yoga and myofascial anatomy. Lauri graduated from Wellesley College, earned a Master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy from Goucher College, and has extensively studied anatomy as a postgraduate. 

Her yoga background is diverse and spans several decades, having studied directly with esteemed teachers in varied traditions such as Karin Stephan, David Swenson, Leslie Kaminoff, Mukunda Stiles, Tao Porchon-Lynch, Kim Schwartz and many more. She has deepened her anatomy work with years of study and dissections as well as several courses in Functional Anatomy for Movement and Injuries at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

 She is a fully certified faculty member for Tom Myers Anatomy Trains® and serves as a teaching assistant for Anatomy Trains® dissections. Additionally she teaches and works in a number of therapeutic, private and public settings and specializes in teaching accessible anatomy workshops for the yoga and movement community.  She has taught at Ananda Ashram's teacher training program since 2010 and guest-teaches anatomy and yoga workshops and intensives throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 Lauri is published in several books and journals both as a writer and illustrator and is an avid kayaker and guide in her “free” time.  She presents regularly at conferences including for the Fascia Research Congress, the American Association of Anatomists as well the American Dance Therapy Association.

Learn more about Lauri Nemetz

MTS, MA, PhD track, has 3 degrees in Religion and Sanskrit, including Master’s Degrees from Harvard and UC Berkeley. Christopher lectures nationally in Universities and Yoga centers on the history, philosophy, and practices of Indian Yoga. He is the co-originator of the Foundation for Yoga (www.yogasthana.org).

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley, California
Ph.D. candidate in South Asian Studies (Sanskrit)
M.A. in South Asian Studies (Sanskrit), 05/06.

Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
M.T.S. (Master of Theological Studies), 06/01.

University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
B.A. in Religion, 12/97.
B.A. in History, 12/97.

DISSERTATION

My Ph.D. dissertation, titled “The Integrity of Yoga Within the Context of Early Shaiva Ritual” isa critical edition and translation, deriving from 10 manuscripts, of the Sārdhatriśatikālottara Tantra’s chapters on Nirvāṇa Dīkṣā, the primary Śaiva rite of initiation. Excerpts of this work will be included in the forthcoming anthology called the Tantric Reader, marking it the first publication of a critically editedpassage on Nirvāṇa Dīkṣā that derives from a primary Śaiva text (tantra or āgama). 

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