Aida Abdurahman

Aida has completed Forrest yoga teacher training with  Ana Forrest in Santa Monica and Yoga Naga intense  teacher training with Master Nzazi Milonga in Santa  Monica, CA.  

Her teaching style incorporates meditation,  pranayama, powerful inward focus, gentle and/or  vigorous heat building sequence of asanas  depending  on the class and students. She encourages students to  look deep within, moving their body gracefully and  mindfully applying conscious breath, with an open mind  and heart in order to transform to a new level of  reality. Aida practices self-realization thru  conscious breathing, meditation, kindness,  awareness,  acceptance, surrender and absolute truth.

Aida grew up in Ethiopia and has traveled all over the  world and been in America for 20 years where she  graduated from the University of Louisville.  At the  height of a lucrative career working for a Corporate company, she had an epiphany and gave it all up to  pursue her dream and became a yoga teacher. Asking the  ultimate question of ‘who am I?’....? She swears by  the healing benefits of yoga and meditation,  it  changed her life. Currently, she lives in Venice, CA.

Other than yoga, Aida is a member of a nonprofit  organization, 'TESFA' - meanining 'HOPE',  helping  HIV/AIDS families and orphans in Ethiopia. Passionate  about life,  music,  dancing,  nature and above all  god.

‘May all beings be in peace and harmony, liberated and  happy’

Valinda Cochella

Founder of South Bay Yoginis, has a Master’s Degree in  Dance/Movement Therapy and has been practicing yoga since  1994. She has completed five Yoga Teacher Training Programs since  2000. One year long intensive with Erika Faith Hattingh of Cloud  Nine Yoga School, in 2002 her second through Santa Monica Yoga  and in 2002 she also completed her Advanced Teacher Training  with Julian Walker in Core Sequencing (of the Ana Forrest Lineage).  Valinda began studying Kundalini Yoga in 2000 and is now certified  with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, at the International Level in Kundalini  and Pre-natal Yoga. Her unique training at Clearsight Clairvoyant  School, as a Reiki Practioner and Dance Therapist allow her to guide  people to explore yoga on a deep personal level to heal the body,  mind and spirit. She creates a safe spiritual, therapeutic environment.  Come take a journey into yourself! “Still Your Mind, Open  Your Heart, Speak Your Truth & Live Your Dreams."  www.southbayyoginis.com

Elinore  Cohen

Elinore sees yoga as conscious unity and myself simply as a facilitator in the process of Yoga for the true teacher is within all of us...We are already our perfect Self.  we are already all that we need to be.   We practice yoga to see ourselves as we really are and know that our timing in life is always right.  we practice Yoga to know that when we gain freedom in the body, we ar that much closer to freedom in the mind.  We

are all lit from within, so follow the journey within and live with intention. 

Embrace your unique gifts, and bestow them upon the world, Love your imperfections, be proud, yet humble and above all love yourself unconditionally.  Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi.  www.elinorecohenyoga.com

Becky Cooper

Becky has been an athlete all of her life.  Searching for a deeper mind-body connection, she discovered Hatha Yoga after moving to the South Bay in 1999, and has been hooked ever since.  She began to practice Yoga religiously and within a year was certified and teaching YogaButt®, Power Yoga and private lessons at YogaFit® in Hermosa Beach.  Currently certified through Level 3,Becky enjoys teaching Hatha Flow and Power Yoga classes. She likes to challenge her students, concentrating on proper alignment and connecting breath with movement in a heat-building flow, as well as deep static poses and balancing.  She emphasizes being present and re-connecting with one’s own inner strength and peace through practicing yoga.  As a Realtor, Becky has a hectic schedule but finds her peace and true passion as soon as she walks through the doors of the studio.

Cailin Goncalves

Cailin discovered yoga when a knee injury prevented her from several high-impact forms of exercise.  She immediately realized the mental and physical benefits of incorporating a yoga practice into her fitness regimen. As such, she maintains a fitness-based approach to yoga, with a flowing style and heavy emphasis on vinyasa.  Cailin likes to strike a balance between mind-body connection and physical strengthening to build overall confidence.  She has been teaching yoga for the past 4 years, receiving her certification through Yogafit training (Levels 1-3). In addition to yoga, Cailin teaches cycling two days per week, and also works in Advertising Sales at Allure Magazine.  She has been a South Bay resident since 1999.

Kim Hicks

When introduced to yoga six years ago, yoga provided Kim with vigor and empowerment when dealing with a loved one's illness.  Through this newfound strength, yoga has become an irreplaceable and imperative role in her life that provides inspiration to Kim by yoga's holistic approach of connecting the body, mind and spirit.  This new addition to Kim¹s identity has now turned her career path towards studying occupational therapy at USC.  She plans on utilizing yoga as a therapeutic intervention with her clients.   The aim of Kim¹s classes is to provide an irreplaceable energy, strength and heat building destination for yogi¹s with a unique flavor of funk, heart and soul. Kim continues to be blessed and inspired from trainings with Yogafit, teaching yoga to employees for stress relief and volunteer teaching at the Wellness Community in Redondo Beach for individuals affiliated with cancer.

Ben Fritz

A former collegiate athlete, Ben played linebacker for the 1997 ASU Rose Bowl football team, pushing his physical body to extremes and eventually suffering a debilitating back injury. Frustrated with traditional therapies, Ben turned his studies to an inner path, restructuring his own body and healing through breath, yoga, and massage. Having studied Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Bikram yoga, Ben turned to Forrest Yoga.

He is passionate about the practice Ana Forrest has shared and enriched his life with. Ben uses the vibration of sound through chant in his class to calm the mind and heal the voice. As a performer he is aware of the healing aspects of recovering your voice and speaking your truth. He is influenced by the Native American traditions and shares chants he learned as a member of a sweat lodge community.  Ben is also a bodyworker and has spent his life mapping the internal and external workings of the human form. He specializes in working with people with injuries, developing a yoga plan specifically to target the injury, and complementing it with deep restructuring bodywork. Ben is dedicated to empowering people on the path to reclaiming their true selves and healing humanities relationship with the planet. www.deserthealer.net

Jamie Horgan

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kari Napoli

Kari began studying yoga in 1999 at the University of Iowa where she received her B.A. in photography.  In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles, and began studying at Planet Yoga with Leeann Carey. She went on to take Planet Yoga's teacher training program from where she received her certification. She has also studied under Lisa Walford during the Yoga Works Teacher Training Program.  Kari's classes focus on yoga asana precision and alignment, she also encourages her students to have a good time and maintain a sense of humor.  Kari is also a licensed massage therapist as well as an acupuncture student at Yo San University.  http:\\my.crossculturalsolutions.org\login.aspx?username=knapoli

Lisa Pedersen

Since 1987, Lisa Pedersen  has been teaching groups.  First as a music therapist, and then as a licensed clinical social worker (1996) providing counseling to pregnant and parenting families.  While pregnant with her second son, Lisa traveled all over Los Angeles to practice prenatal yoga. She used yoga poses and breathing during her son's birth and realized her life's purpose was to bring all her personal and professional experiences to pregnant and parenting couples. She quickly became certified in pre/post-natal yoga in 2002 and continues to be a sought after resource both locally and nationally. 

Lisa has been featured in several pregnancy and parenting magazines as well as television broadcast.  She has trained parents/ childbirth educators and nurses on the use of yoga, meditation and imagery for birthing. Lisa is of the philosophy that good parenting starts in the womb, with prenatal yoga being a key component to allowing the best start for one's baby.  She looks forward to working with the experienced yogini as well as the woman who's baby brought her to yoga for the first time. www.mindfulbeginnings.com

Marjorie Rand

Marjorie has been a practicing psychotherapist for 31 years. She holds degrees in Theater Arts, Dance Therapy and Psychology. She opened and taught at 10 international training institutes from 1986-2002. She has authored 3 books and has published many articles.  www.drrandbodymindtherapy.com

Eric Roache

Eric is from MD just outside of Washington, D.C. and is a graduate  of the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Economics. He moved  to California in 2005 and attended Long Beach State for 1 year  seeking his MBA while starting a promising career in internet  marketing. He was introduced to yoga in September of 2006 by  his mother, also a yoga teacher, after months of hesitation to give  it a try. It turned out to be the best decision he ever made, as yoga  would change his life completely. 

Near the beginning of 2007, Eric decided to leave everything  behind, including his job and school, to dedicate himself fully to  the spiritual pursuit of yoga. He trained with Julie Rader in June of  2007 and is Yoga Alliance certi ed. The practice of yoga helped  transform Eric from a timid guy with a self-defeating mindest into  a happy, healthy, and con dent teacher who now  nds the greatest  joy of his life in sharing the transformational power of yoga  with others. He brings a wealth of knowledge, a calming  presence, and a passion to help others  nd the peace and joy  yoga gave to him into his teaching. 

Wah!

Wah has spent a lifetime immersed in spiritual pursuit, beginning yoga and meditation at age 17, studying in US, Europe, India and Africa.  Her talent as a musician led her to upstart a small record label (Wah! Music) in 1996, which served the yoga and healing arts communities.  She toured several years with Krishna Das, and  has produced and recorded numerous CDs and DVDs.   Ever seeking new ways to serve the yoga community, Wah! wrote a book (Dedicating Your Life to Spirit) documenting her teachings on yoga, chant and meditation.  Wah! is personable and shares the wealth of her experience with humor and awareness.   www.wahmusic.com