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| Laura Jane Mellencamp, Director |
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Laura Jane Mellencamp, founder and director, has over 20 years of yoga teaching experience. In 1998, she opened Yoga Among Friends. Certified by the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California, and having studied with B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, Richard Miller, Rod Stryker and Erich Schiffmann, she brought many years of yoga training and experience to eager students.
Laura Jane was a yoga teacher in Los Angeles from 1989-1995 before she heard her calling to "the heartland." She was teaching jam-packed classes at YogaWorks in Santa Monica and the Center for Yoga owned by Ganga White and Tracey Rich. She had many celebrity private clients as well. But the fast pace of L.A. wasn't for her. Rather, Laura Jane said, she "was looking for community and intimacy."
When she decided to leave Los Angeles, Laura Jane knew she wanted to live near a metropolitan area but not in one. So in 1995 she moved to Naperville because she had a friend there. Laura Jane "fell in love with the land of the prairie-a place without earthquakes and little concrete." She met "great people here with big hearts and no ego." She explained, "The area was a place where my first three chakras felt right at home and I could feel grounded."
Laura Jane started teaching yoga wherever she could-at health clubs and renting little spaces here and there. At the time, there were no yoga centers in the suburbs and relatively few in the city. When she felt she had developed a big enough student following, she opened Yoga Among Friends in a renovated warehouse space in downtown Downers Grove. Soon after, two of her students, Joyce Owens and Ellen Duff, went off to be certified by the White Lotus Foundation, after which Laura Jane brought them on as yoga teachers, along with her good friend Michael Taylor, an Iyengar instructor. Since then Laura Jane has added nine more teachers. She feels "each teacher brings their own gifts and an opportunity for students to go deeper with their yoga practice."
Her intention at Yoga Among Friends is to create an "open-minded, open-hearted community center which provides students a safe environment to grow." Having a master's degree in psychotherapy and clinical psychology, Laura Jane incorporates her understanding of the mind and behavior into her yoga classes, encouraging students to break free of their rigid patterns and habits to release themselves physically, mentally and spiritually. She combines the work of the five layers of the mind to reach the authenic self. Currently, Laura is in year 2 of the four year yoga therapy program, 1000hr training under Desikchar in Chenni, India. |
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| Marvin Bates |
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Marvin Bates, CYI and RYT, has been practicing yoga since the early 1990’s, and is an enthusiastic and inspired teacher of Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Power Yoga and Forrest Yoga. Recognizing yoga as a path of continuous learning, Marvin’s teaching style has been influenced through ongoing workshops with international Master Yoga Teachers. Marvin’s energizing classes offer opportunities for personal growth with invigorating sequences of classical yoga poses, coupled with his awareness of students’ individual needs. Helping students, both men and women, balance their lives through yoga – his classes increase strength, stamina, flexibility, balance and inner peace. See Marvin's classes >>
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| Janet Bowen |
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Janet Bowen is a yoga therapist and student of the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation, which has been providing yoga therapy for over thirty years. This year, Janet interned at the center in India, where she participated in sessions for students with back and neck pain, arthritis, anxiety, scoliosis, recovery from heart attack, and more. Janet brings a keen intellect and a warm heart to her teaching. She is a Certified Yoga Teacher with the White Lotus Foundation in California and holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago. See Janet's classes >>
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Ellen Duff feels that the practice of yoga sustains all other healing modalities while moving through life’s journey. She considers herself to be an “organic” yoga teacher – one who uses yoga as a tool to heal. Ellen believes that true healing is systemic in nature – mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and “heartful”. She followed this philosophy and integrated her yoga practice with her own life experiences. From these experiences, she realized that through teaching and practicing yoga from the place of the heart that our challenges could become our greatest teachers. Through the practice of yoga she teaches the importance of letting go of external attachments. Ellen teaches you to be comfortable and safe in your own body, to tap into that “heart space” within, as you continue your soul’s journey. Ellen’s quest is to help raise conscious awareness of people taking responsibility and care of their own selves. She specializes in a number of yoga disciplines to accommodate the needs of her students.
Ellen trained at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA and has taught at Yoga Among Friends since its inception in 1998. She is also certified as a Relax and Renew Trainer® from Judith Hanson Lasater, specializing in using yoga poses to help us learn to relax and rest deeply. In general, restorative yoga is useful when you feel weak, fatigued, or stressed from your daily activities. It is especially beneficial for the times before, during, and after major life events: death of a loved one, change of job or residence, marriage, divorce, major holidays, and vacations. In addition, you can practice the poses when ill, or recovering from illness or injury. Ellen invites you to explore the many aspects of yoga that empower and give new life to every cell of your body, heart, and spirit!
See Ellen's classes >>
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| Lori Gaspar |
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Lori Gaspar, M.A., 500 E-RYT is the Director of Prairie Yoga Teacher Training. Her dynamic multi-style teaching reflects her extensive training in vinyasa, Iyengar, anatomy, and classical yoga philosophy. Her classes combine breath-synchronized movement, precise alignment and the development of self-awareness. Lori’s students appreciate her enthusiasm, clarity in instruction and caring nature. See Lori's classes >>
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| Joyce Owens |
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Joyce Eickmeyer Owens, RYT, has many years of teaching experience and has taught at Yoga Among Friends since its inception in 1998. She received her teacher training from White Lotus Foundation. Joyce teaches her own "slow flow" style of yoga in a gentle yet powerful way. As an instructor and musician she brings a harmonious flow of body, mind and spirit to her classes. Joyce says, "When we value our bodies as rare musical instruments, we create our own music." See Joyce's classes >>
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| Terry Szpiech |
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Terry Szpiech
As a runner in need of stretching, Terry picked up a book on yoga for runners. To his surprise, it also talked about the benefits of proper breathing, both of which he needed to further his sport. After reading the book, Terry knew yoga would be a challenge as well as an exciting journey. So at the age of 54, both he and his wife enrolled in a beginning yoga series with the park district. After a couple of years of practice, he was flattered when two of his teachers asked if he had considered going to teacher training. Early in January 2003, Terry made the commitment and enrolled at the White Lotus Foundation's August 2003 Yoga asana,
pranayama, philosophy and the art of teaching classes. He completed his certification in September 2004 and the Advanced Techniques and Practices of Yoga in July 2005. As a society, we are aware of our need to be flexible and fit, and Terry feels he can guide his students in growing and opening in areas they never expected. See Terry's classes >>
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| J. Michael Taylor |
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J. Michael Taylor
Having played sports all his life the ensuing injuries led Michael to yoga and to study B.K.S.Iyengar’s system of hatha yoga. He has practiced yoga since 1987 and began apprenticing with Gabriel Halpern at the Yoga Circle in 1989. He has study with many senior Iyengar instructors in the US and continues with his studies with Lois Steinberg of Champaign, Illinois and Bob Wittinghill & Todd Howell of the Yoga Circle, Chicago. Yoga gives him the energy to teach photography at College of Dupage and play music, dance, and enjoy life to the fullest. See J. Michael's classes >>
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| Karen Weber |
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Karen Weber has been unveiling the path of self-realization for years. No matter what your reasons are for your practice, her hope is to inspire you to keep going for we are all in this together. To uncover layers of unconsciousness we practice Asana, Bandha, Dristi, Kriya, Mudra, Pranayama, Mantra, Dharana, and Dhyana. These are tools that teach you how to create a habit of relaxation on and off the mat, find balance in all areas of your life, develop strength with an equal amount of surrender, become a witness to each day and grow clarity in mind and body so that they reflect your soul. Although it takes work, sweat, and sometimes tears, it is the path that leads us home, reminds us of what our unique joy is, helps us find it so we can share it with others, and teaches us the tools to navigate our lives karma in authentic relationship with our truth. There is no doubt that universal peace begins with individual work. Most of Karen's training has been through self study but her major teachers are Daren Frisen from Moksha Yoga Center, Dr. David Frawley in Ayurveda and Yoga, and Rod Stryker’s advanced training in his Parayoga Tantra tradition. See Karen's classes >>
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