Shaun Jenkins, a seasoned yogi, was born and raised in Durban, South Africa. He draws strongly on his Budokon roots in his yoga practice and teaching. Budokon, which combines the beneficial aspects of martial arts, yoga and meditation, has brought the principles of dedication, leadership and self awareness to both his personal practice and his teaching style. Shaun has an instinctive ability for seeing the potential in his students and for gently guiding them toward safe but continual progress. He has a special love for inversions and arm balances and invites students to confront their fears, challenge themselves, and both literately and figuratively find balance in their practice.

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Gabrielle has an extensive background in body awareness — she started dancing at the age of 3 and spent the next 15 years training to be a professional ballerina. Her teaching career began when she was 17 – starting in dance – but she discovered and began teaching yoga soon after. Since then, she has accumulated a total of 24 years’ worth of teaching experience. Teaching comes easily and naturally to Gabrielle, as her mother has owned ballet schools for over 40 years, and is a master teacher and choreographer. No stranger to education, Gabrielle has a BA in Arts and Communication, studied massage in Hawaii, and also healing therapies at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. She is an E-YRT Yoga teacher, having obtained multiple 200 hour certifications, and she is currently enrolled in a 500 hour teacher training. Gabrielle’s free and seeking spirit has lead her to far away places like Europe, Hawaii, India and Morocco where she lived, trained and taught for a number of years – exploring the vast world of yoga and the healing arts.

Meet Gabrielle, co-lead for The House of Yogi 200hr Yoga Teacher Training

The greater part of Joel’s life has been spent guiding the physical body into health and healing. A Physical Therapist his entire professional career; he continues to explore many broad arenas from acute and chronic injury treatment as well as energetic and spiritual awareness. Lifelong pursuits of fitness and sports include Martial Arts, cycling, and weight/resistance exercise; Joel enjoys the feeling of physical exertion. Hooked from his very first class, Power Yoga has become the center of his journey to attain greater connection to spirit, mind, and body. Born and raised in the deep South, Joel brings a simple Southern charm, comfort, and sense of humor to his classes. His desire is to inspire and motivate his students, and leave them with a smile and a little pearl of wisdom . Although he makes you work hard he leaves you with a softening in the heart.

Incredible wealth of knowledge and unique sense of humor. He is a legend!

Ben teaches workshops on a wide range of philosophies and texts spanning foundational works such as: The Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, The Upanisads, The Ramayana, and The Hatha [Yoga] Pradipika, as well as less commonly taught works of the Advaita Vedanta tradition, The traditions of Tantric Shaivism, and various works of the Hatha tradition and assorted puranas. Ben has since had the opportunity to study with several highly regarded yoga teachers and Sanskritists, most notably: Dr. M.A. Jayashree and M.A. Narasimhan of Mysore, India; Nicolai Bachman; Christopher Tompkins, PhD; Christopher ‘Hareesh’ Wallis, PhD; and Eddie Stern. Ben lives in San Marcos, CA with his wife and two children and practices daily Mysore-style Ashtanga Yoga. He finds Karma Yoga’s teachings of non-attachment and dispassion, the philosophy and relentless self-enquiry espoused in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta, and the life-affirming world-view of classical Shaiva Tantra best suited to guiding the philosophical needs of the modern-day seeker-practitioner.

Knows so much about anything yoga related.

Carol Marchetto is a Senior Staff Scientist at The Salk Institute, La Jolla. She is involved in understanding the mechanisms by which human pluripotent stem cells become a fully developed functional brain. Carol is currently studying the behavior of different types of human brain cells in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric diseases such as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Elucidation of those mechanisms may shed a light on the unique plasticity in the human central nervous system and may help developing strategies for drug screen platforms and potential therapy candidates for neurological diseases that have no treatment yet.

Carol obtained her degree in Biology and her PhD degree in Genetics at the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. When she is not working in the lab, Carol is practicing yoga, with extensive trainings and certifications giving her an unique perspective for teacher training.

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Jen offers a dynamic, multidimensional journey of the self as she guides her students with high intention and keen awareness of the multitude of unfolding that the ancient practice of Yoga delivers. With her creative intelligence, she weaves together all aspects of her many years in study of dance, martial arts, bodywork, sound and Shamanic healing into a uniquely cohesive experience. Emphasizing the importance and transformational power of the breath for not only the mind body therapy but the access to spiritual alignment, her love and dedication to knowledge of the ancient ways can be felt through her teaching.

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After working in the corporate world for ten years, Lauren made a decision to leave her fast-paced, high-stress job and pursue her true passion, which is bringing others the joy that yoga and meditation has brought to her. Lauren has been practicing yoga for over a decade and is experienced in Ashtanga, Vinyasa & Restorative styles. She was formally trained in Transcendental Meditation three years ago and has extensively studied compassion and breath based meditation as well as pranayama. She enjoys combining the physical practice of yoga, breathwork and meditation to create the best possible experience for her students.

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