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> Studio > Teacher's Biographies
Teacher's Biographies
Heartsong's Co-Directors Sheila and Tony Magalhaes are proud of the strengths and talents of the teachers who offer their many gifts to the center.
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Sheila Magalhaes
Sheila's first Kripalu certification was completed in 1993, and she recently completed her 500 hour Advanced Professional Kripalu Certification and has received her 500 hour certification from Beryl Bender Birch in the practice of Classical Astanga Yoga. In her Kripalu Yoga classes, she offers students the gift of compassionate awareness. This same quality is emphasized while teaching Astanga Yoga, making this challenging practice fun and accessible to all. Sheila reminds her students that yoga seeps into their everyday lives, and that the practice offers tools that can be accessed at any
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Tony Magalhaes
Tony received his Kripalu Yoga certification in 1999, and continues his training towards advanced certification from Kripalu Center along with continued studies in Astanga Yoga. He brings to Heartsong Center a calm and focused style of teaching. While weaving in his belief that yoga creates balance and equanimity into his life, Tony is involved in a variety of activities outside the center. He is a self-employed electrician, and plays adult league hockey and soccer. Tony, Sheila and their children Nick and Libby consider Heartsong to be a part of their extended family, and an integral part of their community. |
Ann Marie Doyle
Ann Marie has been attending classes at Heartsong Yoga since 1996, and became a certified Kripalu yoga teacher in 2003. As a family child care provider for over 20 years, she brings a gentle and compassionate teaching style to her classes. She studies Mindfulness meditation at Heartsong with Alice Barrett and continues her yoga education working toward her 500 hour certification. Ann Marie's classes are user friendly, and all students will be inspired by Ann Marie's passion for yoga and the joy she brings to all of her classes. |
Beth Wadden
Beth received her basic Kripalu certification in 1995, and completed her 500 hour advanced training there in 2005. She brings vitality and joy into her classes while emphasizing the physical benefits of each yoga pose along with the strength that develops within. Her passion for connection to the cycles and the seasons of the natural world around us is also an important part of her teaching. She reminds the students that all are interconnected, to the world around us and to one another. Beth has been assisting in the Kripalu Center's month long Yoga Teacher Training intensives every summer since 1996. A public school teacher since 1971, she also offers Reiki sessions at Heartsong Center. Beth is Sheila's mom and one of Heartsong's most dedicated supporters. |
Claire Werbicki
As one of Heartsong's first teachers, Claire has been studying Kripalu Yoga since 1992. She received her Atma Yoga certification in 2000. In 2003 she began her professional training towards advanced certification in Kripalu Yoga. She shares her enthusiasm for yoga with a down to earth teaching style that allows each student to fully access the practice. Clear, detailed instruction creates a positive understanding of the basics and the benefits of yoga. Keeping it simple, she de-mystifies the practice and teaches students that yoga is truly for Every-Body. |
James Kirchhoffer
Jim was introduced to yoga during a MBSM (Mindfulness Based Stress Management) course in 2001. He has been practicing Kripalu, Astanga and Anusara Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation since then. Jim completed his 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Todd Norian, a long time friend of Heartsong Yoga Center in 2004, and continues to train with senior Anusara Yoga teachers as an Anusara-inspired yoga instructor . The Anusara style emphasizes Alignment, Attitude, and Action and the Universal Principles of Alignment . As a cardiologist, the style fits with his experience in the medical field and enhances the practice of yoga for the students at Heartsong. You may have seen Jim riding his funny-looking recumbent bicycle in the area as another expression of meditation in motion! |
Jane Anable
Jane has been practicing yoga since 1965 and teaching at Heartsong Center since 1998. She also teaches yoga classes in Brimfield and Monson Massachusetts. She is certified at the advanced 500 hour professional level of Kripalu Yoga and is a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Practitioner. Jane continually explores new techniques to enhance not only her teaching, but her personal practice as well. Jane also teaches a diverse blend of meditation techniques drawn from her experience of Transcendental, Vipassana and mindfulness meditations. For Jane, the joy of teaching is found in watching students' lives become enriched as they reach deeper levels of themselves through their experiences both on and off the mat. |
Joanne Tardibuono
Joanne has been a student of Kripalu Yoga for many years. After 25 years in the corporate world, she took an early retirement in 2000. Because of her passion for health and fitness she was approached to become a teacher in the community. She holds a certificate for Group Exercise Instructor and several other training certificates from both the YMCA and AFAA. In June of 2003 she completed her Kripalu Yoga Teacher training. Joanne is continually taking courses in the fields of health and fitness and is working towards her 500 hour Advanced Teacher Training. As a teacher, she brings the many gifts she has personally received from Yoga with the hope of sharing these with her students. |
Laura Mushenko
Heartsong Yoga welcomes Laura Mushenko of the "Garden of Om", with offerings of yoga for children. After falling in love with a program called "YogaKids" when her daughter participated in classes, and frustrated about not being able to find more classes locally, she knew that she had to do the training herself so that she could share it with others. Laura has since been trained through the YogaKids foundations training, directly from the founder of YogaKids Program, Marsha Wenig. Laura is currently a YogaKids Associate and is continuing her studies through the Advanced Training Certification Program. Her classes are active, imaginative and inspiring, and include storytelling, music and creative arts. Her unique approach honors and educates the whole child by addressing body, mind, spirit, while honoring their connection to the world and one another.
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Lauri Deary
Lauri began her yoga experience as a student of Kripalu and Astanga yoga in 1996. In 2003, she completed an Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Todd Norian. She is continuing her training and studies in this style and has achieved the status of Anusara -inspired yoga teacher. She brings a sense of lightheartedness and fun to her classes, connecting students with their unique inner radiance. With an emphasis on self-honoring, acceptance, and joyful celebration that is at the heart of all Heartsong practices, Lauri's students learn to express balance in spirit, heart, mind and body. Lauri is passionate about sharing the therapeutic aspects of the Anusara system of yoga. She is also a certified Cancer and Cardiac Yoga Therapist and Biofeedback Specialist. |
Lisa Bullen
Lisa has been a student at Heartsong Yoga Center since 1997. She became a certified Atma Yoga teacher in 2000. Her background and training is a synthesis of several schools of yoga, including the traditions Atma, Astanga, and Kripalu styles of yoga. Lisa also studies Mindfulness Meditation in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. She teaches the Intro to Astanga Yoga. Her teaching style is a wonderful blend of all of her practices. She brings her skills and passions to Heartsong and its students balancing both the strength and the softness of yoga. |
Maria Edwards
Maria's love for fitness, health & nature led her to yoga over 20 years ago, along with Transcendental Meditation in the 60's. After 25 years in the field of Social Services she took early retirement in 2002 and soon after completed yoga teacher training at Kripalu Center. An avid hiker and biker, Maria is also working toward her advanced certification. She believes her social work background supports teaching yoga by helping people acquire the tools to cope with life challenges. "The capabilities are within us. Practicing yoga teaches us to take the time to search within and turn on the light."
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Maureen Dhamodharan
Maureen, a daily practitioner of ashtanga yoga, is a graduate of the Embodyoga program in Amherst, MA. Also, she has studied both the primary and secondary series of ashtanga yoga with Nancy Gilgoff. Maureen has found that connecting to the present moment through he breath enhances her ability to feel grounded and centered in her body/mind. She encourages her students to make their practice a meditation in motion through initiating movement with the breath and integrating the whole body in each posture. She believes that the clarity, gratitude, and compassion one finds in the practice of yoga can easily translate into everyday life. In addition to teaching yoga, Maureen is a craniosacral therapist and a watercolor artist. |
Michelle Ryan
Michelle Ryan is a dedicated student of the Astanga Yoga practice and has been studying with many of the most well respected Astanga teachers over the past few years. Beryl Bender Birch, Doug and David Swenson, and Nancy Gilgoff have been key in the development of her teaching and practicing style. Michelle believes that through the practice of yoga it is possible to find balance, stability and a sense of well being and wholeness in our daily lives. Michelle is also an artist who primarily does house portraits, pet portraits and still life in oil, watercolor and ink. You can check out her art blog at www.michelleryanart.blogspot.com.
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