The Trainers

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  Mark Lilly, Street Yoga founder and president, is a mindfulness and communication trainer who has taught workshops all over North America to widely diverse audiences including physicians, nurses, social workers, police officers, therapists, mental health workers, justice workers and countless others. Mark is the founder and Board President of Street Yoga, an internationally recognized non-profit which provides yoga and mindfulness classes to at-risk populations in Portland, Seattle, New York and San Diego.  Mark has extensive expertise in community- as well as hospital-based mindfulness practices; and along side ongoing work with Street Yoga, he has developed the practice of Body-Mind Rehab Therapy, which he currently offers to pediatric inpatients recovering from significant illness or injury, at Portland's Emanuel Hospital. In addition to the Street Yoga Core Teacher Training, which has trained over 1,000 individuals across the US, Mark is a co-creator of the Mindful Caregiver Program which serves social workers, extended care-givers of all kinds and their client families with practical, integrated everyday mindfulness.  For Street Yoga, Mark has developed many specialized mindfulness curricula including specialized work for young people recovering from sexual abuse, and workshops for adults moving through entrenched traumas or grappling with high-intensity communication situations.   For Mark, yoga is an everyday survival skill and a practice which he, and Street Yoga, have shared with thousands of youth, their families and professional caregivers. Personally, he still lives with the tremors of traumas past and realizes the delicate line between suffering and awakening. His teaching emphasizes cultivation of the best within each of us by using the authentic stories and experiences that illuminate our being and drive our teaching to places of deep truthfulness. Through it all, he brings a lightness and love to his teaching that is rooted in humility, grace and joy.
  

• Katie Arrants has been teaching and training Street Yoga volunteers since she developed the original Street Yoga teacher training in 2005. Katie has trained over 200 yoga instructors in cities across the nation, providing her students with a rich and challenging learning environment. She infuses her teaching with a calm, grounded, real-world approach to combining mindfulness and youth work. Katie is also currently chartering Street Yoga's first chapter in Seattle. As a Street Yoga trainer, Katie draws on over 8 years of direct social work experience and currently stays active in the field of social work as a Case Manager for foster youth. In this job, Katie helps youth transition to independent lives as they are aging out of foster care, a time of life in which foster youth become extremely vulnerable and are at high risk for homelessness. She carries a diverse and heavy caseload of youth with concerns ranging from mental illness to criminal backgrounds, trauma victims to teen parents. Some of her specialties include homelessness prevention, skill development, family reunification, community collaboration, and motivational interviewing for personal change. She is also trained in Non-Violent Communication and de-escalation techniques. Katie has over a decade of yoga teaching experience and completed her RYT-200 in 2004. She has taught at the Omega Institute's Being Yoga Conference and the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference. She has completed graduate work in Sociology at the Salt Institute and will begin an MSW program in fall 2010. With her gentle and light-hearted approach, Katie strives to develop knowledge, confidence, and enthusiasm in all her students, so they can achieve their highest potential. She approaches the practice with Curiosity and Devotion. Her classes incorporate a flowing Vinyasa practice with Pranayama woven throughout, honing our ability to focus attention in order to experience Life in fullness and unveil the gift that we are.

•  T.J. Wildenborg has volunteered with SY since February of 2004 when he first moved to Portland from Madison, WI with the ambition to work in the service of youth at risk. TJ is a RYT 200 hour-level and Ananda Yoga Certified Level 1 yoga teacher since 2002. With his degrees in Psychology and Philosophy, TJ works as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor with adolescents in residential dual-diagnosis treatment, and is grateful for having the opportunity to share yoga with teenagers in this capacity. TJ enjoys his days Urban farming in SE Portland, and also brings peace to neighbors as a volunteer mediator at Resolutions Northwest.

The Teachers

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  Jaime Hedlund graduated with a B.A. in Social Work and Social Justice from the University of Portland in 2008, after completing her Social Work practicum with Street Yoga in 2007. Since that time, Jaime has taught classes to youth in transitional school, youth in treatment for sexual abuse, and offered yoga and stress relief to Latina mothers. Jaime received her yoga teacher training through the Samarya Center. She feels fortunate to offer classes that are full of creativity, self-care, and much love.

• Cat Monroy has been an active volunteer since August 2008, teaching yoga and working with young children at an emergency shelter for over one and a half years. Cat is a reading specialist in the Scappoose school system. She is also a certified Yoga Calm practitioner. She uses her daily yoga and Buddhist practice to help herself and others. In her spare time she enjoys outdoor activities of all kinds, reading, making jewelry, cooking, and traveling.
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  Diane Chaplin is a professional cellist with a master of music degree from The Juilliard School. After a career performing internationally and teaching cello to hundreds of students in New York City, she moved to Portland in 2009, where she is the manager for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Diane has been practicing yoga for four years and received her teacher certification from Shine Yoga Center in New Jersey. She translates her love of teaching and life-long rapport with young spirits into Street Yoga classes for 6th-8th graders at Community Transitional School that help them open their eyes to limitless horizons.

• Laura Atkinson moved to Portland in 2007 to point her life in that new direction, in a city that's totally in step with her ideology and open heart.  In 2008 she learned about Street Yoga while in a lifestage of deepening her yoga practice and signed up for the next available teacher training; she has been delighted to have opportunities to serve with Street Yoga ever since
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  Kirsten Bracht has been a volunteer with Street Yoga since 2008. It is Kirsten’s desire to share the benefits of yoga with the at risk youth in our community. During classes she has witnessed the calm, the confidence, the strength, determination, and observation that the youth experience through practicing yoga. She is honored to teach the youth and believes that yoga should be accessible for everyone.

• Kathryn Blau has been a yogini for six years and is in the teacher training program at the Yoga Shala of Portland. She has lived in Portland for a year and Street Yoga is one of the reasons she loves this city! Her first volunteer experience with SY was helping to design a Wellness Mentoring program. She is thrilled to start her teaching experience with Street Yoga and looks forward to sharing the power and beauty of yoga with the young women at Seneca House.  Her lifelong love of dance made yoga feel like a natural fit when she started going to classes at her college gym, and yoga helps her to see life as a dance of balance- something she strives for in yoga practice and in every experience. She is passionate about social and environmental justice and believes it can help us to 'be the change we wish to see in the world' (and our Selves). She is grateful to all the teachers she has studied with and is honored to teach in the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya and T.K.V. Desikachar. When not practicing yoga she enjoys volunteering, camping and hiking, gardening, live music, hula hooping, and curling up with a cup of tea and a book. 
• Michael Davidescu is an advocate for balance and breathing. He began teaching yoga in the late nineties, to offer his group therapy clients more relaxation, empowerment, and self-awareness. Caring for people who have experienced rigorous states of consciousness has led him to value a light, open-hearted approach. Michael enjoys leading and facilitating classes for Street Yoga. He encourages his students to develop a personal practice that works best for them, exercising mindfulness and creativity.
• Olga Debakey is a lover of all forms of creativity; art & movement are all gifts to grow, nurture & brighten our spirit & soul.  Since an early age she has sought means to creating an optimal existence between people and nature, which has taken her through the study of environmental biology, psychology, yoga and art therapy. This quest has brought her to the conclusion that the health & future of our planet depends on the wellbeing and attitude of each of us as individuals.
  Shortly after moving to Portland in 2006 she was introduced to an Asian based yoga that seeks to open energy points and meridian channels as a way to create health for vital organs. Soon thereafter she took teacher training for this method and currently teaches both yoga & tai chi at the Body & Brain Studio in Downtown Portland.  Olga was introduced to Street Yoga when she first came to Portland & completed training in the summer of 2010.  She is excited to participate in this special mission oriented community of yogis.
• Darcy Feinstein Yoga has been a part of my life for the past 18 years. In 2008 I began to practice Bikram yoga.  It was there that I could really feel the benefits both mentally and physically of the yoga.  I felt so inspired, as I still do at this moment, to share the word about the healing and preventative properties of yoga. In 2009 I became certified through Corepower Yoga in their 200 hour Power Vinyasa Instructor Training.  Other trainings include Street Yoga certification and Off the Mat, Into the World - Empowered Youth Initiative Leadership training in April 2011.  I am currently working on a 300 hour certification with Samudra School of living with Shiva Rea, Yoga is my passion.  I hope to share and teach yoga to people of all ages and levels the amazing benefits of moving your breath and body while quieting your mind.  Namaste. 
• Candace Gossen being a climber, soccer player and acrobat stepped into her dedicated practice as a yogini New Years Day 2005. This passion for yoga has continued to heal her own life as well as lead a more compassionate life of service as a Bodhisattva. Practicing meditation with the Dharma Punx, her recent teacher training with SY in Seattle Nov 2010 has unfolded a new creation of yoga classes that include breathing meditation, qi gong, pranayama and a little silliness from the circus that is being directed towards abused youth at risk and elderly in need. Candace has scheduled two intensive trainings for early 2011 with a month long Qi Gong teacher training as well as a foundational Forrest Yoga teacher training. Candace has always been a teacher at heart, and is as she says “over-educated” with the recent completion of a PhD in Environmental Science. On a mission to save the forests, she has taught healing by understanding that all things are connected, and that each choice one makes has an impact. To heal oneself is and can only be the first step to healing the planet. Her hopes for the future are to offer free yoga in the park and free education. An idealist that likes to laugh at herself, she is a musician, a vagabond, an explorer and wants to join the Lunar Circus in Western Australia someday just for fun!
• Amanda Hardaway began studying yoga as a teenager in Nashville, TN. She fell in love with yoga and decided early on that she wanted to become a teacher. She completed her teaching certification in 2006 through Dragonfly Yoga Studies with her first teacher Laura Tyree. Since then she has taught extensively, serving as a Yoga and Pilates professor at Middle Tennessee State University and a Yoga and Meditation instructor for the Murfreesboro and Nashville communities in Tennessee. She is currently also a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Practitioner and Teacher (www.pryt.com/amandahardaway). Phoenix Rising is a transformational combination of assisted yoga postures, guided meditation and therapeutic dialogue which connects participants to the very source of their own wisdom, direction, and healing. She recently relocated to Portland, OR to begin a new life and passionately share her Phoenix Rising practice. She has volunteered with Streetyoga since 2010 and serves young people in the Portland foster care system teaching yoga in their homes.
   
• Chris Harvey started practicing yoga four years ago, and a year later began volunteering with Street Yoga. Practicing yoga has benefited him mentally and physically, and so he is honored that Street Yoga allows him to share these benefits with youth in the community. Initially he taught at Outside In for the first few years, and currently he is teaching at a Morrison Youth Center location. Beyond, food, shelter, and a basic sense of security we all know that there are others things humans require for a beautiful fulfilling life such as good friendships, laughter, health, and purpose. Yoga is a tool he uses to bring his students closer to understanding themselves, so that they can obtain these things.
  
• Lori Hughes: Nearly fifteen years ago at the age of nineteen, Lori stepped into her first yoga class. She has been studying and practicing ever since. Soon after, Lori decided to share her love of yoga with others by teaching. After completing her certification program she began instructing for Cascade Athletic Clubs where she ran classes several mornings a week for over three years. Also a professional musician, Lori currently runs a private music lesson studio where she helps young people discover internal strength through the power of their musical voices. Now teaching for Street Yoga in the White Shield Wild Flowers program Lori is honored to again be inspiring youth to take the courageous journey inward to find personal strength.
• Greg Jamiel first stepped foot in a yoga class 13 years ago while growing up in Rhode Island as a way to increase his flexibilitywhilepracticingKenpo Karate and has been in love with the practice ever since.  He has been practicing Forrest Yoga intensively since 2010, and received his Hatha Yoga certification in 2011.  Portland's Street Yoga organization has been a perfect fit for Greg to give back to his community and help spread the benefits of a yogic lifesytle to younger generations.  When he is not teaching yoga at Inner Elements Yoga in NE Portland, this multi-Emmy Award winning graphic designer can be found minimalist running, climbing volcanoes, skiing, rafting, camping, traveling, and hiking the beautiful trails here in Oregon with his dog Griffen. 
• Jordana Leeb has practiced a variety of movement arts including Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Pilates and Yoga as well as many forms of meditation.  She enjoys all types of yoga, but is most passionate about Hatha, Vinyasa and Anusara yoga and their link to foundation, flow and heart.  Jordi began her yoga practice about five years ago in Corvallis at the beautiful Cedar and Fir studio where she studied with Lisa Wells.  Since moving to Portland in 2008, Jordi has continued her yoga practice in various studios around Portland. She completed her 200-hour teacher training at Yoga Union. She has enjoyed volunteering with Street Yoga over the past year and a half with special events, workshops for little kids and teaching classes for kids and staff at the Native American Youth and Family Center.
• Debbie Russell, Lady White Hawk Cowlitz, Cree started studying yoga 20 years ago in Orange County CA. at The Yoga Center. Her Husband Tim brought her back to the Northwest to be closer to her family tribal connections. She participates in tribal ceremonies and continues to study and evolve. She graduated from The Movement Center in Portland, where she teaches community Yoga. She loves Street Yoga’s mission and is excited to part of a team that helps people find who they really are.
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  Suresh Srinivas (सुरेश श्रीनिवास) is a computer scientist and Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Indiana University, Bloomington. He was born and raised in India as a vegetarian to Hindu parents. He immigrated to the United States 20 years ago and has lived in Indiana, California, and Oregon and is happily married with a ten year old daughter. He is passionate about integrative health and likes to bring the benefit of Yoga and Mindfulness to everyone. He has a personal yoga, breathing, and meditation practice and teaches at Outside In for Street Yoga as well as serving on the board of Street Yoga. He also volunteers and teaches Yoga to primary school children at the Catlin Gabel school and has also taught fellow employees at Intel Corporation. His other service to the community include the board president/secretary for the Bethany Homeowner's association, secretary at Rasika, and volunteer at Northwest Veg and OMSI. While he is not working or volunteering he spends time with his family cooking delicious vegetarian foods,, reading, biking, and enjoying the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest.

• Zach Starvum  became interested in yoga after a friend in Hawaii introduced him to sun salutation.  He was amazed by how he felt and hungry to learn more, so he began studying with a direct disciple of Swami Vishnu Devananda, who is a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda.  (Sivananda is a non-proprietary form of hatha yoga
  that revolves around frequent relaxation, and emphasizes full, yogic breathing.)  Upon returning to Portland, Zach undertook a teacher training with Diane Wilson and began teaching at local gyms and parks.  He is eager to share his love of yoga!  He loves to play his singing bowl during final relaxation to help facilitate a deeper relaxed state.  Zach also enjoys sharing Mantra in his classes to help bring a state of calmness, clairty and focus into the room.
  
• Bibi McGill - Bibi took her first yoga class in 1998 and hasn't looked back since. Evolving and growing in her practice, Bibi wanted to go deeper and also be able to effectively share the science of yoga with others. She became certified to teach yoga in 2004 and began teaching in the Los Angeles area shortly after. As the Musical Director and lead guitarist for pop artist "BEYONCE" Bibi maintains a regular yoga practice even during her rigorous touring schedule on the road. When not touring the world, Bibi enjoys kayaking, gardening, hot springs and most all outdoor activities as a means to stay grounded, become more balanced and stay connected with nature.
  
• Laura Mattison started her yogic journey in 2002 when she traveled to Auroville, an intentional community in Tamil Nadu, India. After graduating from the University of Vermont in Religious Studies, she joined the US Peace Corps and served in the Fiji Islands. For two and half years, Laura's daily practice in Fiji was her saving grace. In her second year as a volunteer, she began teaching yoga to her Fijian community. Since then, Laura has been a firm believer in the power of a personal practice and in the ability to bring yoga with you wherever you are--no fancy classes, props, or clothes required. She studied Environmental Studies for her graduate degree at Brown University, practiced yoga in southern India when she traveled there for her graduate thesis research, and in August 2009, got a job with the Oregon Coastal Management Program in Portland, Oregon. For someone who has practiced yoga in airport terminals, hotel laundry rooms, and rocky beaches, the Street Yoga philosophy--Yoga anyone, anytime, anywhere--was a perfect fit. She currently is teaching yoga to boys at the Pioneer School in SE Portland.
• Sweethome studied yoga with the founders of Jivamukti Yoga, and received her teaching certificate at the Samadhi Yoga Center in Seattle. She currently volunteers regularly as a Street Yoga teacher at two sites.In addition to her work as a Street Yoga Teacher, Sweethome is also a Street Yoga Trainer. Sweethome teaches yoga at The Yoga Shala in Portland. She is a generous supporter of Street Yoga, donating a portion of her class fees to the program.
• Mikhael Romain has been practicing yoga for over ten years. She received her formal training through Yoga Works in San Francisco and recently began volunteering with Street Yoga. She teaches a weekly class at The Pioneer School. Her classes incorporate a Vinyasa flow with Pranayama. As the editor of a travel magazine, Mikhael is on the road a lot and incorporates the Street Yoga philosophy of yoga, anytime and anyplace, in her daily practice.
• Joanna Cowan received her B.A. in studio art from Tulane University. She has studied and practiced yoga for over four years. She has been involved with Street Yoga since May 2008.
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  Laura Scher believes that yoga is a powerful tool that can be used by teens to manage stress and develop confidence. She has been a committed student herself since 2003 and began specializing in work with adolescents in 2006, upon completing her teacher training. She has designed and implemented empowering workshops at the Omega Institute's Teen Camp for three summers, and spent significant time living and studying at educational communities around the globe including Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Mount Madonna Yoga Center and Punta Mona Center for Sustainability. She has volunteered as a health mentor for inner city teens and led high school students abroad on community service and leadership training programs. She has been working with street yoga since moving to Portland in 2009, teaching at residential and mental health facilities for teen girls. Laura holds a BA with a concentration in the Sociology of Medicine and has extensive training in a wide variety of meditation and yoga traditions. She is interested in pursuing a graduate degree that explores the effects of these traditions on cognitive development.

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  Stacey Sperling has been teaching yoga since 2003. She considers it an honor to introduce and guide others yogis in these incredible practices that, while deeply transformative, also powerfully affirm our own innate wholeness and beauty. She teaches Vinyasa-style classes in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and incorporates restorative yoga, pranayama and meditation into her work. Under the auspices of the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, she was one of the founding teacher-members of the Riker's Island Project and taught yoga to incarcerated youth for two years. Stacey completed training through the OM Yoga Women Cancer Survivor program, and brought that healing practice to Brooklyn survivors. Stacey completed her 200-hour certification with NYC's Sonic Yoga, a 60-hour certification program at OM Yoga Center in Manhattan, and Relax and Renew, a Restorative Yoga training program. Stacey has worked extensively training new yoga teachers in New York since 2005 with Sonic Yoga's Center for Yogic Studies 200-hour training program. Having completed the Street Yoga teacher Training in NYC in 2010, Stacey is thrilled and humbled to be teaching homeless youth through the mental health program at Covenant House in Manhattan, and really appreciates the connection to and support from Mark, Adrienne and everyone at Street Yoga.

• Mary Kay Bisignano-Vadino is passionate about the transformational power of yoga.  She believes that yoga has something to offer everyone looking to find a greater level of health, happiness and peace. She began practicing 12 years ago while recovering from a broken foot, an injury that interrupted her life as a dancer. Yoga quickly became an integral part of her life. As a professional dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, she has spent most of her life pursuing movement as an expressive art form.  Yoga has heightened her awareness of, and deepened her commitment to living fully in mind, body and spirit. She teaches two Street Yoga classes - one at NeighborCare's Homeless Youth Clinic and one at West Seattle High through the YMCA.  Mary Kay is dedicated to sharing her love for yoga to students of all ages and levels of experience with a sense of curiosity, compassion and joy.

• Beth Owen took her first yoga class in the 8th grade, and then began a regular practice in high school. She instantly fell in love with its ability to energize the body and calm the mind. Yoga brought on her passion for holistic well-being and inspired a career in massage therapy. Afterwords, Beth completed an intensive yoga teacher training in '09 at Samadhi Yoga in Seattle. And now, she loves sharing her yoga passion with under served populations who could benefit from it the most.
• Shelly Thorn, RYT, I enjoy teaching fun, flowing yoga classes that are adaptable to all experience levels. I weave elements from a variety of styles including
  Vinyasa Flow, General Hatha, Yin, Viniyoga, Power Yoga and other traditions. I am honored to share the wisdom of yoga with all who have a willingness to experiment. If you can breathe, you can do yoga! I especially love working with teens in my Street Yoga classes who report fewer aches and pains, more calmness, and greater energy to stay awake in class!
  
• Lauren Trank began her yoga journey in the late 1990's; it was not long before she was hooked.  A free week at a NW studio with amazing teachers and heated rooms kick started her daily practice on and off the mat.  In the fall of 2008, Lauren completed the 200 hour teacher training and in February 2010 attended the Street Yoga training.  Now, she enjoys volunteering on day a week through the SY program and continues to practice at home and at local studios.    
• Monique Terner is a child advocate and, by profession, an educator.  She enjoys witnessing the natural sense of wonder in children, as they try new things and make discoveries about themselves and their environment.   Monique has worked with children in inner city schools, private schools, public schools, home schooling communities, parks and recreation programs, and in a variety of non-profit organizations serving at-risk youth.   She has been practicing yoga for seven years and has a strong appreciation for the depth of experience which is possible in a yoga practice.  Monique was recently certified in Yoga Calm• for children. Using yoga and the arts, Monique hopes to provide a space where children can experience a sense of peace, well-being and confidence.
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  Jillian Wood took her first yoga class in college, and it changed her perception on life entirely. She knew she could handle anything with yoga at her core. She has been a dedicated practitioner for over eight years and has been teaching for two. She is an RYT 200 hour yogi, having lived at Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, California. While there, she cooked vegetarian food for various yogis and groups, and went on to receive her Yoga Alliance certification in Baja Mexico at Yandara Yoga institute. She has been volunteering with Street Yoga for over a year, teaching in a correctional facility for teenage girls. She loves working with children and teens, and has since realized that she would like to go into teaching as a profession in schools. She is currently attending University of Portland for her Master's of Education. She would like to continue to teach underserved populations and share how yoga can make a positive difference in their lives.

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  Bill Wyland's overall philosophy is rooted in the Vinyasa tradition where the practice of yoga is applied to the overall approach to living. One should use the skill and awareness yoga creates in all the foundations and rhythms of life, including health, sports, relationships, work, and personal evolution. Bill is owner and managing partner of Align Integrative Wellness, LLC. Together, with his sister Savonn they oversee the growth, development and vision of Bernal Yoga, San Francisco, CA and Sellwood Yoga in Portland, OR.