| About the
Instructors About Kripalu
Yoga
Dream Yoga Studio
and Wellness Center is a private
studio nestled in the heart of downtown McLean, Virginia, in
McLean Professional Park, near Tysons Corner about 2 miles
from Beltway 495. We offer hatha & vinyasa
flow yoga classes for all levels of students. We also
offer Meditation classes, instruction in "The Five Tibetans"
(an ancient yoga practice known as the "Rites of Rejuenation"), and
expert Dream Interpretation/ Dream Group Leadership. Our Healing
Arts Services include Therapeutic/Deep Tissue/Sports
Massage, Thai Yoga Massage /
Bodywork (NEW!), Reiki, Polarity Therapy &
Manual Lymph Drainage.
Private
and Semi-Private YOGA Classes and Small Group
Instruction are also offered at the Studio and at your
location. Yoga Parties for Children and Adults, and Corporate
Yoga Sessions are also available. (See Other
Services.)
Classes are offered on a
first-come, first-serve basis. In all classes, students
are encouraged to practice yoga at their own pace in a supportive,
non-competitive environment.
Dream Yoga Studio features Hatha yoga
mainly in the Kripalu Yoga style—a yoga practice that teaches
the basic mechanics of yoga postures and breath…while encouraging
inner focus, feeling, and mind-body awareness.
(Kripalu is the largest center for yoga and
health in the nation.) Classes include
centering, warm-up movements, postures, and deep relaxation.
Personal safety and enjoyment of the yoga practice are emphasized.
Students are invited to listen to and honor the “wisdom of the body”
and work according to the limits of their individual flexibility and
strength. You leave the class feeling uplifted and
centered.
The Studio is owned and
directed by Professionally Certified Yoga Instructor Luann Fulbright. Meet Luann and
the Studio's other highly
qualified instructors & Healing
Arts service providers below.
All yoga props needed for use
in classes at Dream Yoga Studio--yoga mat, blanket, strap, blocks,
eyebags, etc.--are provided. You're certainly welcome to bring your
own props, if you wish.
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS &
Healing Arts Service Providers!
 Luann
Fulbright (KYT-500 &
RYT-500, MA). Luann is the owner and director of Dream Yoga
Studio. She is certified as a Professional Level Kripalu
Yoga Teacher (500-Hour KYT), and is a
Registered Yoga Teacher (500-RYT) with the National Yoga Alliance.
She has also completed teacher training
in the Iyengar/Anusara styles of hatha yoga.
Luann created the for-credit yoga program at George
Mason University (PHED 129-Introduction to Yoga; and PHED
130-Intermediate Yoga) in 2005. She's a long-time member of
the Mid-Atlantic Yoga Association, as well as a
member of the International Association of Yoga
Therapists.
A dedicated
yoga student herself, Luann has studied with and is grateful to many
of the nation's top yoga teachers. These have included Betsey
Downing, founder of the The Health Advantage Yoga Center in
Herndon, Virginia; Doug Keller; Kripalu/Pranakriya
Master Teacher Yoganand Michael Carroll; Jonathan Foust,
founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute of Washington; Advaita
and Kashmiri yoga master Richard Miller; Judith Lasater; Anusara
Yoga Founder John Friend; Chakra system expert and author Anodea
Judith; Viniyogi's Lex Gillan and Stan Hafner; and the Swamis at
Satchidananda Ashram/Integral Yoga Center.
Luann began studying and practicing yoga in
1979, and has been teaching yoga since 1999. She has
been amazed at what yoga can do for the body, mind and
spirit. She began yoga, like many do
today, to better manage stress. Not only has yoga helped her do
this. It’s helped her overcome several physical challenges—including
arthritis in her wrists, pleurisy, a painfully swayed back and, most
recently, torn meniscus (using yoga for healing the knees instead of
surgery). Even more, yoga has strengthened Luann's love and
sense of awe. Her goal as a yoga
teacher is to inspire her students to embrace yoga as a tool to
help them become healthier. To make their bodies more limber and
strong, their hearts more open and joyful, and their minds more
clear and calm.
Luann is a
national education/freelance writer, with a B.A. in
Journalism and an M.A. in Organizational Communications. She has
been the Communications Director for a national education
association and two school districts. She has taught
Interpersonal and Small Group Communication at George Mason
University. In addition to Yoga, she enjoys
Dreamwork--interpretation of
dreams--with individuals and groups. She has completed a
two-year Dream Group Leader Certification Program with The Haden
Institute, and has been an active member of dream groups since 1998.
She is certified in Reiki.
Luann is committed to the importance of
personal, one-on-one communication with her students. You're always
welcome to email her at Luann@DreamYogaStudio.com or call her at the Studio at 703-448-YOGA (9642) or
her home office at 703-917-0067.
Sheri Bergen is a
Certified Yamuna® Body Rolling Practitioner trained at
the YBR® Studio in New York City. She has
practiced as a Certified Massage Therapist for 13 years. Her
bodywork techniques include Swedish, Deep Tissue Massage,
Trigger-Point Myotherapy, Myofascial Release and Reflexology. Sheri
is a gifted teacher who enjoys singing, dance, cycling, yoga and
language.
 Danielle
Brand-LeMond (KYT-200+,
RYT-200, MA). Danielle is a certified Kripalu yoga
teacher who delights in helping her students feel more comfortable
and centered in physical, mental and spiritual capacities. She
is also a Traditional Thai Yoga Massage/Bodyworker, certified by the
Thai Institute.
Danielle teaches yoga
throughout the Washington, D.C., area, including as an adjunct professor
at American University. She holds a
Master's degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and
facilitates workshops on spirituality and peace-building in addition
to freelance writing. In her writing, facilitation and teaching,
Danielle strives to draw out the connections between wellness and
inner and outer peace. She encourages self-reflection, compassion
for self and others, and awareness of the ethical and philosophical
aspects of yoga. Through this, she believes she is helping people
create healthier and more peaceful lives…which, in turn, can radiate
out into the world community. In addition to yoga,
meditation and spirituality in general, Danielle has a passion
for dance, hiking, animals, the environment
and travel. Danielle lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and
their hound dog.
 Maggie Bukowski (RPP,
M.ED.)
Maggie is a Registered Polarity
Practitioner (RPP) and Manual Lymph Drainage Therapist. She has been
in the healing arts since 1999. Before that, she spent 20 years as a
special educator working with students of all age levels and various
disabilities. She considers her yoga classes and bodywork sessions
an honor to give and often combines both modalities to provide a
relaxed, safe experience for her clients/students. Maggie is a
strong believer in the goodness of people and their ability to
create peace and healing for themselves and the world, within the
practical framework of everyday life.
Caroline
Hesse (500-Hour BYT).
After many years of traditional exercise and athletics, and
several years of daily intensive karate practice, Caroline’s back
had reached its limit. Per her mother’s suggestion, after much
resistance, she gave Bikram yoga a try. The heat and athletic
nature of the Bikram class was addictive and eventually led her to
take the intensive, two-month long, 500-hour Bikram Yoga Teacher
Training in Los
Angeles in Fall 2001. With a renewed
back, she set out to teach Bikram, but quickly grew out of the
practice after several years.
The next
evolution in Caroline’s yoga journey began in 2002 when she met
Amrit Desai, prominent student of Swami Kripalu and founder of
Kripalu Yoga Center. After taking an
Amrit-style class, Caroline realized that she had been very much out
of touch with her body, even with a regular Bikram practice.
This class and its unique meditative and intention-based approach
was a true awakening! Caroline further studied with Yogi Desai
in 2003 participating in a Yoga Nidra (literally “yogic sleep”)
meditation intensive at his ashram in Florida. This added yet
another layer of dimension to her yoga practice. Upon
returning from the intensive, she was frustrated to find no Amrit
teachers in the D.C. area. After practicing solo for a while,
she was serendipitously introduced to Luann’s Kriplau classes at
Dream Yoga Studio in 2004! She continued her yoga
practice at DYS through pregnancy and after the birth of her
daughter in July 2006. Caroline’s love affair with music and
yogic chant led her to study with kirtan master Jai Uttal at Kripalu
in 2005. She is also an avid self-study student of nutrition,
wellness and healing arts.
Caroline is currently in
the midst of working on her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification and
is planning to do a Yoga Nidra teacher training in the near
future. She is excited about sharing yoga and life’s journey
with the DYS family.
Katherine
'Kat' Katz
(KYT-500,
RYT-500 & Certified Massage Therapist). Kat began her yoga practice
as a student of Dream Yoga Studio in early 2000. Her love of yoga
led her to seek basic and advanced yoga teacher training. She’s a Professional Level
Kripalu Yoga Instructor (500-Hour K.Y.T.) and a Registered Yoga
Teacher (500-R.Y.T.) with the National Yoga Alliance. She has taught
all levels of yoga, from gentle to vigorous, at various area studios
and enjoys working with students of all abilities, including teens.
She received her 200-hour certification in 2004, and received her
500-hour certification in 2007. She is currently finishing up her
second 500-hour training in Pranakriya Yoga with Yoganand Michael
Carroll.
In
addition to being a yoga teacher, Kat is a graduate of Northern
Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage and a Nationally Certified
Massage Therapist (C. M. T.). She is also an artist.
Teens enjoy her instruction, which is skilled as well as playful
with postures. They find her to be someone they can relate to.
Kandace
Laass (KYT-500,
MBA). Kandance is a
500-hour Kripalu-certified teacher. Kandace has practiced yoga for
over fifteen years and has been teaching in the Washington, DC area for the past five years.
She works with multiple populations-from students in their twenties
to those in their nineties-at locations including corporations,
community centers, and assisted living centers. She is also a
certified Thai Yoga Massage practitioner studying at the Lotus Palm
school of Toronto, Canada. Kandace has an
MBA degree with a concentration in leadership and currently consults
with a number of non-profit organizations.
 Edie Lazenby (RYT-200). Edie, a registered yoga teacher with the
Yoga Alliance, has been teaching yoga full-time since 2005, the same
year she began teaching children of all ages. She has taught
mom’s with their infants, toddlers, elementary-aged school children
and teens, as well as adults. Edie had on-the-job training at Yoga
Tales and has since become their teacher-trainer. She also took an
introductory workshop with Budding Yogis and Radiant Child, Levels I
and II. Her experience includes teaching family yoga and
parents/caregivers with their toddlers. Currently teaching children
at Willow Street Yoga Center, she also goes into
individual homes to share family yoga with those who request it.
Her teaching style invites creative expression and her hope is
that each student, of all ages, has fun and gets to know herself a
little better through the process that is yoga—a joining of body,
mind and spirit as well as the community that results from sharing
the practice in each class. A graduate of Willow Street Yoga’s
teacher training in November of 2008, her first training that
launched her teaching career was at Fit Physique in 2004.
Kelly
Monahan
(B.A.,
Certified YogaFit Instructor) is a soon-to-be five-year student of
Dream Yoga Studio/Kripalu-Style Yoga, and is certified as a YogaFit
Level 1 Instructor. As the former assistant Junior Varsity Coach for
O’Connell High School’s women’s lacrosse team, she taught the team
yoga to help improve their mental clarity, athletic ability, team
involvement and overall well-being.
Kelly teaches Kids and Sports Therapy Yoga “Boost
Camps”/classes at Dream Yoga Studio, as well as Yoga Parties for
children and teens. Kelly also works for a mobile enrichment program
called YogaTales bringing yoga to preschools, middle schools and
high schools throughout the Washington, D.C.; and teaches yoga to 2 to
5-year-olds at Langley Children's Center.
While earning her B.A. in Religious Studies, Kelly focused on
Buddhist practice and psychology. Her goal as a yoga teacher is to
give children a chance to express themselves openly and creatively.
“I gently teach good manners and listening skills, but I primarily
try to let kids be kids,” Kelly says. “I want children to
learn classic yoga while understanding you can do yoga in many ways
on and off the mat.” Kelly also enjoys showing children and young
adults how to use yoga to prevent and overcome sports
injuries.
 Mary Partlow Lauttamus
(RYT-200,
MSW).
Mary is a certified Vinyasa yoga teacher originally
attracted to the practice of yoga as a way to bring balance and calm
into her incredibly active life as an athlete. The healing aspects of yoga,
the strength-building nature of the vinyasa flow, and the grounding
and centering that comes with a regular yoga practice have kept Mary
engaged for over a decade. Mary believes there is astounding synergy
between power vinyasa yoga and finding flow in our lives,and she
brings this passion for helping students access a powerful
transformative energy to her teaching. Mary comes to Dream Yoga
Studio after experiencing Kripalu where she found her soul
re-ignited and felt a deep calling to find a new ‘home’ for her yoga
practice and teaching.
Based in McLean as a
transformational Life Coach, Mary works with clients in all phases
and stages of professional and personal change—helping them to learn
to live and work creatively in a world of constant change and flow.
Her approach is visionary, brings hope and renewal, and keeps
clients focused on shaping their inner purpose in the outer world in
which they live. She holds a Masters Degree in Social Work and has
completed training as a grief and loss counselor. Mary has worked in
Washington and at the UN level
seeking support for community programs to serve people in the
United
States and in developing countries
living with HIV/AIDS. She has worked as a frontline medical social
worker and as a teacher in outdoor adventure-based education
settings. Mary lives in
downtown McLean with her
magnificent husband Bill and adorable dog Ruben. She enjoys working
for charity, travel of all kinds, reading and spending time with
friends and family.
 Sandy Pradas (KYT-200, RYT-200).
Sandy is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher
who has been teaching in Alexandria for the past 7 years.
She directs Joyful Heart Yoga and Yoga Retreats. She is also a
certified Reiki master. Sandy has studied with many wonderful
teachers at Kripalu, and is especially grateful to Naresh Ron King
and Yoganand Michael Carroll for their insight and inspiration. She
has also studied with other noted teachers such as Angela Farmer,
Rod Stryker, Rodney Yee, and Gary Kraftsow. Sandy is
fascinated with the way that yoga can make deep and lasting changes
in a person's life, and is honored to be able to share yoga with
others.
 Linda Ugis (Certified
Level 1, 2 & 3 QiGong Instructor; and Nationally Certified
Massage Therapist). Linda has worked as a
massage therapist for 16 years. As a healing arts practitioner, she
does polarity and cranial sacral therapy, Swedish and Sports
massage, as well as stone and pre- and post-natal massage. In 1997, Linda was
introduced to the practices of QiGong (Chi Kung) while attending a
symposium on fibromyalgia. Ever since, she’s wanted to share this
powerful practice that helps people tune in to “the energy around
them that they can harness for healing.” She is thrilled to bring
QiGong to Dream Yoga Studio.
Linda is certified by the Supreme Science QiGong Foundation
in Level-1 Qigong Healing Form, Breath Empowerment & Nine-Breath
Method; Level-2 Qigong Healing Form; and Level-3 Workshop
Facilitator. She was certified by the Potomac Massage Training
Institute in 1992.
 Jon
Waterman
has been
studying and teaching various mind-body awareness practices since
the late 60s. He began practicing yoga and Zen meditation while
teaching the martial arts in college and continued to run karate
schools throughout the 70s. He was a senior instructor and
tournament director for the South East Karate Association, and
served for a year as the president of the Atlanta Martial Arts
Association. Before moving to the D.C. area, Jon spent a few
wonderful years living in the U.S. Virgin Islands where he was a
principal partner in a group of sailing, windsurfing and scuba
schools.
Over
the years, Jon has studied meditation techniques with both eastern
and western teachers. He began to intensify his mindfulness
meditation training in 1996, and has since attended over 100
retreats and workshops, with the majority of this practice in 7- to
28-day silent residential retreats.
He
is one of the founding board of directors of the Insight
Meditation Community of Washington, and has been a member
of the IMCW Teacher’s Council since it’s inception. He began a
personal coaching practice in 2000, and has since co-founded
Mind-Body Health Associates, a partnership dedicated to bringing
applied mindfulness programs into the community and workplace. Jon’s
applied mindfulness programs have been well received in high school,
hospital, prison and business environments. Jon leads ongoing weekly
sitting groups, half and full-day workshops and retreats, as well as
longer residential retreats
Applied
mindfulness is a teaching style that blends traditional Vipassana
(Insight Meditation which is based on Buddhist meditation teachings)
and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. MBSR is a secular program
recognized by health care professionals nationwide which utilizes an
established 8- to 10-week teaching method originally designed by Dr.
Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
The theme of Jon’s classes and workshops is “Connecting the Moments"
by gently cultivating mindfulness both on and off the
cushion.
 Steve Ross
(M.BA.,
Certified Laughter Yoga Instructor). Steve
is a yogi and meditation teacher who received his certification as a
Laughing Yoga Teacher at Satchidinanda Ashram (Yogaville). In 2007,
Steve was challenged by his coach trainer to laugh and have more fun
in life, and found Laughter Yoga. He welcomes the opportunity to
share the many gifts of Laughter Yoga with students and friends at
Dream Yoga Studio. When he's not laughing, Steve works full-time in
telecommunications sales management. He received his MBA from UNC,
and is getting certified as a Professional Leadership Coach. His
partner, Sunny, a yoga instructor, is also a certified Laughing Yoga
Instructor. Steve is from Brighton in the UK and has lived in the
United States for
10 years, in San Francisco and
Reston,
Virginia. He is
acknowledged
for non-profit work with Washington
D.C.'s Capital Partners for
Education and Northern Virginia's
Alternative House (ex-board member); and is currently learning
Mandarin.
Sunny Ho
(Certified
Bikhram & Laughter Yoga
Instructor). Sunny received her Laughter Yoga Certification with Steve
Ross (Dream Yoga’s Laughter Instructor for adults) at
Satchidinanda Ashram (Yogaville). Sunny moved to the
U.S. from
Taiwan in 1998, and has
been teaching Bikram Yoga for the last four years. Sunny also
teaches Hatha Yoga. Sunny will be regularly joined in the Kids
Laughter Club! by her 8-year old daughter, Jillian, who enjoys
potatoes and noodles.
ABOUT KRIPALU
YOGA
Kriplau Center for Yoga & Health
is the largest yoga center in the nation. Kripalu Yoga--the yoga
taught primarily at Dream Yoga Studio--brings you fully present
to the moment-by-moment experience of being alive. The student
performs yoga postures with breath, relaxation and feeling,
which expedites the release of chronic tension and toxins from
the body.
Self-observation without judgment
allows a state of flowing awareness to arise in the mind. This
activates prana, the life force, initiating a natural process of
physical healing, psychological growth and spiritual
awakening.
Kripalu offers a gentle to moderate+
intensity of yoga practice. Postures are built from the "ground
up"—beginning from the proper placement of feet and working up to
the head. You learn proper alignment—how to move and stretch to keep
your body safe from injury. And you’re encouraged to "listen to the
wisdom of your own body," and modify postures to suit your body.
(There are no static "perfect" poses.)
As one becomes more advanced, the
focus is on longer holdings of the postures. In Stage 2 Kripalu
Yoga, students hold the individual poses for extended periods of
time, to "move beyond the physical" and connect with one’s inner
strength and source. In Stage 3 Kripalu Yoga, so much Kundalini
(life energy) is channeled and released in the body that one begins
to let the energy move the body. Adepts move into a spontaneous
posture flow, letting the body guide them. Stage 3 Kripalu Yoga is
called, "Meditation in Motion" or "a state of prayer, expressed in
movement."
Kripalu has roots in Tantric Yoga, so
the body/mind/spirit are linked. The body is considered a spiritual
vessel as much as the mind.
The ability to know all parts of
ourselves with compassionate self-awareness, and to maintain contact
with our core self in the face of all the difficult and disturbing
events of our passing lives becomes the balm that quiets the
colliding thoughts, eases the hurt in the body, and assuages
desperate emotions. -- Kripalu Teacher's
Manual
For more information, go
Here. |
