"Kula"- community, family, like hearted people

Cindy Gibson has eight years of experience teaching in the field of early childhood education. She has recently completed The Child Development Associate National Credentialing Program through Northampton County College. Cindy has over 120 hours of formal education and over 12 hours of child care training. She has attended seminars through Lehigh Carbon Community College and is certified in CPR, Pediatric First Aid, Blood Borne Pathogen, Fire Safety, and Food Allergy training.
Cindy loves working with children and seeing the expression of joy on their faces as they master new skills. Her philosophy is to provide an environment which is safe, fun and nurturing for children to learn and explore.
During her free time she is an avid reader, enjoys gardening, traveling, and spending time with her husband Jim, active sons Alex and Nick, and elderly cat Kaylee.

Deb Biro found herself going to a chiropractor on a routine basis at the age of 21 after a car accident. About 10 years ago a chiropractor suggested Deb try yoga to ease her neck and back pain. Deb began her yoga practice at home using, VHS tapes (remember those!). Then in 2008, when Silver opened Kula Heart Yoga, Deb was thrilled to have a Yoga Studio here in Nazareth and became a regular at Saturday morning yoga practice. Seeing how yoga helped Deb with her back and neck pain, Deb began taking yoga workshops and developed a strong connection to yoga. In addition to the physical changes, she was seeing mental and spiritual changes too. Deb says that, Yoga created a ‘peaceful’ place where she felt safe. Deb’s love of yoga guided her to take the teacher’s training program at the Yoga Loft in Bethlehem, where she recently completed her 200 hour certification. Deb timed completion of her training to coincide with her 50^th birthday. Deb believes in life one must continue to grow and challenge oneself.

Deb is a Demand Planner at Crayola and the mother of a wonderful daughter, Rachel. Both Deb and Rachel reside in Nazareth. In addition to Yoga, you can see Deb swimming at the Nazareth “Y” or walking around Nazareth with her boyfriend Manny.

Florence Corcoran completed her 200 hour RYT Teacher Training through The Yoga Loft of Bethlehem, a Yoga Alliance Registered School. She has been practicing yoga for over 17 years but only "seriously" for six when she was introduced to the vinyasana flow style of yoga with Delia Quigley and Godfrey Devereux. Prior to finding the flow style, she practiced Sivananda and Kripaulu yoga. A long-time athlete she as always practiced and loved physical disciplines such as martial arts, cycling and running. She fully realized the power of yoga when simply learning to use the muscles of her feet correctly to stand, saved her from a foot surgery for tarsal tunnel syndrome. Soon she realized that although she was drawn to yoga for the physical benefits, she stayed with yoga for the mental and emotional benefits. "Yoga creates a calm stability in the body, heart and mind that carries you..it has a quiet, peaceful effect. It makes you feel better and makes you more effective in all aspects of your life".
Florence is an Orthopedic Physical Therapist who specializes in spine care. Yoga has helped her look at the human body in an injured state differently and has deepened her understanding of how to teach alignment principles. "Posture, strength and mobility are so critical to musculosketal health. and Yoga -taught and practiced correctly -is an excellent tool for gaining and maintaining all three. Few, if any, other disciplines offer that".
She lives right here in Nazareth, and can be seen at times, walking or running around town with her canine pals, George and Lucy.

Bev Fatebene: In 2007, Bev completed her 200 hour Anusara yoga training at Yogaphoria, New Hope PA with Sue Elkind and Naime Jezzeny. She is an Electric Utility Supervisor w/ a Bachelors Degree in Accounting, and a Master's Degree in Business. Bev is also currently pursuing an Associates Degree in Electronics. Bev began practicing yoga in July 2005. Since she has completed her teacher training and has also attended workshops of Sean Corne (Vinyasa Flow), Desiree Rumbaugh (Anusara), Lois Nesbitt (Anusara), and Dr Douglas Brooks (tantric philosophy).

Bev is a full-time working mom of one awesome son and a local resident of Nazareth.
"If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice." (Meister Eckhart)

Isabelle Godin is French Canadian and arrived in the US in 1999…Together with her family, her two boys, Charles-Olivier 11 and Felix-Alexandre 9 and her husband Charles moved to Nazareth this summer after living in Sussex, NJ for almost 10 years. In the early 90’s, working as an investment banker in Toronto and Montreal, her mother introduced her to meditation. Her passion for meditation inspired her to take 5 level training in Shambhala meditation. She is forever grateful to her mother.
When Charles-Olivier was born with the most beautiful brown eyes, his special needs ripped her heart open, and filled her whole soul with so much love and tenderness that she decided to stay home and love him with absolutely no boundaries and restrictions. Throughout this journey, Yoga came into her life as an answer to her new stress and pain. In 2001, she received her Teacher Training from Kripalu, ignited her journey of self-discovery, love and healing. Now capable to give so much more love to the world, it has become one of the main purposes of her life.

In the past 8 years, she explored many different schools of Yoga through trainings and classes: Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga,Kundalini, Anusura, Iyengar, Vini Yoga, Chakra Yoga and Dynamic Yoga. Her teachings are eclectic which helps to elevate the body, mind, heart and spirit to higher levels of consciousness and understanding.
After attending a conference on Ayurvedic medicine with Deepak Chopra in Chicago last May, she is studying Ayurvedic medicine in New York City with Kerala Ayurveda Academy ( based in California). In 2008,she received her level2 certification in Thai Yoga massage and bodywork with Lotus Palm in Montreal.

She is also a passionate snowboarder that loves the mountain.

She is looking forward to meeting her students to learn and play together on the mat, as a teacher and as an eternal student.

Living with the quote: “ Always remember to keep a beginner’s mind…”.

Jennifer Hahalis has completed her 200 hr. Anusara Yoga training at Yogaphoria with Naime Jezzeny and Sue Elkind as well as attending workshops with John Friend (Founder of Anusara Yoga), Sianna Sherman (Anusara), Douglas Brooks (Yoga Philosophy) and Sally Kempton (Meditation). She has a BA in psychology from West Chester University, which comes in handy as a stay-at-home mom with three young children.

Jennifer began practicing yoga regularly when she had difficulty becoming pregnant with her third child. Looking for stress-relief, she found that the practice had so much more to offer. Three months after beginning a regular practice, Jennifer became pregnant and practiced throughout her pregnancy with the help of a prenatal yoga DVD featuring Sue Elkind. From that point on, events seemed to organize themselves and lay out a path that would eventually lead to her teacher training with Sue and Naime. “Yoga gently strips away what is unnecessary and reveals more than we thought was possible in our lives.”

Lori Hallman, CYT has been practicing yoga since 2002. She completed her 200 hr RYT teacher training through the Yoga Loft of Bethlehem, a Yoga Alliance registered school. Lori discovered her passion in yoga from Michael Lear, founder of Easton Yoga and continued her journey by studying with Silver Kim and Jessie Thompson, along with Natasha Rizopoulis, Dharma Mittra, Seane Corne, Desiree Rumbaugh and David Swenson, among others. She considers herself a constant student eager to learn more about this beautiful practice which has changed her life and she wants to share its joy with others. She feels everybody can practice some form of yoga, if they'd just try it! Lori hopes to instill compassion to her Ashtanga inspired style linking breath with movement in a vinyasa flow focusing on body alignment which leaves a student feeling challenged, invigorated and peaceful.

Lori is employed as a plant operator at PPL, enjoys traveling, spending time in the great outdoors, swimming, biking and taking long walks with her husband, Jim, and her beautiful "fox" of a dog, Rosie.

Ravi Hari Kaur, aka Janice Bourdage, MSW, LSW, is a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor, psychotherapist, and licensed social worker (PA & NY). With a quarter century of experience as a yoga instructor, she has held long-term teaching positions in Manhattan at such notable venues as the United Nations, H.B. Acting Studios, Universal Force Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga East. She continues to be a guest instructor at Golden Bridge NYC and remains on the faculty of the renowned New York Open Center, where she has taught classes and conducted workshops continuously over the course of 16 years.

Ravi Hari currently lives in Bethlehem, PA, where she teaches yoga, maintains a private psychotherapy practice, lectures about wellness, and counsels adolescents in the public school system. With her background as a writer, professional modern dancer, animal rights activist, performance artist, and physical comedienne, Ravi Hari brings to her classes a love of communication, movement, words, and the workings of the human mind. She is intrigued with the notion of how people learn and is constantly looking for ways to help each individual master the basic building blocks of whatever discipline she is teaching. She believes that while everyone can learn, teaching is for those who can remember a time in their lives when that special someone took the time, had the patience, and then, let go. and watched with joy as you took flight!
Ravi Hari is very grateful and excited to be a part of the Kula Heart Community and, through the Grace of the Infinite, hopes to plant the seed of Sat Nam (Truth is Your Name) wherever she goes.
www.lehighvalleycounselingandyoga.com

Silver Kim:Owner and Director of the Yoga Teacher Training Program: E-RYT, CYT in both the Ashtanga and Anusara methods, with additional certifications in Restorative and Prenatal Yoga. She has over 200 hours of teacher training working towards her 500RYT. She is also a Teacher Trainer for 4 years. She is also a Reiki Practitioner, with a BS in Sports Management and Marketing, and an AAS in Textile Development and Marketing.
After working in the textile and garment industry for over 10 years, Silver began her journey towards bringing more meaning into her spiritual and personal life. She has been involved in sports/fitness as an athlete, instructor and marketing & promotion director for more than 20 years, and has practiced various forms of yoga since 1998. Her style of teaching is eclectic and compassionate, and draws upon her diverse experiences, travels and constant interest in different forms of yoga. She has studied with David Swenson (Ashtanga) , Seane Corn(Vinyasa Flow), John Friend (Anusara), Abbey Brewer (Kundalini & Vinyasa) , Brooke Meyers and Gail Wegodsky (Iyengar), Carrie Parker-Gastilu (Pre-natal) , Jillian Pransky (Restorative), Melanie Smith (Anusara Inspired) and more. In 2006 Silver recieved her Anusara Affiliated teacher certification with Naime Jezzeny and Sue Elkind. Her Anusara training included a Therapeutics module with Naime and Sianna Sherman, as well as Tantric philosophy studies with Dr. Douglas Brooks. She views herself as a constant student always wanting to explore and grow in all aspects of her life. She is currently studying with Elena Brower, and Todd Norian
She is a pragmatist, a romantic and a lover of life. She loves the beaches, mountains, hiking, swimming and traveling. She respects and embraces diversity - living a life that is about learning, connecting and loving (mind, body and heart,) and bringing harmonious union into her life as a mother of two beautiful boys, teacher, and friend.
"Yoga is a spiritual art, living and breathing in harmonious balance and alignment, uniting with oneself, with others and God, fulfilling life's purpose and finding the divine, peace and love in one and all."

Joseph Premecz is a 500-hour Registered Yoga Instructor with Yoga Alliance and AAAI Certified in Mat Pilates. Joe teaches yoga and pilates in North Eastern PA, combining his love of classical hatha yoga with modern power vinyasa yoga, pilates, and strength training. His yoga is inspired by the teachings of Swami Sivananada, Swami Vishnu-devananda, Swami Rama and Yogi Hari. Joe’s creative and accessible teachings support students of every background and lineage, helping them to uncover greater strength, serenity, and self awareness.

John Cosgrove recently completed his 200 hour RYT Teacher Training through The Yoga Loft of Bethlehem, a Yoga Alliance Registered School. His fascination with yoga began in 2004 after taking his first class at Easton Yoga. He says, "I walked out of that class feeling so at ease and peaceful that I just sat in my car for a while not wanting to start the engine for fear it would compromise the feeling". Since then he has practiced regularly at Easton Yoga, Olde Mill Yoga, Yoga Loft, and semi-privately with Silver Kim.
John is retired from a 31 year career teaching high school science, mostly Physics. His curiosity about the natural world and an ensuing sense of wonder energized his teaching of Physics and now flavors his yoga practice as well as his writing and his spirituality.
John's fascination with poetry began in 2002 after he attended a 6 week Dodge Poetry Foundation workshop. At the conclusion of the workshop several of the participants formed a writers group that has continued to meet regularly. He has also continued attendance at the annual Dodge workshops. "I was somewhat surprised that someone with a science background could actually write decent poetry". John hopes to share his love of writing and reading poetry with others via the new Yoga and Poetry workshop at Kula Heart studio.

Marcy Dahl has been interested in yoga over the course of many years, but it was the discovery of Anusara yoga through a foundations workshop which ignited a passion for yoga in her life. Initially interested in deepening her own practice, she completed a 200hour intensive RYT teacher training program at the YogaLoft of Bethlehem in 2007.
Inspired to share yoga and to share her passion with others, she began teaching as a way of guiding others through the wonderful experience that the practice creates mentally, Physically and emotionally.
Marcy is an energetic, yet gentle, teacher who believes in combining different yoga styles to create a well balanced, safe and comprehensive practice which is accessible to everyone. Her teaching style is tailored to the students' need, incorporating a series of yoga postures which have been mindfully sequenced and linked with breath. Marcy loves to share yoga as a way of life which connects us to finding joy in all things.
Marcy worked in the travel industry since May 1983 and has had the blessing of meeting and knowing many people of different cultures. "I honor the spirit in you which is also in me". Marcy lives in Easton with her wonderful husband Tryg.

Deborah Ketter, BFA, CYT, ERYT-500
Moving and stretching was natural to Debbie at an early age, and she later connected this interest with yoga while earning her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. There she grew fascinated by the history and belief systems of the ancient Hindus and was first introduced to yoga asana.Since then, Debbie has been involved in many creative ventures including raising six wonderful children. As her children grew older, Debbie was able to pursue her love for yoga on a professional level. She has been teaching yoga for several years and holds a professional level certification in Kripalu yoga where she now serves as a faculty assistant. Debbie also has certifications in several other forms of yoga and bodywork modalities. She enjoys teaching advanced students as well as beginners and is especially talented in the art of yoga nidra. In recent years, Debbie has combined her passion for yoga with her love of art and teaches classes in both.

John Levis is a Certified Anusara® Yoga Instructor. He has studied extensively with Anusara founder, John Friend as well as many senior Anusara instructors. John began teaching in 2003 and completed his initial 400 hour teacher training with Todd Norian and has since assisted Todd's Immersion and teacher training. John also had the privilege of traveling to India with Desiree Rumbaugh and assisted her while teaching at the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh in 2007.

John began playing ice-hockey at the age of six and played throughout high school. In college, he got heavily into weight-training. In 1999 he was introduced to yoga and left the gym for good the following year. He found that yoga offered a much better work out without all the strain on the body and actually grew over an inch at the age of 30! Since finding Anusara® Yoga in 2002, he has remained dedicated to The Universal Principles of Alignment™ and no longer needs to see the chiropractor. Combining an amazing, therapeutic workout with a life enhancing, heart opening practice inspired by a tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness, John has found his path. John feels that this practice is a way to awaken to the full spectrum of life and to inspire and heal others to align with their greatest potential thus raising the vibration for all. The inspiration of this practice has taken John to India , Egypt , Costa Rica and all over the States as he loves to travel and explore different cultures and perspectives of life.