WSY - TAKOMA PARK

Sarah Dugan, M.Ed., helps teachers learn and grow so they can connect with their passion for their work. Through professional development, instructional coaching, and her signature mastermind program, Sarah focuses on empowering educators by engaging them in interactive learning experiences, structured small-group conversations, and powerful reflection practices. As the founder of Teach Learn Thrive, Sarah is committed to supporting teachers in a way that renews their love for teaching and jumpstarts their ability to transform students’ lives. When she’s not supporting teachers, Sarah can be found on a jogging trail or her yoga mat, in her kitchen trying a new recipe, or with her kids knee-deep in a craft project. She lives with her husband and three children in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Angelique Raptakis is an E-RYT200/RYT-500 Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, and Community Herbalist who looks to nature for inspiration, weaving its lessons into her classes. She believes that through the practice of yoga, we can more easily come to the connection between our body, our breath, our mind, and the universe we find ourselves in.
 
Angelique has been practicing yoga for over a decade. Yoga has helped her recover from injuries, work through grief, and manage anxiety. 8She enjoys working with people in group classes, private sessions, and leading retreats to facilitate a state of balance and connection between mind, body, and spirit, from the physical/material body to the energetic subtle body, through the use of asana, pranayama, and meditation.  

She has completed over 60 hours of training in Restorative Yoga, over 60 hours in Yin Yoga, over 30 hours of training in yoga nidra, completed the Surviving Assault (Yoga Essentials as Early Intervention Following Assault or Trauma) course with Diana Tokaji, and participated in numerous Ayurveda immersions. She will always be a student of yoga and is deeply grateful for the continued loving guidance and wisdom of her teachers. 

Carol Mermey, E-RYT 500, MPH - Health Planning, and retired IT Project Manager has been teaching Yoga since 2004. 

Carol encourages her students to “start where they are, use what they’ve got, and do what they can” while finding the right balance between ease and effort. Her healthy alignment techniques help students develop strength, flexibility, balance, and a sense of well-being and empowerment.

Carol enjoys teaching students of all ages and activity levels in a variety of settings:  yoga studios, workplaces, community centers, health-clinic pain management programs, independent and assisted living facilities, and high school athletic programs.  

Certifications include: ParaYoga Nidra certified instructor; Yoga for Osteoporosis (Loren Fishman); Yoga for Healthy Aging (Baxter Bell); and Brain Longevity Specialist (Alzheimer Research and Prevention Foundation). Carol has completed the iRest Yoga Nidra Level II training and is a graduate of the Duke/Kripalu Integrative Yoga for Seniors Professional Program. Carol trained in Anusara Yoga, and studies with Rod Stryker (ParaYoga). She is currently participating in an evidence-based study using yoga to improve core strength and balance to reduce falls in rural older adults.

Deborah has been practicing yoga since the early 1990's and teaching yoga since 2002. She completed the Body Balance Yoga Therapy Program and has received her 200 hour and 500 hour certification in an Anusara® Yoga program. She is also certified in Dr. Loren Fishman's method of Yoga for Osteoporosis. She brings her experience as an Adult Nurse Practitioner into her classes as well to create a safe therapeutic class environment to promote health and overall well being. She completed the teacher training program and the advanced teacher training program at Willow Street Yoga Center in the Anusara Tradition. Deborah has studied ParaYoga extensively with Rod Stryker. She also runs a yoga program at Friends House Retirement Community in Sandy Spring, MD and is the owner of Bluberry Gardens Healing Center in Ashton, MD. 

Diana found yoga in 2001 as a way to balance marathon running and soon discovered the impact of yoga beyond the mat. She has been teaching since 2016. She believes yoga is accessible for all and welcomes students of all abilities to her classes. She is especially inspired by her work with the blind and visually impaired community. Through this work, she has learned it is easy to get caught up in the visual world and lose sight of our inner wisdom. Diana encourages all students to explore yoga, beyond asana and use their inner wisdom as their guide. You will find her classes blend alignment in asana with breathing to building stronger bodies with personal agency.

Galen (e-RYT 200) believes in the transformative power of yoga to help us learn who we are, and relate to the world with positivity and gratitude for the gift of being alive. A graduate of Willow Street Yoga Center's teacher training program, Galen focuses on the connection of mind and body through the breath, teaching with clarity, attention to sound alignment, and a sense of humor. His intention is to help each person find the practice that best serves them, here and now.

James is passionate about the alternative healing arts. He has been studying personal development for more than 16 years and his practise and teaching combines elements of Yoga Asana, Yoga Therapy, Pranayama, Meditation, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Cranial Sacral Therapy and Shamanics. These diverse practices; although different, have many parallels in their underlying basis of unity, integration and wholeness.

His approach to yoga is based on the work of Vanda Scaravelli, an Italian who studied with J Krishnamurti, BKS Iyengar and TKV Desikachar. The approach is based on awakening the spine through an intelligent practice, which focuses on the natural forces of the breath, gravity and release. 

James is an E-RYT 500. He has taught classes, retreats and workshops in 9 countries and his classes are suitable for all levels, beginner to advanced. His teaching is simple and straightforward, instructions are clear and the healing and energetic benefits are perceived quickly and easily.

Email James at jamesfoulkes@hotmail.com or visit his website, www.jamesfoulkes.com.

Joe Miller, E-RYT500, draws upon his 20 years of yogic exploration and study of anatomy to recognize and celebrate our endless potential to align with the intelligence of the body. With humor and lots of individualized attention, Joe uses his deep understanding of Hatha Yoga, Tantric Philosophy, and Ayurveda to give students practical tools to experience fully this gift of life. Joe co-leads Willow Street's Teacher Training program, and continues to deepen his own practice by studying with his principal teachers and his amazing family.

What began as a way to heal a running injury, became an important (and essential) part of Lisa's life. Always in a hurry to get somewhere or do something, she found that yoga allowed her to slow down, breathe deeply, and move more easily throughout the day.

Lisa's classes include an emphasis on good alignment and breath work, and on assisting students in developing their own yoga practices. Lisa believes that yoga is accessible for everyone and loves to introduce new students to the practice.

She is thankful to have had the opportunity to study with wonderful teachers such as Lucy Lomax, Tara Lemerise, Kathy Donnelly, and many, many more. Lisa, RYT-500, received her training at the Yoga Center of Columbia and has also studied at Duke University's Integrative Yoga for Seniors Professional Training.

Laura Banks is inspired by and seeks to strengthen the capacity to thrive and find meaning throughout life, especially through the cultivation of compassion. Life has been her greatest teacher as she raised her family around the world in a multitude of circumstances. In 2018, Laura completed teacher training to become a Certified Compassion Cultivation Training© (CCT) Instructor, dual-certified by Compassion Institute and Stanford University. Long before this, however, time at Willow Street Yoga as a student and graduate of the yoga teacher training program (2011) informed her exploration of embodied compassion. For this, she is forever grateful. Laura is honored to return and come full circle in sharing lessons learned and evidence-based practices to cultivate compassion. Joyful things in Laura’s life include her family, their dog Harold, running and yoga, poetry, time with friends, and tasty food prepared and shared with others.

Laura has been practicing yoga for over 12 years, and she enjoys the focus on body, mind, and breath found on the mat. Her favorite classes link strong, flowing postures with breath and time for sweet relaxation. 

Lisa Lauxman is a graduate of the Willow Street 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Program. Lisa stumbled on a six-week special Beginner’s Yoga at Willow Street Yoga as she was seeking something to help with balance and flexibility. Lisa found so much more, a community, where following the breath and aligning the body create balance in one’s life. Lisa hopes to provide such balance for others through her classes and have fun. 

Marvin is a Russian Kettlebell Certified Instructor (RKC) and is a National Council of Strength and Fitness (NCSF) Certified Professional Trainer (CPT). In 2006 Marvin achieved the RKC Level-1 and the following year in 2007 achieved the Level-2 certification from Pavel Tsatsouline, (pioneer and founder of the RKC, Russian Kettlebell Challenge). Marvin is the owner and Chief Instructor of the Bowie Kettlebell Club (BKC) in Bowie, MD. He has been in the fitness arena for many years achieving high ranking in various martial arts and offers a course in Self Protection Training as part of his curriculum at the BKC. Marvin has introduced Kettlebells to:

yoga students - martial artist - runners - strength enthusiast - weekend warriors - and people just looking to get a little more functional body movement out of everyday life.

His unique approach to Kettlebell exercises, proper breathing, and joint mobility has helped many students better understand how Kettlebells can be used to improve yoga strength, running and walking endurance, all purpose flexibility, and proprioception awareness in everyday events.

Marvin has been seen introducing Kettlebells on the “Absolute Body Power Series” aired on Montgomery Co. cable TV. Kettlebells have been here in the US for a little over a decade and the correct usage of the Kettlebells is still hard to come by. The magic is in the detail. That's all we do!

Philip Bender (YACEP, E-RYT 500) creates yoga and meditation classes to facilitate greater joy, confidence and connection in the lives of beginners and experienced practitioners alike. His clear style, dry humor and occasional irreverence allow him to share traditional teachings in an accessible way that inspires students to deepen their own relationship with what lies within.

An initiate of the Himalayan tradition, Philip Bender currently follows the embodied path of Dharma Ocean. He leads workshops and retreats as well as weekly hatha yoga and meditation classes at Willow Street Yoga, the Freer Gallery of Art, and Anne Arundel Community College where he offers teacher training through Yoga4Life. Philip's asana practice is inspired primarily by Viniyoga and ParaYoga, but he draws from many sources including Buteyko breathing, his degree in philosophy, experience as a performing artist, eleven years as a dad, and long-term personal practice to impart the profound yet practical wisdom of moving inward.

Terri Shuck is a graduate of the Willow Street 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training and a certified Let Your Yoga Dance instructor sponsored by the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.  Terri began practicing yoga 14 years ago and it changed her life by providing a path for self-care, centering, and well-being in the context of a fast-paced career in Washington, DC. Now she is dedicated to sharing the life-enhancing experience of yoga as a student-centered practice that is accessible to people of all ages.  Her Let Your Yoga Dance classes are designed to enliven our bodies, brains, hearts, and souls with the joy of music, movement, and community.

Tricia is a graduate of Willow Street and Body Balance Yoga teacher training programs (RYT 500), and is a certified Yogahour teacher and certified Body Balance Yoga Therapist. Her classes focus on dissolving tension in the body, creating optimal alignment, and connecting with the breath. She clearly articulates alignment instructions based on her knowledge of anatomy and exploration in her own practice. Tricia is so grateful to share the healing power of yoga with her students so they feel more balanced and vibrant in their bodies, minds, and hearts.

Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and has written a book about the female pelvis, Pelvic Liberation. She is a regular presenter for the Yoga Journal conferences and a regular contributor to Yoga Journal magazine.

Her own struggles with healing her hips and pelvis led her to intense study of the anatomy, physiology, cultural messaging, history and energetics of this rich place. Her teaching is informed by over 3500 hours of yoga study with senior Iyengar yoga teachers, notably Manouso Manos and Patricia Walden. She considers Ramanand Patel her most important influence and mentor. She has designed two very successful studies for UCSF on yoga to alleviate incontinence and pelvic pain. To learn more about Leslie, visit www.lesliehowardyoga.com.

Gary Kraftsow has been a pioneer in the transmission of yoga for health, healing, and personal transformation for over 30 years. He began his study of yoga in India with T.K.V. Desikachar in 1974 and received a Viniyoga Special Diploma from Viniyoga International in Paris, France in 1988.

Gary graduated with a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Colgate University in 1976 and received his Masters Degree in Psychology and Religion from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983. Around that time, he opened Maui School of Yoga Therapy. In 1999, he founded the American Viniyoga Institute™, LLC. Since then, he has become a renowned speaker and teacher of the Viniyoga™ methodology at many conferences and schools nationally and internationally.

Gary has successfully developed protocol for two National Institutes of Health studies: “Evaluating Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain” and “Yoga Therapy for Generalized Anxiety”, as well for the “Mind-Body Stress Reduction in the Workplace” clinical trial for Aetna Insurance Company. 

He is the Director and Senior Teacher of the American Viniyoga Institute™ (AVI), the author of two books published by Penguin: Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation, and author of two educational DVD's: Viniyoga Therapy for Low Back, Sacrum and Hips and Viniyoga Therapy for Upper Back, Neck and Shoulders. He has also produced several online workshops: Pranayama Unlocked, Meditation Unlocked, and Yoga Therapy for Depression.