Linda Aldrich
has been practicing yoga for more than 40 years and teaching yoga in San Francisco for over ten years.  She is a graduate of The Mindful Body Teacher Training Course as well as a lifelong athlete who believes in the physical benefits of yoga for all bodies. Her classes are characterized by rhythmic movement and breathwork in sequences that aim for broad-based release and opening. Linda is also fascinated by the creative processes at the heart of all our lives. She holds a M.A. in Psychology, is a published writer, and works as a Creativity Consultant with writers, artists and people in many fields who wish to bring more personal meaning into their lives. In all these activities Linda is rewarded by continually witnessing the many unforeseen ways students are freed and transformed by their yoga practices.

Tuesday 3:00pm Hatha (All Levles)
Saturday 11:30am Vinyasa (All Levels)

Dee Benefield
Dee has been teaching Hatha Yoga for over 24 years and 17 at The Mindful Body. She received her certification through the Integral Yoga Institute and is also experienced in teaching Iyengar and Bikram styles of Hatha Yoga. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Integral Yoga Institute, a member of the California Yoga Association. Her classes are flowing and instill a great feeling of inner peace, balance and harmony.

Monday 9:30am Beginning
Monday 7:30pm Beginning
Wednesday 7:30pm Beginning
Friday 9:30am Beginning
Friday 4:30pm Gentle Hatha (All Levels)
Friday 6pm Meditation (FREE)
Saturday 8:00am Beginning
Saturday 1:15pm Beginning

Roy Bergmann
Roy is the founder of The Mindful Body and is a Certified Massage Therapist and yoga teacher who has been studying and teaching yoga, meditation and massage/bodywork since 1985. His approach to fitness, relaxation and health draws on his training in Bikram, Iyengar and Astanga yoga styles and on his study of Swedish/Esalen long stroke and deep tissue massage, Feldenkrais, the Alexander Technique and Hanna Somatics muscular release work. His philosophy of health and healing is based on having an appreciation for the power of "mindfulness" or "calm focus" in everyday life.

Friday 3pm Stretch, Release, & Heal (All Levels)

Deborah Burkman
Deborah Burkman has been teaching yoga since 2000. Her Hatha flow teaching style is rooted in Astanga yoga. While her largest influence came from the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, she has integrated what she has learned from numerous other teachers including A. Vankatesh, and V. Shaeshadri, Richard Freeman, David Swenson and others.

Deborah has a gift for making a real and personal connection with each of her students and gives individualized support and direction. Her hands-on adjustments are specific and skillful. Deborah has a strong knowledge of anatomy, and helps students understand how anatomy plays an important role in their practice. Her heart-felt teaching is filled with warmth and humor that make her classes special and inspiring.

Deborah ties bits of yoga philosophy into her classes in order to remind her students that asana is part of a larger tradition that includes balancing the body and focusing the mind, both of which are tools that can help us be more awake in our lives.

Deborah presently teaches public classes at The Mindful Body and privately teaches the staff of Yoga Journal, Twitter, and Value Act Capital. She has been featured in Yoga Journal, 7 by 7 magazine, The Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, and San Francisco magazine. Her well respected and Yoga Journal reviewed DVD can be purchased at burkmanyoga.com and amazon.com. She leads yoga retreats around the world and workshops and yoga intensives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at www.burkmanyoga.com. And check Deb's article in 7x7 Magazine and her spread in Yoga Journal!

Tuesday 6pm Beginning
Wednesday 6pm Hatha Focus (Intermediate)

Gabrielle Cohen
With over twenty years of dance experience, Gabrielle believes in movement as a means for calming the mind and enlivening the spirit. She completed her 200-hour teacher training at Yoga Tree and received her Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga certification from Jane Austin. Her classes are deeply nurturing and full of compassion. Gabrielle emphasizes the breath as the foundation of the yoga practice, allowing students to move from the inside out. Through mindful movements and conscious breathing, her classes are an offering of her passion for peace and an invitation to step out of the mind and into the heart. As a birth doula, Gabrielle believes in the powerful transformation of motherhood and the sacred connection between all women. She believes that every birth is a rite of passage that opens a woman to her deep inner wisdom.

Tuesday 11am Postnatal (All Levels)

Meg Ellsworth
Meg Ellsworth’s approach to teaching yoga is a multi-disciplinary one that combines Hatha Yoga, Vipassana Meditation, and Buddhism in order to offer a complete practice. As a student of yoga since 1995, Meg’s devotion to yoga and meditation lead her to a teaching practice in 2000. Her knowledge and love of yoga, mindfulness and Buddhism has developed and deepened by ongoing apprenticeships with master teachers Sarah Powers and Patricia Sullivan and a decade-long Dharma study with psychologist and Buddhist teacher, Jennifer Wellwood. Meg’s teaching is the distillation of everything she has learned from these teachers, quarterly silent meditation retreats, and nearly 20 years of her own practice. As an endorsed and certified Insight Yoga teacher by the Insight Yoga Institute, Meg is part of the founding collective of mindfulness-based yoga teachers offering Insight Yoga in the Bay Area.

Wedneday 12pm Community Yoga (All Levels

Britt Fohrman
Britt Fohrman creates a healing, loving, and supportive environment for pregnant and birthing women, as well as and new mammas in her work as a pre and post natal yoga teacher, bodyworker, photographer, and birth doula (childbirth assistant). Britt's Iyengar based yoga classes draw on a variety of practices including mindfulness meditation, fluid movement, HypnoBirthing, and breath awareness. These practices help mammas connect with their babies as well their own inner beauty, wisdom and strength. From her experience, Britt knows that the practice of yoga is one of the most effective ways that a woman can prepare to bring her baby into the world in a peaceful, conscious, and loving way. Britt was certified to teach Prenatal Yoga by Colette Crawford, RN, the top specialist in yoga for pregnancy, birth and postpartum, and has also traveled to India to study with the Iyengars. She continues her studies with Judith Lasater and a variety of other teachers, but finds that her most profound education comes from witnessing true yoga in action...women giving birth.

Monday 6pm Prenatal (All Levels)

Chris Fong
Chris Dayaveer Fong has been studying yoga since 2003 and is continuously learning and growing with this living art, both on and off the mat.   Chris trained to be a teacher with the It's Yoga Ashtanga vinyasa yoga family and additionally completed an Intensive with John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga.   He offers playful, alignment-based vinyasa classes.   In class, he encourages being present on the mat so that the practice can inspire awareness of ourselves and environments in the rest of our lives. His classes offer movements and alignment techniques that will help people to stretch their bodies and minds safely and with mindfulness.

Chris views yoga as a form of nourishment for the body, mind, heart and spirit. Yoga has been a tremendous gift that has transformed his life and he seeks to share that special medicine with others. His mission is to practice yoga asanas with an open heart and mind and to aid others in experiencing each moment as a blessing.

Wednesday 4:30pm Vinyasa (All Levels)

Chantel Garrett
Chantel first came to the mat in 2000 in search of pain relief from scoliosis. Later, yoga became a means of carrying, birthing and nurturing her two daughters, and after that, a remedy for anxiety. Today, Chantel is still finding new ways to replenish, refine, and heal her body and mind through yoga, making it one of the most powerful wellness tools she has experienced.  

After Chantel and her husband put a pause on their corporate careers in search of more depth and meaning in daily life, their family of four set off on a three month 'happiness project' in Costa Rica. It was there that Chantel was inspired to connect her love of coaching and mentoring to her yoga practice through teaching, and, through mindfulness practice, make a further connection with a passion for revitalizing mental health care.  

Chantel teaches an alignment-based, medium-paced, meditative Vinyasa flow. Classes encourage students to optimize the balance of strength and flexibility through healthy alignment and cultivation of a quieter mind through breath and meditation. Sequences are intended to build purifying internal heat, leaving students both invigorated and grounded in a renewed sense of calm.

Chantel completed a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Registered training with her primary teachers, Maile Sivert and Caroline Kelley, at The Mindful Body in San Francisco. Both are long-time students of master Ashtanga teacher Richard Freeman, who, along with David Swensen and Jason Crandell, continue to greatly enrich and inspire her teaching style today.

Chantel blends her yoga practice with motherhood, marketing and mindfulness consulting for mental health organizations, mentoring women through career and life shifts, and blogging for the Huffington Post.

Thursday 4:30pm Vinyasa (All Levels)

Renee Heidtman
Renee Heidtman has been practicing the healing arts since 2000. Her unique style of teaching stems from her practice of Vipassana meditation and therapeutic massage background. In her classes you may explore a creative flow with your eyes closed as well as postural adjustments that incorporate massage. Through her commitment to each individual, Renee facilitates a supportive and nurturing environment where students aspire to confront obstacles, meet potential and move at their own pace.

We are heartbroken oto share the news of Renee's passing. Please click here for more information

Khristine Jones
Khristine Jones has been avidly practicing yoga since 2005 and knew right from the beginning that there was something profound for her in the Pratice. Khristine completed a 200 hour teacher training with Stephanie Snyder and Elise Lorimer and she regularly assists Stephanie Snyder in classes and workshops around the bay area. Khristine currently practices Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga, Yoga gives Khristine a way to take care of her self spiritually,emotionally,and physically. She is grateful for the refuge the practice provides for her and her students. It is a way to recharge and connect and to be of better service in the world. Khristine creates a space that is supportive and where you can be yourself. Her classes are a heart centered vinyasa flow that challenge you to go deeper.

Monday 4:30pm Vinyasa (All Levels)
Thursday Vinyasa 6:00pm (All Levels)
Sunday 4:30pm Vinyasa (Intermediate)

Caroline Kelley
Caroline Kelley has been teaching yoga since 2000.   She was originally certified with The British Wheel of Yoga and followed with six months of immersed studies in Mysore, India.   Her most influential teacher is Richard Freeman, a renowned Ashtangi, with whom she has completed in-depth studies.   In her classes she blends Iyengar and Ashtanga principles offering a fluid, breath-focused practice with an emphasis on healthy alignment.

Caroline is also a practicing and certified body-worker as well as an anatomy teacher.   She threads her extensive knowledge of anatomy and kinesiology into her teaching and offers safe and progressive classes for everyone.

Caroline is co-directing The Mindful Body's Intensive Studies/Teacher Training along with fellow TMB teacher, Maile Sivert. Click here for more infromation on next year's training.

Tuesday 4:30pm Vinyasa (Intermediate/Advanced)
Sunday 11:00am Beginning

Rachael McGowen
Having been committed to her own yoga practice for 12 years, Rachael McGowen completed the Ana Forrest 200-hour Forrest Yoga teacher training in 2010. Well-versed in many different styles of yoga, she chose the Forrest training because it is designed specifically for Western bodies and has a heavy focus on breath, healing, hands-on teaching, addressing injuries, alignment, and embodying spirit - all while being delighted by a truly fun and intensive workout. Before returning to San Francisco in 2011, she taught in Charlottesville, VA, at several studios and with private students. She encourages her students to focus on an intention with every practice, and to move this intention, breath, and focus off the mat and into their lives. Along with Ana Forrest, some of Rachael’s teachers include Les Leventhal, Steve Emmerman, Talya Ring, and David Regelin. Rachael is not only an agent for transformation of her students, but through her sustainability consulting firm, re:SHIFT. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Shawn and new son Benjamin.

Tuesday 9:30am Vinyasa (All Levels)
Thursday 9:30am Vinyasa (All Levels)
Saturday 9:45am Vinyasa (Intermediate/Advanced)

Nathan Ng
Nathan's classes are based on ancient Tai Chi, Qigong and Taoist cultivation that brings a balance of inner peace and inner strength to dedicated practitioners.   Nathan has been practicing Tai Chi and Qigong since 1993.   He is a 5th generation lineage of Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan and 21st generation lineage of Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan.   He holds a loving and compassionate space for his students and is gentle, patient and non-judgmental in his teaching approach.   His mission is to empower you to take your health and happiness into your own hands, and to enjoy a balanced and integrated life.

Nathan also offers Hypnotherapy Sessions, Healing/Coaching Sessions and I-Ching consultations to help you heal old wounds, move past any obstacles towards reaching your full potential and remembering your "true nature."   Nathan is currently studying Traditional Chinese Medicine towards licensure as an Acupuncturist and Herbalist.   To schedule a free initial consultation to see what will best serve you, email Nathan at nathan@artoftaiji.com or visit www.artoftaiji.com.

Nathan Teaches Tai Chi/Qigong Series Classes, check the Workshop page for updated offerings.

Liz Palmer
Liz Palmer has been teaching yoga since 2008 and has been a birth doula since 2011.   She received her yoga teaching certification from Yoga Tree and her prenatal and postnatal yoga certification with Britt Fohrman at The Mindful Body.   Connection to one's body and spirit remain at the forefront of her practice and teaching. Liz's main goal as a yoga teacher is to guide people to find their own most innate, fluid and healthy self.

Tuesday 9:30am Prenatal (All Levels)

Charu Rachlis
Charu Rachlis' formal yoga studies began in 1992 upon her arrival to the United States from Brazil. Her primary studies have been with Thomas Fortel. She enjoys the alignment principles of Iyengar and the flow of breath and movement offered in Astanga, and her teaching is influenced by both methodologies. Charu has a Masters Degree in psychology and is a practitioner of Buddhist meditation. She feels that the combination of teaching and practicing yoga is the perfect path leading to the integration of her interests in helping herself and others experience their inherent potentiality.

Friday 9:30am Hatha (All Levels)

Catherine Shaddix
Catherine began her intertwined studies of hatha yoga and Buddhist meditation and philosophy in 1990, and has devoted her life to the exploration of each of these since. She began studying traditional Ashtanga yoga in 1993, and has since studied intensively with Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty, and her main teacher in America, Richard Freeman. Since 2000, she has also practiced under the guidance of the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson, Sharath Rangaswamy, with annual trips to the AYI Shala in Mysore, South India.

She began teaching in 1996, and her teaching style is infused with the co-arising spaciousness and intensity of her Buddhist training. She has practiced with many of the great Dzogchen masters of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, beginning with Trulshik Rinpoche in 1991, and currently with the Venerable Tsoknyi Rinpoche, as well as H.H. the Dalai Lama. She has also trained extensively in the Zen tradition, living for two years at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center, a traditional Rinzai Zen training monastery, with Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

Catherine is currently not teaching

Maile Sivert
Maile discovered yoga in 1996 while living in Vermont. Immediately, she resonated with yoga and could feel there was something special, something indefinable to it. She continues to explore and experience this sensation in her practice today.

Impassioned by Indian culture, she has traveled to India multiple times, and in 2000 she spent three months studying with BKS Iyengar in Mysore, southern India. She considers Richard Freeman, whom she met while living in Colorado in 1998, to be her primary teacher. She continues to study with him annually and has completed three advanced teacher trainings with him.

Maile teaches yoga in an exploratory way, encouraging the cultivation of intuition as a guide. While rooted in the tradition of Astanga, her practice has been nourished by many styles and teachers. She is inspired by the connection between breath and movement and teaches precision in alignment. Balancing tradition with creativity, her classes are an active, yet nurturing synthesis of flowing postures, breath awareness and yogic philosophy.

Maile is co-directing The Mindful Body's Intensive Studies/Teacher Training along with fellow TMB teacher, Caroline Kelley. Click here for more information on next year's training.

Tuesday 6pm Vinyasa (Intermediate)
Friday 4:30pm Vinyasa (Intermediate/Advanced)

Vanessa Tate
Vanessa creatively guides students through the practice of yoga encouraging playfulness and balance between taking risks and recognizing one’s present limitations. By bringing humor, humility and conscious awareness to the mat, students are supported in being more accepting of themselves. A yoga practitioner since 1995, Vanessa knows that with commitment to regular practice, the breath deepens, physical postures unfold, and a deeper connection is formed with the self/soul. She has a diverse background in yoga disciplines though is mainly influenced by Ashtanga. She has completed various teacher trainings and intensives with mentors such as Pattabhi Jois, David Swenson, Bhavani Maki, Rolf Naujokat, Clayton Horton, Kathleen Kastner Mortenson and Richard Miller. Additionally, Vanessa is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist trained in Somatic Psychology and iRest® Yoga Nidra. Knowledge of the psyche/body connection greatly informs her approach to teaching. Ultimately, she considers one’s own intuition to be the wisest teacher of all.

Sunday 8:30am Vinyasa (All Levels)

Gillie Vickers
Gillie first practiced the sun salutations in a yurt on an Ashram led by a loin-cloth clad Indian man. The practice led her to a long-forgotten state of ease and contentment. There was nothing to do but breath and be grateful.   After ten years of study it is still so!

Since her introduction to yoga in 2002, Gillie has enjoyed an Ashtanga-influenced practice.   She is forever grateful for Sensei Kevin Snorf's serious yet playful approach & his encouragement in establishing a personal practice.   Gillie's study of Iyengar specific alignment & restorative poses through the SF Yoga Loft's teacher training program matured her yoga practice into a gift she wants to extend to others.  

Obviously, neither yurt nor loin-cloth are essential to an authentic yoga experience. For her, it is an honor to hold a space in which physical movement brings the mind to a place of stillness.

Gillie is especially grateful to be a part of The Mindful Body community where she is continually inspired by an atmosphere of support, joy & exploration. Join her for a gentle, breath-inspired vinyasa class.

Tuesday 7:30pm Gentle Vinyasa (All Levels)
Wednesday 9:30am Beginning
Thursday 7:30pm Gentle Vinyasa (All Levels)