Amber Tande
Instructor/Owner
Amber has 15 years of experience and practice with yoga. The very first practice opened the door to many avenues of study of holistic healing practice and methodology. Her teaching style is intuitively inspired by students needs, ranging from a strong vinyasa flow to slow, therapeutic structural work. She teaches with a playful spirit encouraging students to find balance between challenge and a joyful exploration of practice. Her hope is to support students and teachers along this magical path of self-discovery, ecstatic awakening, and deep connection to sat guru, the true teacher within, through the beautiful teachings of yoga, with the hope of each student finding a more heightened awareness of their most true, divine nature. She is honored to be a teaching in a time where students are so selflessly willing to challenge themselves in practice and is eternally grateful for the eclectic mix of teachers in her life and their infinite inspiration.
Her highest hope as a teacher and student is to begin the healing of the collective unconscious to one that is compassionate, whole, and bright.
She is a certified Reiki Master, has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Holistic Health Psychology from Bastyr University and a Master’s Degree in Integrative Studies in Psychology with a focus on Holistic Health and Wellness Planning from Antioch University and continues collaborating with others involved in the healing arts to bring students a comprehensive understanding of their own healing potential.
Colin Patterson
Instructor/Owner
Colin received the calling to practice yoga in 1996 while living in Portland. He was searching for an activity that used the body but also created more energetic grounding and spiritual enrichment. With 25 years experience, his first teacher, Diane Wilson was Colin’s first inspiration. After many years of practice, he began teaching classes at Crystal Mountain, before a full day of skiing. He slowly began adding community classes and was soon teaching at a local Kauai studio after studying with a former student of Guru G’s.
In the fall of 2005 Colin took the Samadhi’s teacher training. He was drawn to Samadhi because of its dedication to all the aspects of yoga and because Kathleen was one of the most amazing teacher’s he had ever met. This year he’s had the pleasure of studying with Shiva Rea, Katerina Wen, and Andrea Lappa. These new influences have greatly enhanced my knowledge and teaching of yoga. He is very open about the flow of his classes depending on the people in the room and the energy of the day. He generally likes to incorporate pranayama, meditation and sometimes mantra into the flow of the class. He really likes a flowing type class that challenges the students while keeping them in touch with the subtleties of the poses.
Angela Gayle
Angela Gayle is a true NW native that gets her inspiration from the Mountains and the Sea. Her favorite place to be in Yoga and to meditate is on the high peeks of Mountaintops, next to Rivers and the open beaches of our beautiful Oceans. Whether you are in a Yoga Studio or practicing with her in the Studio of Nature, you will be led through Meditation, Pranayama and unique flowing classes to open the gates of personal development in the way you are looking for with encouragement and strength.
Angela Gayle has been practicing Yoga since 1997 and teaching in Studios around Seattle, Corporate offices and Privates since 2005. She has been guiding tours around the Northwest and offering Yoga in nature since 2005.
Angela Gayle has studied with a variety of teachers in both Yoga Asana and Yogic and Buddhist Philosophy in Studios and Temples in England, New York and Seattle since 2003. “I teach to learn, to experience and feel the true nature of peace inside my heart for no other reason than I just love sharing what I find with others.”
Anne Ha
For a very long time, I wanted to walk down the street and be invisible. This probably originated from early experiences of being different and not fitting in. I didn’t want to stand out. And I surely didn’t think I wanted to teach. Severe back pain had motivated me to start yoga in 1988. As a child I’d meditated, performed prostrations and recited Buddhist mantras with my Vietnamese grandmother. But I knew, despited this lofty-sounding background, I’m not all that special or advanced. I fall down all the time. My life has included its share of difficult and humbling experiences. For a long time this made me shy and reclusive. But in 2002 my yoga teacher moved away, having convinced me to take over her classes. Unexpectedly, I found one of my callings.
Over the years I’ve explored a variety of yoga styles and taken workshops and classes with Ana Forrest, Katerina Wen, Rusty Wells, Jason Crandell and Felicity Green, to name a few. My strongest influences are Andrey Lappa, Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. I completed a 200-hour Ashtanga vinyasa teacher training in 2003 and a 70-hour prenatal teacher training in 2005. But I think this is less relevant — beyond the assurance I’ve done a reasonable amount of yoga studies — than my personal style in the classroom. Than all the things a resume can’t tell you.
If you want an all-powerful, external authority figure just to tell you what to do, and claim to know what’s best for you, then I may not be the teacher for you. I want you to listen to yourself and your body, really pay attention and, primarily, figure things out for yourself. This takes time and dedication and a whole lot of self respect. I want you to be real — not perfect — and unique. I don’t want your yoga to look like everybody else’s. I want you to be you, just as you are. This takes courage. But if I can do it, I know you can, too. I look forward to seeing you in class and having the opportunity to share some yoga with you.
Betsy Shilling
Several years ago, Betsy had the very good fortune of stumbling into a yoga class taught by Cosetta Romani. Betsy’s perception of yoga as merely a means of “stretching and strengthening” rapidly evolved into much, much more. Betsy is now a YA certified yoga instructor leading dynamic, creative, and lighthearted classes that are inspired by Prana Flow yoga. Knowing, loving, and nurturing both self and others is the heart of Betsy’s practice and teachings with emphasis on awakening to the present moment and uniting mind, body, and spirit. Betsy currently seeks to expand her experience and offerings as a student in Shiva Rea’s advanced certification program.
In addition to yoga, Betsy is trained in martial arts, mindfulness based stress reduction, and psychophysiology. At 11-years-old, she began leading martial arts classes and discovered her love for teaching. For the last 3 years, she has taught and researched meditation for stress reduction and women’s health and she currently integrates ancient eastern wisdom with progressive scientific knowledge to promote her students’ health and happiness both on and off the mat.
Namaste to her loved and highly esteemed teachers/mentors: Cosetta Romani and Master Bong Yom.
Brent Morton
“I limped into my first yoga class at age 20, in a lot of suffering. During that first yoga class something quite extraordinary happened; I saw clearly there was a way to go inside. This itself was the revelation, not any particularly strange or exciting experience. For so long I had been trying to understand myself through books and the eyes of other people. Now I saw that there was a way to directly and intimately explore my own mind.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and after that first class, yoga and contemplative practice became the fulcrum around which the rest of my life revolved. I have since completed over 700 hours of yoga teacher trainings, 900 hours of massage and Craniosacral Therapy training, over a year spent in silence on various meditation retreats, and have travelled extensively to study with prominent Yoga Teachers, Swamis, Sayadaws, Ajahns, Roshis, Bhagavans, and Venerables all over Thailand, Burma, India, Australia, New Zealand, and right here in the USA.
“I am also being personally trained by Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Phillip Moffitt, and other widely renowned meditation teachers to teach Insight (Mindfulness) Meditation through the 4 year invitation-only Dharma Teacher Training through Spirit Rock and IMS. After all of this retreat, study, travel, and practice, I feel the greatest thing I can offer to students is the simple practice of mindfulness; the art and science of paying attention to our bodies, nature, our hearts, our minds, and each other. This is the magic… no strange kundalini experience… just the simple joy of being.
Charlotte Cora Powell
Charlotte Cora Powell has been joyfully studying yoga and meditation for over 13 years. Her journey through Iyengar, Ashtanga, Anusara, and more traditional Hatha Yoga has led her to study and practice with master teachers in Northern California, Europe, and all over Asia.
She received extensive formal Hatha Yoga training in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, and is certified to teach through the International Yoga Alliance. Her themed multi-level yoga classes emphasize clarity, compassion, and living with an open heart – offering a practice that integrates the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of yoga. View her website and blog at www.charlottecora.com to read more.
Jenna Crouch
Originally from Seattle, Jenna lived in New York City for six years, where she discovered Jivamukti Yoga, a method founded on the belief that the path to enlightenment is through compassion for all beings. Immediately mesmerized by and awakened to the possibility of Yoga, Jenna was blessed with the opportunity to attend a month-long intensive teacher training with the Jivamukti Yoga founders, Sharon Gannon and David Life. She also completed an additional 500-hour apprenticeship under the guidance of her mentor, Amy Armstrong. From her very first yoga class, Jenna has been privileged to be surrounded by holy teachers and enlightened teachings, and she enjoys sharing what she has learned as well as learning from her students. Jenna’s classes are fun, physically challenging, and emphasize breath awareness and high intention. A firm believer that flexibility starts in the mind, she encourages students to expand their notions about capabilities and limits in a supportive and loving environment.
Jenna would like to thank her courageous and inspiring teachers, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Manorama, and Amy Armstrong who inspire her to be of service, and have given her the tools to do so. She would also like to acknowledge and thank Amber and Colin for their compassion, vision and warm embrace.
Jodi Wellman
Jodi began practicing yoga in 2002, and soon discovered how it allowed her to dance creatively with breath and movement, as well as engage in self-study with greater curiosity and compassion. Jodi’s studies drew her to Southern India where she studied classical yoga and Vedanta philosophy at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala. She has married this deep respect of yoga’s traditional roots to her love of movement and flow through her study with Siva Rea, Anna Forrest, and Tias Little as well as the myriad of talented teachers in Seattle. Additionally, her study of yoga has informed and enhanced her work as a therapist, notably, bringing the wisdom of the body into the conversation.
Julie Bryant
Julie came to yoga in 2003 as a way to bring more movement into her life. Since that time she has discovered how integral yoga is to her connection with self and community. She seeks to share the experience of movement, breath and stillness, as well as humor and play, in her practice and teaching.
Julie completed her foundational training through the 8 Limbs Yoga Teacher Training program and is continuing her studies through their 500-hour program. She has been honored to study with Doug Swenson, Shiva Rea, and Sarah Powers, as well as many others. Julie is also a Reiki practitioner and enjoys the interplay of energy and chakras.
