Bridget Shields, Heart of Yoga Bio, NYC, 2006

Bridget Shields

Bridget has been cultivating a breath-based heart centered yoga and movement practice for nearly15 years, is a Reflexologist and 500 hour RYT Certified Instructor through Be Yoga/YogaWorks and Heart of Yoga. It is with deep devotion and gratitude she continues to dive deep in Yoga of Heart and share the vital, luminous and authentic methodology Mark has generously cultivated, shared and maintained.

Through this essential guidance and the ever-expanding heartnet of friendship, she continues to nurture and pass on the mission that a yoga of heart continues to provide the essential elements of an individualized practice and maintains the body’s innate intelligence and ability to heal itself.

Regardless of condition, sharing Yoga of Heart radically helps nurture and facilitate the journey back to the center to fully experience one’s essence, gifts, strengths, radiance and provides a foundation to navigate the full spectrum and cycles of life and nature. Many of her clients and friends have greatly benefited from these timeless principles and many of whom have embraced the delicious benefits YOH provides, regardless of lineage or disparate western yoga experiences. Also benefititng are many in recovery and healing from cancer, depression and other unusual conditions traditional western medicine has been limited to “cure”.

Three years ago, the timeless principles heart of yoga were instilled for her own recovery from a cancerous tumor, and in turn flows through to her students and friends. She recently received a grant from the NOK Foundation to study in a small village ashram in southern India where she immersed into the ancient healing modalities of marmachilkilsa, theraputic marma massage, sacred and traditional herb and oil preparations, and an ongoing in-depth inquiry into tantra, yantra, mantra and ayurveda. She is currently under the tuteldge of Sri Mayatitandana completing certification hours from Wise Earth School of Ayurveda.

Also infusing her ongoing study of wellness is gratitude to Dr. Pratima Raichur, Ayurvedic Practioner and Naturapath who she currently assists. She has an in-depth holistic health background and ongoing study of Homeopathy, Flower Essence Therapies, Accupressure, Aromatherapy, Thai Yoga and has studied Anatomy with the Breathing Project founders Leslie Kaminoff and Zack Kurland.

She is known for her warm nurturing presence and healing gift of touch that has guided many students to create a seamless heart centered, breath based vital and delicious practice.

Bridget do the Bow

She currently teaches and leads workshops in NYC at Yogaworks, Brooklyn YogaLab, Devotion and is Yoga Director for Oasis Day Spas, has been featured in New York Magazine, Day Spa Magazine, TimeOut NY, New York Sun and has appeared on Discovery Channel with heart surgeon Dr. Mehemet Oz, co-author of bestseller, “You the Owner’s Manual”. She leads retreats in Mexico, India and NY specializing in theraputics, gentle breath flow, Restorative, Partner, Pre and Post-natal and Aromayoga. Her background is in Fine Art Management for Private and Corporate Collections and she holds her Masters in Photography from Bard College.

646.373.1336


http://bridgetshields.com

"There is boundless love within. It is supremely true. We inhale and
exhale because of its pulsation. The prana circulates throughout the
body due to the throb of love. It is love which is given the eyes the
ability to perceive forms. This independent love is eternal bliss..."

- Baba Muktananda



New York
New York Coordinator
Jeremiah Brimlow
PH: 212 255-4182
Cell: 917 596-2568
Melissa Forbes

reachm@yahoo.com
Amy Matthews
(917) 843-9537
(212) 529-0645
spiralamy@aol.com

Amy Matthews, CMA, RSMT/RSME has been teaching movement since 1994, and is a Motherhand Shiatsu practitioner, a Certified Laban Movement Analyst, and a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator. She is on the faculty of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, and teaches asana classes and anatomy workshops at Yoga Union, Movements Afoot and the Breathing Project in New York City. She teaches with Alison West on Yoga Union's Teacher Training program, and as part of Leslie Kaminoff's Teacher Training program at the Breathing Project.

Amy is certified by Heart of Yoga and Yoga Union, and is registered at the 500-hour level through Yoga Alliance. She studies yoga with Alison West, Mark Whitwell and Kevin Gardiner, and studies kinesthetic anatomy with Irene Dowd and Body-Mind Centering™ with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.

Jason Brown
(212) 387-9636
yogijbrown@aol.com
www.yogijbrown.com

My personal practice is rooted in Hatha. I am studied in four major "styles": Ashtanga, Iyengar, Sivananda, and ViniYoga. I have studied with Richard Freeman, Alison West, Katchie Carlson, Swami P. Saraswati (of Rishikesh- India), Robin Janis, and Marc Whitwell. After 7 years of practice, 5 years teaching, I have never aligned myself with any one system, instead choosing to combine the elements from all of them that I find most useful, creating a practice that breathes and changes with my needs. I maintain a rigorous asana and pranayama practice and live according to the principles of Yoga as I have best come to understand them. I teach what I practice and do not consider them as separate. I embrace any and all forms of compassion, and wish all beings well.
Zack Kurland

Zack Kurland is a yoga therapist in New York City, where he lives with his wife and son. He is a member of the teaching staff at OM yoga center, where he trains teachers in yoga therapy; is certified through the Heart of Yoga Association; and is a member of the Yoga Alliance and the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Kurland continues to educate himself in yoga therapy and Ayurveda in the United States and India. He has written articles for and been featured in Fit Yoga magazine and Yoga Journal.

For more information on Zack Kurland yoga therapy, upcoming workshops, and yoga therapy trainings: Zack Kurland
Yoga Therapist at OM Yoga
826 Broadway 6th floor
New York, NY 10003
917-699-1168
zack@zackkurland.com
www.zackkurland.com
Carl Horowitz
(917) 301-1616
upsidedowncarl@yahoo.com

Carl is a New York City yoga teacher who is most interested in revealing effective ways for individuals to personalize their practice. His gentle yet intense style of teaching focuses on linking movement with breath. It is based on the principle that there is an appropriate yoga practice for everyone and, in order to achieve the best results, this practice must be adapted continually to suit the individual's changing needs. One of his talents is the ability to see what the student requires, creating a balanced practice that leads the student in the appropriate direction. He feels that the effects of a thoughtfully designed yoga practice will help bring focus and clarity, enhance your experience of life, and enable you to perform to your fullest potential.
CHRISSY CARTER
yogachrissy@yahoo.com

In the daily struggle between the head and the heart, and in the often-clouded view into the soul, I devote a constant and heartfelt effort to harnessing my breath and finding a Yoga, or union, between my Life and the world around me. I'm constantly amazed by the profundity of this Yoga, not only in the manner it has unveiled itself to me on my mat, but in how it has overflowed into my everyday Life. This passion led me to Be Yoga in New York City where I studied with its founder, Alan Finger, and completed my 500 hour certification in the ISHTA yoga tradition (Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra and Ayurveda). After four years of working as an equities sales trader on Wall Street, driven by and drowned in the ego, I chose to follow my heart and embark on a new adventure as a yoga teacher. I'm thankful to have met Mark and I hope to pass along his teachings in the way that they've infused my own Life, emphasizing the heart, not the ego, as the guide to unfolding the practice. Thank you, Mark, for your simple but powerful grace in making this amazing Yoga available to everyone. Namaste.
Lalita
(Kate Rabinowitz)
631-267-3354
KWR1080@aol.com

Practicing hatha yoga since 1975 and teaching since 1986, I have studied extensively with BKS Iyengar in India, and have been certified by Karin Stephan in Boston and Dona Holleman in Italy. I incorporate shiatsu, oriental medicine, Ayurveda, hands-on-healing and traditional arts into my work. After 30 years of devotion to these forms, my recent immersion in the yoga of Krishnamacharya has liberated the essence of all of them.
Incorporating the breath, bandha, mantra and yantra into my practice has revived the joy and healing power that I first felt when I discovered yoga.
Through adapting the practice to who I am and what my life circumstance is, I have found myself more able to serve the individuality in others. Meditation, pranayama and asana have come together for me as one practice, affirming the being within that is already perfect.
Thank you to Mark and to your lineage of teachers for bringing this work to all of us.
Lalita teaches group and private classes in East Hampton, NY.
 

Yoga is your direct participation
absorption in the given wonder
the extreme intelligence of life
that is of course in every person
every creature
you can do this
it's not a search
it's not to use the mind
it's not to use the body to try to get somewhere
as if you are not "Somewhere"
as if you are not the full blown wonder of life
dependent on a vast process
for your own existence
so there is a right yoga for you
you learn to do that yoga
and then you too can enjoy this direct absorption
participation in the nurturing force that is life already given to you
you are completely loved
completely loved
you are completely cared for
everybody is completely loved
completely cared for
even if the social conditions are suggesting otherwise
even if your mind doesn't recognize it
by doing your yoga practice on a daily basis
actually and naturally
not obsessively
you too can enjoy this direct absorption
in the wonder that is this life
in all conditions of life including the unseen source
which is responsible for all this appearance here
please enjoy your yoga
YOU ARE HERE NOW


This is a simple argument.
It is easier than easy.
So simple, we seldom speak of it and do not grasp it.
But once seen, it is obvious
and we feel the stark reality of our life,
unmediated by the mind of doubt.

The idea of human imperfection
that is deeply ingrained in the social mind,
in old scientific and religious thinking
blinds us to the perfection that is already in us,
as us, as Life itself, as Nature "her"self.

We are not separate;
we cannot be separate from Nature,
which sustains us in a vast interdependence with everything.

The universe comes perfectly
and is awesome in its integration and infinite existence.
It is our natural state.

Our mission and passion
is to provide the spiritual
and healing powers of yoga
to all who recognize the ancient wisdom
and the wisdom of your own body and mind.

Mark's Hridaya Yoga Sutra
describes the spirit of
Yoga of Heart: the Healing Power of Intimate Connection