Yoga Teachers & Hot Yoga Lineage

Teachers: 
The classes in this studio are taught primarily by Martha Gordon, but occasionally substitute teachers step in to teach when I cannot teach.  In my absence, the studio classes will continue through the gracious contribution of a number of highly skilled yoga teachers. For your information, I have included a brief bio sketch of all teachers below:


MARTHA GORDON
MA, LMT, 500 hour RYT
Studio Owner and Principal Yoga Teacher
BARKAN METHOD HOT YOGA, Level I (2005 &  1/2 2006) and BARKAN METHOD HOT VINYASA II & III (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
Baron Baptist Power Yoga Level I (2009)
Licensed Massage Therapist (2004)
Personal Trainer (1999) & Group Fitness, ACE (1998)
all certifications are updated and current

I approach each class with an attitude of reverence and respect for the hot yoga lineage and consider myself lucky to share yoga with students. I began teaching yoga in the gym setting in 2000, unaware of the greater than physical rewards of the practice.

My first hot yoga class was in an old, defunct elementary school in Key West, Florida in summer 2001. Despite the primitive setting—cracked plaster walls, electric heaters with open glowing elements, ancient windows with paint peeling from the sills, mirrors leaned against the west wall-- the enthusiasm and dedication of the dozen or so practitioners in the room was palpable. During the class a little voice in my head kept saying “it’s hot”, “it’s really hot”, “it’s dangerously hot!” Meanwhile the teacher was saying, “don’t listen to that voice in your head telling you how hot it is. The heat is good for you.” I made it through the class and walking back to the oasis of my hotel room, I marveled at how wet I was—even my legs had sweat! I felt really different; cleansed, relaxed, and strangely invigorated and oddly elated as though some weight had been lifted from me. Somehow, I knew this was a unique experience, that what was going on in that room was beyond exercise. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew I wanted to do it again. I checked the schedule for the next class.

The seed had been planted; I was on the path of hot yoga. Within the year, I had signed up for a month long Level I Teacher Training with Jimmy Barkan in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The following spring I went to Costa Rica for Level II & III vinyasa training. I have since repeated two weeks of Level I and twice more the full Level II & III vinyasa training in Costa Rica at the tropical paradise of Pura Vida Spa in the company of the BARKAN METHOD “family” of yogis.

Though I have studied and practiced other styles of yoga, including Ashtanga Yoga with David Swenson, and Kino MacGregor; Transformational Yoga with Max Strom; Anusara Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and have traveled to Yoga Journal Conference in New York City , Vinyasa Uprising Conference in Miami, Florida, and a one-week Level One Bootcamp Teacher Training with Baron Baptist in Tulum, Mexico (Oct 2009), I know my home is in hot yoga.

The origin of hot yoga began in Calcutta, India and the practice was brought to this country by Bikram Choudry. Bikram taught Jimmy Barkan in the early 1980s and Jimmy quickly became his most senior teacher and was responsible for teaching new  hot yoga teachers. In 1983 Barkan opened his own school of yoga in south Florida. That is where I trained.  



ALEX SCHMIDT, Freestyle Yoga
My first exposure to yoga was in the Iowa City Schools when I was in 3rd grade (1979), my teacher had an instructor come in and do a short practice and deep relaxation, I loved it! My next experience was through a health club in 1998-2000 where I practiced under Martha Gordon. Life got hectic and new employment made it “impossible” to get to the gym and I lost yoga again. Then in 2004 Life caught up to me quickly, a 2 story fall left me with a shattered and a severely sprained ankle. I quickly found out how out of shape I was. I began rehabilitating in the weight room and on the stationary bike about 4 months after the fall and after another month and a half I found it to be doing nothing. It was then that yoga came back to me. The health club I joined had yoga classes and I started making the time to go with as many different instructors as possible including Martha. My feet were flattend and my standing balance was less than desirable but I stuck with it and it has changed me. I am currently training under the guidance of James Miller for a Yoga Alliance 200 hr certificate in Freestyle Yoga. Freestyle Yoga is a flow-based yoga that pays close attention to alignment, a balanced sequence of poses and conscious breathing to relieve stress, increase flexibility and build strength. After graduation I look forward to teaching classes in the Iowa City area and working one on one with people in yoga therapy sessions to help them to find how yoga can change them.
When I’m not practicing yoga, I enjoy my family (wife Genevieve and son Connor) and run my own landscape design and build firm, Alex Schmidt Landscape Design.

****************************************

Substitute Teachers:
MARY COHEN, PhD, Yoga Teacher
“Honor where you are.” I heard that phrase from my first yoga teacher, Emily Darling in Kansas City, numerous times when I began practicing in 1998. This concept, rooted in the niyama, santosa, has continued to be a central aspect of my practice and teaching. I am a practitioner of the eight limb path of yoga and find my deepening awareness of these aspects of yoga spills into life off the yoga mat often. On June 1, 2009 I began transcendental meditation training and continue this practice daily. I trained to teach yoga with the Yoga Vedanta Shala School, Max Strom, Kim Schwartz, and many teachers in the Kansas City area. I have also completed Alexander, Laban, Feldenkrais, and Bartenieff Fundamental Training. This eclectic background of movement theory study and yoga training has enhanced my teaching and awareness of body alignment, pedagogy, and practice. In addition to my asana practice and teaching, I founded and direct the Oakdale Community Choir, comprised of medium security offenders at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, university students, and volunteers. I earned my Ph. D. from the University of Kansas and am an Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Iowa.

ERICA RESCHLY, Ph.D., Yoga Teacher
I have always had an interest in a holistic approach to mental and physical wellness. This interest compelled me to obtain a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the University of Chicago. More recently this interest has led me to study yoga.

Although I have practiced yoga intermittently since 1991, I began practicing daily in the fall of 2008 after I injured my back. At this time a friend introduced me to Hot yoga, or Power Vinyasa yoga practiced in a studio heated to 95 degrees. This yoga relieved my back pain and has prevented me from re-injuring my back.

When our family moved to Iowa City in the summer of 2009 I was ecstatic to find a wonderful hot yoga community. I have continued my daily practice in Iowa, under the tutelage of yogis influenced by the Barkan Yoga method. In March of 2010 I began a 200-hour training with Jim Mondanaro at Hothouse Yoga and have now graduated and am a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher.  Jim has trained extensively with Jimmy Barkan and Tony Sanchez, both students of Bikram. In June 2011, I  trained for two weeks with advanced yogi Tony Sanchez in Mexico.  Tony trained with Bikram Choudry -- both in the HOT YOGA lineage.  The experience has profoundly deepened my practice and ability to teach.    

As I continue my yoga training journey I know I am on the right path for helping people develop a more holistic approach to mental and physical wellness. I look forward deepening my own personal yoga practice through teaching this practice to others.

KATE CONNELL, 200 hour RYT
My yoga journey began hundreds of miles away in Massachusetts atop a rented yoga mat in the back row of a poorly lit, small town gym aerobics room. Shortly after I hopped on a one way flight to Iowa and never looked back. From that moment I began challenging my reality and began to redefine my life with the help of the practice I met back in my hometown gym. A few years later, with just as much spontaneity, I cashed in my savings and began studying to become a yoga teacher under James Miller. 
My teaching is rooted in Freestyle Hatha and Ashtanga yoga with room for humor, compassion, and intention. On the mat I have learned that yoga allows us to celebrate a richer, deeper and more passionate life and transforms not only our physical bodies but also the way we encounter our lives, others, and most importantly, ourselves.