 | Alison West, ERYT, CO-DIRECTOR YOGA UNION CENTER FOR BACKCARE & SCOLIOSIS established Yoga Union in 1996 after studying widely and teaching Yoga in NY for ten years. She practiced Astanga Yoga for a number of years while studying Iyengar Yoga for alignment, working in particular with Kevin Gardiner and Genny Kapuler. Alison has studied with many of the senior Iyengar teachers in the United States, and has traveled to Pune to study with the Iyengars. Both her mother’s scoliosis and her own thoraco-lumbar curve awakened her to spinal asymmetry and led her to study with Bobbie Fulz and then Elise Miller, whose certification program she completed in 2005. With Deborah Wolk, she has established the Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis, the first of its kind on the East Coast. Alison has formulated Principles of Practice that can be applied to
most forms of Hatha Yoga, and brings to her teaching the insights born
of the ongoing study of anatomy and kinesiology with master teachers
such as Irene Dowd, Tom Myers, and Gil Hedley for dissection. Alison can be reached at yogaunion@nyc.rr.com or at 212-889-8643. (photo credit: jocelyn filley) |
 | Deborah Wolk, ERYT CO-DIRECTOR YOGA UNION CENTER FOR BACKCARE & SCOLIOSIS That awareness inspired her to complete Alison West’s Yoga Union Teacher Training in 2000. Deborah then studied Yoga and Scoliosis with Bobbie Fultz, completed Karin Stephan's Advanced Studies Program in Therapeutics and Healing in 2003 and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis teacher through Elise Browning Miller's teacher training in 2005. In 2002, Ms. West invited Deborah to teach the scoliosis segment of the Yoga Union Teacher Training and since then she has taught Yoga & Scoliosis workshops in New York City, nationwide and in Europe. She continues her bi-annual teacher training scoliosis workshops for Yoga Union and for Karin Stephan's Advanced Studies Program. In 2003 she created the first weekly Yoga & Scoliosis class on the East Coast. Weekly Back Care classes and tri-annual scoliosis workshops are offered at Yogasana Center for Yoga in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Now, with Alison West, she Co-Directs the Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis and teaches a wide variety of classes for students with back problems and scoliosis including specialty classes for children and classes for students with Harrington Rods and other spinal fusions. Deborah can be reached at dwolkYoga@gmail.com or call 212-677-0064. Please visit www.yogaunionbackcare.com. (photo credit: Alison Bradley) |
 | JEANNE-MARIE DERRICK became interested in therapeutic yoga as a self-study while working through her own injuries. She understands that yoga and therapeutics are synonymous. She has been a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor since 1984. Jeanne-Marie spent many years in the study of women's health through yoga. She has taught woman's yoga sa its own subject in classes dealing the eveyr aspect of women's health from menstruation, fertiility, pre- and post-natal, menopause, and all other health issues including cancer and surgery. She has conducted teacher training programs in women's yoga as well as weekend workshops and week long retreats. Jeanne-Marie has held numerous seminars, workshops and retreats, as well as teacher training programs in the US, ther Caribbean, Canada and Asial The longer the workshop or retreat, the more anatomy, alignment, therapeutics, pranayama and philosophy is integrated into the subject studied. For more information on Jeanne-Marie's public yoga classes, workshops and private sessions, please visit http://www.jeanne-marie.com/yoga.html |
 | WENDY "SANTOSHI" BARONELLO |
 | DEBBY GREEN has been studying and teaching yoga for 15 years, and holds an Introductory Level Iyengar Yoga Teacher certification. Currently, she teaches at Yoga Union for Backcare and Scoliosis, Equinox and privately in NYC. She is certified by The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration as a rolfing practitioner. Her work derives also from many years as a dancer. She studied ballet from a formative age with the great Cecchetti ballet teacher, Margaret Craske.
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 | EVE HOLBROOK has been practicing yoga for 17 years. Introduced to it as an acting student, she was initially attracted to yoga for the relief it provided from her back pain and the insight it gave her about why that pain kept resurfacing. When she moved to New York to work as an actor, yoga became an invaluable resource in dealing with the demands of life as a performer, and she grew more devoted in her practice. In 2001, Eve became interested in sharing the benefits of yoga with others, and began teaching classes at theatre companies and studios in New York City. Since then, she completed a two-year teacher-training program at the Iyengar Institute, earned a national certification (junior intermediate level one) from the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States, and founded The Nerve of Expression, a community project which offers yoga to artists with multiple sclerosis. In June of 2006, Eve traveled to Pune, India to study directly with BKS Iyengar, his daughter Geeta, his son Prashant, and recently returned for two months in the fall of 2008. She continues to study at the Iyengar Institute of New York, where her primary teachers are James Murphy and Lara Warren. She has also studied extensively with Mary Dunn and Kevin Gardiner. Eve has worked as an actor and producer on the Broadway stage, in the film and television industry, and in regional theatres throughout America. She studied acting at Northwestern University, The British American Drama Academy, and The Old Globe Theatre. Eve strives to communicate the possibility of being effortful without aggression, of embodying the depth our ourselves without strain. In this way, as they progress in their practice, she hopes to convey to her students a sense of yoga as a means of developing the mind and bringing insight into the way we live our lives. |
| ROBIN THORPE | |
| MIMI ROSETTI Mimi was diagnosed with scoliosis, at age 16. Following 6 months wearing a Charleston brace, she underwent posterior corrective surgery with instrumentation and fusion. Nearly 10 years later, while simultaneously pursuing a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and delving into her 500 hour yoga teacher training at YogaWorks, Mimi began to reconnect with her scoliosis and the impact of her surgery. Since 2006 she has apprenticed with Deborah Wolk (co-Director of Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis ) and in July 2008 completed Elise Browning Miller's Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Training. She also assists Ellen Kiley in Scoliyoga workshops at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Mimi owes much gratitude to her many life teachers and feels privileged to be a guide for others working with scoliosis and corrective spinal fusions. She happily lives with her husband Brian in NYC. Mimi teaches classes for students with back problems and scoliosis
including a specific class for students with Harrington Rods and other
spinal instrumentation and fusions; the only one in the world! For information on classes, private lessons, and upcoming workshops please contact Mimi at miriamrosetti@gmail.com or call 212-767-9226. |