YOUR YOGA TEACHERS
Lucinda A. Pepper
Certified Yoga Teacher
Founder of Embodied Health, LLC
I have been studying yoga since 1992. On the suggestion and encouragement of my teacher and mentor Kitty Kuluvar, I began teaching in 2005. I attended the Feel Your Best Yoga Teacher Training in 2005-2006 to become an FYB certified teacher and an RYT200 (Registered Yoga Teacher- 200 hr. level) with the Yoga Alliance. I now teach a blended form of Hatha Yoga that includes elements of Viniyoga (therapeutic, individual emphasis), Iyengar (alignment), and Ashtanga (core strength). I strongly focus on yoga ethics, philosophy, and life guidance, including the 8 limbs of yoga.
My yoga specialities include a style of vinyasa (flowing) yoga I developed called Inner Focus Yoga; as well as Restorative Yoga and Prenatal Yoga; utilizing yoga to heal from injuries; utilizing yoga therapeutically to address and heal from the symptoms of trauma; and being a yoga ambassador to communities that have (for many reasons) faced barriers in accessing yoga as a tool for health and wellness.
I am dedicated to continuing my personal practice and continually learning because I love sharing my enthusiasm for the authentic wellness yoga helps create. I have seen amazing changes in my own wholeness and health that I attribute directly to my yoga practice. Yoga is a wonderful tool for people to become healthier, strengthen their bodies, breathe deeper, and become more relaxed physically and emotionally.
Yoga helps people become happier and find joy in daily life, and can be an amazing catalyst for healing from various physical, mental, and emotional traumas. I credit my yoga practice with lifting me from depression related to social and personal traumas; helping me maintain a healthy weight and more importantly, to have a healthy self image; and helping me heal from many physical injuries, including a broken neck in December of 2006.
Yoga is one of many tools that create community. When people come together for yoga practice, we experience our unique selves united in common experience with others. I have seen connections between individuals in a yoga class setting inspire community involvement on a greater scale. This is one of my primary missions at Embodied Health: creating space for people tocome together and practice yoga, to nurture health of each individual, and to translate that effort into inspiration toward creating healthier, unified communities.
Yoga is designed for all people, and I am excited to share my passion for yoga, and the joy and empowerment of yoga, with you!
Susan Johnson
Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor
I am a certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor. I have been studying the classical Iyengar method of yoga since 1997 and continue to study regularly with senior Iyengar teachers. I attended the 2005 convention in Estes Park with B.K.S. Iyengar and the 2007 convention in Las Vegas with his daughter, Geeta Iyengar. I studied at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India during the months of July, 2006 and August, 2009.
I have found that through a dedicated practice one can attain a cultivation of physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. I believe it is important to incorporate the philosophy of yoga in my personal practice as well as in my teaching.
I am currently serving on the Iyengar Yoga Association of Minnesota board.
Amelia Smith
Certified Yoga Teacher
My interest in yoga emerged out of my passion for dance and and movement arts when I was 15. As a young person I was drawn to yoga because it felt good and was a practice that encouraged self care and self acceptance, which greatly contrasted with my daily life as a 15-year old and the dance training in which I immersed myself.
As I continued my practice, yoga became a tool for me to connect with my body and an opportunity to find moments of stillness and clarity. The study and practice of yoga is a crucial element in my life as I strive for balance, grounding, and connection with the earth and community.
I attended the Yoga Center of Minneapolis' Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2010-2011. My personal practice and teaching style is inspired by Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga, Anusara, Jivamukti, and Yin Yoga.
I strongly believe yoga and mindfulness practices can be valuable to all people and I enjoy teaching yoga to people of all ages. I'm inspired by the power of yoga as a tool to achieve physical strength, heal physically and emotionally, and to unlearn internalized oppression. I also believe strongly that emotional wellness is a vital component of sustainable long-term social change.
In additon to being a passionate yogi and teacher, I am also a youth worker, artist, organizer, musician, and bicyclist.