200-HOUR TEACHER TRAINING

BREE MORENA DE SANTOS

Bree is a lifelong dancer (still performs with her ballet company!), was a cheerleader for UNM, and has a passion for running and of course YOGA! She joined the Yoga by Julia team 10 years ago and was one of our first Yoga Schoolers! Her belief in the mind-body connection is what motivates her to teach introspective mindful movement.

"I absolutely love seeing my students connect with one another and most importantly, connect back to self. Yoga illuminates exactly what it is that you are in need of, at the most perfect timing. I'm immensely looking forward to sharing yoga with you! My goal is that you will be encouraged to explore your own practice in ways you have yet to imagine. To be able to have the utmost confidence to guide students through their practice. To intellectually feel capable of teaching to all ages and all abilities. To be an inquisitive lifelong student."

I (Julia) joke that Bree has more certifications than anyone I've ever heard of. Most teachers have only their RYT-200. Advanced-certified have their RYT-500. Bree has her ERYT-500 (the "E" means she's taught over 2,000 hours), Yoga Therapist 800, RCYT, RYPT, and YACEP. She is also a Certified Ayurveda Nutritionist. She specializes in Trauma-Informed Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Pelvic Therapy, and Postpartum Depression. Oh, she's also a doula!

LAURA NAAZ

Laura, a New York native, was in NYC completing her yoga teacher training when 9/11 happened. She trained with Alan Finger - a well-known and deeply-revered yoga master. Laura has been teaching yoga for over 20 years. She is also a retired professional ballet dancer! She trained at the School of American Ballet in NYC, then danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet. She is passionate about movement and sharing that love with her students!

"I'm thrilled to be a part of the yoga teacher training faculty at YBJ, so that I can help others learn and deepen their practice and understanding of Yoga. As a teacher, I feel that my role is to transmit as much as I can about the essence of this ancient practice, which takes each person down their own unique path of healing and toward more joy, love, forgiveness, and acceptance. I am so grateful to have found yoga 20+ years ago and that each day I have the opportunity to grow and heal, strengthen my body and mind, and ultimately, share it with others. It is a true privilege."

Laura is also our beloved Studio Manager 🙏💖

CRISTIN SHEA

Cristin loves life and lives it to the full!! She's been practicing yoga since the early 90's, when it was just starting to gain momentum here in the West. She lived in California, where much of the yoga scene that influenced today's Western yoga was. She practiced with "that crowd"! She was a ballerina growing up (ages 6-18) and later added gymnastics and modern dance. She started teaching yoga almost 20 years ago after getting her certification with Larry Sholtz, inventor of Rocket Yoga and a distinguished name in yoga.

"I love teaching because I once met a teacher who changed the course of my life and I want to be that for others. My teaching style is unique in that when I start class, I energetically check in with those who showed up and base the beginning sequences on the vibe I'm getting from them. As I start to feed off their energy, the rest just flows. I'm a life junkie . . . I just can't get enough of the vast amount of experience we get to be part of here!"

JULIA BOWEN

Julia (ERYT-500) found yoga after suffering health problems and debilitating depression in her early 20’s. Her journey to health and happiness - along with her spiritual pursuits, which have always been the most important to her - led her to yoga before she knew it was yoga. She studied in India (most notably with Ashtangi Saraswathi, daughter of the legendary Pattabhi Jois) and sought out the most authoritative teachers in the world to deeply understand the why, not just the what and the how of yoga.

"Teaching has changed me almost as much as practicing yoga. Okay maybe not quite as much, but it taught me to connect with people on a whole 'nother level. People I used to think I had nothing in common with, now I'm like, 'we're both humans! That gives us plenty in common!!' Learning to connect with whoever walked through the door, doing life together on a daily basis . . . that's one of my favorite gifts that teaching has given me."

This is an immersion-style training . . . spend one weekend a month learning and the rest of the month practicing (and doing whatever else you love in life).

40 of the hours are online and self-paced.

Our grads commonly comment about the beautiful friendships that were forged during the training. People who do trainings like this are high-caliber.

You're on a unique journey together, so this is a group who "gets" you, supports you, walks alongside you, and speaks the same language as you.

That's what you get to look forward to on your yoga weekends.

I don’t want to teach, I just want to really learn the poses and be able to carry on a thought-provoking conversation about yoga.

Get in here. This is as much for you as it is for the teachers. Most of being a good instructor is deeply knowing and internalizing your yoga, for yourself. Once you’ve got that, teaching is an outflow of the discoveries you make while living out your practice. At least half of our Yoga Schoolers do it to deepen their practice but not teach.

I can't make it to all the dates.

It's okay! You can make it up (and more, if you want!) through the online version of Yoga School. Don’t throw away a life-changing experience because you can’t be perfect at it. Doing your best will always get you more in life than doing nothing.

I'm not good enough at yoga yet.

All the more reason to do it. This is to GET you good at yoga. You'll dissect the poses and learn them intimately. Get the right foundation now, bypass bad habits, and you’ll practice at higher level every day for the rest of your life.

Yoga isn’t about how deeply you go into the poses, it’s about how deeply you connect with yourself. "Doing it right" makes a profound difference, so this is actually an ideal way to start your yoga journey.

I feel guilty spending money (or time or energy) on myself.

I hear you so painfully well. I used to, too. It caused imbalances all over the place that I thought were just part of life. Things changed in WAY more areas, WAY more dramatically than I thought they would once I started budgeting for myself.

The thing that changed my ways was realizing the subconscious root: if I didn’t think I was worth spending time & money on, what did that say about how I saw myself? It's one thing to spend money on things you don’t really want or need. It's something entirely different to investing in yourself in super-heathy ways that your higher self is asking for.

It's so cliche but SO true: when you're at your best, you're better for EVERYONE else, too. Loving yourself is one of the best ways you can love your loved ones and everyone else.

Yoga School

Yoga School (RYS-200)