Essencia Yoga Teachers

 

Jeannine Bush Clinton

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Jeannine Bush Clinton E-RYT 500, is the Founder of Essencia Yoga’s Registered Yoga School, offering 200, 300 and 500 RYT Accredited Certifications.

As the Lead Instructor, Jeannine teaches each class with a commitment to share the essence of yoga.  Her intention is to invite all that come through her classes, to grow in their awareness of the gift of breath, through the practical experience offered in class.  The process of movement and breath connection leads the practitioner through the opportunity to connect with the Essence of breath and life.

She integrates the wealth of treasure found through connecting with ancient tradition and ritual, having come through the Sivananda Line of instructors, as well as the very intuitive flow found in more modern expressions of Vinyasa Flow.  Her attention to detail has gradually become highlighted as she has personally experienced a renewed commitment to the growth and development that can occur with cultivating the core structure and alignment of an individual's practice (of asana/of teaching) from the grounding established in the foundational principles of yoga, integrating mind, body and spirit.

E-RYT 200 E-RYT 500

This balanced blend is formed and informed by her training received under various styles of instructors, some of which have brought about great affirmation of her intuition and some of which have kept her accountable with a more definitive approach. She incorporates into her teachings, the eight limbs of yoga, asana, pranayama, meditation, world music with tribal beats, silence and the restorative healing found in a more restorative approach as well.

Practicing since 2000, Jeannine views yoga classes, workshops, and trainings as opportunities to create a space for people to make key connections where needed.  Yoga meets us where we are, inviting the breath in, releasing the toxins out, invigorating the muscles, bringing a greater sense of calm, adding greater balance and focus, while eliminating stress.  This will bring about a clearing out of varying forms of doubt, fear and illusion; freeing up the whole person, to shine forth with greater vigor, as they live in greater alignment with their darma, their essence, their life purpose.

In her down time she has enjoys her garden and expressing herself artistically, so when you see paint on her hands or dirt on her feet, you know she is grounded and connected.

 

Lindsay Anderson

Yoga+Teacher

Teaching has been a part of Lindsay’s life for over a decade. Five years as an elementary teacher in Chicago Public Schools sparked growth and fueled passion. Following a move to Kansas City and the birth of her children, she found her way to a yoga mat and the trajectory of her life was indelibly shifted. She felt a connection to herself and something greater that left her excited to dig deeper and ultimately led to her combining it with her love of teaching. 

Lindsay thrives on creating a community with her students and empowering them to bring mindfulness into every facet of their lives. She draws inspiration often from her spiritual teachers - Hayes (3yrs) and Mara (6yrs) and infuses her classes with intentions meant to deepen her students' experience.

 

Laura Bloss

Yoga Massage

200 RYT, LMT, RM

Every day, I strive to create a healing environment for everyone that I can. I’m a Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master and Massage Therapist. I rediscovered yoga 4 years ago and grew a deep respect for my instructors, and loved the transformative power of yoga. A few years later, I was inspired by many of those same instructors to grow my yoga practice and teach the gift of yoga. My classes include restorative yoga, energy healing and therapeutic touch to help people come back to themselves. Join me in this invaluable resource for maintaining health and wellness, and a means for breaking through stagnancy in our life. Each class is an opportunity to bring vibrancy and vitality to the mind and body.

 

Kathy Brown

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Kathy, RYT 500 in training, is known for her compassion-centered teaching style that focuses on bringing her students into their bodies through connecting their body and mind. As a past athlete (she played volleyball for 10 years), Kathy came to the practice of yoga as another way to exercise. But after practicing for a few years, she found it was so much more. She now has been practicing for over 10 years and loves to share her knowledge. If you ask her about nutrition, yoga or fitness, she will light up and can talk for hours.

Kathy’s teaching style includes several forms of yoga, although she loves going back to her roots and teaching more traditional styles of yoga, like Sivananda, of which is the lineage of the school she trained at. She also loves to weave in educational nuggets on nutrition and anatomy as that is what her area of study is outside the yoga world. Kathy is drawn to a holistic viewpoint of health and finds many connections between these areas. In her spare time, she enjoys making evidence-based videos and writing about nutrition and yoga.

Kathy’s yoga philosophy: Yoga is a relationship one builds between the body and mind. Like any strong relationship, it needs regular communication, check-ins and freedom to be unique. Some days a yoga practice is very physical while on other days, it may just be the body lying on a comfortable pillow, just breathing. Both are yoga and both have benefits to overall well-being. Yoga is for anyone with a body. That body does not have to look, act, think or feel a certain way in order to practice yoga. theyogird.org

 

Liz Christensen

Liz grew up with many introductions to yoga, but it wasn’t until she found the beautiful community at Essencia that she really fell in love with it. Liz is extremely thankful for the peace, love, and strength she has found in her practice and the teachers that have helped guide her. She is so excited to have had the opportunity to study teaching under Jeannine and to share the life-giving practice of yoga with others. Liz loves the way that yoga invites us to explore unapologetically and bring that attitude with us into our day to day. It is Liz’s intention to create moments of stillness for her students to breathe fully and to offer opportunities for them to explore movement organically. 

When not at the studio, you’ll find Liz pouring lattes as a barista or snuggling her dog, Cheeto, the rescued Wheaten Terrier. She and her husband enjoy taking Cheeto on new camping adventures and hope to repair a canoe together so they can take their pup on explorations around our many waterways. 

 

Lisa Finke

Lisa first discovered Yoga in 2005 at a high school gym class and felt an instant connection with the practice.  Since then she has practiced on and off throughout the years, but has always felt Yoga with her even when she was not necessarily ready for it.  Lisa believes that Yoga meets you where you are and exactly where you need to be. This has resonated true for her life and her practice at every turn.  Upon the birth of her daughter in 2016 she felt that she had gained the respect, love and mindfulness for her body that is so necessary in furthering one’s Yoga practice.  She began reconnecting with the practice at home in an amazingly new and wonderful way, feeling as though she had returned home to the practice and all of its benefits.   

A personal storm of life led Lisa to find Yoga as a guiding light through extreme stress and anxiety.  Yoga helped her completely change her attitude and how she handles high stress situations both at work and at home.   It was then she began to understand that Yoga is a way of life and she found such strength and compassion from her practice and wanted to take it further.  In October 2018 she reached out to Essencia and since then has furthered her own practice and also found her voice as a Yoga teacher. Writing and teaching classes has and will continue to be an amazing experience for Lisa.  She wants to spread the incredible aspects and qualities Yoga has to offer for both the mind and body to any and all who seek it, for she has seen firsthand how immensely it can change one’s life for the better. Please join her for a combination of building strength and calm, leaving you feeling ready for anything life throws your way.  

Lisa is also a dedicated mother to her daughter (2) and step-son (13) and always puts her family first.   You may even see her little girl practicing with us on occasion! Lisa is a “retired” roller derby skater (but still plays on occasion!)  and would not have survived her derby days without pigeon and frog pose after each practice and game ☺ 

 

Maggie Markese

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After an initial exposure of yoga in 1972, Maggie has had yoga as part of her overall fitness regime.  Maggie worked at the Chicago Health Clubs as fitness instructor. Her background in dance gave her the opportunity to dance with a company in Northern Spain. In the last 20 years Maggie’s love of yoga has deepened as she studied with various renowned teachers including Rod Stryker, Gabriel Halpern, Shiva Rae and Janet Stone.  

Maggie hopes to integrate all of her experiences into creating a space that allows practitioners to generate energy to open their bodies and minds through connecting with themselves and the poses on a deeper level.  She continues to experience, through teaching, how much yoga works on bringing alignment to the spiritual self through physical practice. She enjoys being a lifelong learner and feels inspired to continually deepen her practice and knowledge to be able to bring these benefits to class. She retired from teaching at the high school level a few years ago and during her years of teaching, she experienced that she learned as much or more from her students as they learned from her. She looks forward to this same fulfilling exchange in the yoga community.

 

Ashley Pagano

Ashley began her yoga journey in 2017 as a practitioner to help ease her anxiety, as well as control her blood sugar levels as a type 1 diabetic. It quickly became an important and integral part of her day to day life for both her physical and mental health. She started practicing daily and fell more in love with the practice. With the many benefits she has experienced from yoga as a practitioner, she embarked on her teaching journey in 2019, hoping to offer classes and create a space that resonates with students and helps them deal with their day to day lives the way it has for her. 

Ashley enjoys teaching balanced yoga classes that offer challenge, meditation, and breath work. There is so much self-discovery that happens as a yoga practitioner and she looks forward to helping students look inward and learn more about themselves through their own practice.

 

Ingrid Pipkin

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Throughout her personal development, Ingrid found that seeking knowledge took her through a path that was beyond intellectual gains.  It evolved into a path that taught her to act, reflect, and modify.  Applying these concepts to both the physical and mental is invaluable.  With Yoga, Ingrid found that she can take care of these faculties concurrently, with benefits beyond any expectations set.  

Ingrid Pipkin is currently a teacher at Essencia Yoga,  consistently practicing since 2014.  She also completed a BS in Management Studies from UMUC and a Master of Leadership Studies from North Central College.  

 

Jill Rehm

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Like so many people, Jill began her yoga journey seeking physical fitness and stress relief. Her body became stronger and more flexible with practice, her mind a bit more quiet. Yoga is awesome because no matter why we come to the mat in the first place, we'll receive all the benefits of the practice if we just keep... practicing.

Through her yoga practice, Jill has learned the invaluable importance of showing up as she is, both on and off the mat. She’s learned to have more compassion and patience for herself and others. She has learned there is always more to learn!

Jill is grateful to her teachers who come from a variety of lineages - Iyengar, Ashtanga, Sivananda, and Forrest yoga - and she draws from each of these traditions in her personal practice and teaching. She completed 200hr YTT with Amy Beth Treciokas in 2013, apprenticing with Rich Logan. She is also a Certified Yoga Health Coach, empowering people to heal their bodies and live in thrive with simple daily habits from Ayurveda and yoga.

By emphasizing deliberate movement and breath/body awareness, Jill holds space for students to be completely absorbed in the present moment. She is thrilled and humbled to guide students in practicing asana as a moving meditation to connect with their inner strength, calm, and joy.

 

Katie Smith

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Katie, RYT 200, discovered yoga 20 years ago from a dusty book that mesmerized her preteen self. Years later after taking many classes, she found that yoga truly is a balance. Whether as an asana posture or a philosophy, one cannot be flexible without strength, and both are required to live and breathe unity.  

As an Essencia teacher training graduate, Katie is thrilled to share yoga with this community. Katie knows first hand how healing yoga can be. Shortly after completing her fourth half marathon, she began battling autoimmune issues, and was diagnosed with stage IV arthritis in both knees. Although this news wasn't welcome, Katie used it as an opportunity to explore and practice yoga from a new perspective. 

Katie teaches with kindness, playfulness, and understanding, and as an avid reader she always finds ways to share meaningful excerpts during practice. She hopes to bring a sense of peace, gratitude, and joy to all her students so that we can be kindness warriors rippling love and joy throughout the universe. 

 

Bettina Om

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Hi, I’m Bettina and I create experiences, shape moods, add colors and flavors to one’s spirit and life. I am a Tea enthusiast with a drum looking to connect with other souls and fellow Tea lovers. Let’s vibrate together to the rhythm of my drum called Salvador surrounded by the enticing aromas, slowly reaching our inner selves. 

Let’s drink Tea and enjoy the purity of water infused with the power of Mother Earth to clean our energy, refresh our bodies and begin the transformation to become more ourselves. The wonders of Tea will help you synchronize your Chakras: Base Center, Sex Center, Solar Plexus Center, Heart Center, Throat Center, Christ Center or Third Eye, and The Crown Center. Nothing will be left out, as we can’t reach true calm and peace without approaching all of aspects of our spiritual being. 

I combine Shamanic Drumming with the Art of Tea to create spiritual ceremonies that will take you on a journey of self-discovery and help you connect with your inner selves. I can come to bring peace and balance to Yoga Studios, Ayurvedic People and everyone else who is following a path of self-development. 

Listen and tune in to the rhythm of your heartbeat, breath to the sound of air, dance with the falling water and unleash your true potential with the support and the power of fire. Use the four elements of our Planet to shape yourself into the human you’re supposed to be, into the human you deserve to be, into your true self. 

Together, let's elevate our connection with our Inner Self, with the fellow Humans and with the Divine. I’m going to help you find balance in your life and give meaning to your journey.