Teacher Training

Teacher Training Faculty: Patrick Oancia www.yogajaya.com Patrick has been practicing yoga since the early 1990’s. He has immersed himself in the study of yoga traditions including Iyengar, sivananda, and ashtanga, while refining various more-subtle applications beyond physical practice. His studies of Indian Dharma, Taoist, Sufi and Buddhist philosophy inspired him to link those teachings to real-world behavior in contemporary lifestyles. Patrick comes from a sports background of competitive cycling and snowboarding and has followed various disciplines to maintain physical stamina, clarity and health. He is also deeply interested in diet and nutrition, believing that naturally changing circumstances in life can help guide people toward doing the best for the body at any given time. Patrick has dedicated nearly 2 decades to the practice and study of yoga. He has accumulated thousands of hours of teaching experience over the past 10 years and is also registered as an E-RYT500 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) with the Yoga Alliance. Although he maintains an appreciation for all the forms of yoga he has practiced over the years, Patrick’s own teachings are not drawn exclusively from any one tradition. He develops curriculum and writes essays based on a contemporary interpretation of yoga as a lifestyle-enhancing element, directs teacher-training programs, and hosts yoga workshops and retreats internationally. Patrick advocates yoga to enhance his own creative lifestyle, as well as to complement his love for a life of interesting new challenges. He sees his advocacy of yoga as the pleasure of sharing profound knowledge. Patrick is the director of YogaJaya in Tokyo. He chose the name YogaJaya (union vanquishes) in order to focus on the way that yoga has helped him to overcome and then move beyond limiting factors in his own life. Patrick sees all yoga practice as only providing a foundation for a journey to self-realization. After that, he sees it as being up to each individual to interpret what works best on the very personal road to true self-discovery. Patrick sees yoga as an essential lifestyle element that encourages continual change and natural growth build upon on a dynamic and interactive experience of being alive. Satoko Horie www.yogajaya.com A Japanese born in Paris, Satoko was raised to feel as a world citizen, brought up in six countries by a family that thrived on traveling and on integrating into local cultures. She has traveled to all continents except Antarctica and loves to make personal contact with new places and people, making frequent visits to art exhibitions, interacting with interesting and creative people, and discovering completely new perspectives. Following an example set by her parents, who made their home a center for social contact and interaction, Satoko became a skilled communicator in childhood and was at ease performing in front of others from an early age. Her teenage years in Kenya in particular had a great influence on her decision to study International Policy in University, followed by a Masters Degree in Developmental Studies in England. She then moved into the communications profession, building a career in the advertising industry with six years of work as a strategic planner while simultaneously studying advanced marketing at a school of business management. Satoko’s natural interest in the arts spans contemporary art, sculpture, installations, and expressive arts. She spent a year at an interactive art school, coupling that interest with her love of activities that connect her to nature, such as swimming, cycling, farming, snowboarding, wakeboarding, and adventuring in wilderness. She sees nature as an inspiration to all creativity, simultaneously bringing us back to our basic instincts and binds all existence spiritually. Her focused interest in spirituality has made a gradual and continuous ascent, starting from a few weeks’ stay in a Zen temple in Kyoto, bridging out to a 40-hour Yoga training course in Tokyo, to Vipassana in Australia, to completing a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Teacher Training program in Bali with Vibrant Living Yoga. Satoko’s ever-deepening encounter with yoga has profoundly changed her life in ways most unexpected, yet all simply a reflection of her most deeply rooted desires and intentions. Satoko is the Managing Director of ParaImpacto/YogaJaya, enjoys her life as a constant explorer, a challenger of limits, and an experimenter in new domains. Emil Wendel http://www.beyond-the-asana.com Emil Wendel was born in Switzerland and has been living in Asia since the mid-seventies, studying Sanskrit and Indian Dharma on the Subcontinent, as well as Chinese Philosophy and Taoism in East Asia. He is presently conducting teacher training programs with YogaJaya, Yoga Arts of Australia, Brahmani Yoga and Shakti Spirit of India, and Radiantly Alive of Bali, in pranayama, guided meditation and yoga philosophy, the later a series of lectures encompassing the known history, the different disciplines and traditions, and the personalities and masters of Yoga. When not in Nepal or India practicing and researching, Emil is conducting his own workshops and retreats in Europe, and Goa, as well as in Bali, Singapore, Australia, Thailand and Japan (since 2005 with YogaJaya). Steph Davis www.highinfatuation.com Steph Davis is a rock climber, BASE jumper and wingsuit flyer from the United States. She is a top climber, specializing in free (no ropes) solo climbing the world’s most challenging peaks. Steph practices yoga and is a vegan activist. In 2003, Steph became the second woman to free climb El Capitan in one day. In 2005, she became the only woman to free climb the classic Salathe Wall, on El Cap, and to climb Torre Egger, the most dangerous summit in Patagonia. She was raised around Columbia, Maryland, the daughter of an aerospace executive. She grew up playing piano from age three. In 1990, at the University of Maryland she first began her love with climbing. While at Maryland, Steph spent summers at Devils Tower in Wyoming. She became an exchange student at Colorado State University to improve her climbing, and moved there to keep climbing as she graduated from Colorado State University with a master's degree in literature. She started law school, but quit to move to Rifle, Colorado, to pursue climbing. Her sponsors are prAna, Mammut, Five Ten, Clif Bar, and MSR/Thermarest. Davis has been profiled in publications including Outside, Men's Journal, W Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. Steph has authored the book High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity. In High Infatuation, Davis writes on the universal themes of life, love, friendship, personal empowerment, and more, told through a career in climbing. The book follows the journey of this remarkable woman, and the readers learn what it means to live a truly adventurous life. She is also currently working on a second book called "Learning to Fly" about learning how to transcend fear, and discovering evolution and freedom through flight. Steph Davis is an active Web blogger and photographer at the site www.highinfatuation.com. Steph Davis is a main facilitator on The YogaJaya International Teacher Training on the topic of Self Inquiry and Personal Empowerment. Simon Borg-Olivier www.yogasynergy.com.au Simon was first introduced to yoga at age six learning breath retentions from his father, then the main bandhas from Basil Brown (an Olympic athlete). At age 17, a Tibetan Lama introduced Simon to the philosophy of yoga. In 1980, Simon started the physical practice of hatha yoga eventually learning with BKS Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois and TKV Desikachar. Simon commenced teaching in 1982. Simon met his main teacher Natanaga Zhander (Shandor Remete) in 1985. Then in 1988, Simon met physiotherapist yoga teacher Bianca Machliss. Together Simon and Bianca have developed the unique Yoga Synergy system. Synergy-style yoga is intelligently designed in accordance with the principles of applied anatomy and physiology, but it can also be very dynamic and fluid. Since 1995 Simon has been teaching courses in the Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga throughout the world. Simon is co-author of ‘Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga’, which is the main textbook for a course he developed and lectures in at RMIT University (Melbourne). Chris Kummer www.chriskummer.com Chris is an experienced registered yoga teacher (E-RYT), who specializes in the anatomy of yoga practice. His passion is to further the understanding of yoga, movement and health in the worldwide community. Since 2000 Chris has been teaching yoga and the ‘Yoga Anatomy Show’ in many countries around the world. He has taught on over 40 accredited Yoga Teacher Trainings and conducted numerous workshops on yoga, breath, health and well-being. Chris is also a qualified naturopath and structural alignment therapist. Chris’ first introduction to yoga came when he was only seven years old. This foundation developed into a life dedicated to inspiring others to greater health and well-being. Over the course of ten years he studied and trained in nursing, medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, nutrition, herbal medicine and an array of therapeutic massage techniques in Germany and Australia. When teaching, Chris focuses on creating body awareness, with a fresh and funny approach. His ‘Yoga Anatomy Show’ educates in a lively style on healthy postures and movements and their benefits. Chris places emphasis on the interaction of muscles, joints and the nervous system. He uses practical yoga asana to make the functioning of the body easily comprehensible. These explorations of asana and pranayama through individual body capabilities enrich the understanding of practitioners of all yoga styles and lineages. Chris co-developed ‘KindaYoga’, a method to introduce young children to yoga and health from an early age. Find out more at: http://www.kindayoga.com On his yoga path Chris has influences from a broad range of styles, including: Iyengar, hatha kundalini, therapeutic, vinyasa and ashtanga yoga. His main teachers are Yogacharya H.S. Arun, Clive Sheridan, Emil Wendel, Peter Clifford, David Muehsam, and life with its many opportunities for growth. Koko (Junko) Niwa www.japangreen.tv Koko's vision of the near future is a place where human beings have regained connection with the natural world. A world where all the living forms exist in harmony creating a caring earth community. Diving deep into the techno party/festival subculture, koko has experienced a free nomadic lifestyle based on travel, music, and spiritual awakening. In 2005, she completed a masters course in sustainable design at "Forum For The Future" in the UK. With her immense network of like-minded people throughout the world, she has been working on various projects on different levels to spread the word creating harmony in life through a conscious and responsible approach where we place earth, society, and spirituality in the center of our lives. For the last 5 years Koko has been resident MC on the Fuji Rock Festival eco-conscious stage "Avalon". She is also active in video production and translation for environmental broadband media "green.tv" (japangreen.tv). She also worked on the production of sustainable consumption booklet with UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), creative communication support for various NGOs, production of internet streaming site "cosmosmile", and production of personal interviewing method ecoranger. Dave Dobson www.hikari.com Born and raised in New Zealand, David has been living in Asia since 1990 and studying and practicing Ayurveda since 1997. His attraction to Ayurveda has been it’s ability to go to the core in helping us understand simply how life works, encouraging each of us to live a life of personal balance and collective harmony. Over the years David has been fortunate to study with and be inspired by a number excellent teachers, including Dr Vasant Lad (a leading advocate of Ayurveda in the West), Dr Gupta (a fourth generation Ayurvedic doctor from Vrindaban, India) and Mike MacDonald (a student of Kirpal Singh and communications consultant whose teachings have a very metaphysical focus - looking deeply into the mind-body connection and in particular the importance of principle based relationships as the key to sustainable well-being). David distills his studies and experiences into a very practical and contemporary approach to Ayurveda – treating it essentially as a language of energetics that helps us understand ourselves and our relationships, thus offering a valuable set of tools that aid us in taking responsibility for our own lives, facilitating transformation and helping us overcome the challenges of modern life along the way. David’s path of self-discovery has included inquiry into Taoism, Buddhism, acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and nutrition. His personal interests include sustainable design and lifestyle, music, art and education. He currently resides in Bali and is a regular teacher at our YogaJaya teacher trainings.