Deb Lister, Owner and Director, MOT, OTR/L, has been practicing yoga for fifteen years and teaching for ten. She has worked in the health and wellness field for twenty years. Her yoga training includes advanced studies with Beryl Bender Birch (Astanga), Shiva Rea (Vinyasa), and Ana Forrest (Forrest Method). She is a licensed Occupational Therapist and practices yoga-based occupational therapy in hospital-based acute and rehab settings, as well as with her private clients. She has presented at several state and local conferences regarding the use of yoga therapeutics in occupational therapy with various disease conditions, such as cancer and strokes (CVA). She encourages her students to explore and experience the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of themselves through their yoga practice and her patients to use the inherent healing qualities of yoga to maximize their potential to live functionally and fully.

Bev Hertle is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and she has practiced yoga on and off the mat since 1994. She has taught at the Living Yoga Center for 5 years, and prior to that, had her own yoga studio in Kalamazoo, MI.  Bev provides a compassionate and supportive environment for her students, encouraging self-acceptance, self-awareness and mind/body/spirit connections. Bev also works as an academic advisor at the University of Illinois.

bev@livingyogacenter.net

Mary Wolters started practicing yoga in 1996. Originally from Rantoul, Illinois, she has studied with top yoga instructors in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. She has completed teacher training workshops with Deb Lister, Shiva Rea, Rodney Yee, Sean Corn, Eddie Modestini, and Nicki Doane. Mary has been teaching yoga since 2001.  She has found that combining the breath and flowing movement of vinyasa yoga with mindful alignment cues to be the foundation of her mind-body work. Mary is a licensed and nationally-certified massage therapist and has studied a wide range of massage therapy techniques with emphasis on Swedish and Thai Yoga massage therapies.

mary@livingygoacenter.net

Hayli Peterson has been practicing yoga since 1998 and teaching for since 2003. She has trained with Shiva Rea and teaches her flow classes in the Vinyasa style, a stimulating and invigorating practice that focuses on moving the body with the breath while allowing students to work at their own ability level. She also studied and is trained in traditional Ashtanga and Hatha yoga by Yoga Vidya Gurukul in Nasik, India.  This is where she derives most of her gentle yoga technique from and teaches these classes with the emphasis on maintaining comfortable, relaxing, and steady postures. She is a certified Massage Therapist with her practice on the same floor as the Living Yoga Center.  She also has her MBA through the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and works with her father at Financial Synergy, Inc doing tax accounting and financial planning. Most importantly she has two amazing children and a fabulous husband that are the center of her life.

hayli@livingyogacenter.net

Jennifer Allen recently moved to Champaign after living in New York City for 17 years. Certified at Integral Yoga in NY, she has been teaching Hatha yoga for the past 3 years with a special emphasis on the more restorative practices of Pranayama (breathing
exercises) and Meditation. She brings 30 years of experience as a dancer and choreographer to her yoga teaching. Currently, Jennifer is finishing up massage school at the New School for Massage in Chicago. Her practice will focus on Zero Balancing - which is an energetic modality.

jennifer@livingyogacenter.net

Steven (Steve) Willette has been practicing yoga for twelve years and is in his sixth year of teaching. Steve believes breath is primary in yoga.  Every movement into and out of a pose as well as the pose itself is an expression of one’s breath. No style of yoga practice is appropriate for every body; however, the practice of yoga is appropriate for everyone.  Every practice begins by assessing the needs and abilities of each student, striving to create a group session that is accessible, inspiring, and an inner adventure of self-discovery. The journey on the mat offers us the opportunity to move the practice into everyday life incorporating openness, grace, beauty and passion. Steve is a business owner and manager in Champaign currently providing financial services for individuals and privately owned businesses.

steve@livingyogacenter.net