Yoga Rocks the Park

“To connect people through joyful yoga is my mission. Energetic vibrations of fun run deep in my veins. When we come together on the mat and experience this bliss, the manifestation of my intention to teach has arrived.” Mary Clare Sweet owns Lotus House of Yoga, a vinyasa studio in Omaha Nebraska. The classes she leads are fun, challenging and filled with love. She enjoys playing at the edge of the asana practice and watching the spirit soar to new heights. MC’s playlist is funky and always fresh,incorporating soul, hip hop, folk, and pop. Her class will connect you to your true self and ignite your passion for life!

www.lotushouseofyoga.com

Alex Austin comes to Yoga Rocks the Park from Phoenix, Az. With an extensive background in yoga and personal training Alex’s classes are infused with essential knowledge that helps you learn and grow with each and every pose. Alex’s original and contemporary approach blends traditional yogic education with dynamic teaching style to create a fun, joyous, and innovative experience. In Alex’s words “With music we come together and through yoga we unite. The combination uplifts the spirit, fuels growth in the body and elevates the mind.”

Alex is ERYT 500 Hour Certified through Yoga Alliance and is also Certified by the American Council on Exercise as a Personal Trainer.

www.alexaustinyoga.com

Lora began practicing yoga with Gurmukh at Golden Bridge while living in Southern California. It was at At One Yoga in Phoenix, Arizona where she fell in love with vinyasa movement and breath. It’s her passion for love and life that inspired a vision of yoga + music + nature. “I am in love with the Omaha community and it’s such a great honor and joy to bring a national event like Yoga Rocks the Park to our community” Lora teaches classes designed to quiet the mind and inspire the body.

On a trip to New Zealand in 1991, Melanie stepped into her first yoga class. Studying on her own upon returning to Nebraska, she followed the Sivananda discipline and taught out of her home. Health clubs and studio teaching followed, along with alliances with UNMC physicians and their patients. Now with the student-described “home-y” studio Bhadra Yoga in Omaha, Nebraska, Melanie offers Hatha, Yin, Restorative and Vinyasa classes on the menu. She has her teacher training certificates from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Forest Acadamy and from Integral Yoga. Her teaching influences are Bryan Kest and Janet Stone of Santa Monica and San Francisco. Melanie holds two teacher trainings twice per year in Restorative Yoga. Her website is www.BhadraYoga.com.

You can also find Melanie teaching at Midtown Crossing’s Prairie Life Fitness! www.prairielifefitness.com

Jenn Chiarelli’s journey began through the art of dance. She pursued her dream of becoming a professional ballerina when she joined the Cleveland San Jose Ballet as one of its youngest members. Later, Jenn discovered Yoga, when one of her colleagues took her to her first Ashtanga class in California. At first it was a wonderful new challenge and helped her detoxify her body and mind. She soon realized that her path through yoga was just beginning. At the same time she was blessed to have met her teacher Swami Khecaranatha, and began her study and practice of Kundalini Mahayoga. As she became more aware of her own spiritual journey. She received her yoga teacher certification in Interdisciplinary yoga. Jenn teaches a Vinyasa flow class that integrates her background as a dancer and her love of yoga. She urges her students to explore their own internal rhythms, their own personal flow through the postures, breath, music, and an open heart.

www.jennchiarelli.com

Yoga World Reach Founder and Creative Director, Rachel (Shakti) Redding, CYT, RYT 500, has been teaching the “blissipline” of Inner Power Yoga in the Vail Valley since 2000. She has traveled extensively throughout the world gaining insight, experience and inspiration for her dharma and mission to bring yoga and hope to people from all walks of life. She is a firm believer in the power of yoga to awaken the body’s own healing process and to empower individuals in all areas of their lives. More info at www.yogaworldreach.org

Carly Halleen Cummings is the Director of the Omaha Yoga School and the founder of the Hyp-Yoga Weight Loss Center. Hyp-Yoga- seen in SELF, Woman’s Day, First, Ladies’ Home Journal and more is the evolution of mind-body fitness that guides students through the journey of reaching goals while staying balanced and in the present moment. Carly believes yoga is a powerful tool that allows us to reconnect with ourselves and to rejuvenate. Hyp-Yoga take it another step into this natural process by connecting what our mind wants with our actual behaviors. Carly Cummings is an Experienced, 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Instructor and has taught over 3,000 hours. She loves introducing yoga to beginners, which is why she created Hyp-Yoga for Weight Loss. Savasana is her favorite pose.

Carole Westerman is registered with Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT500, and has found inspiration and passion in her studies with Shiva Rea, Twee Merrigan, Simon Park, Gina Caputo, and the whole Prana Flow Yoga Tribe! After successfully completing her yoga teacher training with Shiva Rea’s Samudra School of Global Yoga, Carole became a Teacher Mentor with the Samudra Teacher Training Program. Carole is also honored to travel and serve as an Assistant for Shiva Rea on some of her immersions and teacher trainings throughout the USA. Carole’s classes are fun & transformative experiences, with an emphasis on creative movement, artful sequencing and inspiring music.

www.pranaflowyogaomaha.com

Libba Harmon, certified yoga teacher and licensed acupuncturist, found yoga in the early 90‘s, during her days as a Thai Boxer. When she decided to become a lover-not-afighter, Libba spent some time kicking around NYC, looking for some good asana. Being a downtown gal, Libba enjoyed the East Village yoga of years past, made sure to get in on some great visiting masters, and finally went home to the love of Schuyler Grant and Kula Yoga Project. Libba taught at Kula until the day she moved to Omaha, where she blossomed a busy acupuncture practice and brought sweaty NYC vinyasa to the midwest set. Libba recently spent 2 years living in Panama, where she launched Rancho Kula, a yoga./surf retreat business in Playa Venao. Through a long string of good fortune, Libba has had the honor of studying with some of the most inspiring teachers: Schuyler Grant, Theresa Murphy, Tias LIttle, Rolf Gates, Pattabhi Jois, Sharon Gannon and David Life…to name a few. Libba’s style has grown into a challenging hybrid of alignment-based and playful vinyasa, with periodic visits to tone it down considerably…here or there, you might catch her teaching a slower, lower practice.

You can join Libba at her yoga retreat in Panama www.ranchokula.com