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This year, Prajna Yoga has created a mandala of teachers, in order to make the work of Tias Little and the Prajna Yoga school more accessible. The word mandala suggests a network, a weave or sacred circle. The innovative practice and study we offer through the Prajna Yoga Mandala is highly unique and sought after. Our offerings are not limited to asana study, but include meditation, anatomy, teachings from the Buddha-dharma, and sensory-awareness training for yoga attunement (SATYA).
If you would like to feature an event with a Prajna Yoga trained teacher, please contact eventcoordinator.prajnayoga@gmail.com. Tias Little’s availability is extremely limited. In addition to the possibility of booking Tias, you may host Surya Little or one of the teachers in our Prajna Yoga Mandala.
Brenda Proudfoot
Brenda Proudfoot, RYT, has been teaching yoga for ten years. Brenda completed the Prajna Yoga 200 and 500 hour trainings in 2010. She has assisted Tias at the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference and at his Level III training the Subtle Body in Santa Fe New Mexico. Additionally, Brenda has studied extensively with Rodney Yee. She assisted him for a span of seven years at Yoga Journal Conferences in San Francisco, in Estes Park and at his week long teacher training program in Sonoma. She has also studied regularly with Patricia Walden at conferences and workshops. Brenda is trained in Thai Massage/Thai Yoga Therapy and weaves principles of this work through much her teaching. Brenda has owned and directed, Valley Yoga in Visalia California since 2001, located in the central valley of California. She often muses how yoga has brought her back in touch with aspects of her Mennonite and Amish roots from her upbringing in Pennsylvania.
Djuna Mascall
Djuna Mascall R.Y.T. 500, has been a dedicated student and teacher of yoga since 2001. Her primary inspiration comes from her on-going work with Tias and Surya Little and her teaching is a reflection of their focus on mindfulness in asana, anatomy, and wisdom training. She is a graduate of the Prajna 500 Hour Program as well as a Prajna senior teacher. Djuna has assisted Tias at numerous trainings and teaches Prajna Yoga workshops nationally and internationally. She has presented at studios throughout the country and is a regular presenter at the Canadian Yoga Conferences. Her additional influence in teaching comes from in depth study of Iyengar Yoga as well as her initial yogic inspiration in the Ashtanga system.
Djuna co-owned a small yoga studio on Orcas Island, WA for eight years and now lives in the Bay area teaching workshops and training.
Yoga practice is central in Djuna’s life, and sharing the process of yoga with students is her passion. Her teaching is informed by her continual study and most importantly, by her dedicated daily practice. Shunryu Suzuki said, “True understanding is actual practice itself”, which is the meaning behind prajna, wisdom or understanding found in direct experience. This is the core of Djuna’s process with yoga and why she finds affinity in Tias Little’s Prajna Yoga School.
The sea is a great teacher for Djuna and she experiences it through sailing and kayaking. In 2003 she and her husband sailed their 28’ engineless sailboat from Washington to Mexico, to Hawaii, and back to Washington. She also completed a 500-mile open coast kayaking expedition in 2008, circumnavigating the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska while raising funds for an environmental non-profit. She has published an article in Sea Kayaker Magazine on yoga for kayakers and appeared in the film, Pacific Horizons combining yoga and kayaking.
www.yogapracticeandreflection.
Michael Braverman
Michael’s journey to the mat was an unconventional one. At an early age he developed a deep passion for the martial arts. A practitioner of Chinese Kenpo for over 25 years, Michael was drawn to the deep mind-body connection he gained from his training. While pursuing his college degree in Asian history and philosophy at the University of New Mexico, Michael shared his knowledge as a sensei at a local Albuquerque dojo. With 15 years of martial arts teaching experience, Michael has developed the patience, attention to detail, and hands-on care that only a master teacher can possess.
Later in life Michael turned his attention to the business world, garnering an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and successfully managing international companies in Taiwan, China, and India. It was during the latter part of his business career that chronic back problems began to affect his quality of life. Michael found a way to combat these injuries through the practice of yoga.
Since he began practicing in 2001, Michael has since gone on to become a certified Prajna yoga teacher and received his RYT-500 Yoga Alliance certification. In 2008 he also completed Erich Schiffmann’s teacher training program. A resident of Santa Fe for more than 10 years, Michael has worked closely with Tias and Surya Little since the founding of Prajna Yoga and he has become a regular assistant during Prajna intensives, workshops and teacher trainings.
Michael’s martial arts background and further study of anatomy and the principles of alignment have provided him with a unique perspective on the body. He enjoys focusing on individuals with chronic sports injuries, extreme athletes and all-around “tight guys” in order to make yoga an accessible and therapeutic alternative to traditional exercise. His extensive knowledge of yoga therapy techniques, somatic movements and the use of props were born from his own chronic sports injuries, and he is happy to share them with his students. Michael credits his knowledge of healing and development of creative sequences and postures to Tias and Surya Little, and he is deeply grateful to be a part of the Prajna Yoga team.
Theresa Murphy
Theresa began studying with Tias Little and Prajna Yoga in 2001, and completed the Prajna Yoga 500 hour training in 2010. She has assisted Tias over the course of the last 6 years including at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park Colorado, for teacher training in Santa Fe New Mexico, in Omaha and in Denver.
Theresa has run her own teacher training program through the One Tree Yoga studio in Omaha NE since 2006. In addition to co-founding and directing One Tree Yoga and teaching there for 11 years, Theresa has taught yoga intensives in Grand Rapids MI, New Orleans, Madison WI, Lincoln NE, Toronto and De Moines IA, Washington DC, Boston MA, Venao Panama and more.
In addition to assisting Tias and Prajna Yoga, Theresa has co-taught intensives and training courses with Rolf Gates in the US, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Theresa is currently a student in Sarah Powers’ Insight Yoga Institute based in Marin CA, a 750-hour program of yoga and psychology training, Buddhist studies, Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. This year, Theresa and her husband Troy will take up residency at the Providence Zen Center in Rhode Island. Theresa’s own philosophy of ”All Encompassing Practice” — that no one, single method of practice is the only way for anyone, aligns with the vision of Prajna Yoga.