The Kula Center has a number of excellent Yoga teachers with unique backgrounds and skills.
Katherine Banbury
Katherine is a vibrant Yoga teacher, visionary-leader and devoted student who has been exploring and sharing her passion for over two decades. She is committed to living her Yoga by leading and practicing in community. She has facilitated classes, workshops, teacher trainings and retreats for Yoga teachers and students both in the U.S. and abroad.
Her practice and teaching has been profoundly influenced by her six month sabbatical at Kripalu Yoga Center in the early 90s, and by her training with Erich Schiffmann, Richard Miller, Georg Feuerstein, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, Suzanne River, Marcia Monroe and Donna Farhi. She is currently undergoing a four year Yoga Nidra certification with Richard Miller and a two year (800 hr) History and Philosophy training program with the Yoga Research and Education Center sponsored by Georg Feuerstein and Sonoma State University.
In the early 80s, Katherine began her study and teaching of Yoga and movement studies in Colorado and has taught in the Twin Cities since 1994, founded the Kula Collective in 1999 and is the director of the Kula Center for Yoga.
Katherine's classes explore the living understanding of Yoga as an evolving, dynamic art. She excels in the ability to interpret and practice the ancient teachings of Yoga and thereby translate this wisdom into practical and accessible inquiries for her student's exploration. Each of her classes follow a particular theme from the 5,000 year history and philosophy of Yoga, integrated with somatic, experiential anatomy and the evolutionary blueprints of movement, which inspire and support the structure of a pose or the answer to an inquiry to unfold organically rather than imposing it on the body/mind.
Nikki Baker
Nikki has been a student of dance, somatic movement, and yoga for over 30 years. With the loving guidance of her Yoga teacher Katherine Banbury, Nikki began teaching Yoga in the spring of 1998. She has also taken intensive workshops with Christopher Baxter , one of the founders of the Kripalu Yoga Center, Marcia Monroe, a New York based Yoga and Body-Mind Centering® teacher who works with the evolutionary patterns of Yoga, and teacher training with renowned teacher Donna Farhi.
In May of 2002, Nikki completed certification in Kripalu Danskinetics which allows her to further share her love for movement and music.
Nikki is a gentle and compassionate Yoga teacher who invites her students to listen deeply and trust in the inherent wisdom of their bodies. She particularly invites them to explore their essential breath and allow its inate wisdom to inform their practice both on and off the mat.
Nikki's intention, through commitment to the sacred practice of Yoga, is that we may all begin to know peace and to be that peace in the world.
Mary Tellers
Mary has over 15 years of personal yoga study and practice. For 10 of those years, she has studied with Katherine Banbury delving in body/mind centering and experiential anatomy work. Lately, her study with Katherine includes Patanjali's Yoga Sutra.
She has taught gentle yoga classes at Little Earth Indian Center, Running Wolf Fitness Center, University of St. Thomas, and Dunrovin Retreat Center in Stillwater. She earned her certification in Lakshmi Voelker's Chair Yoga: The Sitting Mountain Series at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts in 2007. Mary is available for one-on-one sessions of chair or gentle yoga as well as teaching chair yoga for group classes or demonstrations.
Mary has been active in exploring the wellness/human development field for 20 years. She currently works full-time as a Wellness Associate at Lakewinds Natural Foods in Minnetonka, MN. Previous wellness work includes: hypnotist and nutrition instructor at weight loss clinic, body/mind therapist and nutrition consultant at Pathways Holistic Health Crisis Resource Center. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Development from St. Mary's University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foods and Nutrition from the College of St. Catherine.
