Yoga and Yoga Therapy Teacher TrainingAbout Us
Janice George, LISW, E-RYT 500, Director
Janice has a Master's Degree in Social Work and has taught yoga for 18 years. As one of the founders of Center for Wholeness, a non-profit organization, Janice has completed training not only at Kripalu and with Integrative Yoga Therapy in the Professional Yoga Therapist Program, she has also studied other schools of hatha yoga as well as other branches of yoga. Her teachers include Todd Norian, Stephen Cope, Mary Lou Weprin, Joseph LePage, Richard Miller, PhD., and Vijay Jain, M.D. Additionally, she is trained in Ayurveda and Polarity Therapy. Since 2000, she has facilitated a 200-hour Yoga Alliance-approved training program, and in 2005 she began offering an advanced 500-hour Yoga Alliance-approved therapeutic yoga program entitled ShivaShakti Synthesis.
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Connie Phillips, RYT 500, Executive Editor
Connie's personal yoga practice began in 2000 with the goal of alleviating stress and lower back pain. Since then, she has practiced and taught various forms of hatha yoga, and in 2006, she completed the Integrative Yoga Therapy program with Janice George. Connie enjoys teaching yoga to small and large groups in Central Ohio, helping them understand that through the physical body and alignment, they can find deeper connections to their breath, energy, emotions, wisdom, and ultimately, their highest Self. It is Connie's goal to help people of all ages and abilities understand the benefits of practicing yoga on and off the mat.
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Julia McSheffery, E-RYT 500, Education Coordinator
Combining a strong understanding of the body's structure and systems as well as offering extensive experience and skill in yoga and its therapeutic potential, Julia provides her students with the opportunity to easily understand and incorporate yoga practices into their lives in a meaningful way. Originally interested in yoga as a means of recouping some of the flexibility she lost because of sport rock climbing, Julia quickly realized the benefits of yoga and its healing of injury and illness in her own life. Besides being trained in exercise science, Julia is also registered with the Yoga Alliance as a yoga therapy teacher (500-hour level, ShivaShakti Synthesis with Janice George) and as a teacher of vinyasa flow (200-hour level, White Lotus Foundation with Ganga White and Tracy Rich). Julia has also completed a 108-hour Anusara Yoga immersion (with Todd Norian and Ann Greene.) In addition to these certifications, Julia is thankful for her training with David Swenson, Shiva Rea, Donna Farhi, Amy Weintraub, Elise Browning Miller, Judith Lasater, and Tom Myers. The founder of Liilaa Yoga, LLC, her experience includes teaching various levels of yoga at McConnel Heart Health Center, the OSU Center for Integrative Medicine, Balanced Yoga, Columbus State Community College and other Columbus locations.
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Angela Nicolosi, MSEd, LPCC, NCC, RYT 500, Yoga Therapy Consultant
Angela earned a BFA in dance performance from the Ohio State University, but because of her sister’s challenge with Rheumatoid Arthritis, became interested in utilizing movement to manage chronic pain. Though she began studying yoga in the early ‘80’s with Celia Hansen, she returned to the university to study Somatics and develop a program for chronic pain based in dance movement. Angela worked with psychologists and neurologists in medical settings to help clients with pain and stress management, which necessitated her becoming independently licensed as a clinical counselor. While in her private counseling practice in Columbus she decided that yoga better suited her holistic approach chronic pain, and began teaching Gentle Yoga for Special Bodies - specialized classes for people with arthritis, MS, cancer, and Parkinson’s. To deepen her knowledge, she enrolled in Yoga on High’s first teacher training class and became registered with Yoga Alliance. In addition to Marcia Miller and Linda Oshins, that program exposed her to Rodney Yee and Elise Browning Miller. Later while living in Cleveland, Angela was blessed to reconnect and affiliate with Janice George. She completed her certification in yoga therapy with ShivaShakti Synthesis where she was introduced Richard Miller, Ray Long, and continues to study with Doug Keller. Currently living in Chicagoland, Angela is extremely grateful to maintain a connection with Janice and SSS and to serve as a consultant. Her passions are teaching teachers, working with special bodies, and finding ways to help teachers work with special bodies.
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Vijay Jain, MD, Consultant
Dr. Vijay Jain has had a very successful General Surgery Practice in Greater Cincinnati for the past 27 years. For the last 10 years, Dr. Jain has shifted his focus to Integrative Medicine to pursue his goal to integrate traditional western medicine with ancient medicine and well tried systems of healing from different cultures. He has studied mind/body medicine with Dr. Deepak Chopra, M.D., Yoga Therapy from Vivekenanda Research Center in Bangalore, India, courses in Ayurvedic Medicine with Dr. Sunil Joshi, M.D. (Ayurvedic) in Nagpur, India, and courses in Integrative Medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil in Tucson, Arizona. He recently finished his certification in Quantum Psychology with Steven Wolinsky who is the founder of Quantum Psychology. In addition to his surgery practice in the Lake Cumberland area, Dr. Jain lectures on Ayurvedic Principles and Practices, and how to create Optimal Health based on those principles. Dr. Jain is interested in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Physics. His main audience is Yoga Students and Yoga practitioners who want to integrate Ayurvedic Principles in their personal practice.
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Michele Beshlian, RYT 500, Consultant
Michele Beshlian has been practicing yoga since 1988 and completed her 200 hour Integrative Yoga Therapy Certification in 2001. Since then, she has also completed a 500 hour Professional Yoga Therapist Certification. In addition to these trainings, she has attended several courses, workshops and conferences on Yoga, Meditation, Ayurveda and Holistic Health. Michele has studied with Yogi Amrit Desai, founder of Kripula Yoga; Dr. Raghu Ram and the staff of the Vivekenendra Yoga Research Center in Bangalore, India; Joseph LePage, founder of Integrative Yoga Therapy; and Yogi Hari. In June of 2007, Michele completed the 500 Hour Shiva Shakti Synthesis training in Columbus, Ohio. Currently, Michele lives with her husband in Jamestown, Kentucky where she runs her own studio, Yoga on the Square, and teaches yoga.
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Mary Sinclair, LMT, RYT 500, Guest Lecturer
Mary Sinclair has studied with various local and nationally recognized teachers. She began her journey in 1997 while studying with Janice George and Racquel Graham. After obtaining a 200-hour Hatha yoga certification from Yoga on High in Columbus, OH, she went on to complete a certification in prenatal yoga from the Seattle Holistic Center in Seattle, Washington. In 2002, Mary came under the tutelage of Jean Couch, founder of the Balance Center in Palo Alto, California. She has since completed her certification in Balance, a system that explores the biomechanics of weight distribution in the body, and incorporates it into her every day life, practice and teaching. In 2007, Mary acquired yet another certification, a 500-hour therapeutic approach to yoga through the Shiva Shakti Synthesis program in Columbus, OH. Mary presents a portion of the Balance program to the 200-hour and 500-hour teacher training program each year. In addition, Mary has studied Polarity Therapy at the Columbus Polarity Therapy Center with Suzanne Roberts and is a second degree Reiki practitioner. She currently teaches and heads the Balance and prenatal yoga programs at Yoga on High.
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Victoria McMahon, M.Ed, RM, RYT 500, Counselor Education
My thirst for personal awareness and growth is what propels me through life to the present moment. As creator/owner of StillFlowingYoga, LLC, my work is dedicated to immersing and integrating spiritual teachings, writings and practices from all traditions in order to offer a deeper knowing and unity consciousness underlying every moment of life. This desire to help people discover physical, mental and spiritual wellness is shaped by my training with international yoga teachers such as Erich Schiffmann, Angela Farmer, Victor Van Kooten, Rodney Yee, and Richard Miller Ph.D, as well as therapeutic and wellness practitioners including Michael Clemmons, Ph.D, Vijay Singh, MD, Marianne Williamson, Donna Eden and Deepak Chopra, MD. Additionally, my holistic vision of physical, mental and spiritual wellness is also shaped by my post-graduate certification in Gestalt Body Process (Gestalt Institute of Cleveland) and ShivaShakti Synthesis' 200 and 500-hour RYT teacher training programs.
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Barbara Newell, LMT, RYT 500, Administrative Coordinator
Barbara is dedicated to helping individuals live their best life possible. She began with a passion to live her best life, taking aerobics and becoming an aerobics instructor and personal trainer over 30 years ago. As she grew healthier and experienced the mind/body/spiritual connection, Barbara realized that her desire was, and continues to be, helping others do the same. Massage Therapy assisted Barbara along the way, so she studied and became a Licensed Massage Therapist. Her personal growth led her to yoga, and ultimately she connected with Janice George, acquiring her yoga teacher and yoga therapy training through ShivaShaktiSynthesis. She is extremely inspired by ShivaShaktiSynthesis, as it is an oasis, of sorts, where everyone involved has a desire to help others while continuing to work on themselves and become their personal best. Barbara enjoys working with people one-on-one and in small groups, to help individuals attain their highest good in every area of life. She continues her own personal training and growth with experts in all related fields so to help her provide herself, and her own clients, with the latest and most proven practices.
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Suzanne Roberts, Guest Lecturer
Suzanne Roberts has a private practice in Grandview, Ohio. Her work is based on an energy system designed to support health and well-being through inner awakening. Beginning with Polarity Therapy studies in 1974, Suzanne began teaching Polarity in 1977. She has additional training in the Gestalt and Craniosacral Techniques, massage, aromatherapy, herbs, creative movement, dance, and Bach flowers. As a trained monitrice, Suzanne provides prenatal and postnatal care as well as birth support for families.
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Richard Miller, PhD, Guest Lecturer
Richard's teachings come out of his direct experience of living truth as echoed in the timeless teachings of non-dualism found in Advaita, Zen and Chan. He is recognized as a leader in the field of non-dualism, honored by Yoga Journal and featured in American Yoga and Will Yoga and Meditation Really Change My Life? Richard is the founder and director of the non-profit Center of Timeless Being, co-founder and co-president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology, and co-founder of The International Association of Yoga Therapy. Richard is the author of Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga as well as numerous articles including “Welcoming All That Is,” in The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy.
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Ray Long, MD FRCSC, Guest Lecturer
Ray Long, MD FRCSC is a board certified orthopedic surgeon, author of “The Key Muscles of Yoga”, “The Key Poses of Yoga” & the “Yoga Mat Companion” series, and the founder of Bandha Yoga. Ray graduated from The University of Michigan Medical School with post-graduate training at Cornell University, McGill University, The University of Montreal and Florida Orthopedic Institute. He has studied hatha yoga for over twenty years, training extensively with B.K.S. Iyengar and other leading yoga masters.
