For Your Body. For Your Mind. For Your Spirit.
Our Teachers:
Sandra Sanford, R.Y.T., Director
Sandrasanford@cox.net
Sandra's passion for yoga began the first time she stepped on a mat. She gravitated towards Kripalu Yoga, "the yoga of love and compassion". Sandra received her 200 Hr. Certification from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lenox, MA, in July of 2004, and is a member of Yoga Alliance. Her desire to spread the joy of yoga throughout Pensacola inspired her to open Breathe Yoga Studio where her unique style of yoga integrates the opportunity for self-inquiry with the joyful, vinyasa flow of Shiva Rea. Cultivating Svadhyaya, the desire to learn more, grow more, and contribute more, Sandra is studying towards her 500 Hr. Certification, and is a breath away from completion. Deeply committed towards raising awareness and helping to end the cycle of domestic violence, Sandra devotes time and energy to the Favor House, a safe house for women and children. Sandra’s annual summer pilgrimages to Kripalu have allowed her to study intensely with many nationally recognized teachers, and to all of them she is immensely grateful for having been blessed with their love, knowledge, experience and guidance.
Originally from Puerto Rico, but raised mostly stateside, Sandra lived in the Virgin Islands for 14 years before moving to Pensacola in 2000. She holds a BA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Sandra’s yoga practice, sadhana, gives her the fuel she needs to be a mother to two children, wife, teacher, business owner and caregiver to a yellow lab and a Cruzan cat.
Jan Atkins
Jan was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She moved to Pensacola in 1977. Jan has been practicing yoga since 1997 and has studied with many inspiring teachers including David Life, Sharon Gannon, Andrea and Jeffrey Choen in the Jivamukti Yoga tradition, Doug Keller and Didier Raison, Anusara teachers; and Doug Swenson, Ashtanga teacher. She also completed Sequence 2 in traditional Thai-Yoga Body Work. Jan has been teaching for several years and, after completing a 200 hour Spontaneous Yoga teacher training with Acharya Yogendradev, from the Lakulish Institute of Yoga, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, in November 2007, brought her precise teaching skill and warm humor to Breathe. Jan's invigorating vinyasa flow style has broad appeal, she has taught everyone from college football players at the famed Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze to surfers, doctors and people from all walks of life. Jan is a dedicated student of yoga and has completed Level 1 and 2 Baron Baptiste Power Yoga teacher training in Hawaii and Montana since the beginning of 2008. She is now listed as an associate teacher for the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute and, upon completing the remaining requirements, will be the only Certified Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga teacher on the Emerald Coast. Jan is also a member of Yoga Alliance.
If you want to know your Dosha type, Jan most assuredly can help you. She was the only one in her teacher training that had a balanced Dosha. If you want help in identifying your Dosha (Ayurvedic constitution) you may want to schedule some time with her.
Jan is the mother of five children and has five grandchildren. She lives with her husband and a 20 lb. cat named Earl. Besides her passion for yoga she also plays the piano and paints. Her art work is just as colorful and unique as she is.
Nalina Devi Laura Welter
Mzlauraann@cox.net
Laura has been practicing yoga since Lillias' Yoga appeared on PBS in the early 70's. She honors Dr. Robert Kleinman, her college professor, who taught her the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, and Integral Yoga, as her first Great Teacher or Guru. After Vedic initiation, she became an English Teacher and taught at all grade levels for several years in Pensacola. While assistant teacher for ages 6-9 at Montessori School of Pensacola, she was asked to develop a short yoga sequence for the children. Its overwhelming success inspired her to become certified to teach Radiant Child Yoga through Shakta Kaur Kalsa. To teach yoga to children she underwent formal yoga teacher training with Sudevi Linda Kramer in 2005. Since then she has studied various yoga styles with many prominent teachers. She just returned from the “Mayan Riviera” in Mexico where she immersed herself in a month long Yogaville Intensive at Rancho Encantado and received her 200 Hour Integral Yoga Teacher Certification. Her study of Thai Yoga with Michael Buck inspired her to enter massage therapy school and she will soon be a Licensed Massage Therapist. Being the multi-faceted jewel that she is, Laura is also certified in Reiki and a Pranic Healer. Laura builds her practice on the two yogic principles of Ahimsa (do no harm) and Radical Self Acceptance. Her hope is that the Lotus-Light of Universal Truth- within each person will be welcomed to reveal its love and peace. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, cooking, and playing music. She lives with Skeeter the Wonder Cat in Pensacola Florida.
Lorraine Graves, P.H.D.
lmganchor@aol.com
Dr. Graves is a Certified Pranic Healer and Instructor. She teaches three levels of Pranic Healing classes, including Advanced & Pranic Psychotherapy. Lorraine mentors students in Pranic Healing Certification Programs and coordinates the Free Pranic Healing community clinic on Tuesday evenings at Breathe Yoga. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and maintains a private practice in Pensacola.
