Armani Donahue
Armani highly values, respects, and considers wholistic, wellness practices to enhance her quality of life and encourages others to find practices that work for them. In class experiences, she empowers students with tools and actions to support their unique, wellness journeys. Before completing her 200-hour yoga certification in early 2020, she began to intentionally integrate aspects of the yoga lifestyle -- postures, breathwork, self-study, and meditation -- into her habits.
Armani teaches from a compassionate, yet empowering, place. Oftentimes, we are more difficult on ourselves than others; which can avert us from believing in our own power. Re-energizing our awareness of our mind-body-soul connection is how we start to transform. She aims to provide descriptive classes so all levels are able to join in this practice of mindfulness and movement.
Maureen Miller (Black to Yoga Co-Creator)
In 2013, Maureen fortuned upon a shiny little studio surrounded by windows on the third floor of a downtown Oakland building, named Barefoot Movement. In a short time, she became hooked on the practice and registered for the studio's yoga teacher training program in 2014. Through this program, Maureen learned that yoga was so much more than physical postures: yoga, or “union” is a way of life. Black to Yoga allows Maureen to share this way of life with her Black and Brown brothers and sisters. Teaching yoga is her calling in life, and she intends to answer this call to the best of her ability each and every time she teaches.
Nadine Shaw-Landesvatter
Nadine (she/her) started her yoga journey many years ago as a way to "keep up with the latest trend or fad." However, as a dancer she found yoga to be a bit "slow" for her liking. She paused for a moment and then decided to give yoga another try. As she continued practicing yoga, she found the flow and ebb in movements to be calming, centered, refining, strengthening and meditative. She decided to teach yoga, with an emphasis to teach to the BIPOC community, as she wanted to share with people of all types of bodies, races and ethnicities, all levels of fitness, and people brand new to yoga. It is her hope that the benefits of this ancient practice guide them towards a place of wholeness, peace and a feeling of completeness. As Mahatma Gandhi once said "...when you are in that place and I am in that place, there is only one of us.
Rondy Issac
Rondy (he, him, dude.) is your brother, show him some love, and give him a hug! Yoga got into him like a high school crush. It felt sooooo good. He took his first Vinyasa yoga teacher training in 2014 and then completed a 200-hour Power Yoga teacher training, and never looked back! He led classes in Stuttgart Germany for refugees, opened (and closed) a yoga studio, became an ambassador for fitkids.org and Black Boys Om, helped develop a trauma-based yoga program for male-presenting youth with Art of Yoga, and started his own brand of yoga - Barbershop Yoga (yoga for Black men & boys). He is still crushing on yoga, and is excited to share his love of yoga with BTY. His class features a deep warm-up and upbeat, energetic flow, dope playlists, emphasizing power, movement, and balance asanas. Focusing on mind, body, and breath-connections, students will benefit from a traditional yoga practice with a soul-full spin.
Contact: www.rondyoga.com