About Us
Yoga For Living was created to bring us closer to a life of balance, offering tools that allow us to live a more peaceful life in harmony with each other and in the world.
Rhonda Clarke, CSYT
Rhonda Clarke, CSYT is committed to living and teaching a life of harmony and balance. With a professional background in western medicine, Rhonda appreciates the compassionate approach to yoga that Svaroopa® Yoga provides.
Teaching since 2001, her approach to Yoga For Living includes Svaroopa® Yoga classes, Yoga Therapy, Ayurveda cooking classes Lifestyle Coaching, Ayurveda Panchakarma Therapy treatments, Partner Connections Workshops and other workshops that support women's health and deepen the student's understanding of yoga and its philosophy. Teaching beginning through advanced level students, Rhonda also specializes in supporting students with special needs, including MS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, spinal stenosis and many other chronic conditions.
She received her 500 hour yoga teaching certification and yoga therapy training through Svaroopa® Yoga, Master Teacher Rama Berch. She received her Ayurveda Panachakarma therapy certification in March of 2007 while studying at Greens Ayurveda Hospital in Kerala, India. She has also received certification through Wise Earth Ayurveda®.
Sharon Elliott
Sharon is an elementary school teacher of 32 years and has been teaching hatha yoga in the Svaroopa® style for ten. When she attended her first Svaroopa® workshop eleven years ago, it became clear to her that there was so much more to life. Svaroopa® brought Sharon an understanding of deep inner peace and a knowing that all we have to do is to tap into our own inner truth that has always been there. Because of her love of teaching, it seemed natural that she bring this knowledge to others. This practice has also brought Sharon to a clearer understanding of her own purpose and faith.
“Though I did not know the following quote when I first started this practice, its meaning now speaks to what I've always known. This inner knowing is what drew me to the practice of yoga and meditation.”
“Truth is by nature self-evident, as soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.”–Mahatma Gandhi
Sharon teaches the Thursday evening Svaroopa® Yoga class.
Brendon Bareiss-Bodie
Brendon has experienced a profound shift in consciousness through his Svaroopa® Yoga practice. This shift has had undeniably positive effects on his mental and physical health. Since 2006, Svaroopa® has provided subtle yet significant transformations in his physical awareness as well as playing a major role in his overcoming depressive mood challenges. This style of yoga is an integral aspect of Brendon's own spiritual journey, which includes being conscious, aware, and a peaceful warrior while living and participating in the financial industry (i.e. his day-job).
Brendon's personal practice has flourished under the guidance of Master Yoga trained teachers Rhonda Clarke (CSYT) and Kemm Sarver (RYT). He also received training through Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga in 2007 by Master Yoga teacher Polly DiBella (CSYT).
He is excited and honored to share his Svaroopa® practice with others who would like to cultivate a peaceful, mindful, and balanced way of being. He offers an alternative to the often daily unconscious pattern of young professionals, young adults with mental health/substance abuse issues, older adults, or just anyone trapped in the “rat race” – breathe, soften, allow, become mindful, and enjoy the bliss! Brendon's classes are built around the central teachings of Svaroopa® proposing that the precise angles of the poses, breathing, and mindfulness of our practice release the core tensions in our bodies allowing us to become aware of our true nature/essence. This is yoga!
Brendon teaches the Sunday morning Beginner Svaroopa® Yoga class.
Victoria Purcell, RYT
Victoria is certified as a yoga instructor in Vinyasa Yoga, Yin Yoga, Children's Yoga, and Kripalu's Yoga Dance. Victoria also has Pilates CE Credits and certifications in Reiki and La Ho Chi Energy Healing Techniques. She began practicing yoga 12 years ago for health reasons.
“Yoga has helped me tremendously in my healing journey. Through Yoga, I found myself healing physically, emotionally and Spiritually. My wish is to share the healing science of Yoga with others.”
Jennifer Jo Tortorice
Jennifer was first certified to teach yoga in 2008. She received her certification at Yandara Institute in Baja, Mexico. She came to teacher training after a particular difficult year and found this to be one of her healing places. It was a environment that was deeply supportive, nurturing and loving. After leaving training she began her studies with Dr. Jane Ely in Ecopsychology and Energy Medicine. Yoga, coupled with her studies with Jane, allowed her to truly come home to herself. Jennifer felt that her first teacher training was for herself so she returned back to Yandara in October 2011 to complete the teacher training program for a second time. That time Jennifer came back home to teach and share what she had learned with others.
“I feel that yoga truly connects me to my heart center and that when I sit in this place, my life flourishes and I am home.”
She wishes to share this same healing practice with you. ~Namaste~
Lori Volpe, BA, RYT
Lori has been experiencing the benefits of Hatha Yoga for 20 years. Her appreciation of yoga led her to begin teaching in 2005 and she continues to learn by regularly participating in workshops with respected instructors from across the country.
For many years, Lori has taken part in meditation programs and retreats offered by the Penn Program for Mindfulness. In 2009 she completed a practicum at Penn, training to teach Mindfulness, and began teaching for the Penn Program shortly thereafter. Lori teaches Penn's South Jersey mindfulness classes, has been co-facilitating meditation classes for medical and nursing students at Penn, and teaches mindful yoga at the Penn Program's bi-annual retreats. Lori completed a 7-day residential meditation-training program for health care providers led by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli.
Meditation has remained an integral part of Lori's life for over 18 years. She continues to receive guidance and training in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and presently serves as an administrator of a Buddhist monastery.
Lori holds a B.A. from Kirkland (now Hamilton) College.
Suzie Hennessy Graefen
Suzie has been dancing for as long as she can remember and practicing yoga for 13 years. Happening upon a YogaDance class at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in 2010, Suzie was ecstatic to discover what is the perfect union of her two passions. She received her certification as a Let Your Yoga Dance® teacher from Kripalu in 2011 and has been teaching in and around Cherry Hill ever since, working with churches, moms' groups and schools to share the healing through joyful movement that this practice offers.
Since completing further training in 2012 and receiving an additional certification to teach Let Your Yoga Dance® for Special Populations, Suzie is particularly attuned to creating a safe space in her classes for dancers of ALL abilities and mobilities to express themselves; whatever state our physical bodies may be in ~ regardless of injury, illness, or trauma ~ WE ARE ALL DANCERS.
Check out the YogaDance with Suzie website for more on what informs Suzie's practice and inspires her on and off the mat.
Nikki Bailey
Nikki earned a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She received her Let Your Yoga Dance! teacher certification at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA. Combining her training and interest in yoga, dance, theatre, Gestalt therapy and spirituality, Nikki draws her YogaDance inspiration from all kinds of music, modern dance, the great mystics and sacred texts of an assortment of faith traditions, pop culture, earth sounds, poetry, technology, sparkly things and chocolate.
Robyn Caruso
Robyn from Worldwide Wellness Consultants has received her Bachelor's Degree from Rowan University in Health Promotion And Fitness Management. While at Rowan, her studies included health and stress management. She uses what she learns in her continuing studies and her 14 years in training sessions and group classes to support her students through many physical challenges and diseases, progressing to good health.
Robyn believes that being fit should be a mind/body experience. Each student should take their time and enjoy their classes. She also believes that each person is an individual on their own meditative journey.
Stacy Nelson
Stacy has been certified and registered with Yoga Alliance since 2010. Her teaching is greatly informed by several traditions including alignment-based Hatha, Kundalini, and Yin yoga, and by the belief that yoga heals from the inside out. Having shifted self-destructive patterns and cultivated an authentic, joy-filled life by way of the practice, she has experienced the transformational power of yoga as a practice of self-love and release. Dedicated to lifelong studentship, Stacy has studied and continues to study with master yoga teachers and extends her deepest gratitude to all of them. She offers a unique blend of detailed instruction and attention to the body, mind, and heart.
Stacy is a happy mom to Stephanie, Charlie, and Will. She is an Ayurveda Wellness Practitioner and a Reiki Master Teacher, and holds a BA in English from Douglass College, Rutgers University.
Studio Info.
Yoga For Living is conveniently located in Cherry Hill, NJ–just minutes from Route 295.
1926 Greentree Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
Tel: 856-404-7287
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