Instructors

Don Silva CYT

Yoga has been a long strange trip for Don – with over 20 years in the high tech industry exercise was a refuge from the stress.  Over the years he has done triathlons, mountain biked, ran, weight lifted and been the ultimate couch potato.  Don sought out yoga as a means of bringing flexibility to his weight lifting body.  What he discovered after his very first yoga class was a state of being he calls the “yoga buzz” It was a state of being where his body and mind came together filled with peace.  It wasn’t long before yoga became his primary stress reliever.  Don has studied many styles of yoga – Bikram, Ashtanga, Anusara, Vinyasa, and Power yoga.  He has studied with many master teachers to improve his practice including D’ana Baptiste, John Friend, Anna Forrest and Rolf Gates.  Finally in December 2006 Don completed a 500 hour teacher training to become a certified instructor through the D’Ana Baptiste Centered City yoga Certification program in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Don instructs children through the Head Start program here in the Treasure Valley on a volunteer basis’s.  His teaching style is direct yet playful, working on not just the body but the mind and spirit as well.

Annie:

Annie, RYT, is a certified Vinyasa Yoga Teacher from the Laughing Lotus Yoga Center/College of Yoga in New York City. Annie arrived at the practice of Yoga as a way to open the heart, develop spiritually, and fully embrace life through the cultivation of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion. Underlying - and interwoven throughout - her experience and knowledge of yoga philosophy and practice are her many years’ experience as a dancer, her love of the arts, and her academic studies in world religions, mythologies, and philosophies. Annie offers a spirited, joyful, dynamic and devotional style of yoga to the Boise community. It is an energetic practice of rhythmic, fluid movement that warms the body, calms the mind and opens the heart. Annie is excited to share this practice, in which we celebrate our passion for life and express the brilliance of our true selves as we joyfully salute the sun and gracefully dance through the postures!

Namaste.

Patty:

After many years of recreational aerobics, dance, running, biking and gym memberships, Patty Johnson discovered yoga and has been practicing for about 8 years, studying with various teachers in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Twin Falls and Boise. She completed her Evolve Teacher training certification in Twin Falls with Paul Olsen and Christina Gonzales in November, 2006 and deepened her understanding and appreciation for mindful practice by attending a weeklong retreat in Tulum, Mexico with Barbara Vonair in the spring of 2007.

Patty seeks to inspire her students through a love and passion for yoga that is grounded in self-kindness, honesty and non-competitive practice integrating body, mind and spirit. Her approach to teaching focuses on breath, flow and relaxation, gently encouraging students to work within themselves to seek deeper gratitude and connectivity. She is pleased to be able to instruct at the Yoga Shala and bring her style to the students.

Patty is inspired by the meditative writings of Rolf Gates and the precise yoga technique of B.K.S. Iyengar. Patty holds a BS in Political Science from Occidental College, Los Angeles, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate School’s Drucker Management Center, Claremont, CA.

Patty recently relocated to Boise from Twin Falls with her 2 children, ages 16 and 21, and her husband of 22 years, Kirk Kahla.

Kimberly:

Kimberly began studying yoga in 1992. She was initially drawn to yoga in order to balance her active lifestyle and to recuperate from guiding outdoor adventure trips. She has studied Iyengar, Anusara, Forrest and Ashtanga Yoga. She has been able to travel throughout the United States to study with prominent yoga teachers.

Kimberly continues to practice, encompassing the eight limbs of yoga in her everyday life. She brings an intense yet playful style to her classes at the Shala.

Keep your yoga practice a journey!