Yoga Practitioners



Gail Lichtenfels M. HUM, RYT 500

Gail is a master’s level professor of philosophy and master yoga instructor and supervisor. Ms. Lichtenfels is the Co-Director of Yoga Programs at the Mindfully Well Center. She is a registered Yoga teacher (RYT 500) and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

Gail has taught yoga for over 15 years and continues her direct training with Richard Miller PhD, Clinical Psychologist in iRest, a mindfulness meditation technique. Miller has used this technique with amazing success on veterans with PTSD. Gail currently teaches Yoga Basics at Mindfully Well Center, as well as iRest (Yoga Nidra) Adaptive Yoga and Yoga for Cancer Survivors .

Gail was an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at Wright State University from 1997-2014. Gail is proprietor of the Epic Book Shop in Yellow Springs.

Yoga has been a lifelong quest for me. My own journey with muscle/joint pain and stress has led me down many paths and helped me integrate information and teachings into my Yoga realm. It’s been a great privilege to be able to help empower others to find their own healing path.

Jean Farkas, MA

In 1995, Jean received yoga teacher training from Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT), an organization which views yoga as therapy and specializes in training people to teach in non-traditional settings. She has attended numerous IYT advanced trainings, including Mudra (yoga hand gestures) training which has become a special interest. As a teacher, she has taught older adults, people with heart disease, cancer and many other health conditions, and currently teaches yoga to women in a homeless shelter.

A holistic approach to health has always been a passion for Jean. She is now retired from a career in health and wellness management in non-profit organizations which spans 30+ years. She directed health and wellness programs for senior citizens, woman, and people with heart disease and cancer. She founded a holistic health program at a local hospital and served as the Stress Management (yoga-based) Facilitator for the Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease. Later, she developed the Conscious Living Program for people with heart disease. She has presented numerous workshops on stress management and other topics in business and group settings. She has also been trained in Healing Touch, an energy-healing program for health care professionals.

When Jean injured her hip running, she discovered the Egoscue Method of postural alignment. Based on relieving pain by addressing postural misalignment, it was the only thing which helped her. She went on to get her certification in 2006 as a postural alignment specialist and now helps others who experience pain due to posture issues.

Jean continues to teach yoga classes at her home in Beavercreek, sees individual postural alignment and yoga therapy clients, and presents workshops.

Jean spends as much time as she can in nature, which nourishes her soul. She is a land steward for the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System ( www.arcofappalachia.org ) with a life estate on a beautiful wooded property near the Rocky Fork Gorge.  She does Spirit in Nature workshops in this setting.


Publications:

YogaHome: Teaching and Research Challenges in a Yoga Program with Homeless Adults International Journal of Yoga Therapy (No. 22, 2012), Jennifer Davis-Berman, PhD and Jean E.  Farkas, MA


Social Work Yoga and Gratitude: Partnership in a Homeless Shelter Relections:  Narratives of Professional Helping (Volume 19, Number 1, winter, 2013) Jennifer Davis-Berman, Ph.D, Jean E. Farkas, MA

YogaHome: Emotional, Physical and Social Impacts of a Yoga Program on Community Homeless Shelter Residents

www.yogaervicecouncil.org , Jennifer Davis-Berman, PhD, and Jean E. Farkas, MA

Philip Stefan Bottelier MAT.,

Philip is a nationally board certified science teacher holding an integrated science licensure at the Dayton Regional STEM School, where he has taught conceptual physics, engineering, and other upper level science and engineering courses for the past five years.

Mr. Bottelier also holds an RYT 200 Hatha Yoga instructor’s certifications, and has been teaching yoga to students and sports teams at the high school and lower levels for the past 18 years. He is on staff at the Mindfully Well Center. He earned his Bachelors of Science at Warren Wilson College in 1991, MAT biology at the Citadel graduate college in 1997, and national board teaching certification in 2007. He has studied yoga with Becky Morrisey, a registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance (ERYT 500), at the Inner Light Yoga Studio in Beavercreek, and aspires to make yoga a part of his daily, professional, and volunteer lifestyle.

Mr. Bottelier has had significant success with teaching yoga to his high school sports teams, most notably bringing his men’s and women’s cross country and track teams to simultaneously win the SC state championships in 2001. His enthusiasm for working with sports teams has continued in his personal life, and he has integrated yoga as part of the training in coaching little league indoor and outdoor soccer for the past 12 years.

His approach to working with sports teams is at once holistic and scientific, blending a knowledge of the individuals he coaches with anatomy, physiology and the scientific benefits that yoga can bring to not only the individual athletes’ flexibility and injury prevention, not to mention the added benefit of supporting the development and common goals of the team.

Through a calm and patient approach to yoga and music therapy I seek to help everyone settle in and find ways to explore possibility.

Larisa McHugh, MA, MT-BC, RYT- 500
Larisa combines Yoga with her life experience as a Board-Certified Music Therapist to offer a holistic and supportive atmosphere where people can explore and express their true nature.

Joyce Reena Appell

Reena earned her E-RYT 500 from the Shiva Shakti in Columbus, Ohio under the direction of Janice George.She has benefited greatly from the work of Patricia Schneider and Andrew Junker and the remarkable longstanding Yoga Masters they bring to Yellow Springs annually.

She has also worked extensively with the Yellow Springs Dharma Center which has given her a steady foundation for meditation practice.

Joyce teaches both yoga and mindfulness meditation here at Mindfully Well.




Katrina Oost
Katrina comes to Mindfully Well Center with a varied background in ballet and theater. A native Ohioan, she grew up in near-by Enon, but her training with the Dayton Ballet Company took her to New York and later L.A.

She has now returned home to this area where she has been teaching yoga for 6 years to traumatized children, those with Down Syndrome and autism, as well as people who have suffered a stroke or have MS.

Katrina is proud to have achieved her Certification as a 500 Hr. Registered Yoga Teacher with the National Yoga Alliance and is a Certified Yoga Therapist. She has studied with Yogi Master luminaries such as Judith Hanson Lasater, Erich Schiffmann, and Angela Farmer.

Katrina has used her training in Yoga Therapy to help those suffering from Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, PTSD, depression, panic and anxiety attacks. “I am amazed to find how well children and adults respond with such positive energy to the healing benefits yoga practice offers,” says Katrina.

Katrina incorporates breath, meditation, movement and restorative techniques in her classes and with individuals. You will find that she uses empathy, compassion, and a sensitivity to allow her clients to open to a world of possibilities they might not otherwise have imagined.

She will be teaching ongoing classes at the Mindfully Well Center, as well as individual therapy.

Jennifer Gebhart

Jennifer Gebhart earned a BA in Political Science from The Ohio State University.  She worked for 10 years as a case worker at The Homeless Families Foundation in Columbus, Ohio.  Her passion to help people led her to yoga teacher training.  She earned her RYT 200 from Yoga on High in 2003 and is also an RYT 500 and an E-RYT 200 certified yoga teacher an Urban Zen Integrative Therapist, ChildLight Yoga Instructor, Yoga 4 Classrooms Trainer, a Laughter Yoga Leader, and a Prenatal Yoga Teacher Trainer.

Jennifer has studied under Rodney Yee and many of the nationally known teachers that come to Yoga on High.  She teaches yoga to various populations with varying abilities.  She teaches: Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis; Prenatal Yoga; Yoga for Children with Disabilities; Kid’s Yoga; Yoga for Seniors; Yoga for Cancer Patients and Survivors; Mom and Baby Yoga, Hatha and Vinyasa, Urban Zen and, Restorative Yoga.  She also teaches educators how to share yoga in the classroom.  Jennifer approaches her teaching with passion and a sense of curiosity.  She enjoys helping people feel better physically, mentally and emotionally.



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