Leigh Lubin

I am an exceptional yoga teacher and a seasoned guide who has a gift for teaching people how to access their inner teacher. I studied and practiced Iyengar, Anusara, Flow, Hatha and Forrest yoga for over 25 years. I lead insightful teacher trainings, workshops, and group classes in Valdez, Alaska and abroad. I am dedicated to offering yoga that creates space, ease, stability, and appropriate challenges while making yoga accessible and exciting for all bodies.

In my practice and teaching, philosophy stems from my belief that the inner expression of a yoga pose is the most powerful and effective path towards personal growth and a strong asana practice. I thrive on helping people by guiding practice from the the inner body, optimal alignment, and play.

I have guided sea kayaking, ice travel, backpacking, team development, and naturalist adventures for all ages over the last 25 years. I trained Outdoor Professionals in the Prince William Sound College Outdoor Studies program and taught 6th-12th grade Science for many years. I bring this educational background to yoga instruction by using a multitude of ways to connect people to their bodies, environment, or the subject matter at hand. I create a space for self development, community, and growth. The results are deep understanding, integration, and inspiration in my clients and students.

My passion for wilderness, the outdoors, and adventure brought me to Valdez, Alaska. I grew up in Los Angeles, California and traveled, studied, and worked all over the world before building my home in the Chugach Mountains. I continue to explore and play in the mountains and on the ocean with my husband and Alaskan wonder dog.

907-831-0939 / info@yogacurrents.com / https://yogacurrents.com

Keith Martinez

I am a lifelong Alaskan and raised here in Anchorage. I have been a student of mind/body arts for approximately 20 years including Tai-chi, Qigong, meditation and energy healing.

I came to yoga 4 years ago in search of healing and deeper meaning after a very challenging period in my life. In yoga I found deeper connection to self and universal energy as well as a true sense of community. It was in yoga that my own personal recovery truly began. I have recently completed my first 300 Trauma informed YTT.   My passion and desire is to eventually work in the field of trauma and substance abuse recovery using the science of yoga. 

Join Keith Sundays, 5-6:15 for Deep Stretch & Restore

Annie Moylan

My yoga practice in 2023 has a few of the most precious remnants of my earlier Forrest Yoga mixed in.

But so are some of the strengthening pieces I learned from massage therapists and kinesthetic practitioners I have known from New York to Anchorage. I added Yin and Restorative from Yandara Institute and further expand my practice locally when time allows.

 Practicing yoga today is about dichotomies – the yin and yang. The stuck shoulder and the willingness to work within the means. Zoom classes revealed our tenacity--we gathered; yet in person yoga classes deliver interconnectedness. I have expanded my own repertoire of yoga to include  more breathwork / pranayama,  but, I exhibit less concern for one’s position within the breath.

 I am excited to come back to the  place (Open Space) where I first began my practice. I call it my Yoga Home. It was a life saver for me. Revealing the other side --I am in service to those who wish to return, or want to try it for the first time, or begin to nurture that seed of the self. 

Let’s meet, in a space where we practice and, oh yeah, we laugh, and grow our curiosity in body, mind and spirit.

In kindness-
Annie

Join Annie for All Levels Yoga on Saturdays, 9 - 10:15 AM

Kara Troglin

My experience of yoga isn’t just about poses. It is the mindful, somatic movement of daily life, the experience of breath, connection to nature, and coming home to yourself.

In 2017, I completed an intensive Hatha yoga training in Bali, Indonesia with Zuna Yoga. I am an E-RYT 500, published writer, educator, and currently training as a yoga therapist focused in

trauma recovery. I have completed continuous education in restorative, mental health aware, trauma-sensitive, and trauma-informed yoga.

My teachings are a fusion of deep rest, psychology, neuroscience, and evidence-based practices. I teach with a nervous system approach and the integration of the Polyvagal Nerve Theory.

I love to hold inclusive and accessible space that honors the unique lived experiences of each person. I work as an advocate for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault and I am

passionately dedicated to trauma-informed space holding.

In class, I offer variations, celebrate choices, and weave in the science of yoga. You will experience a healing and empowered space to dive deep into wholeness as a reminder you are more than enough.

I am primarily based out of Seward where I run an online yoga business and host nature-based yoga retreats called Nourish in Nature. I am excited to bring my offerings to Open Space and deepen my connection with the Anchorage yoga community.

To practice with me online and learn more about my yoga retreats visit:

http://www.karatroglin.com

Meredith LaValley

I first found the practices of meditation and yoga 4 years ago in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course during grad-school and have practiced in some form almost every day since. I came to yoga because I needed to learn to be at peace with myself, and I stayed because of the wonderful connection to community it offers. I am interested in using the physical practice of asana to connect with the inner-self and the reflective space of practice to gain insight about the larger world. Meditation, or dhyana, helps bring these insights into focus and is an important part of the practice that I wish to share. Alongside a daily personal practice, I have completed a 200-hour YTT, a variety of workshops including deep dives into Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and am an active member of the Zen community in Anchorage. In my professional life, I help coordinate Arctic research and jumped at a chance to move to Alaska in 2017, because ALASKA! I find nature to be hearty food for my soul and I spend a good deal of my free time out walking.

Join Meredith for Yoga & Zen each Wednesday, 4:30 - 5:45 PM

Justine Weitzman

I am dedicated to the path of embodied living, of deep soul diving, of getting curious—

By learning to trust that our breath and body are messengers, our greatest guides, we uncover an ancient knowing, a potent and transformational ability to be present with whatever it is that is showing up, offering infinite opportunity to transmute challenge, to metabolize and process stress, and to arrive at embodied wisdom, mental freedom, and true belonging.

My passion lands at the intersection of spirituality, ecology, and authentic expression. My practice gives me tools to experience deep embodiment and living in right relationship to self, other, and the material world. Currently enrolled in my third year in an accredited Yoga Therapy program, I have received advanced trainings from a wonderfully diverse and experienced group of yoga, Ayurveda, and holistic wellness professionals. My studies have covered chronic illness, depression, trauma, grief, sleep disorders, prenatal and end of life yoga practices. In the years to come, I plan to deepen my studies of land and place, mental health, and social justice with the intention of collaborating with like-minded facilitators to offer nature-based retreats and workshops in the far North. 

 My group classes focus on dynamic, fluid, and therapeutic movement inspired and informed by the ancient practice of yoga and our my understanding of the human body as a living, breathing ecosystem, and indigenous ways of knowing and relating to earth as an extension of our body and spirit. I strive to weave together the grace of Vinyasa with the stability and science of Yoga Therapy. Through each guided class, you are invited into conscious and kind relationship with yourself and your body, learning to trace your own inner topography and tap into the limitless, intuitive wisdom within. Together, we will explore through movement, breath, meditation, and guided self-inquiry.

Join Justine every Monday, 6 - 7:15 PM for Flow & Restore Yoga and every Tuesday, 12 - 1 PM for ALL Levels Yoga

Margo Sorum

I am the Adjunct Instructor of Yoga at UAA, a Certified Yoga Therapist, C-IAYT, and a Licensed Massage Therapist, LMT. My trademarked style of yoga, Spinal Floss, has touched thousands of students and how they move, think, and breathe in their daily lives. I am the director of yoga for Anchorage Radiation Therapy at Regional Hospital for cancer patients and survivors. You can practice with Margo through several new online platforms: 30 Day Yoga Program, Healing Chair Yoga Library and Margo Sorum YouTube Channel.

Margo is snow-birding down in New Mexico and looks forward to sharing her gifts with the Open Space community once again next summer.

Contact Margo directly at blissyogawithmargo@gmail.com or (907) 947-2030.