Instructors by Class
Learn more about our instructors and their disciplines, styles, and inspirations.
Yoga Instructors
Holiday Johnson
For 30 years, Holiday has taught yoga as a life-long process of self-discovery. Holiday's primary yoga influences include Angela Farmer, BKS Iyengar, and Thich Nhat Hanh and her teaching embraces the full range of yoga systems. She has studied and taught extensively in the United States and internationally, and is responsible for developing the first intensive teacher training class in the Portland area, setting standards here for the certification of yoga instructors. Holiday continues to offer workshops for the private and business sectors in addition to her classes and workshops.
Holiday taught yoga at Portland State University for 20 years. In 1992, she created Standing On Your Own Two Feet ™, a non-profit yoga program for teens designed to develop fitness and self-esteem. Her student-focused teaching style supports responsiveness and courage from her students. "Yoga is an opportunity for us to come together and meet the finest qualities of who we are," she says.
Holiday is a mother of three daughters and a grandmother of eight beautiful grandchildren. She is an avid gardener and hiker, spending most of her weekends nurturing her organic apple orchard in Parkdale, OR. Holiday and her husband Donald love to share delicious, healthy foods and the company of others, frequently hosting dinners for friends and family both in their Parkdale and Portland homes.
Holiday is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Zen Buddhist monk, poet, and peace activist. For more information, visit www.holidaysyogacenter.com.
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Eugene Lewins
Eugene has been teaching yoga since 1997. He studies in the Iyengar tradition with Aadil Palkhvala, a senior teacher from India, and Julie Gudmestad, a physical therapist and author on yoga anatomy. He says, "I wanted to share authentic yoga, so it was important for me to study with someone raised in the Indian tradition. But also learning from an anatomy expert enables me to fit yoga to the Western body and lifestyle."
Eugene grew up in England and moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1990 to pursue his passion for outdoor adventures. He is a climbing instructor and leads climbing and backpacking excursions for the local Mazamas mountaineering organization. Eugene met his wife, Sarah, while climbing Mt. Hood. Their two children, Emma and Lloyd, have each climbed local peaks to qualify as Mazama mountaineers. Eugene also has a "day job" in corporate America as a project leader for financial systems. For more information, visit www.yogawitheugene.com.
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Sharon Hanson
Sharon has been a dedicated yogini since 1991 and has been teaching for 10 years. Her background includes teacher certification from the International Sivananda Yoga Vedenta Centre, and completion of teacher training with Ana Forrest of California and world-renowned teachers Angela Farmer and Victor Van Kooten.
Sharon designs her classes to honor each student and the group as a whole by drawing upon her experience and knowledge of yoga, which is deeply rooted in the Raja tradition—the Eightfold Path. She skillfully choreographs her classes with postures to develop core strength, flexibility, and purification for the muscles, skeleton, and visceral body. She incorporates breath work to facilitate purification and energy and also advocates focus and intention to create discipline of the mind, leading to change and empowerment.
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Glenda Culbertson
Glenda has practiced yoga for over five years, and after graduating from chiropractic college in 2006, she completed her yoga teacher training at Yoga Vidya Gurukul Yoga University in Nashik, India.
Glenda uses yoga therapy in her chiropractic practice and also teaches Hatha yoga at Western States Chiropractic College. Her classes place emphasis on pranayama, meditation, and asanas, rather than on sun salutation. Additionally, every class concludes with Yoga Nidra, guided deep meditation. Glenda's students are drawn to the healing environment, supported by the Hatha practice she teaches. She believes her students learn through her own yoga practice, and she learns through theirs. She sees her students as a great gift, and is dedicated to teaching and to empowering people to spread the gift of yoga and love in return.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Glenda is trilingual and can speak Portuguese and Spanish. She was previously a collegiate runner and nationally ranked triathlete, so she has a strong background in competitive training principles and injury prevention and management. She started rock climbing more than eight years ago and has a great love of the outdoors. She believes that by connecting to nature, we can find a deeper connection to ourselves and others!
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Tai Chi Instructor
CJ McPhee
CJ began her Yang Family Tai Chi studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. She actively introduced these art forms in Hawaii and throughout the United States as the co-founder of the Flow Motion System of Mind/Body teacher training. She continues her studies with four-time US gold medalist David-Dorian Ross and grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong of the Plum Blossom International Federation. She has hosted several videos and co-hosted the 13-part public television series on Tai Chi.
Continuing to teach, CJ moved to Portland in 1997. CJ married and is now a mother of two young children. "Being a mother has reawakened my appreciation for these healing art forms. My children inspire me along a path of growth and learning."
CJ's known for making these classical integrative exercises easy and fun to learn. Her philosophy is that "anyone can enjoy the benefits of a chi cultivating practice."
For more information, visit www.energymoves.net.
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Energy Moves™ for Qi Cultivation
CJ McPhee
In 1987, CJ moved to Hawaii and began a path in teaching and the healing arts. She has introduced Tai Chi to people all over the United States through public television, DVDs, teacher trainings, and conferences. Using her Tai Chi experience, CJ is creating Energy Moves™ programs to reach a wide range of people seeking an exercise option with purpose and meaning. Energy Moves™ fulfills her desire to provide rich and safe environments for others to connect more deeply with themselves.
She eloquently unites exercise and meditation by pouring imagery into movement with timing and grace. With the ability to present complex material in an understandable way, CJ offers fresh perspective to the beginner as well as the more advanced student. Her approachable nature appeals to many ages and fitness levels.
For more information, visit www.energymoves.net.
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Tae Kwon Do Instructors
Ryan, Deannalyn, and Tuesday Teal
With a combined 12 years of tae kwon do practice, the Teal family brings a wide range of teaching skills to their classes. From Ryan's sparring strategies to Deannalyn's finesse with forms to Tuesday's ability to connect with children, the Teals offer a workout for the whole family.
The Teals teach White Tiger Martial Arts, a program that incorporates moves from other martial arts in order to expand the range of self-defense skills. Classes are taught in a cooperative, non-threatening manner. Students learn self defense moves, kicks, blocks, punches, and strikes. Class philosophy stresses the five tenets of tae kwon do, which are courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.
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