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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Trudy Toliver
Trudy has enjoyed a dedicated yoga practice since 1996 and has been teaching yoga since 2005. Studies in the Iyengar tradition helped her build a strong foundation in alignment and steadiness. Through more than 400 hours of study and practice with master teachers of various lineages—including Ki McGraw, Bob Smith, Holiday Johnson, Angela Farmer, Julie Gudmestad, and SarahJoy Marsh—she settled into a Classical Hatha Yoga teaching style.
Trudy provides inspiration for her yoga students by drawing from various experiences, readings, and insights. Her students enjoy asana and pranayama, with a focus on integrating yoga into one's daily life through awareness of body, presence of mind, and openness of heart.
In 2004, she became initiated in Andean mysticism with Peruvian teacher Juan Nunez del Prado. Her practice includes rituals with a quiet mind, the movement of energy, and a deep connection with Mother Nature. When not on her mat, Trudy directs an environmental non-profit group; previously she led fundraising and human resources departments in large and small organizations. She is a native Oregonian and enjoys kayaking, biking, gardening, and hiking with her partner and their dog.
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Martial Arts Instructors
Donald Polevacik
Kajukenpo
Don is classically trained in the martial arts and has been teaching for over 25 years. He is excited to share his passion for empowering people through a movement-based forum, and his teaching style allows people to work at their own pace in a supportive community environment. Additionally, Don has worked as a mental health therapist in the Hawthorne area for over 10 years, specializing in children, adolescents, and family, and is a triathlete who pursues swimming, biking, and running with inspirational fervor.
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Ryan, Deannalyn, and Tuesday Teal
Tae Kwon Do
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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Tai Chi Instructor
Patty Winter
Patty has been practicing T'ai Chi since 1997 and teaching since 2003. She teaches Cheng Man-ch'ing's 37 posture, Yang-style short form. Patty's teaching style is gentle, individualized, and focused on the principles of the form rather than on the martial applications. Anyone with an interest in studying the form can participate. Patty's teachers are Tom Wilke, Lenzie Williams, and Maggie Newman.
Patty is also an RN and has worked in hospice and grief counseling for most of her professional life. She meditates in both Vipassana and Zen traditions, and holds a lay ordination from the San Francisco Zen Center. When not teaching or working, she enjoys an active life of bicycling, walking, and strength training.
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Pilates Instructor
Heather Glogowski
Heather has been kinesthetically oriented her entire life. She took ballet and modern dance from childhood through high school, began Pilates in college, and developed a daily Kundalini Yoga practice in graduate school. Upon completing her master of library science degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo, she began the comprehensive Core Dynamics® Pilates teacher training program.
The Pilates Method has helped Heather overcome pain in her back, neck, and jaw, and she finds great joy in teaching this ingenious method of restoring balance, strength, and flexibility to the human body.
Heather has been teaching mat classes and private lessons on Pilates equipment since 2005 and has loved every minute of it. In 2007, she moved her private practice, Blue Lotus Pilates, to Portland. In addition to maintaining her personal Pilates practice, she is currently training in the martial art form gung fu and finds this to be a wonderful cross-training challenge to which she can apply her Pilates skills. For more information about private lessons and classes, visit www.bluelotuspilates.com.
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Feldenkrais Instructor
Joanna Cutler
Joanna has been a student of the Feldenkrais Method for more than 10 years. During her four years of practitioner training, she had the privilege of studying worldwide with some of the method's top trainers. She is inspired daily by the Feldenkrais Method's elegant synthesis of physics, psychology, judo, learning theory, and developmental biology—all combined into a fun, relaxing way to relieve chronic pain, prevent injuries, and improve the body's intelligence.
Her first experience with Feldenkrais was in search for relief of chronic low back pain. As her posture and movement became easier, she realized the significant effects these improvements had on other parts of her life. Through Feldenkrais, she not only improved her posture and movement, but also discovered new and vital parts of her personality.
It's refreshingly fun to be engaged in learning about oneself, and Joanna is pleased to share the joy of learning and limitless potential with others along their own paths of discovery and growth. For more information about private lessons and classes, visit www.Feldenkrais-PDX.com.
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