IYNAUS Board & Staff

 


Officers



Members at Large



 


Board Bios



    CHRIS BEACH has been practicing Iyengar Yoga for 26 years and teaching for 14. Certified at the Junior Intermediate II level, he has been to Pune four times to study with the Iyengars, most recently in August 2010. He has also studied with a wide range of teachers including Patricia Walden, Manouso Manos, Faeq Biria, Karin O'Bannon, Gloria Goldberg and Carolyn Belko.


    Chris served for four years on the Board of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Southern California (Los Angeles chapter), and was president for three years.


    Chris has published several books on American poetry and film. He lives in Irvine, California with his wife Carrie and daughter Francesca; his son Julian is a senior at Pomona College.



    DAVID CARPENTER has been practicing Iyengar Yoga for more than eleven years.  He studies with Chicago’s wonderful certified Iyengar teachers, and he makes regular trips to Champaign to study with Lois Steinberg.  David also attends workshops with other teachers, including Manouso Manos and Laurie Blakeney.   


    In his day job, David is a partner in the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, where he specializes in appellate litigation and in antitrust and regulatory issues in the telecommunications and electric industries.    He is also an opera lover and an avid golfer and paddle tennis player. 



    PATRINA DOBISH, certified at the Junior Intermediate I level, began her Iyengar yoga studies in 1991 after B.K.S. Iyengar made a life-changing presentation in her hometown, Chicago. She has studied in Pune three times and has participated in all IYNAUS conventions since 2001. She studies regularly with Chris Saudek and Lois Steinberg, along with several other senior teachers to whom she expresses gratitude.


    Patrina served as production coordinator of the IYNAUS convention magazines, Yatra (2007) and Sadhana (2001). She is vice president of the ad hoc board of the Iyengar Yoga Association of the Midwest Bioregions (IYAMB), a region in transition. She is managing director of Yoga Tree, the Iyengar Yoga studio she helped establish in Evanston, IL.


    In daily life, "I transpose my understanding of composing poses and find time to hone my artisanship through various media, whispering to animals, researching sustainable urban ecological techniques and staying apprised of current events." A retired union carpenter, she left behind chinks of glass to be found in the foundations and behind the panels of Chicago skyscrapers.



    LESLIE DILLINGHAM FREYBERG achieved Intermediate Junior I certification in 2006 having began her Iyengar Yoga studies with Mary Dunn in 1990. In 1993 she attended her first convention in Ann Arbor, and has attended every U.S. convention since. She travelled to Pune, India, to study with the Iyengar family in 2000. She has been teaching in her home town of Redding, CT, since 1995, and also teaches in Stamford.


    An enthusiastic student of Sanskrit, Leslie has also become certified in the teaching of Sanskrit and serves on the faculty of the American Sanskrit Institute, whose senior teacher is Vyaas Houston. (For more about Leslie’s Sanskrit studies, click on www.chantwithleslie.com) She serves on the faculties of the New York Institute and of Patricia Walden's teachers’ training program. Leslie lives in Redding, CT with her husband, Tony Freyberg who is an antiquarian book dealer.



    ELIZABETH HYNES has been practicing Iyengar Yoga since 1992. Elizabeth passed her Introductory Certification in 2005 and taught for eight years at Chris Saudek's studio in La Crosse, WI. She has also studied with Francie Ricks and Rose Richardson, and has attended workshops with other senior Iyengar Yoga teachers, as well as the 1993 and 2007 national conventions. In 2009, Elizabeth moved to Fayetteville, NC, and is establishing classes in her hew home.


    Elizabeth is married and has two sons both of whom live in Brooklyn, NY. Her daughter, son in law and grandson, Grant (the apple of her eye) live in Washington, DC. Elizabeth’s stepdaughter, son in law and granddaughter, Macy, live in Chadron, NE. She also has a very demanding cat named Mr. Kitty. A lifelong fitness and nutrition devotee, Elizabeth is a former aerobics instructor who received a brown belt in American-style karate before she was introduced to yoga. She has run one marathon, and anticipates running the Connamarathon with her daughter in 2010.



    REBECCCA LERNER is co-director/owner of the BKS Iyengar Yoga Center of Central PA at the Center for Well-Being in Lemont, Pennsylvania The Center is very pleased to have 7 Certified Iyengar instructors. A devoted practitioner since the late ’70s, Rebecca makes regular trips to India to study with the Iyengar, is certified at the Intermediate Senior I level and is an IYNAUS assessor. She conducts workshops nationally and offers teacher training programs with her husband Dean Lerner. Their 3 children (now adults) attended the Quaker Friends School where she has taught and continues to teach yoga since the mid-80's. The US teachers that have been a guiding force to Rebecca are Dean Lerner, Mary Dunn and Patricia Walden.


    Outside of yoga, Rebecca's interests include volunteering in community efforts in her local town, working in the family garden, stalking wild edible plants and mushrooms with her 2 dogs, producing herbal products and assisting couples in natural childbirth as a doula. Rebecca has taught Natural Childbirth preparation classes in the Bradley Method since 1985.



    JANET LILLY is a former principal dancer and master teacher with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and  the new Head of the Department of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Lilly joined UNCG after more than 15 years at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, where she was instrumental in creating an Arts General Education Iyengar Yoga course, as well as a low-residence MFA program for returning dance professionals. The recipient of a 2008-09 Fulbright Lecturer Award to teach choreography at the University of Pune, Lilly has choreographed and taught as a guest artist and master teacher on college campuses in the United States and abroad.


    Janet began studying Iyengar Yoga with Laurie Blakeney in 1991, while in graduate school at the University of Michigan.  In 1993, she participated in the Ann Arbor National Iyengar Yoga convention, as well as serving as the choreographer and director for production of THE WARRIOR AND THE MOON.  Lilly also attended the 2004 and 2010 conventions.


    Currently a Junior Intermediate I instructor, Janet has been a certified Iyengar instructor since 2000 and continues her studies with Lois Steinberg.  Janet is looking forward to returning for her sixth course of study at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India in January 2013.



    CHRIS NOUNOU is Director of Professional Development and Administration for the Financial Services practice at McKinsey & Co, a global consulting firm. Drawing on her experience there, Chris led the strategic planning initiative of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York as part of her IYAGNY board service from 2002 - 2004. Evaluating the results of interviews with dozens of community members, the plan led to a clear mission statement, the development of new business and governance models, and the establishment of more creative programming at the New York Institute.


    Chris began Iyengar Yoga nine years ago at a neighborhood health club, when an injury had prevented her from working. Her enthusiasm continued, and she has recently completed the New York Institute teachers' training program and plans to take her first trip in Pune in June 2011. Married and the mother of two adult daughters, Chris lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side. She looks forward to retirement from the corporate world so that she can teach Iyengar Yoga full-time.



    MARY REILLY began her study of Iyengar yoga in 1978 in Ann Arbor, soon after graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in Biology. Mary started teaching Iyengar yoga in 1982, after moving to Madison, Wisconsin, and continued when she moved to her current home in Harbor Springs, Michigan in 1985. Her studio, North Woods Yoga, the B.K.S. Iyengar Center of Northern Michigan is celebrating its 25th year of operation.


    Mary began studying in Pune in 1987, continues to study there regularly and has been assessing in the certification system since 1998. She previously served on the board from 2003-2006.


    Mary makes her home in the countryside north of town, adjacent to a huge deep woods, with her husband Greg Putalik. She loves skiing, biking and kayaking for fun and a medicinal dose of nature. Mary and Greg have two grown children, Erin, an architect in Virginia and Kevin, an artist and landscaper in Detroit, Michigan.


    A big highlight of Mary's tenure in Iyengar Yoga was sitting next to Guruji watching the stage presentation of a yoga play she wrote titled "The Warrior and the Moon", for the 1993 convention. He loved it and she was very relieved.



    PHYLLIS ROLLINS began her study of Iyengar yoga in the late 80's with Light on Yoga. While working as a museum exhibits director she intensified her study with the senior teachers traveling through the south. In 1993 she opened Charlotte’s first yoga studio and left her long time museum career. She has been to India to study twice, once for the 25th anniversary and the second at RIMYI. She is certified at the Introductory II level.


    Phyllis has served as a Board member on numerous local and regional arts organizations as well as regional and national museum boards. Phyllis served 5 years on the board of IYASE, including 3 years as President. She has been an advocate for community involvement for many years and has organized and participated in numerous advisory committees. Phyllis lives outside Charlotte with 5 cats, 2 dogs and 1 husband, in a cottage with a garden.