Our Instructors
 

Shanghai Yoga Teacher Weila Wu

Weila Wu

A native of Suzhou, Weila Wu originally trained with an Indian yoga master and continues to upgrade her training with regular trips back. She placed second in the 2004 All-China Yoga competition and has been teaching yoga in Shanghai for the past three years. She teaches Power and Hot Yoga as well as leading classes in Pre-Natal and Post-Natal Yoga.

A student of modern dance at the prestigious Shanghai Art School, Ms. Wu spent her formative years as a dancer in Shanghai and Guangzhou. All the while, Ms. Wu continued to cultivate an interest in the music she was dancing to, and by late 1990s she had given up her spot on the dance floor for a place behind the DJ booth and is considered to be one of China's first female DJs.

She now combines these two passions into Freestyle Yoga Dance. Click here for full details.

 


 

 

 

 

DOMINIQUE RENUCCI

I discovered yoga in 1975, four years after a very severe motorcycle accident. I practiced different styles of yoga, till I discovered and refined the beautiful vinyasa style.

I have developed my own style, based on Krishnamacharya's teachings, in an eclectic way integrating the best elements of other schools. I do not follow any system because a system is a closed universe: my style is utterly ¡°open¡±. However I remain faithful to the ancient teachings of Yoga, and do not try to ¡°reinvent¡± Yoga. I constantly study the Yoga Tradition in order to be grounded in it, and faithfully communicate the whole of Yoga.

I have run many intensive yoga retreats and teacher training courses.

I have also studied: Western anatomy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Japanese Shiatsu, Reiki, and Indian Ayurveda, as a complement to yoga.

I first taught yoga-asanas in 1991 in Nepal. Since then, I have lived in Asia, spending more than three years in India. Long ago I discovered non-tantric techniques of meditation, then went to tantric meditation, and finally reconnected with Dzogchen teaching (discovered in 1997). In 2009 I was away from China mostly to follow my dzogchen master, as I spent 3 months with him and his other students, practicing again and again.

I am an Experienced-registered yoga teacher (500E-RYT) with Yoga Alliance (USA). Yogayantra, my school, is a Registered School www.yogayantra.com

 

 

 

 

 
 

Jose Shibu

Hailing from Kerala, Jose Shibu trained with the great South Indian yoga master Swami Sathyananda and by 1996 he was in the Aurbindo at the South Indian Yoga Institute in Bangalore. Later he went on to train at the National College of Yoga in New Delhi. In 2004 he received an intermational teaching certificate from the Kaivalyadhama National Yoga Research Institute. Jose has over ten years of teaching experience in India, UAE, Maldives, Mauritius and China.

Styles include Hatha, Hot Yoga, Ashtanga and Chanting.

 

Ben Finnerty

Ben Finnerty's yogic journey began long ago. He first started playing with yoga poses at a very young age as his mother watched the PBS series 'Yoga with Lilias'. He continued to use the yoga poses throughout his childhood as a means of playing within his body to explore what it was like to do so. Sometime in the late 1990's his friend took him to a yoga class, which was a little challenging and interesting as well. He then found a copy of the 'Sivananda Companion to Yoga' which he studied cover to cover many times through 2001. The poses were interesting, and the effects of inversions was tremendous. His studies followed him to study with some of the greatest modern yoga teachers in the USA. He has studied extensively with Rodney Yee, Ramanand Patel, Rusty Wells, Richard Freeman, Sarah Powers, Paul Grilley, and many others. He has completed more than 3 different teacher trainings with certifications totalling more than 1200 hours. His style is vinyasa. He has gone through various Vipasanna meditation training's. His teaching is especially adaptable to all body and mind types. You will do arm balances, inversions and backbends.

 

John Walker

John began practicing yoga in 2000. After 10+ years of personal training and bodybuilding, John was turned on to yoga by his friend and teacher Kevin Markowitz. Together they opened 2 yoga studios in Guatemala and taught over 20 ashtanga and hatha yoga classes each week. He left Guatemala in 2006 to study in India.

In India, he was trained and certified with BNS Iyengar, one of the main disciples of Krishnamachrya, in the lineage of ashtanga. Recently, john has been studying anusara yoga, completing the immersions 1, 2, 3 and the teacher training.

As well, he has completed modules 1, 2 and 3 of the anatomy in movement modules taught by Richard Brown..

John has taught over 3000 hours and is certified with Yoga Alliance.


 

 

Mark

Mark Elsner began studying Hatha Yoga in 1974 and teaching in 1981.Since that time he has taught yoga in North America, Europe, and Asia. With the help of teachers from all over the world, Mark has explored many styles of yoga, including Sivananda, Kripalu, Integral, and Iyengar and Ashtanga. Since 1994 the heart of his practice has been Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, which he learned from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. Mark now makes his home in Shanghai, China, where he teaches yoga to students from all over the world.

 

 
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Li Cha De (Richard Baimbridge)

began practicing yoga at Jiva Mukti Yoga Center and Bhava Yoga in New York City, studying with highly respected vinyasa teachers like David Life. On a visit to China in 1999, he discovered Chen-style tai qi. His interest in martial arts grew quickly, taking him to a Shaolin monastery, high in the mountains of Yunnan, where he spent a year as a monk, undergoing intense training in wushu and Buddhism. A world-traveler and renowned journalist, Richard often writes about yoga, martial arts, and travel for magazines in China, Europe and the USA. His interest in martial arts, particularly tai qi, has influenced his yoga tremendously, as have the teachings of other martial artists/yogis such as Duncan Wong and Matthew Cohen. Richard’s classes are equal parts humor, energy, and spirituality, inspired by the wisdom he gained in the temples of China and India. Li Cha De teaches in both Mandarin and English, and his main yogic influences are Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar, David Life, Duncan Wong, and Bikram.

 

Vivi

2001 began to study yoga at Shanghai Sports Center,further study with Wei Li Min,2005 joined staff at Hatha Yoga center after gaining yoga teacher certification, well versed in many yoga styles including Classic yoga, Pranayama, Hot , Power, Flow yoga and Yoga ball,good balance of strength and flexibility and relaxation in her yoga approach, classes always popular.

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Judy

Judy is a graduate of the Shanghai Foreign Language University and has also trained extensively with an Indian Yoga Master. Because of Judy's professional training and dedication to Yoga she has become one of our most sought after and professional bilingual trainers. Judy is a very warm, nurturing and underesting instructor and has been trained to teach all levels of Power Yoga, Hot Yoga and Pranayama.

"Yoga is such an incredible healing practice, I'm honored to share my years of experience to help make Yoga accessible and fun to people of all ages and abilities."

 
Shanghai Yoga Teacher Maggie

Maggie

Maggie's first exposure to yoga was 1997 while she was studying in Shanghai Foreign Language University. Since then she has reinvented her life from a professional Sales/Service Manager, to an inspiring and devoted yogi. Through her own non-stopped daily practices and started to take several professional yoga teacher trainings, she is learning to listen to her body, and live from her heart. Maggie has been practicing and teaching yoga for many years, her focus is on breath and core strength to build a strong, supportive practice, and she delighted to share her knowledge, experiences and passion with students. Maggie is as comfortable teaching to beginners as she is to advanced students, and her personal care and attention to detail make every class a joy to attend. Her classes provide a stimulating and safe environment to relax and begin to release pent up stress, emotion and anxiety through stretching, breathing and movement. Her clients included private individuals, international companies and health clubs.

Above all, Maggie's classes emphasize lightness, tenderness, fluidity and specially the breath awareness and yoga philosophies, in everywhere that she teaches, students are amazed at her ability and humility.

Maggie has been trained by numerous global recognized yoga teachers such as Lance Schuler¡¢Devid Swenson, Bill Arce, Duncan Wang, Mercedes Bahleda, etc.

Maggie is a wonderful teacher, and a true Yogi who leads by spiritual and action with integrity and passion.

Shanghai Pilates Studio Teacher Rebecca

Rebecca Zhu

Rebecca is a born athlete. Having won three consecutive Asian Championships in Roller Figure Skating, Rebecca went on to rank seventh in the world. She retired from competition in 1995 and has since focused that energy into yoga and pilates. Having forged a deep connection between mind and body she now shares that connection through her Pilates Certification.

 
 
 

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