CRISTI CHRISTENSON

( los angeles, california )
Cristi is a Fire Activator. Star Seed. Lover of Life. She has the unique ability to connect heart to heart with her students -inspiring them to dig deeper, play harder, and feel down into the depths of their Spirit with enthusiasm and joy. Cristi seeds her teachings through the Elements & the 7 Energy Centers in the body, creating a map to explore the full spectrum of what it is to be alive. She spreads this energy across the globe leading workshops, teachers trainings and retreats and has been faculty on numerous international yoga festivals and conferences. Currently, Cristi is shaking up the yoga world by integrating yoga and dance with live DJ’d house music events!

BIBI MCGILL

( portland, oregon )
The gifts of a yogic practice fortified Bibi McGill’s courage, stamina, and devotion as the internationally renowned lead guitarist and band leader for Beyonce. She has found great sustenance and healing in yoga, and her joy in teaching is making yoga accessible to anyone who seeks it. Her down-to-earth, vibrant nature empowers students to claim their own authentic gifts, as they deepen their relationship with themselves on the mat.

Bibi leads classes and workshops around the globe and in her hometown, Portland, Oregon. She inspires groups, large and small, at studios, schools, festivals, city parks, and even the White House lawn. Through her work with organizations like Street Yoga, Peace in Schools, Wolf Connection and her artist residency with Open Middle School, Bibi spreads the message of healing and wellness to youth. She uses her adept sensitivity to support populations who have undergone trauma and creates a safe and nurturing yoga environment.

A rocker on a mission to help the world vibrate higher, Bibi has graced the covers of Yoga Journal, About Face, Edge Magazine and Om Times. When she’s not on the mat or stage, Bibi is often connecting with nature in her garden, on a kayak, or in the forest with a cup of tea.
 
 
 
 
 

TONY G

( los angeles, california )
Tony G’s devotion to the path of yoga fills his classes with both knowledge and intensity, while his big heart lends sweetness and compassion. His classes are infused with biomechanics, philosophy, breath work and a healthy dose of humor. Tony views teaching as a live collaboration and he loves to encourage students to experience and explore the movement arts. Tony’s greatest joy is in helping to awaken new students’ passion for yoga and to see new and seasoned practitioners find deep freedom and self-expression in the context of a safe and loving environment.
 
 
 
 

KATE SWARM

( phoenix, arizona )
Kate Swarm is an Phoenix based yoga teacher, with a passion for creating unique and fully immersive experiences. She has a gift for holding a sacred space of transcendence, while guiding her students to a place of union between mind, body and soul.

Over the last 5 years her devotion and excitement to exploring how environment, sensory input, and intention effects a shift in consciousness, has lead her to work beside some of the most gifted artists, musicians and creatives in the wellness movement; including Walter Yoga, for whom she is both a resident yoga instructor and event producer. Kate has taught at numerous yoga and music festivals throughout the Nation, blurring the lines between yoga, movement, meditation, visual engineering, and sound immersion.

Although she spends a significant amount of time curating external environmental elements, Kate is even more detail oriented when it comes to exploring her students internal environment of the “self”. She has a warm, peaceful, and grounding presence that gently guides her students to a peak state of integrated body awareness, intelligent and thoughtful movement, and self realization.

GORDON OGDEN

( phoenix, arizona )
Gordon Ogden is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher and wellness event producer, who has spent his life utilizing outlets of physical expression to connect to the world around him. His introduction to yoga nearly 20 years ago transformed his passion in to a practice, and his practice in to a way of being. Now a teacher, and mentor to countless Yogis, athletes, and intentional beings, Gordon has been able to share his passion and wisdom across the globe.

Gordon’s life has not only been a pursuit of finding what moves him physically, but what moves him emotionally. His fond love of music and stage production has fueled a passionate career in the arts. His journey of moving mind, body and soul lead him to develop Walter Yoga, a full sensory immersive yoga experience, utilizing state-of-the-art sound and light equipment to create environments that match the emotional and physical energy of a class.

Gordon’s been a marketing professional since the mid 1990’s, an avid rock climber, and lives in Phoenix with his wife Holly, and their daughter Willow.

MARISA WEPPNER

( boise, idaho )
Marisa is well known for her authentic self-expression, humorous yet grounded, as she inspired students to live their highest potential on all levels of being. She uses her graduate degree in Transpersonal Psychology, Life Coaching and Pranassage to bring a real-world mix of eastern and western spiritually and psychology to her classes for self-empowerment and awakening

Marisa has been teaching yoga for over 17 years. As a 1000 hr Nosara Yoga Master Educator, Marisa has dedicated her life to sharing the art and science of yoga. She is the Lead Instructor for Sage Yoga & Wellness’s 200 and 300 HR yoga teacher training schools and enjoys the sweet connection of Boise’s yoga community so much. When not wanderlusting and teaching at festivals across the world, Marisa can be found guiding weekly classes at her studio in Boise, Idaho, Sage Yoga & Wellness. Watch her yoga classes online at udaya.com.

In addition to a full-on yoga life, Marisa is the mother of 2, hosts a weekly music show on Radio Boise, is DJ Chakra Khan, and is the co-creator and co-curator of Yogafort. Her new book Vinyasa Yoga Made Simple: 27 Days of Self-Discovery is out now.

DENISE DRUCE

( salt lake city, utah )
Denise Druce has been teaching fitness and yoga for almost four decades. From leg warmers and thongs, to kombucha and malas, she has danced with the trends and has come to settle on a yoga practice that brings her past to the present. A self-proclaimed “yoga mutt”, her style is informed by many traditions. With deep respect she honors yoga’s history, and with playful enthusiasm she welcomes western yogis into their bodies and onto their mats. Her hope is to “Take Yoga Everywhere”, especially where it’s not currently available. Through her non-profit Yoga Forward, she is leading teacher trainings in the Utah State Prison, and helping school teachers lead more mindful classes.
 
 
 
 
 

CELESTE BOLIN

( boise, idaho )
Celeste is an interesting mixture of part dance floor rabble-rouser, part whimsical yogini and somewhere in there is a scientist as well (her other life is as a science and wellness teacher at a revolutionary private high school). How do all these things come together? She believes in the magic of the body, the power of personal expression, and that we can mold our personal biologies with our transformational movement experiences. She is Dr. Bolin, the Dance Commander and the experience of her method is best felt on a sweaty dance floor.
 

C.J. THOMAS

( ashland, oregon )
C.J. Thomas is the founder of Life by the Moon Yoga, LLC. She is a registered 200hr Hatha Yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance, a certified Warrior Goddess Training Facilitator, certified Vaginal Steam Facilitator and a Banyan Botanicals Affiliate. Through cultivating a deep knowledge of the body and how to bring balance, she has developed a passion for inspiring health, wealth and radical self-empowerment. She aims to make yoga and integrative health practices accessible to humans of all colors, shapes, sizes and lineages, and to help them tap into the healer within.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MIKAYLA LATTA

( boise, idaho )
A Boise native, Mikayla has been running the MUUV Yoga Boise studio for nine years and practicing yoga for 12 years. Six years into the running of MUUV she felt a calling to deepen her yoga awareness and expand her abilities to be of further service to the community through teaching.

Along side her training as a life coach, Mikayla chose to study with one of the most experienced yoga teachers in America, Amy Ippoliti. Amy’s extensive background in Anusara yoga, alignment, and yoga therapy was perfect for Mikayla’s desire to help people discover yoga as a means to heal and strengthen their body. With struggles of her own injuries in the shoulders and neck, practicing alignment based yoga offered a window into her own healing. Mikayla has found great joy in offering the same insights and wisdom to new and established students alike.

Mikayla taught a class at Yogafort 2017 and participated in the Yogafort 2018 opening ceremony. She also has been blessed to teach at the Sun Valley Wellness Festival in 2018.

JENNIFER KNIGHT

( boise, idaho )
Compelled by the calling to share yoga with her commUNITY, Jennifer turned her passion into a profession by opening the Yoga Tree of Boise in 2008. She believes that living with love, truth, and yoga one can overcome even the most challenging obstacles in life. Trained in an interdisciplinary Hatha yoga, Jennifer draws upon the balance of physical alignment, flexibility, strength, breath, meditation and internal energy for each person to achieve whatever goal they may have.

Jennifer has studied with several international teachers to form her style of teaching while influencing several of our local instructors as a teacher trainer for Shanti Yoga School. She facilitates master classes and workshops. “Come find your yoga!” is a motto Jennifer believes in and invites into her classes.
 
 
 
 
 
 

KIMBERLY AZZARITO

in collaboration with Storyfort
Kimberly Azzarito, ERYT500, teaches yoga in an approachable way to every BODY. She empowers her students by weaving yogic traditions, stories, and myths with dynamic movement and alignment on the mat and opens the narrative between body, breath, and mind through authentic expression.

Kimberly believes in the deep power of storytelling. It’s the reason myths are passed down in all traditions and cultures. The telling of a story can bring us into alignment with inspiration, spark creativity, give insight into life’s challenges, touch the heart, and commission the soul. She teaches the wisdom of Joseph Campbell, “the privilege of a lifetime is to be who you are.”
She teaches at studios in the Boise area and is a lead teacher for Shanti Yoga Teacher Training.

“Everything is connected; when we open to the practice of yoga on the mat, not only do our physical bodies become stronger and suppler but our minds become flexible, our hearts grow in empathic compassion, our creativity inspired and the remembrance that we are beings of light.” Kimberly Azzarito
 
 

CORRINE HATHAWAY

( boise, idaho )
Studying the path of classical yoga in the east sent Corrine Hathaway on a path of discovery that led to Bhakti yoga and Kirtan. She became inspired to learn how to play the harmonium and combine her vocal background with new sounds, language and yoga. Singing mostly in Sanskrit, Corrine offers her voice as a tool for our ancient layers to unite with the present in blissful resonance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

RANA NADAR

( laguna beach, california )
Thirteen years ago, Rana Nader joined her mother, who has been making jewelry for over 30 years, and began creating her own line of jewelry beside her. She quickly expanded her fashion line to the Middle East and Europe before moving to Laguna Beach, California. Today she’s transformed her life and work to embody the intentions of a yogic life. Yoga has become a lifestyle for her and not just a physical practice. Having taught and practiced for years, she looks to bring her deep appreciation of yoga to her jewelry by sharing the beauty, peace and happiness it brings.

Her process for creating begins with a daily meditation at the beach, clearing the energy of each stone and crystal before she sets a new intention for the eventual piece. Along with her many creative lines, Rana’s one of a kind Mala beads are internationally recognized.
 
 

BRANDON LEE

( seattle, washington )
Brandon began practicing meditation over 18 years ago to relieve stress and combat negative health issues. His practice led him on a path of self-discovery and personal growth. Being a former entrepreneur and very self-motivated he began to study meditation, breathing techniques and mindfulness. Over the years, he has attended numerous seminars, workshops and weekend retreats and now does a one-month meditation retreat each year. He also happens to be Canada’s Consulate General to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and represents the Canadian Government in Idaho! (Did you know that Canada is one of Treefort’s partners?)

MANTRA SIMRAN KAUR, MARY BAKER

( boise, idaho )
Mantra Simran Kaur, Mary Baker, is a native of Seattle but has lived in Boise for the last 34 years. It was in the Seattle’s environment that she was introduced to yoga and to the teachings of Yogi Bhajan. Yogi Bhajan himself declared Mantra Simran a teacher of Kundalini Yoga in 1972. Mary is certified through Yoga Alliance and Kundalini Research Institute as a KRI Certified Practitioner of Kundalini Yoga and an E-RYT 500. She is also a member of the Aquarian Trainer’s Academy which runs all the teacher trainings for Kundalini Yoga.
 
 

MARGIT SAGE & STEFAN SMULOVITZ

( boise, idaho / vancouver, british columbia )
Margit Sage, RYT 500, RPYT, iRest® L1 Teacher, started out loving the strength and energy of a more vigorous yoga practice, but through her training has come to appreciate the slower, more contemplative forms of yoga and meditation. Her favorite yoga quote is from Bernie Clark, “We do not use the body to get into a pose; we use the pose to get into the body.” She teaches all over Boise. Find her at facebook.com/satyayogamindfulness.

Composer, violist, and laptop artist Stefan Smulovitz has performed with improvisers globally and created more than 60 live film scores. He is one of Canada’s most in demand composers for dance and theatre. Recently Stefan travelled to Bhutan to collect sounds to score the award-winning documentary Power of the River. Find him at stefansmulovitz.ca.
 
 

RIO LOVE – ECSTATIC DANCE BOISE

( boise, idaho )
Rio Love has been organizing and hosting ecstatic dances, as well as organizing and facilitating other events in Boise for the last 10 years. Rio is well seasoned in finding and creating the perfect music flow and vibe that allows people to have a memorable and beautiful dance/yoga/movement experience.

Ecstatic dance is a moving meditation, a safe space for exploring your own unique inner dance. There is no choreography or steps to follow, just an invitation to feel and surrender to the rhythm of the music, to let yourself move. Freeform ecstatic dance is an expressive and integrative healing arts practice where participants merge as one with sound and intuitive movement. A yoga of mind, body, spirit; free form dance can facilitate beautiful experiences of individualized personal expression through movement.

CHAYA KNOPP & ANGIE BROOKS

( boise, idaho )
Chaya Knopp’s fitness journey started when she was 24, over 250 pounds and suffering from almost debilitating depression. Chaya walked into the gym as a last ditch effort and found herself on a spin bike, terrified, barely able to breathe and left with a desire to change her life and her mental state by becoming active and healthy. Since then, Chaya has earned 3 national training certifications, won several awards, managed several fitness departments, and earned 13 group fitness format licenses, but nothing has been more impactful in her career in fitness than Buti Yoga. Buti blends everything she loves about movement and music, fitness and fun, community and healing and has personally transformed her life from the inside out.

Angie Brooks has been practicing yoga for 7 years, and discovered BUTI yoga 4 years ago through searching for something she could practice at home. She immediately felt the transformation and bliss that comes from a workout that has grown into a passion she wants to share with others. Angie’s intention for all her classes are for her students to have a safe space to connect, transform, and sweat through yoga and dance.

MIKEY SIEGEL

in collaboration with Hackfort
Mikey Siegel is a robotics engineer turned consciousness hacker. He is currently teaching at Stanford University, founder of Consciousness Hacking, BioFluent Technologies, the Transformative Technology Conference, and serving on the board of Trustees of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

He envisions a present and future where science and technology support psychological, emotional and spiritual flourishing. Where our devices not only connect us to information, but also connect us to ourselves and each other, acting as a catalyst for individual and collective awakening.

How will innovations in neuroscience, neurotech, wearables, VR, AI etc. change the way we walk the spiritual path? What if any inherent differences are there between modern tech and “traditional approaches”? What are the dangers of a highly accelerated spiritual path? What are the bottlenecks to awakening? Is there anything inherently less skillful about Modern Tech as compared to traditional practices? Siegel will explore the way that modern technology will change the way we awaken.

SALLY ROBERTS

in collaboration with Kidfort
Sally Roberts, RYT 200, is the owner and founder of Sattva Yoga. Before yoga, Sally taught English Composition at the local university, Spanish at Hewlett-Packard and in private tutoring sessions, and dance at a studio she opened in her home as a way of staying home with her sons. Years after her stroke, when so much of life was too noisy and too chaotic, yoga offered her a quiet way back into her body, spirit, and mind. The clarity, strength, and peace yoga provides Sally are qualities she hope to share with her students.

Kidfort and Yogafort welcome Sally Roberts back to lead families in a 45 minute all ages yoga class at Kidfort.

DIRK MANLEY

( boise, idaho )
“Dirk. Knows. Everyone. A unicorn of a man, he is the community guru who has friends everywhere he goes and sees unlimited possibility in our community. Dirk hosts KegFit, at local breweries with a 1980s boombox and custom mix tapes in tow.” Chelsey Ripley (lululemon)