Instructors

Being that Bikram yoga has changed my life in so many ways it is difficult to express in just a short essay. Maybe it is the determination you must have to give 100% effort each and every class. Or it is the act of looking at yourself in the mirror for 90 minutes while trying to achieve greatness in every posture. What I know for certain is that Bikram has changed my mind, body and soul. Like most women, I was plagued with the obsession of my body image consequently yo-yo dieting and destroying myself. After spending 10 years studying and working in Western medicine I discovered yoga. I spent most of my young adult life trying to become a physician, with the goal of helping save lives. I also worked in Public Health as a biological scientist thinking I was going to contribute to helping people live healthier. As a result my personal wellness and health suffered, constantly stressed on prescription meds, I compulsively dieted and ruined my body with crazy work-out regimes. Since starting yoga a few years ago I have changed the way I see myself, not only physically but also emotionally. The practice has taught me self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, self-compassion, self-respect and above all self-worth---none of these things can be given to a patient through a prescription. Knowing how to take care of yourself so you can love others is a life-changing experience above any physical benefit I gained. Learning how to forgive myself for not being perfect was a battle I finally overcame and still work on every day. Yoga has changed my life and continues to do so every day. I have a new relationship with how I see health and fitness and how it applies to our communities.

As a Bikram teacher I have a deeper understanding of the holistic approach to wellness, health and fitness---things that unfortunately today’s Western medicine cannot convey. My goal is to continue to share the wonderful benefits yoga has given me to all students I meet.

Namaste.

Born and raised in a small island called Guam, Marie moved to Las Vegas in August 1999. Graduated May 2005 from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Architecture.

Marie has a background knowledge in the fields of hospitality, resort, entertainment design and retail design. These include master planning, theming, architectural design, and interior design of mixed-use projects comprised of hotels, casinos, entertainment complexes, convention facilities, spas, retail, and high-end hotel/condominium towers.

Marie was introduced to Bikram Yoga by her best friend Stacey Paliombay in April 2005 while simultaneously training at the gym. After a knee injury, Marie took class for the first time and found passion in the practice and been going since. Bikram Yoga has helped her regain strength and endurance.

Marie then decided after 4 years of practicing to go to Teacher Training. Graduated in Spring 2009, Marie has developed love and passion for the yoga and hopes to share this practice to everyone who wants to better themselves and live a healthy, longer life in their journey to self discovery.

Michelle has been a Bikram yoga enthusiast for over a decade. She was introduced to Bikram yoga by her ballroom dance coach/TV personality, Mary Murphy (So You Think You Can Dance).

She studied at Jim & Emma Kallett's studio in San Diego and was motivated by Jim to get certified. She was certified in the Fall of 2001. The training was post 9/11 and had a major impact on Mochi; she vowed to be of positive and peaceful service to her community.

On the 2nd day of the 9 week teacher training in LA, Mochi got a call from Disney's, The Lion King, offering her a job to dance and sing on tour with the Tony award winning musical. This opportunity allowed newly certified Mochi to teach Bikram yoga all over the country.

After performing with The Lion King on Broadway for 3 years, she decided to move to Las Vegas to perform in the new company at Mandalay Bay. Mochi thankfully was introduced to a whole new yoga community in Las Vegas. Practicing yoga has profoundly kept her life on a consciously balanced path and has enabled her to stay in tip top shape for her performances. Mochi feels very lucky to be able to share her joy and knowledge of the practice with others.

Currently you can see Mochi strutting her stuff onstage at the Encore Theater (Wynn Hotel) performing in Twyla Tharp's "Sinatra, Dance with Me".

My journey with Bikram Yoga started 4 years ago when I was 30lbs overweight and had been battling high blood pressure. I very quickly became addicted to the the way I started feeling after my first Bikram class.

After my first year doing Bikram yoga, I went to Los Angeles to take class with the man himself. After an almost 2 hour class, the most fun I had ever had, I was honored to meet Bikram Choudhury and knew after that meeting that I wanted to do this yoga for the rest of my life.

I graduated in Fall of 2009 from Bikram YogaTeacher Training and have been teaching ever since. I love teaching, I love watching new students, I love helping students in anyway I can and learning from students.

My daughter Tia has been practicing since she was 9 and I hope she becomes a second generation teacher following in my footsteps. The goal I have set for myself at this point is to be invited back to Teacher Training to teach on the podium and complete the circle in my Bikram Yoga Journey.

I look forward to meeting and practicing with everyone! see you in the Torture Chamber!

Namaste.

I began my practice in 2008. I struggled to do more than half the postures and to this day I still struggle with a few postures. Practicing 5 times per week Bikram yoga helped heal my chronic low back pain of 10 years.

I gave up my job as a Lactation Counselor another passion of mine to become a Bikram yoga teacher. I graduated from Teacher Training in Spring 2010.

I am so blessed, honored, and passionate to be able to teach. I enjoy seeing my students improve, grow, and heal their bodies and minds. See you where it's HOT!

Suzette Cruz

My journey to my encounter with Bikrams begins right here in Las Vegas. I was newly 21, experiencing life as a growing girl should. Tripping on hardships and life lessons along the way. Ones journey to self discovery usually is a hard one. I would say that my thirst in this life has initially been about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. I am arriving at a circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. As humans, it is just part of the process of growing. I feel I was blessed enough to learn from my faults.I realized when I tried Bikrams for the first time, that being an instructor and enlightening others was my natures path in life. I want to help people as I work on myself and I work on myself to help people.

That 90 minutes in the hot room is the closest to euphoria I have ever been. Meditation is imperative on the road to being content within yourself. When the mind is stabilized and cleared is when the transformation-type experiences take place. Humanity must realize we are one. We are all connected. Mankind is right now in a critical period of transition. We fundamentally need to create a sustainable civilization. A "shift" in consciousness that starts to recognize were all in this together, we're all part of the same mold. With practicing Bikrams I've discovered people of all ages, races, physical stature, can allow this collective consciousness to happen. You can feel the unity of the energy and work as one. Which if humanity is to survive we must learn to do. It teaches you more than you can imagine. It is all about YOU in there. Love begins within us. I just want to share this with every walking being on the planet.

That said, I feel so blessed to have landed this great job amongst great souls at West-Side studio. I get to practice every day and have a great support system helping me prepare for training in April. The instructors all bring something different, and are all such inspirations to me.

I honor each and every one of you who are practicing with us. I look forward to practicing next to all of you and sharing our energy!! I look forward to guiding you through your meditation. Thank you all for loving yourself enough to struggle.We are all friends, we are one -- we are just a little bit of a different shape.

A Chicago Native, National and World Frisbee Champion-Turned-Dancer. Working for over two decades with world famous choreographers, musicians, singers, and directors, his performing and choreography have taken him all over the world. But the years of physical wear and tear, ACL knee reconstruction, and finally, a serious neck injury forced Frank to give up the performing he loved so much. At this point in his life, even though it was extremely painful and his neck injury had worsened, Frank was a 'weekend warrior' trying to stay physically active, only with the aid of prescription pain relievers. Just when he thought neck surgery was inevitable, Frank discovered Bikram Yoga. With his first class, he instantly fell in love with it! He felt immediate relief from his pain that had plagued him for years and he wanted to share it with others by becoming an instructor.

Frank completed the Bikram Yoga training in 2007. As an instructor, Frank inspires the students and makes his class a challenging and enjoyable experience. He brings high energy and compassion to each class with his ability to identify with the needs and physical challenges of each student.

Time & Time again: Here's your pain medication, Let's schedule back surgery or go find something to do! I finally Did! I was turned on to Bikram Yoga in "2006" due to lower back pain and sciatic nerve issues. Due to nerve and tissue damage from years of contact sports my legs were basically dead. I took my beaten body to chiropractor, Dr. Chris Paulbick, who told me I needed to stretch.

Heeding his advice, I walked into a Bikram Yoga studio in Las Vegas in the middle of a 30-day challenge (30 classes in 30 days). Within a week I was doing a 60-day challenge! My body began to heal and the pain began to subside.

Yoga took my mind and my body to places I had never been before: balance, discipline, focus, determination, strength, flexibility, meditation and peace of mind. I really became sold on Bikram when I learned that every muscle, tendon, joint, internal organ, & body system down to the cellular level gets worked in the 90 minute, open-eyed, moving meditation. I soon gave up many of my other physical activities for Bikram Yoga.

With the understanding, encouragement, support, and sacrifices of my family, I was able to attend teacher training "Fall of 2007." It then became apparent that I needed to share the message of the multiple benefits I had received from all I gained through the struggle - the peace, the advancement, the breath, the battle, the victory, the union – Bikram Yoga truly became my life’s passion.

I enthusiastically welcome you to Bikram Yoga and I look forward to witnessing your struggle, advancement, strength, self realization and ultimate transformation. The divine spirit in me acknowledges and connects with the divine spirit in you. Let no one steal your peace.

Namaste.

Sharon Jalene graduated from Bikram Yoga teacher training in March, 2004, after discovering the powerful, healing benefits of the practice only six months prior. Sharon says, "I always was sick, in pain, and starting down a path of prescription drugs and misdiagnoses from a medical community used to treating symptoms, not the overall person."

"After only a few weeks of practice, I felt better, lost weight, had more energy, and a peace of mind I had never before experienced. I did the Bikram recommended 60- day challenge. I knew from the first week I wanted to be a teacher, because this was the most profound thing I'd ever participated in my life."

Along with her passion for Bikram Yoga, Sharon is a professional musician and songwriter, having performed across the United States as well as 17 foreign countries. Sharon is excited to combine her personal creativity, Integrative Physiology, and Bikram Yoga toward an overall healing path in Yoga Therapy. Sharon is also an ACHE Board Certified Hypnotherapist and is completing a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at UNLV.

Ken Krynski is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and has been resident of Las Vegas since 1995. Ken received a civil engineering degree from The Virginia Military Institute prior to entering the Marine Corps as a commissioned officer and obtaining the rank of Major. Other than the military, and prior to Bikram yoga, Ken has spent most of his professional life in construction and real estate development.

Ken begin practicing Bikram Yoga 3 years ago after being introduced to the benefits of Bikram by a personal trainer who was working with Ken to increase his flexibility and elevate joint pain and weakness resulting from a lifetime of contact sports and hard physical exercise. Ken struggled with the yoga initially but after realizing the physical benefits of his practice he knew that Bikram Yoga would forever be part of his life. He maintains a balanced health and exercise regime of yoga, running and weight training.

Ken attended teacher training here in Las Vegas in Spring of 2010. He has traveled extensively practicing and teaching yoga in more that 30 studios. Ken hopes to own his own studio someday and enjoys teaching in Las Vegas and is dedicated to ever increasing both his personal practice and his teaching ability.

I began my Bikram journey in November of 2006 at the Bikram Yoga studio then on Tropicana in Las Vegas. My best friend Dray invited me to take class many times, but I was already doing regular yoga once a week. Finally, I showed up one evening to a packed class and my mind was blown from the first breath of deep breathing, with everybody moving together.

It was the hardest thing I ever did, but I finished the class. After that first class I went home and could not move a muscle, but I did come back the next 3 days in a row and after that I never looked back. The class had exactly what I was looking for, the struggle, challenge and good instructors to lead the class.

Early in 2007 I decided to go to teacher training. I needed a physical, my doctor said I looked good and signed me off but wanted to do a full check up with blood samples since we hadn’t seen each other in a while. When the nurse called me the next day with the news that my kidneys were failing and I needed to go to the hospital immediately, they were amazed that my kidneys were only functioning at 7 percent. They were also amazed I could still perform at work as full time ironworker, practice karate, yoga everyday and raise two young kids.

I still say without the hot room and Bikram yoga removing toxins out of my body, I would not be here. I started dialysis in 2008 and continued with the yoga until I dislodged a couple of catheters and had to stop.

January 2009 I received a kidney transplant from my dear sister who was a perfect match, my body healed fast and I was back in the hot room 6 weeks later. The power of positivity brought Bikram and teacher training to Las Vegas that same year in the fall and I was able to attend and become a certified teacher in 2010.

It is my honor to teach this yoga and share in your experience. You can do it!

Namaste

I have been a Certified Medical Assistant for 9 years and currently work at the Nevada Cancer Institute.

I took my first Bikram yoga class at Village Yoga in Santa Cruz California May 2008. Less then a year and a half later I went to teacher training in Las Vegas, NV to study with Bikram. This yoga practice has helped me to navigate my busy mind and develop inner growth and transformation.

Medically, I’ve had Hypothyriodism since 2000 with the same prescription for 6 years until 6 months of practicing this yoga, my daily Synthroid dose has been reduced 3 times!

I am so honored and greatful to be a student and teacher here at Bikram Yoga Westside. I wish you all happiness and health

Noel

SONG MAN DANCE MAN (1-man show) LA & Off-Broadway (nominee: Connecticut Critics’ Circle Award, Outstanding Actor in a Musical/Outstanding Musical [writer]), SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (Cosmo Brown)-Ogunquit Playhouse (nominee: IRNE Award Best Supporting Actor)

Broadway: CABARET (Emcee).

Other Off Broadway: GEORGE M. COHAN TONIGHT! (George M - Drama Desk Award nominee, Best Solo Performance, 2006 Drama League Honoree, Connecticut Critics’ Circle Award, Outstanding Actor in a Musical), HAVE A HEART, THE GEORGE M. COHAN REVUE (George) – Bistro Award Best Performer in a Revue.

National Tour and Regional: SOPHISTICATED LADIES (Gateway Playhouse), HALF A SIXPENCE (Arthur Kipps)-Goodspeed Opera House. THE WORLD GOES ROUND, (Man #1), THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Frank ‘n’ Furter), CABARET (National Tour)(Emcee)–nominee National Broadway Theatre Award Best Actor in a Musical, A CHORUS LINE (Paul).

West End and UK National Tours: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, with Petula Clarke (Rolf), A CHORUS LINE (Paul), DAMES AT SEA (Lucky), SHE LOVES ME (Bus Boy), Y (Revue), SOPHISTICATED LADIES, CAVALCADE (Joey), WHOOP-DEE-DOO! (Revue), DEFINITELY DORIS (Revue), CATS (Skimbleshanks, then Mistofolees, then Skimbleshanks again...), ON YOUR TOES, BLITZ! (Georgie).

Feature Film includes: ANNA BALLERINA, MAIL ORDER WIFE, SURVIVING PICASSO, CHISH ‘N’ FIPS.

Television includes: THE BILL, INMATES, OUT ON THURSDAY. Cabaret and concert appearances with Ruthie Henshall, Michael Ball, Bonnie Langford, Stephen Brinberg, Chita Rivera, as well as his own shows, COMES LOVE… and SKIDOO!

Albums Jon appears on include THE JOHNNY MERCER JAMBOREE, SKIDOO!, GEORGE M. COHAN TONIGHT!

www.jonpeterson.biz

I decided to go to my first yoga class after a friend told me that it was the hottest and most challenging workout they have ever done. I never did yoga before in my life, but for some reason I felt compelled to go that very day. It was called Bikram yoga. Little did I know that this so-called “workout” I was about to casually throw myself into would end up changing my life. After my first class I was hooked. I practiced every day for 2 years before I made the decision to become a teacher. I honestly felt that it was a sin to keep this wonderful thing all for myself. I had to share it and felt inspired to pass on this amazing gift I had received. It was my duty. I graduated from Bikram Yoga’s teacher training in the spring of 2001. Since then, I have been teaching not only in my hometown in New York City, but all over the United States and now here in fabulous Las Vegas.

Don’t ever give up, don’t ever lose hope and don’t quit 5 seconds before the miracle.

I will never forget my first Bikram yoga class. I sat down for more than half of the postures, I was screaming at myself in my head wondering why I came in the first place, and I didn't return for three months. I came back after a friend asked me to go, and I've been coming back since. What made the difference for me? During class, I was so intrigued by the health benefits being talked about and I wanted to learn more. After practicing for a few months consecutively, I stopped again for nine months due to my pregnancy, which I wouldn't have done if I knew what I know now. I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl and after about two months, I started practicing again. This is when my journey really began. This yoga has centered my life, unlike anything else. I felt my body change, but more importantly, my mind and spirit change. I see life with a more open mind, and the little things just don't matter as much anymore. After attending UNLV, one year from graduating with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education, I decided to drop everything and go to teacher training. I was terrified, making this decision, but I am so thankful I did. With the huge support of my husband and family, we moved to L.A. for two months until I graduated in Spring 2012.

This opportunity to teach here at BYWS, is such an honor. We truly have the best students and staff, all who work so hard in the hot room, creating such a beautiful and positive environment. This yoga is priceless, and the benefits are endless. I wish to extend my journey by learning as much as possible about Bikram Yoga; it has only begun. I can't wait to share with all of you as this journey continues.

"We not only do this yoga for ourselves, but we do it for the ones we love."

-Each and every practice is dedicated to someone I love in my life- especially my little girl, Berlin Emilia. Although you are still so young, you've changed my world completely and have made me the happiest I have ever been. Mommy loves you and I hope I make you proud.

I came to practicing Bikram yoga in 2004. My first class blew my mind and I was hooked from the very beginning — nothing has made me feel as great as this yoga and that's what keeps me coming back.

There have been so many positive changes in my life since practicing this Bikram yoga and I desire nothing more but to share these benefits with others with a nurturing spirit. I became Bikram certified in June of 2009 to provide this opportunity for anyone who is ready to step up to the challenge. Bikram Yoga is a serious workout for the body and the mind. Our jobs and various responsibilities test the limits of our health and peace of mind.

It is critical that we are conscious about taking good care of ourselves, and in effect we're better able to take care of others and the world around us. I feel honored and extremely lucky to be helping those willing to pursue a life of wellness.