Meet our team!
Caroline Billings
Wednesday 5:30pm and Thursday 9:15am
Caroline completed her teaching training with Kia Meaux in 2006. Drawing on her physical therapy background, she has continued teaching the Anatomy portion of the yoga teacher trainings with Kia and with The Yoga Seed in Sacramento. Her classes use alignment and body awareness as a tool for mindfulness and injury prevention.
Christine Tebes
Thursday 10:30am Gentle Yoga
Christine began studying yoga over thirty years ago at the Himalayan Institute in upstate NY. She was immediately smitten and has been an avid student since. Yoga has changed her life.
Her studies include Iyengar, Anusara, Yin, Therapeutic Yoga, and Yoga for Persons With Disabilities, as well as the breath-inspired practice of Qigong and Tai-Chi. Her primary focus is teaching Gentle Yoga in a manner that is compassionate and supportive of each student's needs no matter where they are in their yoga practice.
Bex
Bex - learn more about Bex on her website.
Binuta Sudhakaran
Sunday 5-6:30pm & Tuesday 5:30-6:30pm
Binuta (they/them) spent their early years between the lush tropics of Kerala, India and the dry desolate city scapes of the Middle East. Even as they missed the rich landscape of their home, the nomadic lifestyle of the early years led them towards a life-long quest for a simpler, more harmonious way of belonging to the world.
Having settled in Davis in 2007 to raise a family, Binuta soon committed to a contemplative life, practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation (Vipassana). Their daily home and silent retreat practices of over 18 years led them to obtain a Yoga Teacher training certification (200 RYT). They also work one on one with practitioners both online and in-person. Their classes are slow and meditative with a focus on both strength and ease, inviting mindful awareness of the body, and arriving into each moment using movement, stillness and breath.
In addition to teaching yoga at the Collective and the Prison Yoga Project, Binuta is also a mindfulness guide and mentor, and also works at the Davis Forest School where they lead self-guided nature exploration for children and families. As they settle into a life of service, their goal is to share their personal practice and model a way of living that is rooted in awareness, community and compassion.
Jeanne Balding
Monday & Thursday 5:30pm
The wisdom tradition of yoga offers insight into the nature of consciousness, human suffering, and transformation. A steady, committed practice has helped Jeanne develop strength and ease in her body, more authenticity and purpose in her life. She is especially interested in how contemplative practices like yoga support individual transformation and create change in our relationships, communities, and globally toward justice and liberation.
Jeanne's classes integrate elements of yoga philosophy in the Hatha Yoga tradition influenced by her current training in somatic psychology. As a teacher, she welcomes new and experienced students and strives to meet their unique needs. She is also available for private sessions for groups or individuals, including children, teens, and families!
Lisa Fischer
Sound bath and Yin intensive yoga classes.
Lisa’s journey with yoga began as a teen and has grown with study and practice rooted in yogic spiritual philosophy within the Hatha Yoga and Yin Yoga traditions. Her training and practice has helped her to become more grounded and fearless both on and off the mat, inspiring her to live each day more mindfully and share her teachings with her students.
Lisa blend’s her nurturing and curious nature to influence the development of her classes to support students to deepen their own experience. Coupled with her in-depth life coaching practice and yoga training, mingling Buddhist thought and depth psychology, Lisa guides her students to reach their highest potential, stepping out of class feeling revived and inspired.
Frances Andrews
Background support :)
Saroja Subrahmanyan
I am looking forward to being part of the Davis Yoga Collective community. At this time, I'll be subbing for some of the teachers and would like to share my yoga background. I have been a yoga student and practitioner for several decades. I received yoga training both in India (where I grew up) and in the US. My yoga teacher training (resulting in eRYT500 certification) is mainly in the Integral Yoga tradition. This is a classical tradition, where various elements such as chanting, hatha, yoga nidra, pranayama, and meditation are integrated into the yoga practices with the goal of having an easeful body, peaceful mind, and useful life. My practices are also influenced by workshops and trainings offered by healers from other traditions such as Therapeutic yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, iRest Level-1 and Laughter Yoga (Madan Kataria style).
I have taught yoga and stress management courses in the US, Singapore and India in various settings including at UC Davis extension, Peak Performance gym, Fiesta Dance and Fitness, and my home studio in Davis. Currently I am a volunteer yoga teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco. I also teach a yoga philosophy and practice intensive for students at Saint Mary's College of California (in the east bay), a college where I'm also a full-time faculty in the management school.
