Rodney Yee Bio:

Rodney Yee has been curious about the mind and body for as long as he can remember. He was a gymnast, a ballet dancer, and a philosophy and physical therapy major. Following the thread of curiosity about mind and body, he took his first yoga class in 1980. He went to yoga in search of flexibility and found a practice that would turn into his life-long passion and career. In 1981, Rodney began to study yoga full time at the San Francisco Iyengar Yoga Institute and at The Yoga Room in Berkeley. In 1987, after becoming a certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, he opened the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, with Richard Rosen and Claire Finn.

Presently, in addition to teaching at Yoga Shanti, Rodney leads teacher trainings, workshops, and retreats nationally and internationally with Colleen. In Spring 2007, Rodney and Colleen were co-chairs and panelists for the Urban Zen Initiative, a forum dedicated to integrating eastern healing arts into the western medical paradigm. They are now co-directing Urban Zen’s Integrative Yoga Therapist Program. Rodney has also been featured in over 30 Yoga DVD titles and numerous audio recordings with Gaiam. He has written two books, Yoga: the Poetry of the Body and Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee, both in collaboration with Nina Zolotow. Rodney and Colleen also present the Gaiam Yoga Club online

Colleen Saidman Bio:

Colleen’s introduction to yoga was at the urging of a roommate who convinced her to attend a class at a loft space in New York City. It was not long after that first class, that her worn out running shoes, her basketball and her boxing gloves became relics of the past. And in 1994, after enduring back surgery, Colleen’s commitment to her yoga practice deepened.

A graduate of Jivamukti’s Teacher Training program in 1998, she has been teaching ever since. Colleen has been featured in Vanity Fair, New York Times, USA today, New York Magazine, Oprah, Marie Claire, Allure, and has been on the cover of yoga journal, fit yoga and natural health. Colleen is featured in the PBS special called The Practical Power of Yoga. She has also been a guest on the Good Morning America Show. She is co-writing the masters class column for yoga journal for 2009. A consummate student, Colleen’s thirst for yoga knowledge is insatiable. Colleen has taught several teacher trainings, both 500 and 200 hour programs. Colleen holds a certification in Shiatsu and lived in Calcutta, India working with Mother Theresa at the Homes for the dying destitute.

Colleen owes tremendous gratitude for her studies of bhakti and vinyasa to David Life and Sharon Gannon. She studies with Richard Rosen and Richard Freeman as frequently as possible. She also offers thanks to the many other teachers with whom she has studied, as well as to her husband Rodney Yee, who remains her principal teacher.

Together with Rodney, she presents the Gaiam Yoga Studio as well as several popular Yoga DVDs. In recent years, they helped to create and now co-direct the Urban Zen Integrative Therapist Programn, a world-wide initiative of Donna Karan. Colleen lives in Sag Harbor where she is the director of the famous Yoga Shanti yoga studio. She and Rodney are raising 4 wonderful teenagers, and are teaching yoga teacher trainings and retreats worldwide. Website: colleensaidmanyoga.com