Monique Parker is the co-founder and director of the Yoga Teacher Certification Program at UNM-Taos. She also directors Svastha Yoga Institute, the US-affiliate school of Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda in Chennai, India. A personal student of A.G. and Indra Mohan, she travels to India regularly to deepen her studies. Her monthly yoga and wellness column, “Meditate on This," appears in the Taos News and on her blog of the same name. A practitioner of yoga for seventeen years, Monique has worked with students from across the US for over a decade, synthesizing the fundamentals of asana, yoga psychology, pranayama, mantra, and chant. Monique was recently named one of the "Remarkable Women of Taos," a year-long celebration honoring outstanding historic and contemporary women of the Taos community (www.taos.org).
Kirstie Segarra, MA LMT, began studying yoga and Balinese Traditional Massage fifteen years ago in Bali, Indonesia. Her teachings blend structural bodywork, specifically myofascial meridians, with modified Ashtanga Vinyasa. She also incorporates energy work, Tantra, traditional Chinese medicine, and Buddhists traditions. Kirstie emphasizes anatomical structure and function of postures to prevent injury, while increasing muscle and fascia flexibility to heal and change conditioned patterns for a healthier way of living. She directs the Integrative Massage Therapy Program at UNM-Taos, where she teaches full time and co-founded the Yoga Teacher Training Program.
Patrick Shaw offers a combination of advanced bodywork modalities, integrating Thai Massage, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and fascial-release techniques. He has been practicing therapeutic bodywork since 1991 and is a graduate of the National Holistic Institute in California. For over fifteen years he has specialized in Traditional Thai Massage, using his hands, feet, knees, elbows, and heart to help reshape his clients’ perceptions of their bodies. Patrick graduated from the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM where he studied with Dr. Vasant Lad.
Jean Ellis-Sankari has been a practitioner of the healing arts for over twenty years. Her practice is an amalgam of Kundalini Yoga, Reiki, and meditative dance. She developed the introductory courses in the Holistic Health and Healing Arts curriculum at UNM-Taos. Jean is an Associate Professor of Holistic Health and Human Services, a Licensed Independent Social Worker, a Reiki Master, and a Kundalini Yoga instructor. She advocates holistic studies, demonstrated through her work as an educator and practitioner of the helping and healing professions.
Monique Parker is the co-founder and director of the Yoga Teacher Certification Program at UNM-Taos. She also directors Svastha Yoga Institute, the US-affiliate school of Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda in Chennai, India. A personal student of A.G. and Indra Mohan, she travels to India regularly to deepen her studies. Her monthly yoga and wellness column, “Meditate on This," appears in the Taos News and on her blog of the same name. A practitioner of yoga for seventeen years, Monique has worked with students from across the US for over a decade, synthesizing the fundamentals of asana, yoga psychology, pranayama, mantra, and chant. Monique was recently named one of the "Remarkable Women of Taos," a year-long celebration honoring outstanding historic and contemporary women of the Taos community (