OUR TEACHERS
Colleen Millen
MA, E-RYT 500, LMFT (CA #109436)
Colleen is inspired by two careers - yoga teaching and mental health therapy. In both, she organizes around values of consent, agency, inclusivity and accessibility. Colleen offers therapeutic and creative approaches within her classes while attempting to meet what her students want from their yoga experience. Class content is also influenced by classical yoga philosophy.
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Throughout Colleen's more than 20 years in teaching, she has centered on yoga for emotional health. Most recently, she has run functional yoga groups for anxiety and stress reduction. Colleen has been certified by Accessible Yoga and is a Level 3 yoga therapy movement specialist with Optimal State Yoga Therapy School. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, Colleen also helps adolescents and adults around issues that relate to anxiety, depression, developmental trauma and life transitions.
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Colleen teaches:
Fridays: Chair & Gentle Yoga 9:30 - 11:45 am
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Irene Hodge
Irene loves sharing the yoga journey she began over 20 years ago. Yoga became a gift that she gave herself as a way to restore body, mind and spirit. In 2009, Irene completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, but yoga helped her cope with the treatment and recovery process.
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She firmly believes in the wonderful union of mind and body, and the intimate knowledge of self that yoga in its many forms imparts. Irene hopes that she can be a guide for her students as they discover their own yogic path. She encourages them to use the breath to find ease in the practice as they develop strength and flexibility and enjoys creating solutions that make yoga accessible to everyone.
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Irene teaches:
Mondays and Wednesdays: Gentle Yoga 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Maria Haswell
Maria is a Master Healer, Intuitive Guidance Counselor, Empowerment Coach, and co-owner of the Danville Yoga & Wellness Center.
Maria has been guided to pursue her life calling and help people in the best way she can. She has been led to learn different methods to teach, heal, and serve with the highest intention and integrity.
The truth is always found “within” - at least that is what Maria knows and teaches. Maria's primary focus during her sessions is to help you to awaken to your own natural and inherent divine gifts. Her spiritual journey began in 1996, and since then, she has been helping others understand their experiences and answering their deepest questions.
To read more about her services, go to the Intuitive Guidance page or the Holistic Healing page.
For more information, visit www.MariaHaswell.com
Maria teaches:
Thursdays: Spiritual Circle 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Wednesdays and Fridays: Sound Healing & Meditation 6:00 - 7:15 pm
1st Wednesday and Friday of every month: Healing & Meditation Night 6:00 - 7:15 pm - For more info, click here
Marta Bulaich
Marta’s gravitation to yoga started as a child, watching morning yoga shows on TV. Intrigued by how the practice helped her both athletically and academically, she continued experimenting with various styles of yoga, including Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Isha and Iyengar. In 2007, she decided to go deeper into her studies and completed the teacher training program at Avalon Yoga Center, with John Berg and Ben Thomas as her guides. She recently finished her 500-hour teacher training at the SF Iyengar Institute, and continues to be mentored by Jaki and Allan Nett.
With a mantra of “movement is life”, her classes emphasize breathing synchronized with body dynamics and awareness. A firm believer that asana and pranayama enable us to be masters of our bodies and minds, she is inspired to teach students to get to their edges and transcend them…in a safe and fun environment.
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Marta teaches:
Tuesdays and Fridays: Level 1-3 Iyengar Yoga 8:00 - 9:00 am
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Michelle Deane
Michelle Deane, MA, E-RYT infuses her yoga classes with threads of mindfulness, physical transformation, mental balance, body awareness and accessible breath work. She incorporates classic yoga philosophy into her classes and promotes an environment of growth, support, self-discovery and self-acceptance. Her primary goal with yoga instruction is to help students to identify and reach their initial goals, as well as to eventually develop a stronger understanding of the power of the mind-body connection through their own experience.
Michelle has studied various yoga styles including Iyengar, Ashtanga and Viniyoga, and graduated from the YogaWorks Teacher Training Program in 2011. She also holds a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology.
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Michelle teaches:
Thursdays: Gentle & Restorative Yoga 10:30- 11:45 am
Saturdays: Yoga Stretch & Flexibility 11:30 - 12:45 pm
Read an interview with Michelle - click here
Donna Shaw began practicing Qigong in 2013 and quickly realized its healing power. Born and raised in London England, Donna lived for nearly 20 years in Connecticut, working as a writer and painter. After moving to California in 2013, she began exploring yoga, meditation and soon found Qigong. In 2017, Donna completed her certification course in Qigong, working with Teja Bell, the creator of Radiant Heart Qigong.
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Jill Borhan began her practice of Qigong in 2016 and noticed how the daily exercise offered the benefits of replenishing energy in the body, heightening inner awareness, deepening empathy, and balancing the nervous system. Additionally, Qi Gong soothed Jill’s chronic pain from her autoimmune issues and restored vitality into her daily life. These positive changes inspired her to pursue a Qigong certification alongside her Master’s Degree studies in Transformation Consciousness. Jill teaches Qigong with the intention of sharing the energetic benefits and helping others learn how to approach each moment with a sense of playfulness and inner peace.
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Donna, and Jill teach:
Qigong: Moving Meditation
2nd Tuesday of Every Month
5:30 - 6:45 pm
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Donna Shaw
Jill Borhan
Maria & Mark Haswell
Maria and Mark are the owners and directors of the Danville Yoga & Wellness Center. Their vision for the Center is to offer a wide range of classes, workshops and events that help boost the well-being of your mind, body, and soul. Their intent is to make the Center as a welcoming place of serenity, community, and growth.
Maria and Mark have been married for over 23 years, and came from diverse backgrounds prior to purchasing the Center in 2012. Mark spent many years working in marketing, mostly for startup technology companies. Maria is a serial entrepreneur who has started numerous successful businesses, and now focuses on her work at the Center as an empowerment coach, holistic healer and intuitive guide.
They are also co-founders of SpreadKindness.org, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting kindness in everyday life.