Volunteers on The Wellness Initiative Team

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Volunteers on The Wellness Team

Meg DePriest
Meg DePriest began practicing yoga in 1998. Seeking relief from various exercise-related injuries, she began her journey in Anusara yoga classes in Houston, Texas. After the birth of her son in 2002, Meg continued her practice guided by the writings of T.K.V. Desikachar, Jack Kornfield, Karen Maezen Miller, Erich Schiffman, and Paul Grilley. In 2006, Meg completed teacher training with Lex Gillan, founder of The Yoga Institute, and in 2009, she attended a Yin Yoga workshop with Paul Grilley that profoundly changed the way she teaches.

Meg's hatha yoga classes include yin and yang yoga, breath work, and meditation. She teaches yoga to elementary students and is especially fond of providing quiet classes for mothers seeking a brief respite from parenting. Learn more about Meg at www.megyoga.com, or contact her at megdep@gmail.com.

Jennifer Direden
A longtime student of yoga, Jennifer spent the first seven years of her yogic journey studying the Iyengar tradition. In the last three years, she has been studying the mixed traditions taught at CorePower Yoga, where she completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2009. Currently, she is teaching yoga to patients at a physical therapy office and to adults at a preschool and elementary school. She is very excited for the opportunity to volunteer with The Wellness Initiative and to work with kids.

Jennifer says yoga helps her feel focused, deeply relaxed, and strong, and she wishes to share that experience with others. Recognizing that we live in a fast-paced society, Jennifer encourages her students to use yoga to facilitate a therapeutic sense of calm and inner stillness in their bodies. She believes that when we create a safe and comfortable environment for ourselves, we can fundamentally change our bodies and minds.

In addition to practicing yoga, Jennifer has been a certified massage therapist for over 10 years. She has 1,297 hours of massage therapy training and 4 years as a massage therapy instructor at the Colorado School of Healing Arts in Lakewood.

A newlywed, Jennifer enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and camping with her husband. They live in Westminster with their dog Izzy and their cat Yoda. Jennifer can be reached at InnerStillness.jd@gmail.com or at jenlea3@hotmail.com.

Laura Kathka
Laura Kathka began her exploration of yoga in 1999 while backpacking through Southeast Asia, and she has continued her studies in schools and studios both nationally and internationally. Her practice is firmly rooted in the classical traditions of yoga and meditation, and she approaches her classes with light-hearted playfulness, humor, curiosity about life, and an appreciation for the qualities that make us utterly and forgivably human.

In 2005 Laura completed her first teacher training; since then, she has accumulated more than 2,000 hours of formal training in asana, pranayama, Ayurveda science, and yogic philosophy. She received training in children's yoga through Sydney Solis's Storytime Yoga program in 2008. She continues her studies with Hansa Knox at PranaYoga and Ayurveda Mandala, where she also serves as an instructor for the 265-hour teacher training course. In 2010 Laura founded and is currently the director of Amala Yoga Community, a teacher-run awareness community and learning center in the Capitol Hill area of Denver (www.amalacommunity.org).

Laura is thrilled to be a part of The Wellness Initiative and believes whole-heartedly in the power of yoga to positively shape the lives of kids, young and old. She draws on her experience working with at-risk youth as well as her instruction with kids in classrooms and at enrichment events. She continues to be inspired by teaching yoga and by learning from the wisdom of her students and colleagues; she believes that we truly are each other's teachers. Laura can be reached at lkathka@gmail.com.