Qualifications

Verna Knapp, Yoga Therapist-E-RYT, T-RYT, is a Registered Yoga Teacher and Trainer with Yoga Alliance (YA), a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association IKYTA-3HO.

Verna was raised in the beautiful City of Chicago with 4 older sisters and 3 younger brothers. Her education began in Liberal Arts and English. Her interests in Horticulture and Landscape Design brought her to Southern California in 1985 where she studied Landscape Architecture and Landscape Contracting and has been licensed since 1991.

Verna began a Hatha Yoga practice 13 years ago to help her release stress from handling the day to day work load of designing, selling, buying and supervising her unique landscape design installations and maintenance contracts.

Verna's fitness background includes competing in triathlons, 5K's and swim competitions for physical conditioning. She also teaches pilates mat, pilates allegro reformer, body sculpting and water aerobics.

In 2001 Verna immersed her self in (7) intensive Yoga Teacher Trainings and has been teaching Hatha Yoga, Sivananda style and Kundalini Yoga for beginners through advanced practitioners for the last 8 years.

Her trainings include Baby Yoga, a Hatha style Yoga program for babies 2 months to 1 year of age. Parent is instructed with the consent of the baby to move the body in postures to improve digestion and elimination, to reduce colic and irritability while giving the parent and baby a deeper connection with each other while increasing happiness and contentment.

Kundalini Yoga, is the Yoga of Awareness. A Yoga practice for beginners and students seeking to deepen their existing Yoga practice spiritually, through meditation, mantra, mudra and exercises. This style of Yoga also helps release toxicity, increases flexibility and deepens awareness of the Self.

Meditation as Yoga, a program to help focus the mind, still the body and center the self through guided breathing techniques while enhancing spiritual awareness, contentment and relaxation.

Yoga of the Heart^tm, a Hatha Yoga program for life threatening diseases, a practice specifically for people with heart conditions and/or cancer remissions during their healing process. Postures are practiced gently and slowly for increased oxygen flow, deeper relaxation and improved over all feeling.

Verna's combination of (7) Yoga Trainings has given her a Teaching style that is practiced by any gender, age or students with limitations. Verna teaches with integrity, intuition, compassion and love while demonstrating and instructing students to release tension, emotional inhibitions, increased flexibility and mindfulness with deeper relaxation techniques.