Living Yoga: Peace through Practice

Anand Brian Darsie, BA (Music), RYT 500, E-RYT 200, RCYT: Uniting his passions for music, yoga, spirituality, community, and worship, Anand brings a unique perspective to his practice and teaching. He is a resident at Mount Madonna and a lead organizer of Mount Madonna’s yoga retreats and Yoga Teacher Trainings. Anand seeks to promote body intelligence through asana, pranayama, and meditation. Enthusiastic, encouraging, creative, and compassionate, Anand inspires students of all ages through ancient methods delivered with contemporary scientific understanding and a playful, dynamic spirit.

Jessica Weitzenhoffer, RYT 500, is a yoga teacher, psychotherapist, and forever student living in Santa Cruz, CA – her home of 14 years. Jessica first discovered Yoga in her hometown Santa Monica when she was 12. In high school she attended Bryan Kest’s Power Yoga studio weekly after school. In 2014 she completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Joan Hyman of YogaWorks Los Angeles, where her love affair with yoga and the calling to share it with others deepened. Over the years she’s studied with Maty Ezraty, Annie Carpenter, Janet Stone, Shiva Rae, Tias Little, Jason Crandell and Patrick Beach, and traveled to the motherland India to dig her feet into yoga’s geographical source. Jessica completed her 300-hour & Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training with Mount Madonna, where she lived and volunteered in the Ayurveda and Yoga Teacher Training departments for three years, immersing herself in the teachings of Baba Hari Dass and classical Ashtanga Yoga. Jessica is also a trained and certified Animal Flow teacher.

Jessica brings her embodied wisdom and somatic precision into each of her classes, weaving down-to-Earth insights and breath into a purposeful and powerful vinyasa flow grounded in ritual, self-inquiry, functional movement, and individualized alignment. Her classes are intentional and fun, intelligent and creative, challenging and accessible, sweaty and heartfelt, paying homage to traditional hatha vinyasa with a practical and functional approach to asana built for today’s bodies and minds. With a whole-hearted commitment to honoring the teachings of Yoga, Jessica’s classes are enriched by yoga philosophy, yoga mythology, Ayurveda, psychology, and the wisdom of daily life. Because we are designed to move, Jessica encourages personal exploration and freedom of movement, embracing methods that stoke the fire that burns deep within us to stand with power, clarity, and courage in an ever-changing world.

In Jessica’s free time, she loves to take her kitty on walks through the redwood forest, go on adventures with her beloved, gather in community, immerse herself in live music, and dance all night under the stars.

Sarah "Vijita" Bergeron Molaro first began her practice of Yoga in Grass Valley in 2003, where she was born. She fell in love as she found local teachers that taught her mind opening concepts, and physically rejuvenating practices. As her path unfolded, in July of 2011, she immersed herself in Yoga Teacher Training with Baba Hari Dass and his many students of 40+ years at Mount Madonna, where she received a solid and clear foundation in the roots of Yoga, and a real connection to new and familiar practices. Sarah studied at Mount Madonna every year since -- including 25 hours in The Art of (Yoga) Adjustment Training and 30 hours in Tantra Methodology -- and she completed her YTT 300 in March of 2021. Sarah has received 80+ hours of training in Trauma Informed Yoga (TIY) with Firefly Yoga International, and TIY+Ayurveda with Holistic Trauma Recovery. She has served as the lead trainer of YTT programs at Yoga Well in Grass Valley, and graduated numerous teachers in Yoga Wellness-Ashtanga methods. A passion for healthy alignment and healthy aim in practice is what guides her interest to support and influence the yoga teachers of today.

The classical Ashtanga methods of Yoga are the main influences in her work as a yoga student and teacher. More recent developments to her practice include exploring Acro-Yoga and she is truly enjoying the challenges and sharing the benefits with beginners. Through practice and numerous teachers, Sarah has developed a deep understanding of Gentle Yoga, Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Sarah enjoys teaching adults and kids, group and private sessions, as well as workshops in asana, pranayama, hand mudras, and meditation. She also offers hands-on healing and Reiki sessions. Sarah loves serving her community with a healthy dose of self care through Yoga.

Ryan Bell, BFA, YTT 200, received a degree in film at the California Institute of the Arts and then went on to study jazz in Iowa. While there, he founded the first yoga studio in Creston, Iowa. After the completion of his studies, his internal compass settled on Berlin where he toured as a musician across the festival circuit in Europe. Ryan found his second home at Mount Madonna where he received his 200 hour yoga teacher training accreditation, interned twice with the YTT program, and became a member of the satsang. Ryan currently works as a content strategist and creative director, and has had the great pleasure of collaborating with some of the world's biggest YouTubers and musicians. When he’s not creating, Ryan can be found practicing yoga asana and meditation, and dreaming up models for arts education and communities. Some of his aspirations through teaching are to inspire regular practice, create community, stimulate health, and encourage empathy.

Sidney Nicol, CMT, YTT 200, is impassioned to share the transformative power of therapeutic touch through the fusion of Thai Massage, Yoga asana and Qigong. Her journey as an educator has brought her to prestigious institutions like Stanford University, as well as private and public events, and numerous yoga studios across the Bay Area. With a wealth of experience, her dedication to healing led her to become a certified Massage Therapist in 1999, marking the beginning of her journey into the realm of holistic wellness. Sidney is a seasoned practitioner in the art of Hatha Yoga, having obtained her certification from Mount Madonna Center in 2003. Her interest in Thai Massage was ignited in 2006 during her immersive training at the revered Wat Pho Temple in Bangkok, Thailand. For deeper understanding and refined skills, she pursued studies and apprenticeships at Twin Lakes College of Healing Arts and Spirit Winds School of Thai Massage.

With expertise and dedication, Sidney continues to empower individuals on their path to well-being, offering harmonious and playfully led teachings of ancient healing traditions and modern practices.

Hannah Muse is an internationally-renowned teacher of yoga, meditation, mysticism, and philosophy. A mother, priestess and mythologist, Hannah is known for her deep devotion and for masterfully curating retreats and trainings that imbue the practitioner with a greater sense of possibility, compassion and connectedness. A devoted student and practitioner for two decades, she has been guiding folks to discover our shared humanity and inherent divinity for 14 years.

Hannah teaches at the Esalen Institute, as Director of Awake Heart Teacher Trainings, and Lead Teacher of Mount Madonna Center’s Prenatal Training. She has been a featured facilitator in dozens of other trainings, festivals and conferences around the world. Hannah has trained extensively with masters in various traditions including Raja Yoga and Nondual Śaiva Tantra. Her most influential teachers are Baba Hari Dass, her root teacher in the Yoga tradition, and her Buddhist-lineage teachers including Tara Brach, whom Hannah completed training with over seven years ago. She bows in deep gratitude to all of her teachers, too many to name here, each a profound gift on the path.

In addition to her fulfilling teaching life, Hannah (whose background is in social and ecological advocacy) serves as President of the nonprofit Yoga for All Movement, an organization that shares yoga and mindfulness with thousands of people each year in jails, recovery centers, juvenile halls and other historically underserved communities.

When she’s not leading devotional pilgrimages to India, service and yoga trips to Guatemala, and mythical retreats in Greece, you can find Hannah in her happy places: delightfully guiding meditation twice each week in a global online sangha, hiking with her daughter, practicing asana with her husband (whom she met on spiritual pilgrimage in Tamil Nadu, India), dancing wildly, or meditating quietly.