At Grateful Yoga, we are fortunate to have a community of teachers with high levels of training and many years of teaching experience. Our five mentors are certified yoga therapists with more than 500 hours of training and have co-led and designed yoga teacher trainings.

Our innovative mentorship program at Grateful Yoga allows yoga students, yoga teachers and medical or mental health professionals the opportunity to study privately with one or more of our yoga therapists.

The specifics of your program will be co-created by you and your mentor. A Grateful Yoga mentorship can help you:

Advance your practice.

Receive guidance on creating the best practice for you to balance and complement your asana. May include Ayurveda, pranayama, meditation, mantra practice, yoga nidra, or textual study.

Understand the yoga training marketplace.

Yoga’s booming popularity has lead to a proliferation of different training programs: 200 hour, 300 hour, 500 hour, and yoga therapy specializations.  Which is the right one for you, given your background, intentions, time frame and budget?  Our mentors have logged thousands of hours of training time, particularly in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Viniyoga Therapy, iRest Yoga Nidra, ParaYoga Tantric Hatha Master Trainings, Restorative Yoga, Kripalu Yoga, Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga.

A mentoring session may include:

• Several coaching conversations about the direction you want to take your career and the type of program best suited to you.
• One-on-one sessions with one or multiple yoga therapists to give you a comprehensive experience of different styles of yoga and yoga therapy.

Expand your teaching career.

Our yoga therapists all have successful careers.  They teach group and private classes and have led retreats and yoga trainings for many years both locally and nationally. Mentorship may include:

• Observation of mentor classes and mentor observation of your classes with feedback
• Guided study of yoga philosophy, intelligent and adaptive sequencing, and thematic language to enliven your teaching.
• Self-inquiry practices to help you discover your strengths, explore what challenges you face, and make changes based on overall intentions for your life and career.
• Coaching to develop and maintain a sustainable business model.

Bring yoga to your professional setting.

Receive guidance around integrating basic yoga, meditation and mindfulness techniques into your medical or mental health practice, corporate office or research institution.

Something Else!

All of our mentors are open to suggestions about what you would like to learn. Please contact us if you have any other ideas that you’d like to explore.

I’m interested! Now what?

Once your application is received, unless you have specified who you want to work with, Grateful Yoga will consult with our yoga therapists to determine the best fit for you.

Your initial consultation costs $150, which includes the application fee. Any future fee schedule will be determined by you and your mentor depending on your budget, time commitment and educational goals.

Our yoga therapy mentors

Nick Beem, C-IAYT, YACEP

Nick teaches Hatha yoga with an emphasis on mindful embodiment and self-inquiry.  He has been practicing since 2000, and teaching since 2005.  He is an E-RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance, holding certifications from Kripalu, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, ParaYoga, and the Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership.   Nick is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider and approved by the International Assoc. of Yoga Therapy (IAYT.

Specialities

• Teaching yoga to beginners
• Skillfulness in sequencing and language use
• Teaching thematically
• Coaching pranayama and meditation
• Private instruction
• Home practice design
• Self-inquiry through the body
• Working with adolescents, men, and couples

Lela Beem, C-IAYT, RPYT, YACEP

Lela has been leading Hatha and prenatal yoga for groups and individuals since 2005. She is an E-RYT 500, Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. Lela is the co-founder of the Amala School of Prenatal Yoga, which offers yearly 95 hour prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher trainings at Yoga Six South Loop. Lela is a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Practitioner and ParaYoga Level 1 Certified teacher. She currently is pursuing advanced Tantric Hatha studies with her teacher of 10 years, Yogarupa Rod Stryker, and Ayurvedic practices with Matthew Remski as well as Womb Yoga and Total Yoga Nidra with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, PhD. Lela is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider and approved by the International Assoc. of Yoga Therapy (IAYT).

Specialties

• Teaching thematically and logically to students of all backgrounds and abilities
• Helping yoga teachers develop their own home practice
• Supporting women with yoga in their childbearing year
• Preparing women for childbirth
• Facilitating community-building in yoga groups/classes
• Working with adolescents
• Working with trauma survivors, cancer survivors, individuals with chronic pain or illness
• Using basic Ayurvedic concepts to design individual therapeutic asana, pranayama, meditation and lifestyle recommendations for private clients

Rhoda Miriam, C-IAYT, YACEP

As founder of Yoga for Slow Living™, Rhoda has been encouraging students and clients to slow down since 1993. She specializes in facilitating techniques for managing stress, chronic pain and anxiety disorders like PTSD.  Rhoda is a Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 teacher. She has earned advanced certifications as a professional-level Yoga teacher from the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, as an iRest® Yoga Nidra teacher from Richard Miller at the Integrative Restoration Institute, and as a Relax and Renew® Restorative Yoga trainer from Judith Hanson Lasater. She is a also a certified practitioner and mentor of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. Additionally she has been certified by the Arthritis Foundation and trained by the National MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Society.  Rhoda is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider and approved by the International Assoc. of Yoga Therapy (IAYT.) To find out more, visit Rhoda’s website at www.yogaforslowliving.com.

Specialties

• Meditation coaching
• Yoga therapeutics for specific populations: limited mobility, seniors, chronic pain & conditions
• Relaxation therapy
• Restorative yoga (bringing it into your own life as well as your classes)
• Gentle yoga (Yoga For Slow Livng approach)
• Yoga nidra for PTSD, depression and general anxiety disorder
• Teaching private sessions
• Building a home practice for yourself and your clients
• Self-care and wellness

Corinne Peterson, C-IAYT

Corinne began her studies at the Temple of Kriya Yoga, completing the certification program in 1995. There she received her first introduction to Viniyoga and its emphasis on the adaptability of yoga for every body. She later trained with Gary Kraftsow through the American Viniyoga Institute, first as a teacher (2003) and then as a yoga therapist (2006).

Corinne has received advanced training in iRest® yoga nidra through Richard Miller, PhD of the Integrative Restoration Institute. She has also received specialty yoga training for specific challenges, including: Trauma-Sensitive Yoga through the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute (founded by Bessel van der Kolk) and Yoga of the Heart – Cardiac and Cancer Certification Training (with Nischala Joy Devi). In addition, she has been a nationally certified massage therapist since 1997 and holds a Masters in Public Health in the area of health education and promotion.  Learn more at www.corinnepeterson.com.

Specialties

Working with people who are going through life challenges and transitions, including; trauma, loss, cancer, pregnancy, mid-life, seniors and end-of-life

The yoga therapy components of our instructor's practices are based on their training with their respective yoga therapy schools mentioned above, not derived from their status as an RYT ®with Yoga Alliance Registry.