STEVE
DWELLEY, raised in Santa Barbara, began training in Buddhist meditation
in 1988. His first trip to India and Nepal in 1990 awakened a desire to involve
the moving body in the meditation process, and he began practicing asana. Important
teachers: Erich Schiffmann opened the door to the depths of asana practice, Chuck
Miller opened the door to Mysore, where Steve finally made the study-trip in 1994.
Although he accepted Pattabhi Jois as his teacher, it was Sharath who taught Steve
much of the tangible material of the practice while in India. For those years
in Luxshimpuram, Sharath was a model of kind strength. Steve returned
to Mysore many times and was personally granted permission to teach the system
in 1998 by Pattabhi Jois. He began Mysore-Style in Santa Barbara that year. He
continues to offer deep gratitude to Guruji, and to those of his guru, T. Krishnamacharya,
and so on... MICHELE
NICHOLS: A fifth generation Californian, Michele was hired by the Berlin
Ballet at age 19 and continued to dance professionally full time until she was
27, primarily in Europe, both ballet and modern. She participated in many exciting
and ground-breaking performances during this time.
Michele began to practice
yoga in 1991 as a means of caring for her body, exploring different forms of practice
including Bikram, Iyengar and Ashtanga inspired flow. When a friend introduced
her to the traditional form of Ashtanga in the spring of 1997 there was no turning
back, she had found her practice, her practice had found her. The following
year India beckoned and she traveled to meet Pattabhi Jois for the first time.
Later that same year, she learned the sitting practice of Vipassana meditation,
which has profoundly informed her asana practice, her teaching, and her daily
life. In January 1999 Michele joined Steve in Santa Barbara to assist in the Ashtanga
Program he had begun the year before. Through the years she has been deeply
inspired by the strength and generosity of her teacher and friend, Dena Kingsberg,
the commitment of "Guruji" and his family, and the deep heart of her
husband, Steve. She is forever grateful to all of her teachers in all of their
forms. Steve
and Michele met in Mysore, India in January of 1998 while studying at the
Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. The following year, as fate would have it, Michele
joined Steve, teaching Mysore-style at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center (SBYC). In
the fall of 2001 they opened the Ashtanga Yoga Shala, a dedicated Mysore-Style
practice space.
Two years later they gave birth to twin sons, Arran and
Ethan. At this point Michele took a two year hiatus from regular teaching. After
seven good years, the building in which they conducted the Shala was purchased
by a developer, and they moved the daily practice back to SBYC on October 2008. In
September 2013, they were delighted to finally open their own Shala again, Ashtanga
Yoga Shala Santa Barbara, at 1213 State Street Suite J. You can find them there
now. |