About Linda

A global Yoga teacher and long-time activist, I’ve been called a maverick, an innovator, and a facilitator of deep holistic healing.  Seeking a paradigm shift in the local Yoga scene I take students beyond asana into the deeper dimensions of traditional Yoga.  I teach “mindful yoga“, a vehicle for transformation.  I believe authentic Yoga is not only what you do on the mat but is a lifestyle.

The words of my teachers in India are the cornerstone of my teaching:  teach to people where they are and how they are and whatever happens, happens.  I believe in the therapeutic benefits of Yoga+breathwork+meditation properly applied to the individual.  I am a lineage holder for the teachings of TKV Desikachar and his father Sri T Krishnamacharya -- Yoga for everyone, Yoga for every BODY.

My first public AUM was in 1973 and I now divide my time between home base in Batavia, Illinois and India.  Registered with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500 and a Continuing Education Provider, I teach an intuitive, breath-based, and eclectic practice. 

Email linda [AT] metta-yoga [DOT] com or call 630.677.4501 to experience a breath-centered, heart-based practice.

• A Yoga After 50/Prime of Life Yoga® Teacher (Levels 1-3), the only POLY teacher Illinois. Prime of Life Yoga® focuses on Yoga for midlife and beyond. POLY is based on the Krishnamacharya Yoga tradition, meaning that it is a breath-centered practice that includes meditation. The style is accommodating for every BODY, covering everyday biomechanics, management of common aches and pains, and stress reduction.

• Certified as a Yoga Therapist by the International Association of Yoga Therapists I completed the Svastha Yoga of Krishnamacharya: Therapy Program.  This program brings together the most effective and holistic healing aspects of traditional Yoga and Ayurveda.  ["The Yoga Therapy components of my instruction are based on the Krishnamacharya Yoga tradition as taught by Dr. Ganesh Mohan and not derived from my status as an RYT® with Yoga Alliance Registry."]

• Earned a Certificate from Duke Integrative Medicine (Duke University, North Carolina) in teaching Yoga for Seniors, a Master training where I learned from Duke medical school experts including licensed physicians, physical therapists, and health psychologists.

• As a Trauma Informed Specialist I earned a Certificate in Trauma Sensitive Yoga from The Trauma Center, Brookline, Massachusetts.  This training enables me to teach specialized Yoga classes for people who have experienced trauma and/or those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

• From 2005-2015 I studied yearly at the prestigious Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India with TKV Desikachar presiding.

• One of the first Chicago students of Srivatsa Ramaswami, a long-time student of Krishnamacharya, introduced me to the Vinyasa Krama method.  I am humbled and honored to be mentioned in the Acknowledgement of Sri Ramaswami’s book The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga as being one of the teachers who has “studied vinyasa yoga in-depth with me” and who has “incorporated essentials of vinyasa krama into…teaching and practice even from Day 1.”

• Certified by The Yin Yoga Institute founder, Paulie Zink, I was one of the first Yin Yoga teachers in the Chicago area. I also completed multiple Yin Yoga teacher training with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley, who told me, “I am very gratified to know you are presenting a broad view of yoga and sharing with people more of the philosophical and spiritual sides of yoga.“  It was an honor to introduce Yin Yoga to the Arusha, Tanzania yoga community in 2010.

• Completed the first Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.  Studying with the world’s leading teachers of Yoga and Buddhism, the training offered a solid experiential grounding in an integrated Yoga and Vipassana practice, as well as an in-depth exploration of the entwined history, philosophy, and techniques of classical Yoga and Buddhism.

• First certified to teach in 2002 at Suddha Weixler’s Chicago Yoga Center.