Gini Ann Davis

In her early twenties, Gini Ann studied and practiced both Kundalini and Bikram’s yoga and began studying Hatha yoga in the Iyengar tradition in earnest after her son was born in 1982. She believes yoga to be a very efficient form of movement.

"It is weight bearing, creates strength and endurance, and can be aerobic if poses are put together in a flow sequence with breath work. When people become more aware, they can know more deeply the connection between their body and mind through their breath. Untold possibilities await them intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Practicing asanas [poses] and pranayama [breath work] helps open our bodies and souls to that which is unseen. Yoga is a life tool that can help us give reality to that which we cannot see and helps us to look differently at visible things as well."

Gini Ann began teaching yoga at Bellevue Community College in 1994, after becoming certified in exercise physiology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She's certified through Yoga Alliance, an international alliance of yoga instructors that adheres to rigorous documented training and teaching standards. She also holds a level one Pilate certification. She has duel undergraduate concentrations in business and psychology from Antioch University Seattle.

She acknowledges and honors first and foremost God Almighty for giving her the privilege of life, breath, and movement; her family; Lynn Minton (Yoga - The Inner Dance) and Kathy, her instructors in Alaska; B.K.S. Iyengar; Donna Stephens and Deanne Hillburn, her personal trainers in Renton; and her students. She has also studied with Judith Hanson Lasater, John Friend, Richard Schachtel, Aadil Palkhivala, Patricia Waldon, Rod Stryker, Victor Van Kooten, Tias Little, Nischala Joy Devi, Roger Cole, Cathleen Mukakami, Sue Hollingshead, Peter Steriou, Shiva Rea, Joseph LePage, Elise Miller, Steve Ross, Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Lanita Varshell, Dr. Richard Prince, and Gary Kraftsow.

Coupled with her passion for yoga is her passion for swimming. For the first time, at the age of 48, Gini Ann competed and placed in a long distance cold water swim event. Her primary method of training was a committed daily yoga practice focusing on inverted poses heavily the three months before competition, as well as swimming. One large personal goal she recently attained was to swim 100 miles in 2002. She continues to race in long distance swim events around the country. She has recently become a member of the U.S. Master's Swim Association and the Pacific Northwest Association of Master Swimmers. Gini recently completed an MA in psychology at Goddard College in Vermont and two post graduate certificates at Antioch University Seattle in Organizational Dynamics and Mediation. She is also a certified mediator.
 

Marna Hanneman

Marna began to practice Hatha yoga in earnest more than 12 years ago when she came back to class instruction at Bellevue Community College (BCC). In 1999 she committed to enter into the learning journey that would lead her to teaching yoga. She mentored with Gini Ann Davis, and in 2000 began assisting in the classroom. She started teaching her own classes at BCC in 2001 and now is the tenured yoga instructor there as well as teaching through her own creation, Yoga at Large.

Marna's gentle yoga curriculum at BCC has become well known on the Eastside as a resource for compromised populations and yoga. She has taught people of size, anorexic people, people with life-threatening illnesses and people with physical limitations such as arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, joint replacements, multiple scoliosis and Parkinson’s disease. She also teaches through Mercer Island Community Center and Yoga at Large, where she comes to her students wherever they are—at work for a mini-relaxation session during lunch, at home, or other places of their choosing—for 1-1 1/2 hours of yoga, yogalates on the ball and meditation sessions.

As a result of having practiced and studied many kinds of yoga over time, Marna has come to believe that it is a journey of many paths. She appreciates her teacher, Gini Ann Davis, for helping her on her journey and is honored and humbled to be teaching. She practices Karma yoga.

Marna has studied with many yogis and yoginis, including Judith Hanson Lasater, John Friend, Gary Kraftsow, Eric Schiffmann, Patricia Waldon, Rod Stryker, Victor Van Kooten, Tias Little, Nischala Joy Devi, Roger Cole, and Elise Miller.  Marna regularly attends workshops, intensives, and conferences through Yoga Journal, NW Yoga Conferences, IDEA, the Yoga Center in Bellevue and the Yoga Barn in Issaquah.

She is certified through Yoga Alliance, an international alliance of yoga instructors that adheres to rigorous documented training and teaching standards. She also holds a level one Pilate certification. She has a B.S. in business and communications from the University of Maryland.

You can reach Marna at marna@yogaatlarge.com or 206-714-1378.