Courtney Woodrow Volunteer Coordinator/Yoga Director
A practicing yogi since 1990, Courtney Woodrow is a certified Yoga Teacher through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, and completed the Advanced Teacher Training at The White Lotus. She has also assisted the Teacher Training at San Francisco's Yoga Tree, and studied the Art of Teaching with Manuso Manos.
Courtney's passion for her work with The Art of Yoga Project stems from her own struggles and delinquency as a teen. Her dream is to help her students rediscover the beauty and magic of life. Courtney resides in Half Moon Bay with her loving family.
Lynn MarrinSan Mateo Co-Director
Originally a competitive runner, Lynn Marrin came to yoga because she found the practice so honoring. Lynn has her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She brings 10 years of experience counseling children and teens to the Art of Yoga Project. Currently in training to become an Anusara yoga teacher, Lynn sees yoga as an amazing coping skill and wants to empower teen girls to feel good about themselves and grateful for what their bodies can do. Lynn resides in Los Altos, California, with her husband and twin daughters.
Sheila Bernus Dowd
Development Associate
For over 14 years, Sheila Bernus Dowd has worked with community-based organizations to ensure that young people have the skills and resources they need to thrive. She has led several youth development agencies and youth groups, including Public Allies Silicon Valley, Project Cornerstone, and youth-led disaster response teams with the American Red Cross. She is a trainer and grant writer who consults with local agencies on development strategies. She is an alum of UCLA and is a fellow of Stanford Business School's Center for Social Innovation. Sheila serves as The Art of Yoga Project's Development Associate, engaging donors to support AOYP's vital work.
Rebecca Bara
Program Director Santa Clara County
Rebecca Horsley Bara has been practicing and teaching yoga for 10 years. Having seen yoga transform her life and the lives of so many around her, Rebecca is devoted not only to her own practice but also to teaching and sharing her knowledge with others. Currently Rebecca is teaching yoga to teen girls at the East Palo Alto Academy, a charter school in East Palo Alto, CA. Rebecca loves teaching these girls and seeing the impact yoga makes on their attitude and their lives. She is especially inspired by seeing girls from rival gangs practicing yoga together. "Yoga has a way of uniting these girls."
Married with four children (two teens), Rebecca has completed Teacher Training Levels I and II with master teacher Baron Baptiste in the power vinyasa yoga style. She also completed a 200-hour Yoga Alliance teacher training at Avalon yoga studio in Palo Alto, where she studied asana, yoga theory, pranayama and meditation.
Beth Sparks
Affiliate Director
Beth teaches a creative and dynamically challenging practice inspired by her studies of nature, dance, hatha, aruveda, tantra, bodywork and the absolute consciousness within that guides us through the continuous flow of life's spontaneous journey. She approaches teaching yoga with a sense of playfulness and compassion, encouraging students to live and be yoga instead of "do yoga". She has worked with The Art of Yoga Project since 2005, and feels truly blessed to share the life changing tools of yoga to teens. Beth is a licensed massage therapist, and has studied at Eight Limbs Yoga Center Seattle, WA, and holds a teaching certificate from White Lotus Yoga foundation Santa Barbara, CA. She has recently begun studying Prana Vinyasa Flow with Shiva Rea which has liberated and inspired her teaching and practice.
Frances Morse
Research Director
Frances Morse brings a background in technology education, research methodology, gender studies, and a playful sense of humor to the Art of Yoga Project. She had a long career as a computer teacher and technology consultant in Massachusetts, where she helped people of all ages (kids, teachers, and senior citizens), especially women and girls, learn how to cope with and use technology in the classroom and in their homes. She began practicing yoga in the Boston area in 1997 when her body let her know it needed more care and compassion. She enjoys spending time with her two grandchildren, Ella and Levi. Frances is a graduate of Sweet Briar College and earned her masters and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her talented and dedicated research team includes Amy Santullo, Lisa Danylchuk, and Lauren Segal.
Lisa Danylchuk
Phase II Mentorship Director
Lisa Danylchuk comes to the Art of Yoga Project with a love of yoga and a passion for serving young people at risk. She has worked in rehabilitative settings including group homes, juvenile probation programs, public schools, therapeutic schools and non profit organizations and has always advocated for the integration of yoga into treatment services for youth at risk. She received her Masters in Education in 2006 from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and received a Certificate of Advanced Study for her studies of adolescent adjustment counseling the following year. She has been an avid yogi for the past ten years and has been teaching for eight. One of her favorite parts of being an Art of Yoga teacher is observing the girls unwind and relax over the course of the class, and she hopes that the Phase Two Mentor Program will support the girls in finding relaxation and a strong sense of self after they leave juvenile hall.
Terri Lobdell
Creative Writing Educator
Terri Lobdell was trained in the Amherst Writers and Artists Method of facilitating creative writing groups, and has led writing groups for adults and teens in the Palo Alto area for the past two years using this method. She also teaches a creative writing class for middle-schoolers at Beechwood School in East Menlo Park. In addition to creative writing, Terri has professional experience as a lawyer, free-lance journalist, nonprofit magazine and public policy report editor (for California Tomorrow). She has also worked for the Stanford Admissions Office, as a reader and evaluator of student applications and essays. Terri has also served as a volunteer on the boards of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and Hidden Villa, both organizations dedicated to educating youth in Santa Clara County. Ms. Lobdell is currently involved in teaching creative writing at all of The Art of Yoga Project sites.
Jean Marie Cahill
Program Consultant
A New York City native, Jean Marie has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for twenty years. She holds a BA and MA in Psychology and also has a Master’s in Family Therapy. Jean Marie has worked in a variety of mental health settings, primarily focusing on adolescents and families and is currently in private practice in Los Gatos, CA. Jean Marie provides ongoing consultation to The Art of Yoga Project.