Debra Johnson: Debra, director of Yoga Vidya, has been studying yoga since 1998. She holds a degree in social work from Loyola University and was working as an advocate for domestic violence victims when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. This experience ignited a new passion in her for physical and emotional well-being. Because she believes in Iyengar yoga's profound power to heal its practitioners, she opened Yoga Vidya as a gift to the community. Debra is a certified yoga teacher, which in the Iyengar method takes 8 years and includes intense study with senior teachers and two rounds of rigorous examination. She has studied closely with world-renowned senior Iyengar teacher, Lois Steinberg, in Urbana, IL since the spring of 2000, and continues to apprentice in her therapuetics and women's class. She also apprenticed with Gabriel Halpern at the Yoga Circle in Chicago. She has made three trips to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family. Two of those visits included month-long stays at the Iyengar's institute (see a photo of her in Viparita Dandasana and Janu Sirsasana). Here in the United States, she has regularly attended workshops with such senior Iyengar teachers as Manouso Manos, Lauri Blakeney, and Chris Saudek. Yoga is a practice of studying oneself. Each pose teaches us something about ourselves, and those lessons can affect everything from eating habits to thought patterns while building balance, health, mental poise, clarity, and true strength. Email Debra.