Elder Teacher & Mentor
Catherine Calderon has over 40 years experience in Yoga and spiritual practices, and is a life-long dancer. She has studied extensively in various traditions, including Tantra Yoga, Taoist Healing Love practices, Tibetan Buddhism, the Afro-Cuban Orisha tradition, and is a registered yoga teacher, trained by Todd Norian.
Cathy leads retreats, workshops & healing ceremonies at centers around the country and the Caribbean, including Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, Esalen Institute in California, and Samnyasin in Puerto Rico, and is the founder of Shambhalaya Yoga & Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY. As a salsa dancer, she performed at the Apollo Theatre with Tito Puente, & the Palladium with Hector Lavoe. She is also a filmmaker
("A Bailar" & "Dancing with the Spirits"), theater director/producer, and teaches acting with her husband Paul Calderon (for info on their classes visit www.paulcalderon.net). One of her greatest joys is to share her passion for music, dance creativity & Spirit, and serve as a doorway for others to connect with their own unique expression of Life.
Cathy leads retreats, workshops & healing ceremonies at centers around the country and the Caribbean, including Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, Esalen Institute in California, and Samnyasin in Puerto Rico, and is the founder of Shambhalaya Yoga & Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY. As a salsa dancer, she performed at the Apollo Theatre with Tito Puente, & the Palladium with Hector Lavoe. She is also a filmmaker
("A Bailar" & "Dancing with the Spirits"), theater director/producer, and teaches acting with her husband Paul Calderon (for info on their classes visit www.paulcalderon.net). One of her greatest joys is to share her passion for music, dance creativity & Spirit, and serve as a doorway for others to connect with their own unique expression of Life.
Assistant Teachers & Guides
Lizzie Salsich has been following the path of Spirit her whole life. She has been practicing yoga since she was 16 and completed her teacher training as part of the first Celebrating the Call Training. She loves to live and explore her calling to be a force of love and healing for this planet and her people, and does so through practicing and teaching yoga and qi gong, dancing, and being a good friend. She has opened herself to many of the world's mystical traditions through personal practice and study, as well as through her undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Religion. As Cathy's niece, Lizzie has been blessed to learn from her since a young girl, and now finds the highest joy in her role as assistant and apprentice.
Stacy McLean has been practicing yoga since 2008 and teaching since 2012, graduating with the inaugural Celebrating the Call Training. Stacy's not only passionate about yoga, but also empowering individuals through transformational coaching and healing techniques. She is also a Certified Pranic Healer, and gives generously of her time to her community for group healing experiences. She enjoys time with family, friends and Mother Nature and is a fashionista who adores beauty in all its forms! Stacy revels in this life path because of the vast rewards & blessings she receives as she gives, along with the joy that flows mutually between her and the participant. She lives by the motto: "Don't let NObody steal your Joy!"" She says her Joy stems from an everlasting well that is embedded deep within; and believes that You will be eternally Blessed when you are a Blessing to others.
Melissa Rivera is a licensed holistic health counselor, herbalist, and registered yoga teacher. Dedicated to health and wellness for over 10 years, she serves her community and individuals by designing nutrition programs with preventative herbal care to achieve optimum health. Inspired by Cathy's teachings at the Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center, she became a Hatha yoga teacher in 2009. Upon graduation, she began to assist Cathy in many workshops, community gatherings and retreats. Guided by Cathy as a mentor for several years, she followed her calling to the Native Peoples Sundance Ceremony in Southern Colorado where she combines her love of yoga, spiritual healing and wellness as Kitchen Chief. Culminating years of inspiriation and service to the community, Melissa was honored to assist in the first Celebrating the Call teacher & healer training.
Yvonne Roman started practicing yoga in 2007 as part of back surgery recovery, and also as a way to be part of a Brooklyn community of like-minded people investing in their physical and mental well being. Ever since, yoga has been part of her everyday routine and says, "No matter whatever stage I am in my life, or where I am, I always draw from the wonderful teachings of yoga. It's what gets me through my most difficult times." Yvonne is an amazing cook, and enjoys spending time creating healthy, nourishing meals for the body and soul. She is also a great lover of interior design, and dance of all forms! She was part of the Celebrating the Call training in 2012, and has been assisting Cathy since then.
Janice Phillips has been practicing yoga for over ten years, and was one of Cathy's long time students at Shambhala Center in Brooklyn, as well as working as her assistant for several years. She designs healing inspired waist beads, often drawing on colors and symbolism to represent the chakras and the orishas. One of her great passions is soca music and dancing - loves to shake it all night long! She also loves leading healing circles for teen girls, loves all things metaphysics and spiritual, and is a student of a Course in Miracles. She completed the Celebrating the Call training in the same group with Yvonne.
Megan Lardner grew up in San Francisco, and began studying yoga a decade ago after moving to Brooklyn. She works as a writer and producer for documentary and television. Her passions include Brazilian dance, slow food, travel, music, story-telling, the ocean. What inspires her: compassion, endless possibilities for growth, new adventures, open hearts, wise teachers. Megan was also in the first Celebrating the Call training group, and brings her many talents to her service as assistant.
Olesya Zrezartseva comes from a family of healers and teachers. She always had an instinctual drive to share her knowledge and gifts with her students and everyone around her. Olesya has been practicing yoga for 7 years and teaching since 2012. She obtained her teacher certification after completing Cathy’s Celebrate the Call Training, and devotes herself to finding her true purpose through practice of yoga and other traditions. She has discovered a deep connection to the Yoruba tradition and was able to draw the ties with her ancestral pagan roots. Olesya has assisted Cathy at Kripalu, with the CTC training in Puerto Rico, and various ceremonies and healings. She is deepening her study of yoga by participating in another teacher training offered by the Kula Yoga Project. Currently she is teaching twice a week at Complete Body in the financial district in Manhattan.
Our Brothers who support our journey
with their Drums
with their Drums
Hailejaa Euma AKA, The Hug Collector. Percussionist extraordinaire, Sexagensarian,
retired postal clerk and bringer of endless love and joy. Haileejaa was one of the guiding spirits behind the opening of Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center, and on many occasions played drums for Cathy's yoga classes and ceremonial gatherings. He has truly been her "right hand man" and spiritual brother. Ashe!
Ronnie Roc is a multipercussionist, keyboardist and producer who has played with many talented musicians. He has taught African djembe drumming at The Drummers Collective in NYC, and is on staff as an accompanist at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Company, the Julliard School, and Long Island University. Ronnie leads his own 6-piece band AFRAZZ, featuring him on percussion, and also leads a Latin Jazz trio Mambo Jaambo that features him on piano, and provides entertainment for weddings and other events. In 2011 Ronnie released the first AFRAZZ album, "Dedication." Along with Haileejaa, Ronnie has played his drums at Shambhala and Kripalu Center, as a special guest artist with Cathy for her "Dancing with the Spirits" and "Salsa & Yoga" workshops.
Bret Cohen is an accomplished singer, percussionist and composer. His teachers include Chucky Joseph, Daud Chabwera, Marcy Francis and Byard Lancaster. After years of 8+ hours a day practice, he was given the title of master in 2002 from his teacher Baba Robert Crowder (Kulu Mele). Since then he has contiually studied the mysteries and joys of sound. Collaborations include Sun Ra Arkestra, Rufus Harley, Kunyang Lin/Dancers, and many others. Bret's sound is earthy and pure while simultaneously new, wild and free.
To learn more about our folks, check out their websites and blogs:
Stacy: http://www.hisocietynyc.blogspot.com
Hailejaa: [email protected]
Ronnie: http://www.ronnieroc.com
Bret: http://www.bretcohen.com
Stacy: http://www.hisocietynyc.blogspot.com
Hailejaa: [email protected]
Ronnie: http://www.ronnieroc.com
Bret: http://www.bretcohen.com
