About Us
Gail Bentley Walsh, Founder & Director of Yoga Mountain
Phone: 845 461-7975
Walsh is an ERYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) with the National Yoga Alliance. Her Yoga Mountain Yoga Teacher Certification programs have been on-going since 1994, approved by the National Yoga Alliance, http://yogaalliance.org/, and she has trained over 324 students in her 200 and (300) 500-hour yoga teacher certification programs. Yoga Mountain Yoga Therapy Certification is the latest addition to her roster of training and certification programs. The program is approved by the IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) http://www.iayt.org/ .
Gail Bentley Walsh has been teaching yoga in public, private and special education schools for eighteen years. She is an expert when it comes to k-12 education involving the science of yoga. Walsh is passionate about bringing these tools to every teacher, no matter what the teachers’ background or experience, since she knows firsthand that simply exploring these techniques together can begin to cause a cultural shift in faculty, staff and student body away from fear, depression, anxiety, poor health, hostility and violence.
A former Peace Corps Volunteer, Walsh is the founder and co-director of Yoga Mountain Inc., www.yogamountain.com. She started teaching yoga to public and private school teachers in 1998, offering training and workshops for K-12 educators including teachers, teaching assistants, health-care workers, social workers, psychologists, clinicians and school administrators. The YM program offers individual segments for pre-school yoga, children’s yoga, kid’s yoga, middle-school yoga and high-school yoga, as well as yoga for special needs learners with physical, emotional or learning disabilities. The syllabus includes breath and breathing techniques, deep stretches and exercises, mindfulness enhancing relaxation and meditation techniques, teaching methodology and the ‘science of yoga.’
Walsh designed her accredited graduate course for teaching yoga in the classroom with an emphasis on health, relaxation, self-confidence and self-regulation. Teaching Self-Regulation to Improve Academic Performance and Interpersonal Relations: Yoga in the Classroom© has been offered through The Rockland Teachers’ Center Institute (Expanding the art of teaching and learning) www.rockteach.org and Mount Saint Vincent’s College in the Bronx, NY since 2006. It will soon be offered in counties throughout New York State.
Walsh is on the board of the national non-profit organization to bring yoga into the classroom: K-12 YOGA.org; her YM programs are cited and described on their website www.K-12YOGA.org
Ronda Lam-DiChiaro, ERYT 500
Ronda Lam DiChiaro Directs and Teaches the Yoga Mountain Certification programs along with Gail Walsh. She is the Director of Yoga Mountain in Bergen County, and offers classes in her private studio in Northern, NJ.
CYT, NYA and IYA member, she has studied yoga for 9 years and has taught for 5 years. She is experienced in a variety of yoga styles including Hatha, Iyengar, Bikram, Thai massage and Vinyasa. Emphasizing proper alignment, her spirited classes create Tapas (heat), through Vinyasa (linked postures) to develop strength, flexibility and concentration in a fun, compassionate and non-competitive environment.
Janet Vignola ERYT
Janet Vignola teaches the Yoga Mountain Certification programs along with Gail Walsh.
Janet Vignola is a registered yoga teacher with the National Yoga Alliance and 2008-2009 member of the IAYT. She completed her 500-hour certification in 2008 at Yoga Mountain in New City in addition to the Professional Yoga Mountain Yoga Therapy Certification. As a yoga practitioner for the past 20 years, Janet’s desire to teach evolved from the joy she received from her own practice and the aspiration to share that joy with others. Her classes focus on developing balance, strength and flexibility of mind and body through utilization of the breath, always with emphasis on presence of mind and self-awareness. As a Reiki practitioner, this energy enriches her yoga teaching.
Theresa Mihalopoulos, ERYT 500
Theresa Mihalopoulos teaches the Yoga Mountain Certification Programs along with Gail Walsh. She has been practicing yoga for 25 years, ever since she observed a man doing asana on a beach in France. She received her 200 Hour Certification and her 500 Hour Certifications at Yoga Mountain, as well as her Yoga Therapy Certification. She is a RYT 500 (Registered Yoga Teacher) through Yoga Alliance.
Theresa believes that all of yoga is about coming “home” to oneself through the breath. We do this by creating space and ease with proper alignment, which frees us to achieve all manner of things on our mats and in our lives.