Palm Yoga Owner & Teaching Staff
Rebecca Wood – Owner and Studio Director
Rebecca, owner and Director of Palm Yoga, has been interested in yoga (although she didn’t call it that) since she was a child. She used to use breathing techniques to calm her through problems with asthma and allergies. Rebecca loved to stretch as she practiced gymnastics as a young girl.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and took her first yoga class at Gold’s Gym. She was hooked. “I remember leaving that class feeling so open and clear. I loved it.” She began taking classes at Planet Yoga with Leeann Carey, founder of Yapana Yoga, in Redondo Beach and then entered her first Teacher Training Program at Planet Yoga. That was her first exposure to Kofi Busia who would end up being one of her main teachers when he would come to Los Angeles.
Over the next eight years, Rebecca studied with numerous teachers such as Donna Farhi, Rodney Yee, Erich Schiffman, Richard Miller, Kofi Busia and Judith Lasater. Judith made such an impression on her that she took Judith’s first ever Restorative Yoga Teacher Training at the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco in 2000. Once she moved to Tampa, Rebecca began developing a Yoga for Beginners dvd. These videos have been very successful and Rebecca launched a follow up series of DVDs a few year later. We now offer the following Yoga for Beginners DVDs:
• Yoga for Beginners, Vol. 1
• Yoga at the Zoo (Kids Yoga)
• Yoga for Kids (Multiple short sessions for kids with short attention spans)
• Restorative Yoga
Also, check out her Palm Yoga youtube yoga channel for free yoga videos online.
Rebecca continues to deepen her practice through personal practice, workshops with primarily Iyengar yoga teachers and personal study. She gets lots of “off the mat” yoga practice running two businesses, raising her two children and living with her husband of 17 years!
All of our teachers are professionals who have been taught to offer the highest quality instruction in various types of yoga. Every member of our teaching staff is approachable, caring, and possesses a true love for teaching. After taking just a few lessons, you will see why Palm Yoga is Tampa’s choice for yoga.
Read below to get to know our instructors!
Donna McClellan
I was drawn to yoga the moment I realized how easily and completely it had the ability to ground me. My sleep, my health, my work and my relationships all improved with my increased dedication to my practice. Although, perhaps most importantly my connection and awareness to the world and all living things changed. Without effort, I became “awake”, energized and joyous through my practice. It shook off the dumbness of living exhausted. I teach to share that experience, to see students grow & dare & become stronger in body and being. I’ve been privileged to teach Prenatal classes, Children’s classes, Nidra classes, Meditation and Restorative classes in addition to beginner yoga classes. I’ve taught to blind and handicapped students, I’ve taught to recovering addicts, homeless and abused students. I’ve taught in the workplace and on beautiful Florida Beaches, from the very young to the very old. Each experience adding to the richness of my own practice. My philosophy of yoga is the same as my daily mantra “Lokah Samastah Sukino Bhavantu” May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute in service to the happiness and freedom for all”.
Bhavi Nirav
Bhavi Nirav is a certified Intro II iyengar teacher. She has been an enthusiastic lifelong student of Yoga starting from a young age. Her formal yoga training began under a senior teacher from the esteemed yoga institute Kaivalyadham of Lonavala, India. Her love of yoga compelled her to also train at Sivananda ashram, a premiere yoga institute in India, in hatha yoga, pranayama and Reiki. She has been dedicated to teaching yoga for over 8 years. Recently her path crossed with one ardent iyengar yoga student and she fell in love with the genius of the iyengar yoga teaching method, inspiring her to commence teacher training and the certification process. Her mentors are Rebecca Lerner, Dean Lerner and Pom Cayeiro. Bhavi’s goal is to teach with precise alignment and the sequencing of the yoga asanas. She aims to challenge students, bring a sense of fun to her classes, and delve deeper into the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of Yoga.
Bhavi is also a registered dietitian, currently pursuing her PhD in biotechnology, and a mother of two. Creating healthy nutritious dishes, globe trotting, attending iyengar classes all over the world, and studying the vedas and upanishads are a few of her hobbies.
