San Diego Yoga - BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Students

Mary Obendorfer & Eddy Marks, Co-Directors

Mary & Eddy direct the BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers of San Diego with locations in Normal Heights and Ocean Beach. From 2003-2004 they spent a year in India studying with the Iyengars in Pune, India. They are Senior level Iyengar teachers certified by Mr. Iyengar to teach. They adhere strictly to his methodology and continue their education by studying 2 months every year in India with the Iyengars.

Together they own and direct the BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers of San Diego - The first BKS Iyengar Yoga Center in Southern California (est. 1979). At their center they conduct the rigorous 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) in San Diego, California for those interested in teaching Iyengar yoga or furthering their knowledge of yoga. They conduct teacher trainings, workshops, and yoga vacations nationally & internationally. They have been instrumental in starting yoga programs in corporations through their yoga demonstrations and by providing instructors from their Teacher Training Course. At least three new yoga centers have resulted from yoga instructors trained by them.

Mary and Eddy acknowledge the governing influence of BKS Iyengar on their practice and teaching and are grateful to him for his inspired teaching, for his unending efforts to uplift the lives of all those who come in contact with him, and for always being the superlative example of a life skillfully lived.

Eddy Marks

Eddy is a Senior level certified Iyengar teacher, has been to India 14 times and has practiced yoga for 34 years (1976). He has also taught at the Yoga Journal & Asia Yoga conferences. He is currently an assessor for the National Board for Iyengar Yoga Teacher Certification. He has a degree from UCLA in Kinesiology (the study of human movement) and teaches anatomy & physiology for yoga practitioners. Before he moved to San Diego he was employed as an exercise physiologist and taught yoga in the cardiac rehabilitation program of the famous Pritikin Longevity Center. There with the guidance of Mr Iyengar, he was the first to introduce yoga for cardiac rehabilitation which was a great success. He has served as president of his local association (IYASC) and as a board member and archivist for the national association (IYNAUS). See his schedule at the Normal Heights location.

Mary Obendorfer

Mary is a Senior level certified Iyengar Teacher, has been to India 14 times and has been practicing yoga for 29 years (1981). She is currently an assessor for the National Board for Iyengar Yoga Teacher Certification. She was one of the few people from around the world to attend the invitation only Back Bend intensive given directly by Mr. Iyengar. She also worked with Dr. Mary Schatz in India documenting the therapeutic yoga that Mr Iyengar is so famous for. She has served as president of her local association (IYASC). See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Beth Birenbaum

Beth began studying Iyengar yoga in 2001 and is currently finishing the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) here at the Center. Before teaching yoga, Beth taught gymnastics, surfing and snowboarding. She is full of life and intent on bringing yoga’s life-enhancing benefits to her students.

Mikel Bruce

Mikel has been practicing Iyengar Yoga since 1998 and has completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) with Eddy and Mary. Yoga has had a profound impact on his life creating positive changes on many levels. Mikel looks forward to showing his students how to create their own positive changes with yoga.

Cyndy Cordle

Cyndy has been practicing yoga in the tradition of Shri BKS Iyengar since 1993. She began studying here at the BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers of San Diego as a beginning student and went on to participate in the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) offered at this center. She is now a certified instructor in the Iyengar method and has been a teacher at the center since 1998. She has studied in Pune, India for two months with the Iyengar family. Apart from her yoga experience, Cyndy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her skills as a clinician make her an empathic and encouraging teacher of yoga. She views yoga as "the greatest 'change agent' available to humanity" enthusiastically bringing that belief to life through her teaching. See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Kitty Franklin

Kitty is a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor with over 20 years of experience in the practice and teaching of Iyengar Yoga. Her teaching style is characterized by a balance between strength and flexibility as well as a concern for the individual student regardless of their level of experience. Kitty's teaching style is adaptable to the yoga novice as well as the experienced yoga practitioner. She believes in yoga as a method for restoring balance in the body, the mind and ultimately in life.

Royal Fraser

Royal Fraser recently passed his first assessment in the Iyengar method and is working toward completing the full Iyengar certification. He has been studying Iyengar yoga since 2004 and took the Teachers Training Course (TTC) at the Center in 2006. Royal attended the National Convention with Geeta Iyengar in 2007. He has been studying yoga and Chinese Medicine since 1994. Royal holds a Masters of Science degree in Chinese Medicine and is a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist and with a practice here in San Diego. Before teaching yoga, Royal was a swim instructor and swam as a NCAA athlete. Royal is very devoted to his practice and enjoys sharing his love for the practice with his students.

Jennifer Gold

Jennifer has been studying Iyengar Yoga with Eddy and Mary since 2000. She completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) with Eddy and Mary and has been apprenticeing with Mary since 2006. She started doing yoga due to a back injury but has also discoverd that yoga helps her mentally and spiritually as well. Her students tell her they like her classes because she is encouraging and her instructions are clear. See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Elaine Hall

Elaine is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher who has been practicing Iyengar yoga since 1995. She was first introduced to Yoga in the mid-seventies. In 1993 when she came to California, it became very clear to her that she needed to get back to Yoga in a serious way. As fate would have it, she ended up renting a guest house from a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. It was definitely a case of "when the student is ready the teacher will appear." She immediately embraced the technique and philosophy behind the Iyengar teachings. Observing all the benefits that she has experienced from her own practice the path became clear to teach and share. Elaine has completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) with Eddy Marks and Mary Obendorfer and travelled to Pune in 2005 to study with the Iyengars & is looking forward to returning in late 2008. See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Rob Harris

Rob is a certified Iyengar yoga instructor. He began studying with Mary and Eddy in 1999 as the result of a Christmas gift certificate from his wife, Pegge. Within a year he had enrolled in the intensive 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) and began the rigorous preparation necessary to achieve certification. Rob graduated the (TTC) in 2002 and has been teaching, assisting and substituting at both the Ocean Beach and Normal Heights Centers ever since. Along with his Yoga practice and teaching, Rob is working towards a degree in counseling for chemical dependency. For the past two summers, and hopefully many more, he has interned in India with Father Joe Periera's Kripa Foundation, an Indian non-profit that integrates BKS Iyengar's method of Yoga with the 12-step recovery process. Rob is committed to his personal practice and the positive transformations that come from it. He is always happy to help others with their own transformational process. Rob brings a lot of energy to his classes. See his schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Kim Kolibri

Kim is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher who has been practicing Iyengar yoga since 1997. She completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) taught by Eddy and Mary and started teaching in 2000. Prior to her discovery of Yoga, Kim coached and participated in competitive sports. Kim embarked on her first journey to India to study at RIMYI in 2005 and will be returning again in 2008. While yoga is her primary subject, she continues her studies in anatomy, physiology, psychology, religion, and nutrition. She is also the business manager of the BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers of San Diego. Kim's classes are friendly and enthusiastic. See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Kate McAdams

Kate began going to yoga as a way of passing the time between classes while attending UCSD. She was so impressed with the effects of yoga that she wanted to learn how to teach it so she could share the benefits with others. Kate completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) with Mary and Eddy and then went on to become certified in 2004. In addition to teaching yoga, Kate runs her own business and is the mother of a very cute toddler who will do Adho Mukha Svanasana if you ask him in Sanskrit. Kate enjoys the sense of community rooted at the BKS Iyengar Yoga Centers of San Diego and regards the center as her second home. She enjoys the teaching process and seeing the positive changes in her students.

Pat McLoughlin

Pat McLoughlin has been practicing Iyengar yoga for over 10 years she has completed the 2 year Teacher Training Course (TTC) taught by Mary and Eddy. Pat's experience began as a casual interest taking one yoga class per week. Gradually her commitment to yoga deepened leading her to develop her own home practice. Having learned first-hand the benefits of Iyengar yoga at every stage of her experience, Pat looks forward to sharing those benefits with her students. Pat is now a certified instructor in the Iyengar method. See her schedule at the Ocean Beach location.

Peter Smith

After many years of working in construction, Peter was drawn to yoga to help with stress and stiffness in his knees. He started practicing Iyengar yoga in 2000. The stiffness in his knees went away quickly, stress too abated as yoga became increasingly integral in his life. Through his teaching, Peter hopes to help others receive the benefits of yoga in their lives. Peter Smith has completed the teacher training course (TTC 2005-6) with Eddy and Mary and he apprentices with Eddy and Mary weekly. He is working to become a certified Iyengar teacher and plans to study in India with the Iyengars.