Meet Your Teachers
Bobbie Ellis (she/her)
Lead Teacher
For 37 years Bobbie has been deeply committed to health, yoga, movement, bodywork, and the spiritual unfolding of the human experience. She was the owner and director of Soma Center in Highland Park NJ for 23 years, and the originator of SOMA YOGA™ and Soma Yoga Teacher Training™ and Advanced Soma Teaching Skills™. Soma Yoga 200 & 500 teacher training's are one of the first training programs for yoga teachers in the Northern USA tri-state area. For over 24 years Bobbie has trained hundreds of Soma Yoga teachers and they have become some of the most popular teachers in the area. She maintains a part private session practice that includes Continuum, Yoga Therapy, GlobalBody, Ayurveda, and Thai Bodywork. She is one of the first members of the national organization Yoga Alliance. Bobbie also developed GlobalBody, a life/art process for living a creative life.
Bobbie’s background includes certifications and study in many Yoga realms, Pranayama, Meditation, Pheonix Rising Yoga Therapy, Kripalu DansKinetics, Massage therapy, Neuro Muscular therapy, Medical Massage, Thai Yoga Bodywork, Polarity, Marma Point Therapy, Ayurveda Basics, Whole Foods Counseling, Buddhism, and Taoism. Bobbie has studied extensively and assisted Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum Movement from 1998 to the time of her passing in 2014. Bobbie was authorized by Emilie to teach Continuum Movement in 2005. Since, she is a founding member of the Continuum Teachers Association.
Bobbie has taught yoga, embodied meditation and innovative movement programs at Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA, Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA, and Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. She has taught and developed programs for The Body-Mind Institute at St. Peter’s Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, The VA Hospital, East Orange, NJ, Rutgers State University, New Brunswick, NJ, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, various NJ locations, Princeton Center for Yoga & Health, She is a frequent guest teacher for YogaU and Embodied Yoga online along with various yoga studios and fitness centers in the tri-state area. She continues to retreat with Susan Harper of Continuum Montage.
Her most influential teachers have been; Emilie Conrad, Susan Harper, Dan Leven, Angela Farmer, Donna Farhi, Erich Schiffmann, Reggie Ray, Pema Chodren, Will Johnson and the unfolding discoveries that occur in her own body/mind practices that have become her greatest teacher.
Bobbie along with her husband, pianist and composer John Bianculli, created their first CD in Embodied Meditation™, a body of work that has taken shape over many years of exploration and discovery. Bobbie Ellis is also an officiant for weddings, baby blessings, memorial services, eulogies, celebration of life, and any ceremony or celebration where a guide is needed. For more info, please visit www.meaningfulceremonies.net
Karin Weinstein (she/her)
Lead Teacher
When Karin was in her late 20s she started suffering from neck and low back pain that was preventing her from doing things she loved. She knew she needed to do something different, so she took herself to a yoga class. The combined focus of movement, breath and actually listening to her body was unlike anything she had ever experienced in her years as a competitive athlete. Not only did Karin find relief from pain, but a transformative practice that continues to positively impact every aspect of her life. It didn't take long for Karin to realize that yoga was something she wanted to share with others.
Karin is in love with the human body. In her teaching, Karin celebrates the individuality of each student and strives to make her classes a playground for self-exploration, self-knowledge and healing. A dedicated student of yoga philosophy, anatomy, breathing practices, functional movement, biomechanics and mindfulness, she embodies the premise that the best teachers are also life-long students. To that end, Karin has gone on to become a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise specialist. Karin is heavily influenced by the work of Bobbie Ellis, Jules Mitchell, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Kristin Neff, Dr. Stuart McGill and Dr. Rick Hanson.
Karin holds the following certifications: Yoga Alliance E-RYT500 and Continuing Education Provider, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, NETA Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist.
Karin teaches yoga, meditation, mindfulness, somatic movement and strength in public, private and corporate classes and workshops online and throughout New Jersey.
Robert Litman (he/him)
Guest Teacher
For the past 30+ years, Robert Litman has guided clients and students in the use of movement, breath and sound as a tool for personal growth, restoring healthy breathing rhythms, structural alignment, and efficient body mechanics. He founded The Breathable Body in 2003. In his book, The Breathable Body, Robert Litman shares the insights and practices he has discovered during more than 30 years of professional experience in conscious breathing and movement. Born with breathing difficulties and suffering from asthma as a child, Robert found ways to overcome his own childhood PTSD and now shares trauma-sensitive teachings to help people breathe and live better.
He co-developed the Wellsprings Practitioner Program with Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum and co-taught with her for 18 years. He was on the faculty of Continuum until 2014 and has made many contributions to Continuum’s practices, particularly in the sciences, incorporating respiratory physiology, neuroanatomy and cellular biology. Emilie and Robert collaborated in developing The Body in Question, a year-long program in Berkeley, CA in 1996 and many other programs in California throughout the years.
Robert has been a faculty member and head of the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology and Movement Education at the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts Massage School. He teaches the Buteyko Breathing Education, helping people with disorders such as asthma, anxiety, allergies, panic attacks, snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, digestive disorders, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue to control their symptoms and reduce their medications. He is as an organizing member, registered educator and trainer of the Buteyko Breathing Educators Association.
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He was a preceptor at the University Of Arizona School Of Integrative Medicine teaching the Buteyko Breathing Technique to visiting doctors for Doctor Andrew Weil for 5 years.
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Robert has an advanced certification in:
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The Duggan-French Approach
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Somatic Pattern Recognition, which has provided him with hands on skills to help guide clients’ movement and breath education awareness processes.
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Graduate Certification as a Breathing Behavior Analyst.
Robert now makes his home on Vashon Island, WA., continuing to offer private sessions and classes in movement and breathing. He regularly leads classes and workshops worldwide. Robert and Bobbie Ellis co-teach a yearly Living Anatomy Program online.
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You can view Robert's book release video here or take classes on The Breathable Body on OprahDaily.com.