Director of Soma Center, Bobbie Ellis
For 27 years Bobbie has been deeply committed to health, yoga, movement, bodywork and the spiritual unfolding of the human experience. In addition to being the owner and director of Soma Center, she is 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 tri-state area. For over 15 years Bobbie has trained hundreds of Soma Yoga teachers and they have become some of the most popular teachers in the area. Many of the current studios in NJ are owned by soma trained teachers! She maintains a full bodywork and healing practice that includes deep tissue therapies, continuum based breathing and sound play, hands-on-healing, thai bodywork and shiatsu.
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 therapies, thai yoga bodywork, polarity, marma point therapy, hands-on-healing therapies, basic ayurveda, gestalt psychotherapy, whole foods counseling, Buddhism, and Taoism. She is also an authorized Continuum Movement teacher. 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, and various yoga studios and fitness centers in the tri-state area. Bobbie has brought her work to Connecticut and Massachusetts and continues to seek out travel world wide.
Her most influential teachers have been; Emilie Conrad, Susan Harper, Alice Rutkowski, Dan Leven, Angela Farmer, Donna Farhi, Erich Schiffmann, Reggie Ray, Pema Chodren and the unfolding and discoveries that occurs in her own body/mind practices that have become her greatest teacher. Many of these teachers have brought her teaching style into great permission to allow the natural discoveries and curiosities of the student to be the most important teacher of all.
Bobbie along with her husband, pianist and composer John Bianculli, composed their first CD in Embodied Meditation™, a body of work that has taken shape over many years of exploration and discovery.
The Staff
| Christine Bodwitch has been a choreographer, teacher and performer for over 15 years. She received a BFA degree in dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has been practicing yoga since 2003 with her first teacher, Kirin Mishra of Saraswati River Yoga in New Hope, PA. In 2010, she received her yoga certification from Soma Center in Highland Park, New Jersey. Currently, she teaches yoga and movement classes at Soma Center and teaches creative movement in schools and organizations throughout the tri-state area. She also works for the Dance Department at Rutgers University, performs with Clown ExMachina, an all-women clown troupe from New York City and is the mother of a 5 year old yogi daughter, a dog named Fig and a cat named Moss. |  |
| Heidi Buck has been practicing yoga since 2002 and in 2010 she received her 200 hour teaching certification from Soma Center. She continues to advance her training, and in Spring of 2011 received CEU credits in 20 hour Therapeutics for the neck, shoulders, hips and knees, 10 hour Soma Mama Prenatal Basic Yoga from Soma Center, and 5 hour Yoga with Seniors. Having a background in dance, gymnastics and various other sports, she emphasizes proper alignment while encouraging students to find their own rhythm through breath and self awareness. |  |
| Kathy Kelly Yoga became a part of Kathy’s wellness program as she met with the challenges of breast cancer in 2008. After her first class, she was surprised by how invigorated she felt along with a sense of well-being. The discovery not only influenced her physically, but emotionally and mentally. This journey led her into learning more about the body and its energy. A Reflexologist since 2004, she also became certified in Qigong Healing, Quantum Touch and Touch Therapy. When she took a job in a Senior Citizen building and saw their lack of exercise, she became Certified in Chair Yoga so she can bring this practice to them. Wanting to round out her knowledge of yoga, she took her training further through a 200-hour certification program at Sakula Yoga Studio. It is her intent to show that through the asanas and meditation, wellness is not a goal, but a continuing journey of self-discovery. |  |
| Kate Mullins found yoga in 2005 while living in Los Angeles, where she had the great fortune to study with many gifted teachers. She quickly discovered that she was equally challenged and restored by each class and encountered first-hand the power of the practice to transform the body and the mind. Kate’s experience of the profound benefits of yoga practice inspired her to deepen her study and to share that experience with others. In 2011, Kate completed her 200 hour certification at Sakula Yoga Studio. Her classes focus on creating a balance between stillness and flow and on finding a connection to the breath. She believes that the attention we bring to our yoga practice informs every moment of our life practice, and that yoga supplies us with the tools we need to connect with ourselves and with others in this often stressful and busy world. Kate continues to study and deepen in her love and understanding of yoga and hopes to impart that knowledge and joy to her students. |  |
| Darlene Rich began studying yoga as a part of her training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC in 1975. She continued her studies through both of her pregnancies, giving natural home births to two beautifully healthy children, 1982 and 1986. In the late 1980’s into the 90’s she studied with Alan Cohen, both Hatha Yoga and Meditation for Higher Consciousness. In 2003 Darlene discovered the Soma Center and began training with Bobbie. Yoga offers a new way of life through personal and class practice of asana, pranayama and meditation. Teaching is a way of life for Darlene, a calling she is grateful to have discovered. She teaches High School Theatre and English in Edison. Yoga is taught in all levels of theatre classes. |  |
| Liz Schultz grew up dancing and always knew she wanted to teach movement. After wanting for years to get into yoga and meditation for relaxation and stress management, she finally began practicing in 2009. She first thought of yoga as a set of poses to master that you can use to get your body in shape. Now she thinks of it as a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual practice that you can use to get your mind in shape, and bring balance and peace to your life. She prefers a nourishing, restorative practice to counter the depletion that life can bring off the mat, as she believes that "the rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence" (Thomas Merton) ...which obscures our ability to wonder. She completed her 200 hour certification at Soma Center in 2010 and is happy to be teaching there. In her classes she emphasizes developing your own practice and inner authority, and taking care of yourself. |  |
| Denise Trimble brings a variety of life experiences to her teaching. She received her BS in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State University in 1995, and after working in a rehab setting for 4 years, she yearned to help people find relief from pain. This led her to become a Certified Massage Therapist through Health Choices Holistic Massage School in 1999. Denise found massage therapy very rewarding, however it was physically strenuous. She began practicing yoga to stretch, strengthen, and relax her body. Through yoga, Denise not only found balance in her body, but also serenity in her mind. In 2001, Denise completed her Yoga Teacher Training at Soma Center in Highland Park, and with excitement and a passion for spreading yoga to as many people as possible, she opened Inner Light Yoga Center in North Brunswick. After 3 years Denise moved forward to her next phase of life, selling the yoga center and entering Motherhood. Now Mommy to a vibrant daughter, she has discovered the true value of the teachings of yoga in helping her through the ups and downs of full time parenting and part time yoga teaching and massage therapy. Denise draws from all of her life experience to enrich her teaching of yoga. |  |