Site Under Construction
The highest move in life is to be like water.
It fights nothing or no one.
It flows from & back to its source.
And in the flowing smooths & wears
away all resistance.
About Bobbie Ellis
For 36 years Bobbie has been deeply committed to health, yoga, movement, bodywork and the spiritual unfolding of the human experience. She was the the owner and director of Soma Center in Highland Park NJ for 23 years, and the originator of SOMA YOGAâ„¢ and Soma Yoga Teacher Trainingâ„¢ and Advanced Soma Teaching Skillsâ„¢. 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 22 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 full private session practice that includes Continuum. Yoga Therapy. 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, 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. 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.
Her most influential teachers have been; Emilie Conrad, Susan Harper, Dan Leven, Angela Farmer, Donna Farhi, Erich Schiffmann, Reggie Ray, Pema Chodren and the unfolding and 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 Meditationâ„¢, 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, eulogies, celebration of life, and any ceremony or celebration where a guide is needed. For more info, please visit www.meaningfulceremonies.net
Soma Teachers
Ines Altemose
Class: NIA - Thursday 6pm
Ines Altemose has been interested in movement and dance for over 35 years. She has studied Middle Eastern Dance and Flamenco and performed and taught Middle Eastern Dance also known as Danse Orientale for many years. Highlights have included performances with the Near East Dance Theater in Boston and numerous productions with her husband David when they lived in Rochester, NY. More recently Ines has received a White Belt in Nia Technique and is certified to teach Nia 5 Stages. She has also been trained in the Nia 52 Moves which are the foundation of the classic Nia routine.
Gurvinder Singh
Class: Level 1 Yoga - Sunday 9am
Gurvinder Singh turned to Iyengar yoga in 2004 to get away from the stress of corporate life and has been practicing yoga ever since. However, it was through his experience with Soma yoga that he discovered a powerful, invigorating and spiritual practice that began an amazing journey of self discovery. He has completed 500-hour teacher training in Soma Yoga. Gurvinder loves the scientific techniques based on sound anatomical, biomechanical and physiological principles that can be used to refine and deepen yoga postures. With his knowledge of Sanskrit, he integrates tools from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras into the practice.
Avi Ray has been practicing yoga since 1999. She began the 200-hour Soma Teacher Training program in 2005 in order to deepen her yoga practice and wassurprised to discover that she loved teaching, especially the over-55 population. Since 2005, Avi has taught multilevel yoga classes in a gym, retirement communities, the East Brunswick Adult School, a summer camp, an after-school program, and has been a constant presence at Soma as student and substitute teacher. Avi’s goal in teaching is to help her students stretch, relax and improve their health, flexibility and concentration in a warm, nurturing environment.
