Shaker
Raised in the mountains of Arizona, Shaker traveled around the world for a year before moving to Chicago to finish his studies. Shaker matriculated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA/E in Fine Arts and a Certificate in Art Education He received a master’s degree from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Shaker obtained his 200-hour Hatha and Vinyasa certification from The Chicago Yoga Center (formerly N.U. Yoga Center) and is a 500+ hour RYT with Yoga Alliance. He has been blessed to have been directly trained by three generations of the Jois family including Patabi Jois, Guru of Ashtanga Yoga. Shaker has had the honor of being certified by Ramaswami, Guru of Vinyasa Yoga. He completed his Yin Yoga (Tao Yin) training with Taoist Masters Ni Hua Ching and Mantak Chia. For over a decade he has been a professor of Yogic Studies at Columbia College.
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With over 25 years of practice and training under his belt, Shaker maintains a full career as a teacher in both the art and yoga community. He has taught art and yoga in some of Chicago’s top institutions and has received numerous grants and awards for his work.
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Shaker developed the first "regular school day" yoga program for elementary students in a Chicago Public School, providing weekly Yoga classes for at-risk students during their regular school day. He was recently asked to create another first-of-its-kind Yoga program for After School Matters. This program is the first yoga teacher training program for high school students. Shaker brings his experience as an educator to his yoga training classes, presenting classes that are challenging, highly accessible, customized and structured to meet the needs of each individual student.
