Helen | Justine | Cory | Sarah | Annie | Cynthia

HELEN D. NEFF

Helen Neff started practicing Bikram Yoga in 1997 in San Francisco during the week while spending weekends in Nevada City. She left her stress-filled corporate retail job in April 2002 to pursue her dream of moving to Nevada City on a full time basis and opening a Bikram Yoga Studio in the area.

Helen attended the Bikram Yoga teacher training in Fall 2002, successfully completing over 500 hours of training at the Headquarters in Los Angeles. She completed her internship at the Bikram Yoga studios in Reno, Tahoe City, and Truckee.

During her twenty-five years in the fast paced world of luxury retail, Helen turned to exercise as a stress reliever. However, she was hindered by frequent injuries, particularly stress fractures. A bad fall in August 1996 resulted in a fractured hip and three months in bed. Her doctor ordered a bone density test that showed a serious loss of bone for her age despite a proper diet with sufficient non-fat dairy products and calcium supplements for the prior 20 years. Another doctor recommended yoga as a way to strengthen the spine and the rest of the skeletal system and hopefully, avoid further complications later in life.

Helen started practicing yoga as soon as her hip was sufficiently healed, in January 1997. She chose Bikram Yoga for its balancing (weight bearing) and spine strengthening series.

Initial improvement was seen in a bone density test taken in 2000 and, after accelerating her practice of Bikram Yoga in the past three years, the most recent test showed Helen’s bone density at above normal levels for her age, without the need for stronger supplements or other medications.

In addition, Helen has enjoyed the other benefits of Bikram Yoga, specifically a healthy and balanced functioning of the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, nervous, digestive, elimination, respiratory, endocrine, and mental systems of the body. She used to have to swim, bike, run, or walk briskly for a cardiovascular workout, lift weights for strength, and stretch for flexibility. Now she just takes a 90-minute Bikram Yoga class and accomplishes all of this, plus the added benefits of more energy and mental calmness. She has never felt healthier in her life and looks forward to helping others raise their level of health as well.

Justine Guiney

Justine Guiney has been teaching Bikram Yoga since the Fall of 2002. She grew up in San Diego CA., where dance, equestrian sports, and surfing were her main passions and sources of exercise. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz for college and attained a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. Through her college years Justine grew more interested in yoga as a way to relieve stress and increase strength and balance. Once she found Bikram yoga she knew she was hooked, and decided to pursue this new passion further.

In 2002, Justine graduated college and went right on to achieve her certification in Bikram Yoga. She started teaching in San Diego, and in 2004 she was approached to teach in Bali, Indonesia on a yoga retreat. This was the beginning of an eight month travel course around the world, teaching Bikram yoga in five different countries including Australia, Ireland, Spain, Bali, and Thailand.

After traveling and experiencing many different cultures as well as Bikram Yoga studios around the world, Justine came back to the United States to settle down. She found through her travels that she immensely enjoys working with people, primarily in a yoga setting, and decided to return to school for an advanced degree in psychology.

Justine found a good program in Sacramento for a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, as well as the very welcoming Bikram studio in Grass Valley. She is now happily teaching lots of yoga, as well as attending classes in Sacramento. Justine brings her passion for yoga and the healing and helping of others to her teaching.

Cory Kaufman

Welcome to Cory Kaufman who has recently returned from the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. Cory took his first Bikram Yoga class here in Grass Valley in January 2004 and practiced at this studio until he moved to Auburn to take advantage of a job opportunity in Roseville. Cory did not give up his yoga though; he just moved his practice (temporarily) to the Granite Bay studio. Now that he has graduated from the teacher training, he is splitting his teaching time between the Grass Valley and Granite Bay studios. We’re happy to have his enthusiastic energy!

Sarah Johnson

Sarah took her first Bikram Yoga class the summer before she started law school at UCLA in 1999. Little did she know that less than a year later she would be taking a break from law school to attend and complete the Bikram Yoga teacher training at Bikram Headquarters.

While completing law school, Sarah taught Bikram Yoga at several LA area schools, including Bikram's own studio. She then moved to Grass Valley just in time to be Helen’s first instructor at Bikram Yoga Grass Valley/Nevada City. After teaching with Helen for three years, Sarah and her family relocated to Portland, OR in the fall of 2006. Almost three years later, Sarah is thrilled to be back in the Sierra foothills.

In the last ten years, through her brief stint as an attorney, getting married, and becoming a mom, Bikram Yoga and Sarah's students have provided strength, a sense of community, and always something new to learn. She deeply appreciates both the opportunity to teach and the support of her family: her husband Renny, Reilly, born in April, 2005 and twins Blake and Mitchell, born in December, 2007.

Annie Grady

Annie first heard of Bikram yoga while working at a bakery in San Luis Obispo during her college days. The owner of the local Bikram Yoga studio walked into the warm shop and said "If you can handle the heat working here, you'll do great in one of my hot yoga classes!"

Annie decided to check out Bikram Yoga and after one class, she was hooked. Annie practiced regularly for the next two years - the yoga helped her maintain her sanity between going to school full time and working full time to pay for it all.

In the fall of 2005, Annie took a break from school to attend the Bikram Yoga teacher training in Los Angles. She returned to San Luis Obispo to finish her degree and begin teaching yoga at the studio there.

Shortly after receiving her degree in Nutritional Science, Annie decided to take some time to see the world so she spent a good portion of the next year traveling and studying yoga with different teachers in S.E. Asia and then spent a summer working at Mt. Rainier National Park.

In the fall of 2008, Annie moved to Grass Valley to study at the California College of Ayurveda and teach yoga with us here at Bikram Yoga Grass Valley/Nevada City.

Cynthia Tweed

Cynthia recently graduated from Bikram Yoga Teacher Training and began teaching in December of 2009. She relocated to Nevada City from Scottsdale, Arizona in 2008 and is originally from the East Coast.

Prior to becoming a certified Bikram Yoga teacher, Cynthia held many jobs in the corporate world, most recently as the Director of Sales for a software company in Sacramento. After a long year of commuting, and two serious car accidents, she decided to leave the corporate world to pursue her lifelong dream – to become a yoga teacher. Although she had practiced many forms of yoga throughout the years, it wasn’t until January of 2009 that she discovered Bikram Yoga. Bikram Yoga dramatically improved her physical health and injuries sustained in the accidents. The support she received from the owner and teachers at the Grass Valley / Nevada City studio and the improvements to her overall well-being made it an easy decision for her to pursue a career as a Bikram Yoga Teacher.

Cynthia is eager to help students find relief from injuries and hopes to inspire others to pursue a loyal Bikram practice.