Shanna Linn

The body reflects the total realm of our experiences. The extent to which we use our body, and the nature of that use, is reflected in our stance and its deviation from symmetry or balance, as well as in our range of motion, movement vocabulary, body consciousness, and the comfort level we experience through our bodies.

For Shanna, the path to the mind is through the body, and what better tool than a 5,000 year-old system of self care? In 1992, a concerned friend brought Shanna to her first yoga class for recurring back pain which it did help - but she stayed for the deeper promise of yoga, the clarity, healing, and integration of the mind, body, and spirit. Shanna believes that yoga receives us however we are, and through mindful practice, leads us to a more balanced, harmonious state.

Shanna is especially committed to teaching the introductory classes at Moksha so that anyone who is interested in learning yoga can enter, without self-consciousness, self-criticism, or fear. She strives to create a calm, safe place in which the beginning student receives a clear, guided introduction to the mechanics of deep breathing, breath-coordinated movement, elemental postures, yoga terms, and tools for meditation.

She is grateful to have studied with Suddha Weixler, Daren Friesen, Ana Forrest, and Gary Kraftsow through their teacher training programs; and thanks all who have cherished the teachings, kept them vital, and generously passed them on.

Shanna works as an administrator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which first lured her to Chicago in 1989 for its MFA program, which she completed in 1992. In 2002, she completed the massage program at The Chicago School of Massage Therapy.