Alena Bartoli

Alena teaches regular classes in-person and assists in training yoga teachers internationally. Alena's yoga journey began in 2010 when she was asked to organize a yoga retreat in the red sand desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan – where she was based for 7 years. In 2014, she completed her 200 hr yoga teaching certification at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in order to use yoga as a tool to connect clients to the transformative energies of the lands of southern Jordan and the Sinai. In 2018, she completed her 300 hour certification from Arjuna Ra's Sacred Activation Yoga School. She is currently completing her 1000 hour certification at the Kripalu School of Yoga. Alena carries a professional intention of creating transformational experiences that combine yoga, and the exploration of our human community. Alena's own experiential education began in 1999 during a semester off of university when she lived and worked for the US State Department in Armenia. Through the exploration of a human community different to her own, Alena took her initial steps in connecting to a set of universal human values existing beyond the differences of language and culture. Upon graduation from Yale University in 2001, Alena began a global career in education, with stops in Australia, China, Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Jordan and Mexico before returning to the United States to start a family in 2019. For over 10 years, Alena worked at the nexus of tourism and education in Jordan. She assisted in the start-ups of King's Academy, a co-ed boarding school based on His Majesty King Abdullah's alma mater, Deerfield Academy, and AMIDEAST's Aqaba office, She created and directed Where There Be Dragons Middle East summer and semester college-accredted programming before managing her own freelance tours and retreats in southern Jordan, Egyptian Sinai and later Mexico. Alena has led transformational journeys in China, Mexico, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Syria and is conversationally proficient in Jordanian Arabic and Mexican Spanish. She has a passive knoeldge of Mandarin Chinese, Italian and Russian. Alena is a Yoga Alliance 500 hr Registered Yoga Teacher and a member of the Kripalu Yoga and Ayurveda Association. Alena is a student of Sufi Islam, Reiki and several shamanic traditions of the Western Hemisphere. All of these traditions influence her practice and teaching of yoga. Although a believer that life is the greatest teacher, Alena's teaching draws directly from the work and teaching of the following individuals: Yoli Maya Yeh, Tom Skarda, Howard & Marysol Greco, Rita Hiri, Lana Abu Ayyash and Heike Ehrlich. Alena's formal education and training includes: Pending 1000 hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training Kripalu School of Yoga September 2020 The Four Chambered Heart; Shamanic Mastery Training Nikki Hainstock 24 hours December 2019 Restorative Yoga Teacher Training Judith Hanson Lasater 37.5 hours October 2019 Introduction to Trauma Sensitive Yoga Jenn Turner & David Emerson 40 hours August 2019 Yoga Therapeutics for Radiant Health Todd Norian 10 hours January 2019 Centering Your Spirit: Asana as Ceremony Cristie Newhart 10 hours November 2018 White Hawk Medicine Wheel Shamanic Training & Initiation Nikki Hainstock 150 hours July 2018 Teaching Pranayama & Advanced Asana Janna Delgado & Yoganand Michael Carroll 75 hours June 2018 300 hr Sacred Activation Yoga Teacher Training Arjuna Ra 300 hours July 2017 Living and Teaching the Yoga Sutras Rolf Gates 37 hours September 2016 Shamanic Healing Techniques Narayani 14 hours August 2016 Yin Yoga Teacher Treining Jade Wood 50 Hours April 2016 Trauma Sensitive Yoga Training Bella Hancock, Claire Osborne, Susan Bainter Baghdadi, Rula Wardeh 25 hours October 2015 Reiki Level 1 Cameron Macinnes June 2014 Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training Sudha Carolyn Lundeen, Larissa Hall Carlson, Coby Kozlowski, Randal Williams 200 hours each June 2008 - 2013 Where There Be Dragons Staff Orientation 250 hours June 2006 MA, International Studies Uppsala Univeristy, Sweden August 2005 & May 2010 Wilderness First Responder Certification 80 hours May 2001 BA, Geology & Geophysics/International Studies Yale University, USA