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About Beth Beth Rigby, Founder of Yoga Meets Dance, is an extraordinarily gifted instructor, trainer, retreat leader, mystic, and awarded watercolor artist, endowed with natural teaching ability, innovative creativity and warm-hearted gentleness, helping people of all walks of life enjoy healing relaxation and deep peace through yoga, meditation and dance. A student of many forms of yoga for over 25 years, Beth served as a top-rated program director and staff instructor at the world-renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA wher she was trained and certified to teach in 1995. Beth experienced and witnessed the detrimental effects of stress while working as a busy legal secretary in Atlanta in the 1980s and immersed herself in stress reduction studies, many forms of yoga, Zen and Vipassana meditation, breathwork, massage therapy and nutrition. In 1992, Beth completed certifications in Neuromuscular, Swedish, and Sports Massage from the Academy of Somatic Healing Arts in Atlanta, as well as energy healing, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch Levels 1 and 2. Happily leaving office work to help others reduce stress with therapeutic massage, Beth continued to explore all forms of yoga and meditation. In 1995, Beth completed instructor certifications in Kripalu Hatha Yoga, Kripalu YogaDance with Daniel Leven, and YogaRhythmics with Connie Miller, then served as an assistant at many programs at the Kripalu Center. To further her movement and meditation studies, Beth attended Cheri Huber's Center for Zen Studies in Northern California, participated in Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms Dance classes with Ellen Watson during two months of work-study at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, then attended Yogaville in Virginia for a month of Integral yoga practice before returning to Kripalu in 1996, where she quickly became a popular staff instructor. Directing filled-to-capacity programs at Kripalu, Beth received invitations to teach nationwide, including Inner Voyage Cruises, the Valleyhead Treatment Center for teenage trauma survivors, and at the Beth-Abraham Hospital in New York City for wheelchair patients, intuitively adapting classes to serve a wide variety of special populations. In 1997, Beth travelled to mystical Sedona, AZ. Exploring the Native American centers of the southwest, participating in Native sweatlodge ceremonies, hiking spectacular red rock canyons, Beth created and directed dozens of Healing Retreat Adventures to share the beautiful southwest landscapes with others in 7-day self-discovery adventure retreats. While in Sedona, Beth studied vibrational sound healing with chant master Jonathan Goldman. Receiving requests from her students to train them, and with Kripalu's permission, Beth created Yoga Meets Dance 10-day teacher trainings in 2001, which she currently leads throughout the US and Canada. An eternal student, Beth attended an advanced breathwork course at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore while exploring India, and experienced the life-changing health benefits of raw food veganism at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia in 2006. However, Beth's first love is meditation. She has studied with over a dozen Zen masters, including Reb Anderson, Joan Halifax, Michael Elliston, Cheri Huber, Barbara Kohn, and Pat Hawk, attending silent retreats at Southern Dharma, Upaya, Austin Zen Center, Zen Desert Sangha, and Atlanta Soto Zen Center. A 22-year student of Western (and some Vedic) astrology, Beth enjoys providing private astrological counseling sessions in her free time. She resides in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and the warm southwest desert in Arizona. Poem by Beth Massage Therapy with Beth Astrology with Beth Testimonials from Beth's class Enjoy these articles:Om Meets 'Funky Cold Medina,' The Yogi Gets Down, Music & Movement Stir the Soul Thank you for visiting! Copyright 2001-2008 YogaMeetsDance.com. All Rights Reserved. No duplication permitted. Fully enforced.