About Us
Contact: 440.236.6366
Monday - Friday 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Email: bhumiyoga@alltel.net

Student Inspirations link here

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Bhumi (Harriet Russell), Director, RYT, M.S.

      Bhumi in Yoga Pose 2006.

Harriet Russell is known as "Bhumi" in the yoga world. She is a leader of the yoga community in Ohio and has helped demystify and bring yoga to mainstream Northern Ohio without sacrificing the depth of the practice.

Bhumi launched Cleveland's  first yoga and wellness center open to the public in 1992 and brought yoga classes into the physical education programs in suburban high schools. Over the years, she has trained hundreds of teachers, 160 in Ohio alone. Bhumi's Yoga and Wellness Center was the first in Ohio  recognized by the national Yoga Alliance.

Bhumi is a Certified and Registered Yoga Teacher,   Certified Massage Bodyworker, and Certified Holistic Health Educator. She has also studied Yoga Therapy, Shiatsu (Acupressure) Massage, Energy Balancing, and the martial art of Aikido. She has an M.S. in Linguistics, is fluent in several languages, including Spanish and Japanese, and lived overseas for eight years.

In addition, she travelled overland from Europe to Asia. She was in India, Nepal, and Tibet in 1975 and 1992 where she visited many spiritual sites. In 2005 she returned to India where she participated in Rotary International projects and visited medical clinics with doctors practicing specialized yoga therapies.

Bhumi was introduced to yoga as a stress management technique while working in international business corporate life in New York City. Successful, yet searching, she changed careers, recognizing her life's work is to share the deep benefits from yoga that she felt for herself with others.

Bhumi lived a monastic lifestyle as a spiritual resident at the ashram of Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, the largest holistic health and yoga center in North America. She served as Program Director of Yoga Teacher Training and Bodywork Certification Programs there for 8 years. Her spiritual teacher was Dr. Yogi Amrit Desai, the founder.

Since then she has studied with BKS and Geeta Iyengar and other Senior Iyengar teachers, taken annual Teacher Trainings and an Advanced Intensive with Rodney Yee, studied with Bikram Choudary, studied Anusara Yoga, and taken a Teacher Training in Ashtanga Vinyasa (power) Yoga.

A true educator, Bhumi blends several different styles of yoga with her own personal approach and continues to expand her own knowledge. She has been teaching for over twenty five years and some call her style "Bhumi's Blend."

She has been sponsored to lead workshops around the world on various health issues. Co-creator of the "Moon Salutation", Bhumi appears on TV in the U.S. and abroad, has been published, and has produced several yoga routine tapes/CD's.

Harriet Russell (Bhumi) is an active member of Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, COSE, as well as other professional groups and yoga associations including the International Association of Yoga Therapists, Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association and Yoga Alliance.

 

 

TWO TEACHERS, BHUMI (left) and CHRISTINE DEBOW (right) helping a student into the Camel Pose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

                      Yoga Teachers

RYT means "Registered Yoga Teacher"
with the national Yoga Alliance.

Bhumi could not serve fully without the help of the other teachers, staff, and karma yoga volunteers. We all share a common interest in the well-being of the students.

Yoga Teachers, all certified by Bhumi's Yoga and Wellness Center, and most registered by the national Yoga Alliance, are an integral part of the community. These devoted souls teach and take classes with Bhumi, continuing to learn together and share what they love. Many outreach programs at hospitals, recreation centers, and wellness facilities around the Cleveland area are also taught by our Bhumi's Yoga certified graduate teachers.

We have a wonderful group of dedicated individuals teaching through Bhumi's Yoga and Wellness Center . Here is what the yoga Teachers have to say about their background and classes.

HARRIET RUSSELL (BHUMI) , RYT, M.S., Director says: "Each moment is fresh, an opportunity to begin anew. Each class is different depending upon who is there and what is needed in that moment, for the individual and the group energy. We have a wonderful team of teachers, professional, challenging, and fun! Let us guide you to bring the body-mind into balance and the heart open to whatever the moment brings. Individualized attention and the shared small group energy creates a nurturing of spirit, and a community of friends."

 SHIRLEY PIERCE, RYT, Great Grandmother of two, teaches at the Cleveland Clinic through Bhumi's Yoga and Wellness Center Outreach Program.

Shirley says: "I began doing yoga over 30 years ago seeking stress reduction and headache relief. I studied with various local teachers, but really got serious about my yoga when I met Bhumi. In 1996, I took Bhumi’s Yoga Teacher Training to deepen my practice without the intention to teach. However, I found that I love teaching!

"I am now flexible, strong, peaceful and privileged to share what I love with others as a teacher of yoga. The evolution of my practice continues using meditative awareness of the body and breath to encounter the spirit. Once one’s body is relaxed, energy flows freely and the mind is at peace, one may have a glimpse of one’s core being or true self—the spirit!

"I love Yoga, and I want to have my students love Yoga also. And, since I am "of an age", I understand how it feels to take a little while to warm up before being ready for the poses. So, my classes begin with a long warm up. I emphasize opening and relaxing the neck, shoulders and spine (and the rest of the body too), before beginning the poses. Then, long holding and a deep relaxation characterize my classes."

TOM CARNEY, President, Carney-McNicholas Commercial Movers, father of five, teaches an advanced asana class for the Bhumi's Yoga Teacher Training Program.

Tom says: "I have been studying yoga philosophy for 30 years and I have had a daily posture practice for over 25 years. I have participated in workshops and yoga conferences around the country and I have taken classes wherever I reside in many styles of yoga with many teachers. I always find something new to discover."


  
© 2004 Bhumi's Inc.