Libby Volckening, E-RYT 500, YACEP, teaches a breath-centered style of Hatha yoga that focuses on developing healthier movement patterns and reintegrating body, mind and spirit. She draws inspiration for her yoga teaching and practice from many sources, including Patty Townsend, Gary Kraftsow, Tom Myers, and Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen.
Libby is a proud graduate of the 200- and 500-hour Embodyoga® teacher trainings with Patty Townsend at Yoga Center Amherst. Embodyoga® is an innovative and exciting approach to the practice of yoga informed by cutting-edge study in the field of body awareness. Through the process of “embodied inquiry” — questioning, sensing, and witnessing every aspect of consciousness as it expresses through the body-mind — intimate self-knowledge and self-transformation arise.
She has also studied extensively with American Viniyoga Institute‘s founder Gary Kraftsow, and both her practice and teaching have been profoundly influenced by her ongoing connection to this tradition. Viniyoga™ is a comprehensive and authentic transmission of the teachings of yoga including asana, pranayama, bandha, sound, chanting, meditation, personal ritual and study of texts. Viniyoga™ (prefixes vi- and ni- plus yoga) is an ancient Sanskrit term that implies differentiation, adaptation, and appropriate application.
After her initial exposure to Sanskrit and mantra via her yoga teacher trainings, Libby began her formal study of mantra with Manorama in 2005, and soon after she discovered the work of Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva Acharya) whose books and audio recordings made mantra come alive for her. I n Namadeva’s lineage, she has studied with Bharata Bill Francis Barry and Rajeshwari Gretchen Carmel, and she has served as respondent to walli Bhavani Lorraine Nelson (www.bhavanilorrainenelson.com). Most recently, she studied Vedic chanting in the Krishnamacharya lineage with Sangeetha Sriram through Shraddha Yoga, and attended Devanāgarī Boot Camp with Elena Jessup.
Since 2014, Libby has also been offering kirtan with her band Heart Centered Kirtan, a devotional music group that weaves Sanskrit and Buddhist mantras into their original blend of rock, folk, blues, and reggae. They released their third CD “Deva Dvāra” in June 2024.