Teacher Tune Up with Gianna Purcell

On a recommendation, Gianna walked into her first yoga class as a means to heal her back and joint pain and to end her two year streak of sedentary living. The results she experienced were astronomical and unexpected. After just a few weeks of practice, Gianna’s pain levels had noticeably decreased and within a year of practice she was off lingering medications. Two years into her practice she began advanced asana training and by year three was a certified Bikram teacher. As she furthered her practice of teaching and asana her thirst for knowledge grew.

As a dedicated yogi, Gianna has spent her time fully immersed in studying and practicing hatha yoga. Through her regular visits to her teachers Mary Jarvis and Emmy Cleaves, her yoga anatomy studies with Leslie Kaminoff, her 200-hour Vinyasa Yoga Alliance Certification through Yandara Yoga Institute, and her consistent practice of the 26+2 series and Ashtanga yoga, Gianna’s primary goal is to share the information she acquires with others to provide a deeper understanding of what it is we teach and what the most effective ways to teach it are.

Gianna is the principal teacher of 105F Chicago’s Original Hot Yoga and has helped to design and implement 105F’s teacher development program. She has designed their Smart 60 series and Intermediate series. She regularly leads advanced asana training sessions and classes, master classes, interactive classes, retreats, teacher workshops, and prepares competitors for competition worldwide. Gianna competes in asana championships and in 2013 placed first nationally and in 2014 placed second internationally.

“Every time I practice, I search for lessons. Every time I study, I crave my practice. In funneling through this cycle, my knowledge base continues to grow. My hope is to share as much information as possible so we can all expand and be inspired to better help our students.”

Kathy attended her first Bikram Yoga class in September 2004. All of her buried anxiety, frustration, depression, and suffering began to melt away with the first deep inhale and exhale. Eagerly supported by her partner, family, friends, and teachers, her first class quickly turned into 10 classes, 1 month became 3 months, and soon training seemed inevitable as she found the remedy to feel energized, confident, and on her way to feeling whole once again.

For more than 10 years, Kathy has focused tremendous effort and energy on understanding every part of her personal practice. Actively training and competing regionally and nationally allowed her to gather insight from all perspectives of teachers, coaches, and mentors. Kathy possesses a collective understanding of our yoga community and has built a platform of information from which she shares her knowledge and experience with others. She regularly teaches beginning class, leads advanced practice, retreats, workshops, guides teachers in development, and coaches competitors. The lessons she learns through her yoga practice keep her mind and body fit and agile to climb, hike, and remain active outdoors.

Continuous education has been the key to the foundation of expanding personal understanding and knowledge of yoga. Her participation in yoga clinics, workshops, teacher development programs, anatomy, and Ayurveda courses have allowed her to expand her own personal understanding of our amazing capacity to heal and improve ourselves every day.

“As a teacher, my greatest inspiration is driven by each student’s continuous effort and desire to further their own personal goals. Every opportunity to relate my perspective with students is motivation to remain engrossed, intrigued, and humbled by the gift of yoga, health, and wellness.”