Circle Toward Wholeness... soul and self... together as one.

Mission & Values Board of Directors Contact Us

Facilitators

Alan Armstrong - Facilitator of Body Awareness

Alan has been a practitioner of Yang style T’ai Chi Chuan in the lineage of Chinese Master Jou Tsung Hwa since 1987, and an instructor since 1990. In addition to T’ai Chi Chuan, Alan offers the 10 Mindful Movements and walking meditation practices in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a variety of Chi Kung exercises and sets including the Eight Pieces of Brocade and the Five Animals. He began his Buddhist mindfulness meditation practice in the mid-1970s, and is dedicated to promoting peace among all by engaging mindfully in the world.

Alan holds a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and master’s from the University of Texas at Austin, and has worked as an educator at the secondary and post-secondary levels in South Korea, Colorado, and Virginia. He is currently semi-retired, working as a freelance writer and indexer in Roanoke.

Patricia Bevan - Facilitator of Communication Awareness

Patricia Bevan is an artist, equestrian, and ballroom dancer and an advocate for nonviolent communication as a means to foster peace and justice. She has extensive study in the concepts and practice of Nonviolent Communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD. including completion of a 10-day International Intensive Training in Nonviolent Communication guided by Dr. Rosenberg.

Pat began studying the ideas and skills of nonviolent communication about 15 years ago but it was the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus in the spring of 2007 that focused her desire to offer her knowledge and skills in this subject to the community.

Pat has developed and taught workshops in nonviolent communication based on Dr. Rosenberg’s work in the New River and Roanoke Valleys, including a workshop at Virginia Tech sponsored by the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. She facilitates a two-hour weekly community practice group in nonviolent communication whose purpose is to support anyone in the community who is interested in learning and growing in the practice of listening and speaking honestly, openly, and compassionately.

Pat will be offering workshops in honest, compassionate communication (based on the concepts of Nonviolent Communication developed by Dr. Rosenberg) to meet the needs of students, families, businesses and any other groups interested in learning this powerful means to connect with others.

Sandy Jahmi Burg - Facilitator of Wholeness Circles

Sandy Jahmi Burg is gardener, gatherer and founder of Circle Toward Wholeness. She has held various facilitator/coordinator roles in medical, educational, governmental and non-profit organizations since 1998. In the past, science and spirit have often been at odds in her life. Now, she is thrilled to share with others how cutting edge medical technology is catching up and validating the mind/body/spirit connection.

Sandy acquired a myriad of wholeness tools from Abwoon Interspiritual Leadership Program which is an intense 3.5 yrs focused on developing leaders interspiritual practices for service and peacemaking. Since 2007, she has worked in Landscape Design studying and applying permaculture design to create functionally connected life-sustaining outdoor spaces. She has also worked as an Instructional Design Consultant since 2006. Most recently, she developed curriculum for Peace Navigator. Aimed at 3-7th graders, Peace Navigator is an e-learning tool for social change aimed at teaching youth the skills and value of cooperative communication.

Sandy enjoys facilitating Wholeness Circles in which we gather in small groups taking time out of our busy lives to intentionally create a space that welcomes and supports our whole self. The stillness and support one finds gives us the opportunity to distinguish our true voice in the resounding chorus, to practice "live" encounters with others and to walk a more authentic path towards personal wholeness.

Karen Cairn - Facilitator of Body Awareness

Karen is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level. She has studied ashtanga since 2001 with Laura Spaulding, a teacher authorized by Pattabhi Jois, as well as directly with Pattabhi Jois every year since 2002. In addition to Ashtanga Yoga, Karen will offer workshops on ayurveda (the self-healing branch of yoga), living simply, Yoga Nidra [a deep guided meditation/relaxation], simple meditation techniques and beginning pranayama [breathwork]. Karen has a master's degree in Public Health with a concentration in Community Health Education and a doctorate in Education with a concentration in Environmental Education and Community Leadership Development. She is also interested in sustainability, individual/institutional ecological footprints, research evaluating education program effectiveness and community-based participatory research.

Bob Grubel - Facilitator of Body and Sound Awareness

Bob Grubel is a certified massage therapist, singer/songwriter and student of living life as art. Bob first studied Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi and Psychocalisthenics in the early seventies and simultaneously received an expansive exposure to massage techniques at the Center for Integration and Release in San Francisco with Jack Painter. His interest in developing a strong foundation of inner independence related to the experience of being fully present has led him to many meditation and consciousness teachers over the years, as well as the continued practice of Yoga, Tai Chi and breath awareness.

Bob has been combining body-mind awareness with sound and vocal expression through performance and "Rise Up Singing" workshops for many years. Bob plays piano, harmonica and sings while performing solo, with other artists or with his trio Grace Note. He has released 10 CD's since the mid 80's. Bob has also worked with mentally handicapped individuals encouraging them to express through song. For more information on his music and samples from a recent release go to www.myspace.com/bobgrubel

Bob has lived in a small intentional rural community since 1980. Bob has maintained a lifestyle that emphasizes sustainability and respect for our Earth Mother, raising much of his own food, building his own home and raising 2 beautiful daughters who are now creating exciting lives of their own!

Erin Herring - Facilitator of Body Awareness

Erin Herring is a veterinarian by training, and currently is employed at Companion Animal Clinic in Blacksburg, Virginia. She has had a regular yoga practice for 13 years, and is a certified Vinyasa Flow teacher, studying with Stephanie Keach in Asheville, North Carolina. She has also completed a teacher training in Yin Yoga with Sarah Powers, and is currently studying with Anna Pittman.

Erin will be facilitating Hatha Yoga classes. She lives in Blacksburg with her husband, also a veterinarian and yoga practitioner, and three children. Her personal pursuits include biking, knitting, and hand-spinning.

Becca Imbur - Facilitator of Body and Nature Awareness

Becca Imbur is an educator, artist, and dancer. She is a certified hoop dance instructor and has studied under Christabel Zamor of HoopGirl, Julia Hartsell of HoopDrum , and Jonathan Baxter of Hoop Path. In addition to hoop dance, Becca has a profound love and connection to the natural world which has led her to a Master's degree in Environmental Education from Prescott College where she researched the effects of global environmental change on first year students in higher education. Combining her passion for hoop dance and the natural world, Becca founded Wild Earth Hoops in 2008. Becca has found that the hoop can be a symbolic tool for exploring the natural world. Perpetually spinning in and out of the hoop allows us to connect to the natural rhythms that surround us. Hoop dancing can be a meditative experience that quiets the mind and provides focus. Beyond that, hoop dancing provides a space for building community through laughter, communication, group/individual goal setting and fun!

Becca's other interests include art journaling, bookbinding, and papermaking. Becca is an accomplished seamstress and enjoys ‘upcycling' clothes and other items found while scouring the local thrift stores. She lives in Blacksburg, Virginia with her husband and their big black dog, Onyx.

Lori Marsh - Facilitator of Body and Nature Awareness

Lori Marsh is an agricultural engineer by training and currently serves as a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science at Virginia Tech. She has conducted a wide range of research projects related to organic waste management and the environment, including the use of composting worms to treat a wide range of food wastes. Lori’s personal pursuits include yoga, gardening, and homesteading.

Lori has completed a 200 hr Yoga Alliance approved training program. She has been teaching yoga at Virginia Tech through the recreational sports program for the past year and a half. She lives in Shawsville, Virginia with three dogs and six chickens. She is happy to share her experience with vermicomposting (composting with worms) as well as backyard poultry production (for eggs and/or meat).

Linda McGraw - Facilitator of Creative Process Awareness

Linda McGraw is a health educator by training. She has taught and organized curricula in secondary schools, church settings and informal groups. She has a lifetime practice of mantra meditation including an in-depth study of its theory and philosophy. She will offer a workshop on the process of conscious creation and the power of belief. After twenty-three years at Virginia Tech as an administrative assistant, she is semi-retired and living at Shadowlake Village with her chocolate lab, Mocha. Other interests include vegetable gardening, quilting, hiking and supporting the community life at Shadowlake. She holds a B.S. in Health Education from Towson State University.

Nancy Mignone - Facilitator of Body Awareness

Nancy Mignone has been a certified massage therapist for 12 years. She practices deep tissue and trigger point therapy as well as Reiki and
bio-dynamic cranio-sacral therapy. She is a registered yoga teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance at the 200-hour level. Nancy has had a regular
yoga practice for 12 years and a regular meditation practice for 5 years. Nancy’s interest is in helping people develop a meditation
practice that works for them. Nancy will offer workshops in yoga asana and beginning meditation as well as self-massage. She lives with her
husband, son, and father-in-law at Shadowlake Village. She has a master’s degree from Virginia Tech in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences.

Anna Pittman - Facilitator of Body and Creative Process Awareness

Anna Pittman has dedicated her adult life to understanding both the function and mystery of the body/mind complex. She began her career as a modern dancer studying from a practicing Zen teacher who used improvisational work as a means to access the sub-conscious. At the same time, from 1984 – 1990 Anna studied Hatha and Raja Yoga with Carla Sgroi of the European Yoga Alliance in Milan, Italy as well as the Feldenkreis method of movement.

Anna has since acquired certifications and experience in Hatha Yoga, Meditation, Dream work, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Shiatsu bodywork and Massage, Soul Coaching and Breathwork.

She has also spent years of personal exploration with several mentors exploring the expansion of consciousness into soul awareness and opening the heart.

Anna has acquired more than 15 years experience working with both clients and groups and now gratefully offers her classes, programs, and one-on-one services from The Breathing Space: www.thebreathingspace.org

Dawn Shiner - Facilitator of Nature Awareness

Dawn's life experience and education in permaculture design is embodied in accepting the unique process of each living being and creating relationships of harmony. She believes that trusting one's wisdom and accepting one's own authenticity is key to self-empowerment. Her programs focus on bringing the big picture of How-Everything-Is-Connected to the mundane decision-making processes of daily life. Dawn shares practical methods for applying Nature's Wisdom to regenerate our soils and backyard ecosystems. Educational programs can also focus on the design, implementation and benefits of forest gardens as edible and medicinal wonderlands.

Tod Whitehurst - Facilitator of Body Awareness

Tod Whitehurst NCMT is a nationally certified massage therapist and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). Tod is a faculty member of the Blue Ridge School of Massage & Yoga where he teaches classes in hydrotherapy, workplace massage, sports massage, gender ethics and hot stone therapy. He is trained in a multitude of modalities including Medical Massage, combined deep therapies encompassing many different styles including a technique of his own called “Muscle Comforting”.

In the late 1990’s while traveling in northern California Tod experienced a profound form of bodywork called Watsu® which stands for water shiatsu. His healing and transformative experience with Watsu® led Tod to travel to California in 2004 to attend training with the originator Harold Dull. He and his partner Victoria Stone have established a healing warm pool nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia where they offer an opportunity to experience the powerful healing combination of water and massage.

In 2009 Tod discovered Laughter Yoga which is intentional sustained laughter used to promote health. Unlike other forms of Yoga there are no postures and unlike traditional forms of laughter there are neither jokes nor humor. After experiencing the profound therapeutic qualities of this therapy he became a Laughing Yoga Leader and just recently became certified to teach others how the become leaders.