Samadhi

Amanda ~ Flow Yoga

Amanda Richter’s journey with yoga began in 2004 after completing a 26 mile marathon. Amanda discovered that while running and other competitive sports she had participated in left her body strong, her heart was empty. Amanda sought out yoga initially for relaxation, but began to see yoga’s true power as the painful layers she carried were broken and her true self was recognized.

Amanda knew she wanted to bring the gift of yoga to others and in late 2006 completed her 200 Hour teacher training through Open Doors Power Yoga studios and began teaching at their Canton studio. She also completed her Reiki I and II certifications. After about a year of teaching, Amanda began to realize that her job as a Development Director wasn’t as fulfilling as the two or three classes she taught a week. Fear was holding her back from taking the leap to teaching yoga full time. In November 2007, that all changed. After returning from a week long inspirational and transformative yoga retreat with Sue Jones in Italy, Amanda quit her job, took on the role of part time Volunteer Coordinator at yogaHOPE, and decided to pursue teaching yoga full time. She hasn’t looked back since!

Since that time, Amanda has studied with a variety of teachers, considering Richard Lanza, Jene Rossi, Jacqui Bonwell, Sue Jones and David Vendetti to be some of her greatest mentors, and is inspired by the dedication of her longtime students.  Amanda’s classes are challenging with an emphasis on alignment. Her teaching methodology involves creating space in her classes through breath and exploration so that her students can bring honesty and awareness to their practice, and integrate this into their lives.

Chris ~ All Levels Yoga

Chris Arcudi is a yoga teacher who has been working in Southern California for the past ten years.  Chris was originally certified through the Integral School of Hatha Yoga in New York City, founded by Sri Swami Satchidananda, and received additional certification at Satchidananda’s ashram in Yogaville Virginia.

Chris’ style, though rooted in the structural integrity of Integral’s teachings, has been colored by numerous yoga teachers he has had the great good fortune to learn from.  Chris feel very lucky to have been exposed to the teachings of so many excellent yogis.   Those who have inspired his own classes have run the gamut from the extreme physical demands of Bryan Kest to the more measured meditative practice of Erich Schiffmann.   BKS Iyengar has greatly informed Chris’ ability to work with others in the use of props and in creating proper alignment – and the spiritual teachings of Osho remind him that “yoga without meditation just gives the practitioner more energy for his or her neurosis.” 

Chris endeavors to strike a balance between confronting challenging work and fostering in his students a sense of compassion and forgiveness for others and for themselves; knowing that the only possibility of having compassion for others is to have a wellspring of it for ourselves.

Chris received a BA in English Literature from Vassar College and has been teaching yoga in group classes and privately in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica & Brentwood, CA.

Dan ~ Mahamudra Meditation

Dr. Daniel Brown is Samadhi’s resident meditation teacher. Dr. Brown studied meditation practice for 38 years, including Patanjali’s Yogasutras and its commentaries in the original Sanskrit with the great historian of religion, Mircea Eliade and as a direct meditation practice with Dr. Arwind Vasavada. He studied Burmese mindfulness meditation in Burma with its originator, Mahasi Sayadaw and other masters like Tungpalu Sayadaw and Acchan Cha. He studied Indo-Tibetan concentration and insight meditation with the root teacher, Geshe Wangyal, and then with Denmo Loncho Rinpoche and Yeshe Tapgyay, and learned Mahamudra meditation from numerous Tibetan lamas. He spent 10 years translating meditation texts from Tibetan and Sanskrit.

As a Western psychologist Dr. Brown spent 10 years conducting outcomes research on beginning and advanced meditators, with an emphasis on researching the effects of intensive concentration meditation and on the nature of the awakened mind. He has taught intensive meditation retreats internationally for 20 years, alone and in collaboration with a number of Tibetan meditation masters. His recent interest is in meditations designed to stabilize awakening in everyday life and to bring about the flourishing of positive qualities of mind, such as the Great Completion (Dzogschen) meditations.

Dr. Brown is the author of 4 books on meditation including Transformations of Consciousness and Pointing Out the Great Way, and two books in collaboration with H.H. The Dalai Lama. His background in both Western psychology and Eastern meditation traditions offers a unique integration of the contemporary Western research on peak performance and positive psychology and the classical Buddhist meditation lineage traditions.

David ~ Fundamentals Yoga

David Helfand’s path to becoming a yogi began during High School in a rural, Vermont town. His parents, who are both Marriage and Family Therapists, gave him a biofeedback machine to use in his senior project on Child and School Psychology. After experimenting with the machine for a few weeks and realizing the potential of this meditation for self-healing, David was hooked. He brought this enthusiasm with him when enrolling at the University of Vermont and sought out more opportunities for a similar exploration.

David attended his first mindfulness meditation group during sophomore year at his University, which further emphasized the powerful affect of tuning into the body and mind. Shortly after that experience, he purchased multiple passes to local yoga studios around Burlington, VT and actively searched for a style that best matched his curiosity of digging deeper as well as receiving maximum physical and mental benefits. During an independent study in yoga for college credit, David met a Kripalu yoga instructor. Kripalu’s emphasis on self-inquiry, as opposed to a strict idealism of what postures should look like, was exactly what he was looking for in a yoga practice.

In his senior year of college, David volunteered two evenings a week leading mindfulness meditation groups for the counseling center on campus while simultaneously offering those same teachings to the at-risk youth population he worked with at the drop-in center downtown. He continued his study of self-reparation and mindfulness by becoming a Level Two Healing Touch Student and experienced firsthand the healing power and energy within the body. Upon completing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, David packed up all his belongings and moved down to the Boston area where he continues to study yoga and advance his career as a counselor. He eventually received his 200-hour yoga teacher certification at Kripalu Institute in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and currently teaches in the greater Boston area.

Diana ~ Anusara Yoga

Over 10 years ago, Diana stepped onto the transformative path of Anusara-Inspired yoga and since, has taught hundreds of students. She infuses her classes with celebration and growth at every level, and supports the student’s ability to create balance and harmony by aligning with Grace. Heart-opening classes are inspired by alignment principles, life-affirming Tantric philosophy and the joy of heart-oriented community. She has intensely studied over 800 hours with Deb Neubauer, Desiree Rumbaugh, Todd Norian, John Friend, and many other certified Anusara teachers, and studied restorative yoga with Bo Forbes.  In addition, Diana has practiced as a registered, licensed dietitian for over 13 years.  While managing the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center for nearly 9 years, she developed nutrition programs and provided medical nutrition therapy counseling to patients for diabetes, gastrointestinal conditions, heart disease, weight management, binge and compulsive overeating, and vegetarian and other specialty and therapeutic diets.

As dietitian for the web-based nutrition program www.DASHforHealth.com for nearly 10 years, she advocates a behavioral element to the nutrition recommendations. Through a local fitness center, Diana has counseled athletes and weekend warriors on appropriate nutrition to fuel their passion.

Combining nutrition and yoga expertise led her to create Yoga for Mindful Eating, a 7-week series, as a means to explore our relationship with food, body image, and emotions that fuel behavior that no longer supports our highest. The series uses yoga asana and philosophy, an understanding of the energy of the chakras, discussion, meditation, journaling and spiritual support as the vehicle for change and self-acceptance. A second 7-week series introduces mindfulness, restorative yoga, and weekly tasting of ‘forbidden’ foods.

Diana is available for one-on-one nutrition counseling at Samadhi by appointment only.

Edwin ~ JourneyDance™

Edwin Ortiz has been moving to music from the time he was born. At a young age he learned the traditional dances of his heritage with a Puerto Rican folk dancing group. At the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, he studied drama and took classes in ballet, modern dance and jazz. He attended Berklee College of Music, received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tufts University and holds a master’s in education from Harvard University.

Edwin regularly assists JourneyDance™ founder, Toni Bergins, at teacher trainings and workshops at centers like the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and Samadhi.  He is a certified Zumba™ instructor and has a certification in Group Exercise from the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA).  He believes in movement as a path to self-discovery, a powerful way to sweat out the things that hold us back, so we can connect to our higher selves and our authentic individual power. He loves to move and invites you to the transformational experience of JourneyDance™, no previous movement or dance experience is necessary to participate in this spiritual practice, “Anyone can come to class, move to the music, and experience their own divine journey.”

Elizabeth ~ Anusara Inspired Yoga

Twenty years ago, Elizabeth began the study and practice of yoga and meditation; for over ten years, she has been teaching nationally in San Francisco and Cambridge, as well as internationally in Asia, South America, and Africa.  A writer, musician, and scholar, Elizabeth has a master’s in Education and English; in 1994-5 she developed and launched a public reading program in Zimbabwe. She met John Friend in 2002 at a meditation center where they both lived and practiced, and thus began her Anusara teaching life. Since 2006 she has led yoga and meditation retreats for students to grow deeper roots in practice and application; a 2010 retreat to Peru and Bolivia included building solar ovens at 14,000 feet in a community with no running water, trees, or electricity.  Elizabeth has studied with Dr. Douglas Brooks, one of the world’s leading scholars of Hindu Tantrism and Rajanaka Yoga for six years, and has thousands of hours of therapeutic Anusara Yoga training with John Friend, Sianna Sherman, and Noah Maze.  She is grateful to Sarah Powers, her first teacher in the Iyengar, Ashtanga and Yin traditions.  Elizabeth is currently studying Sanskrit at Harvard.

Federico ~ Sacred Music

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federico has been a Musician for more than 15 years and a devoted contemplative musician for the last 10. He studied, practiced and performed Chanting, piano, percussion, composition and free improvisation, sound and electronic music, and Harmonic and Tibetan Chant with renowned teachers and musicians in Argentina and France.
Fede worked as a chanting teacher in the heart of the Amazonian jungle where he performed Chanting for the community (including shamans) and arranged/directed a vocal choir for addiction patients in rehabilitation. He was a close disciple of and collaborated live with the Venerable Lama Gyurme, Oumze music and Chanting Master, in the Kagyu Tibetan tradition, living with him in his center in Normandy, France.
He has been an official member of David Hykes renowned Harmonic Choir, playing in the last edition of the International Festival of Sacred Arts in India and in several concerts in Europe.  He has been a passionate student of Hykes, undergoing some 10 intensive retreats at his center in Orleans, France, and presenting the teachings himself in Karmaling monastery in the Alps mountains in 2010. Federico lives now in Newton, MA, where he dedicates most of his time to Mahamudra/Dzogchen studies with Dr. Daniel Brown and psychology studies. He also performs and teaches regularly at Samadhi. Visit for more information.

John ~ Co-founder, Acupuncture, Meditation, Vinyasa Yoga

John Churchill, along with his wife Nicole, is the co-founder of Samadhi. He has been a student of yoga, integral studies, east/west wisdom, non-dual meditation, holistic health and Buddhism since his teenage years. After a brief monastic career in the Tibetan Kagyu lineage, John came to the US to study Contemplative Psychology at Naropa University. He completed graduate studies at the New England School of Acupuncture where he specialized in Japanese acupuncture.

At Samadhi he offers services in acupuncture, holistic health, contemplative/meditation studies, and is a Vinyasa yoga teacher. He is also the father of two children, Trinity and Bodhi.

Julie ~ JourneyDance™, LMHC

Julie Barnes is a passionate dancer, yogi, counselor, & reverend. A brainy non-dancer until age 30, Julie was surprised to find profound liberation and healing through JourneyDance and remains gung-ho about sharing this gift with others.

Julie is a long time practitioner of meditation and yoga with years teaching Kripalu yoga to non-traditional students, including teens, people in recovery, and activists. Julie holds a Bachelor’s in Gender Studies from Columbia University and a Master’s in Holistic Mental Health from Lesley University. She currently supervises a health promotion team through Partners in Health, helping low-income HIV+ people strive for wellness. Since 2009, Julie has delighted in training new JourneyDance Teachers with founder Toni Bergins, as part of a rocking assistants team. She is deeply committed to bringing meditation, movement, and prayer equitably to all, particularly marginalized populations.

Ordained as an Interfaith Minister, Julie (aka Rev Jules), aims to create playful, safe, sacred space for practice in community. Julie aspires to help students unleash their creativity; cultivate joy, compassion, and equanimity; and find new freedom of movement and being through the power of dance.

Kristine ~ Svaroopa® Yoga

Kristine Freeman was a reluctant yogini, trying a Svaroopa® Yoga class only after a Physical Therapist insisted it would help her chronic back pain. In that very first class, she thought “I don’t know what this is, but its really good for my back.”  She became a regular in that class and the back pain she’d had for years faded away.

Kristine began teaching Svaroopa® Yoga in 2005 and is now a Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher, having completed over 600 hours of teacher training. She is also certified through Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500 hour level.  Kristine continues her training with Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati (Rama Berch) and the Master Yoga Foundation in San Diego, CA. In addition, Kristine is a student of yoga philosophy and meditation, and holds a BA in Rhetoric from Bates College. Contact Kristine at (617) 216 1763 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Lynne ~ Pilates

Lynne Lieberman is a psychotherapist in her “real life.”  She has danced for most of her life, however, and began studying Pilates about sixteen years ago because it was something she’d always been curious about. At a certain point, it just made sense to get her certification in order to teach what she loved doing. She finds Pilates to be a great complement to both dance and yoga, working to strengthen one’s core to better enable both grace and agility. Her focus is to help people combine an understanding of the exercises with deepening body awareness.

Marynka ~ Director, Grateful to the Core

Marynka Burns is the Director of Operations at Samadhi and creator of Grateful to the Core.  She believes that fitness cannot occur without mindfulness and that a healthy body cannot exist separate from a healthy mind.  Her classes are a seamless blend of her training as a Certified Im=X Pilates instructor, her ongoing practice of and research into circuit training based programs, her work with renowned meditation instructor, Dr. Daniel Brown, and her personal commitment to living a whole, healthy life.  Come to class on Mondays at 10:45am to get the results you want with the personalized instruction and guidance you deserve. 

Natalie ~ Ayurveda & Bodywork

Natalie Schneck has been practicing and teaching therapeutic massage and bodywork for over a decade.  A graduate of the New Hampshire Institute of Therapeutic Arts in 2001, Natalie has since continued to receive extensive education in massage, bodywork, yoga and holistic health.  In 2007 Natalie graduated from the Kripalu School of Ayurveda with a certification in Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle consulting and she has completed a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in the Iyengar method of yoga. Additionally, she is a certified practitioner of Reiki and has received training in Thai yoga massage. Currently, Natalie is working on a degree in nutrition and holistic healing through the Integrative Institute for Nutrition. Her specialties include Therapeutic and Ayurvedic Massage and Bodywork as well as Nutritional and Lifestyle consulting based on western science and Ayurvedic principles. She brings a skilled, compassionate, intuitive approach to her practice as a healer, health counselor, and teacher.

Nicole ~ Co-founder, Psychotherapy, Music Therapy, Nutrition, Kosmic Pulse

Nicole Trudel Churchill, along with her husband John, is the co-founder of Samadhi. She holds an undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music and a Masters degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology and Music Therapy from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.  She also has worked within the Adult Education/Consulting field for the past 15 years, and has extensive experience in curriculum design and facilitation.  Currently serving as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University, Nicole is teaching a graduate level course entitled, “Music, Consciousness & Expression.”  Nicole offers private services in psychotherapy, music therapy and nutritional counseling based on the Integral model.

After 20 years of training, education, and teaching in the expressive arts field, Nicole developed Kosmic Pulse; a movement practice designed to facilitate transformational experiences.  Nicole provides a container for her students to strengthen their connection between body, mind and spirit. Her classes are suited for all levels and are nurturing, dynamic, expressive, and athletic with intoxicating music choices spiced with rhythms from the global palate of sound. Nicole continually reminds her students to find their own expression, intensity, and depth in their practice. 

She is also the mother of two children, Trinity and Bodhi who provide inspiration and teachings all their own!

Nina ~ Yoga Fundamentals

Nina Miller has been on a spiritual path since she can remember and has found practicing and teaching yoga to be a natural expression of her connection to the mystery that is the universe. She was certified in Hatha Yoga at an intensive immersion in Sedona, Arizona in 2008.  Her training allowed her to delve deeply into the study of Ayurveda, Vedic astrology, and Hatha yoga.  This training in Hatha yoga followed three years as an instructor of Do-In and Ki Gong in a Korean tradition.  She is currently training as a doula and childbirth mentor and looks forward to blending yoga with prenatal care and natural birthing.

Nina is an avid practitioner of yoga and allows her own practice to inform her compassion and joy as an instructor.  When not doing asanas she celebrates life through dance, local organic cooking, and music.  Her classes are inspired by music, breath, dance, and her own devotion to her spiritual path.

Pam ~ L.M.T.

Pam’s love of massage began when she was a little girl living in Southeast Asia.  Her passion for nurturing others led Pam to leave the corporate world after ten years to pursue a career in massage therapy.  Her training includes:  Swedish, Trigger Point Therapy, Aromatherapy, Foot Reflexology, Basic Shiatsu, Positional Therapy, and Pre-Natal techniques.

Pam’s unique style is a combination of her inherited Eastern energy and Western training.  Your session will be a customized blend of techniques to help you clear the mind, refresh the soul and connect with the body.

Samantha ~ Manager, Nia

Samantha Lowe is a Manager at Samadhi and is responsible for Samadhi & our Zen Garden always looking so great!

She was introduced to Nia in 2003, not knowing that this relationship would send her on a journey to re-discover a lost passion for dancing, define her own personal spirituality, and find a place of health and greater appreciation for her mind and body. Being trained in ballet, jazz, lyric, and tap dancing, Samantha has an awareness of the body and its movement that is evident in her Nia and Yoga practice. Samantha received her Nia Technique training in New York in 2004 and has been teaching ever since, with the intention for her students to experience a full hour of creative expression, mindfulness, and an activation of self-acceptance and awareness. She considers each class an opportunity to experience a form of Movement Meditation, letting go of our active mind chatter and completely focusing the mind and the body to the present moment. She consciously holds the space for herself and others to take part in this available state of Bliss through inspiring and energizing music. 

Samantha is also an art teacher at Lexington High School where she has taught mindfulness and confidence through the art forms of drawing, painting, pottery, and photography for the last fifteen years. Her Nia classes are a fusion of her visual art aesthetics and her strong background in dance.