![]() ![]() Mandi focuses on healing trauma through a strengths and mindfulness-based, harm reduction approach. Alaska taught them that there is wisdom beyond what we can see, touch, taste, smell and feel, and that tapping into that wisdom can provide a powerful sense of strength and peace during challenging times. Called to serve from a young age, Mandi has worked to help others tap into this wisdom through their work as a yoga teacher as well as a mental health provider, working in community mental health, inpatient, residential treatment and private practice. The first seeds planted were at the base of the Chugach Mountain Range in Alaska, where Mandi was born and raised. ![]() They consider that class to be one of many seeds they planted over the years, little sparks of experiences that eventually sprouted into a yoga and teaching practice. Through her authenticity, Mandi hopes to create a comfortable and welcoming space for first-time and long-time yoga students. Mandi took her first yoga class in the late 1990s. Mandi approaches teaching with reverence as well as a sense of humor. Their yoga classes are designed to unlock students’ physical and emotional resilience. Mandi draws on her decades of training as a counselor and teacher to help yoga students connect with the beauty and power of their humanity. You can follow Sandee on Instagram & Facebook or support their work at Yoga Punx PDX & Burning Spirits Yoga Sandee is a Level 1 Reiki practitioner, and has completed intensive trainings in herbalism, channeling and energy healing. She has Primary Series Teacher Trainings, and apprenticed for 3 years with her teacher, David Garrigues. Sandee is a EYRT 200, YACEP, completed 100 hours of advanced Bhakti Flow, is a current 300-hour student with Dianne Bondy. Sandee holds an MBA- Healthcare, BA in Gerontlogy, and holds a Nursing Home Administrator License. She would like to thank her teachers, past and present: David Garrigues, Dianne Bondy, Tim Miller, Saraswati Jois, Khristine Jones and her life partner, Ami Lawless. Without their labor, this practice would not be. Sandee is forever grateful to the teachers and ancestors who came before and made this work possible. Lastly, Sandee is a healer, given this name by her community - a Curandera working with energy, guidance, yoga and plant medicine to guide folks to self healing through a journey of decolonizing the mind. Along with her co-teachers at Burning Spirits Yoga and with Yoga Punx PDX, Sandee is committed to social justice and anti-racism, and providing de-colonizing offerings from an intersectional and trauma-informed lens. She, along with her co-teachers, guide the Mysore Ashtanga Program and the Heart of Vinyasa Yoga School, which is committed to education in Yoga philosophy and the Eight-Limbed Path. The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook,Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homesĪlong the Columbia River creating both permanent communities and summerĮncampments to harvest and use the plentiful natural resources of the area. Sandee is the founder and director of Burning Spirits Yoga in occupied land in so-called Portland, Oregon. It also provides scholarships to QT, BI & POC, as well in folks in recovery for the Heart of Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training. Yoga Punx PDX is a community that offers donation-based yoga, meditation, sound healing and indigenous healing practices, taking classes to communities who otherwise would not have access. She firmly believes that no one is free until those most oppressed are free. Sandee is founder and Executive Director of Yoga Punx PDX, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to breaking down barriers to yoga accessibility and supporting those most impacted by oppression and systemic racism. With this conviction, Sandee set upon a path of liberation for the collective. She learned she was no longer a victim she was a survivor. As she physically healed, she found unexpected gifts of love, resilience, patience and acceptance. Although she came to the yoga mat at various times in her life, it didn’t resonate with her until her mid 40s, when she came to heal from emotional, spiritual and physical pain. Sandee firmly believes it is never too late to start a yoga practice. ![]()
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