Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee
Colleen Saidman’s introduction to yoga was at the urging of a roommate who convinced her to attend a class at a loft space in New York City. It was not long after that first class that her worn out running shoes, her basketball, and her boxing gloves became relics of the past. And in 1994, after enduring back surgery, Colleen’s commitment to her yoga practice deepened. Colleen graduated from Jivamukti’s Teacher Training program in 1998 and has been teaching ever since. She has been featured in The New York Times and New York Magazine and in November 2003 was on the cover of Yoga Journal. A consummate student, Colleen has traveled throughout Europe and Asia studying alternative medicine and spiritual healing. Colleen holds a certification in Shiatsu and lived in Calcutta, India, working with Mother Theresa at the Home of the Destitute and Dying. Colleen owes tremendous gratitude for her studies of bhakti and vinyasa to David Life and Sharon Gannon. She also offers thanks to the many other teachers with whom she has studied, including Rodney Yee. In 1999, she and her business partner Jessica opened Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor, New York.
Rodney Yee has been curious about the mind and body for as long as he can remember. He was a gymnast, a ballet dancer, and a philosophy and physical therapy major. Following the thread of curiosity about mind and body, he took his first yoga class in 1980. He went to yoga in search of flexibility and found a practice that would turn into his life-long passion and career. In 1981, Rodney began to study yoga full time at the San Francisco Iyengar Yoga Institute and at The Yoga Room in Berkeley. In 1987, after becoming a certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, he opened the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, with Richard Rosen and Claire Finn. Rodney has been featured in over 30 video titles and numerous audio recordings with Gaiam. He has written two books, Yoga: the Poetry of the Body and Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee, both in collaboration with Nina Zolotow.
In addition to teaching at Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor, Rodney and Colleen lead teacher trainings, workshops, and retreats nationally and internationally. In Spring 2007, Rodney and Colleen were co-chairs and panelists for the Urban Zen Initiative, a forum dedicated to integrating eastern healing arts into the western medical paradigm. They are now helping to run the Health and Wellness branch of Urban Zen, a world-wide initiative of Donna Karan’s.
Rodney and Colleen are married and live together in Long Island, NY, where they are raising and being raised by four awesome children, Evan, Adesha, Rachel, and Johanna.