ABOUT | bhavanaholland

RIA VANDERKLOK, CYT,

OUTDOOR EDUCATOR,

NATURE JOURNAL MENTOR

Ria is inspired by nature's raw vulnerability, tenacity, endurance, and the way it consistently displays balance, truth, and change. The more she looks, the more questions she has and the greater her curiousity and care for the beings that call this planet home alongside her. This excitement and wonder drew her to Nature Journaling and her teacher, John Muir Laws.

Ria joined Ottawa County Parks as an Outdoor Educator in April 2022 and can often be found wandering the woods, nature journal and binoculars in hand, exploring the complex and captivating beings and relationships that surround us.

Ria is a certified yoga teacher and has been formally practicing yoga for over a decade. She graduated from Prairie Yoga Institute in both 2015 (200-hour training) and 2019 (500-hour training). She teaches a variety of somatic and classical yoga movement.

Ria has also studied with Tias Little and completed SATYA Training and Certification through Prajna Yoga. She continues to take Advanced SATYA Immersion Courses.

Ria has a Bachelor's of Fine Arts from Kendall College of Art and Design and a Master's of Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health.

WHAT IS BHAVANA YOGA?

The Sanskrit word bhāvana (spoken: bah-vuh-nah) can be translated as "to cultivate or develop".

Yoga, at it's most basic, offer's an entry point into the highly connected, complex world of you and your experience as a human in relationship with all else that is. Yoga then provides a meandering yet intentional path: practice. However, yoga doesn't happen solely on the mat. Yoga is a way of being, a way of interacting with, sensing, and experiencing self and all others. It beckons us to touch the true wonder of being human: who we are, as we are, in this moment. In doing this, we can touch the wonder, mystery, aliveness, and beauty in other beings as well. When we cultivate wonder, we experience awe, respect, responsibility, and care. When we begin to care, we then protect and advocate. We sense inequalities and see more clearly injustices and do our best to change them. This is yoga.