Erica Rodefer is Associate Online Editor for YogaJournal.com. When she's not writing and blogging for YJ, she loves knitting, sewing, hiking, and, of course, practicing and teaching yoga. Since she was first introduced to yoga in a college course, she's been motivated to spread the joy—especially to stressed-out teenagers. (Check out Erica's blog about her adventures in teaching, Teacher Tells All.) She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and a little white kitty that rarely lets her sleep past 6 a.m.

Posted by Erica Rodefer on January 16, 2009 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pamela comes to the San Francisco conference from Texas and the yogic world of Anusara Land. A young yogi in a middle-aged body, she "found" yoga just a little over two years ago. Shortly thereafter, she down-dogged her way into Christina Sell's class, heard her laughter and her teachings, and she's never been the same sense. Besides THAT one moment, this self-proclaimed "YogiTechChick" credits four life-changing yogic experiences:

— The afternoon she opened Light on Yoga and found that her college party trick was actually a yoga pose;
—The first time she "caught air" in bakasana;
—The day it dawned on her that savasana actually happened in EVERY class! (Well, except Christina's, but that's another post); and
— The precise moment she discovered that &mdash despite looking deceptively similar &mdash a big scoop of wasabi tastes nothing like guacamole. (Okay, so that wasn't "yogic," but it was life changing.)

Pamela honed her sharp journalistic skills during a 10-year stint writing a weekly newsletter for her local elementary school — Go, Kiker Comets! — where she reported on such challenging issues as overdue library books and contentious PTA meetings, not to mention the great cupcake controversy of 1999 for which she was nominated for a Pulitzer prize.

She lives in Austin with her husband, a dog, three sons, and two Mac computers. When not blogging for Yoga Journal (which, okay, is most of the time) she posts on her OWN site, PotentialWithin, about yoga, road trips with her parents, and anything else that amuses her.

Like to Twitter? You can also follow her conference tweets between her YJ posts.

Side Note: Pamela was first discovered blogging in the lobby at 2 a.m. during the Yoga Journal Conference at Estes Park last Fall. She has since been issued a key to her own room.

Posted by Pamela Walsh on January 14, 2009 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Karen Macklin is a San Francisco-based writer, editor, teacher, and yogini from New York. She is the former Samadhi & the City columnist, and has written for more than a dozen publications nationally, including the New York Times, San Francisco Weekly,, Tricycle, Alternative Medicine, and Yoga Journal on arts, culture, travel, health, and Eastern spirituality. Her creative works, which include plays and poetry, have been produced and published in the United States and Italy. She is the editorial director for Zest Books, and her first book, Indie Girl, came out in Spring 2008. Visit her website at www.kmacklin.com.

Posted by Karen Macklin on January 13, 2009 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Practicing yoga for four years, Missy hopes to bring a fresh perspective to readers from the San Francisco 2009 Conference. Missy spent two decades studying ballet and very easily transitioned into a steady yoga practice. In yoga, she finds that the ever growing physical and spiritual challenges inspire her to continuously deepen her practice through a variety of teachers and, more recently, through meditation. Missy has a journalism degree from New York University; she currently resides in San Francisco.

Posted by Melissa Gustin on January 13, 2009 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)