About Deanna Black--yoga, adventure, fitness, massage therapy

My favorite quote is from Gandhi, “Live as if you are going to die tomorrow, learn as if you are going to live forever."

I have been in the fitness industry since 1985, teaching group and individual exercise, cycling, and yoga classes throughout the Midwest and internationally. With a BSBA in marketing-management and a minor in athletic training from Missouri Southern Sate College and later undergrad and graduate coursework in advanced exercise physiology and psychology from Iowa State University, my education continues to be diverse in dance, martial arts, Pilates, yoga and massage therapy, as well as a variety of certifications and workshops by ACE, AFAA, AIFE and T.R.Y. for Life. I am currently studying with Shiva Rea and her Prana Vinyasa 500 hour teacher training.

The classes I create accommodate a wide range of levels designed to empower you to do more than you thought possible in a safe, non-threatening environment. The benefits are more than meet the eye. Your reactions and/or responses to the challenges in your physical practice often reflect and carry over to those from the challenges of daily living. With the community developed in my classes, we can work individually on our well being, yet know we are together in enhancing our world around us.

We all have a purpose to serve, to give back, to pay it forward. Through Zeta Tau Alpha I continue to contribute to the Susan G. Komen Foundation (breast cancer research) and I also support Trees for the Future (planting trees in areas of destruction). Locally I support Passport Project (building community through the arts) and have enjoyed being back on stage performing dances from around the world, teaching that we all have the rhythm of the heart, the beating heart in common. Wontanara: We are together.

Many thanks to my teachers, Shiva Rea, Shri K Pattahbi Jois, David Swenson and his wife Shelly, Daren Friesen, and the fabulous local teachers as I am humbled and inspired through each of your teachings. And to my students, I am truly touched to share the journey. Life ... Explore! Enjoy!

And my reputation according to

Scene Magazine!

Best Yoga for Busy Bodies (2007)

Karma Yoga

1382 W. 9th St., 216-621-7085, www.karmayogacleveland.com

Let go, they say. Surrender yourself. But what if you can't get your damn car off the friggin' freeway and into a godforsaken parking spot in time to get your ever-expanding ass into a studio in time to say "Om"? Well, that sucks. But it's also why Karma Yoga offers powerful, hour-long lunchtime classes five days a week. Karma's instructors and homey vibe make the place welcoming to first-time yogis and hand-standing veterans alike. The noon-hour classes start at 12:15 and usually end promptly at 1:15. They're taught by five different instructors -- from sweet and steady Marni Task on Mondays to Deanna "Bust-Your-Ass" Black on Fridays -- allowing you to pick your poison or sample them all. But no matter whose class you pick, bring your Speed Stick. The folks back at the cubicle farm will thank you.