"Yoga is core to my life. I have been able to use the gift of this discipline to heal various caught places within me, injuries, griefs, illnesses.Ê I feel the changes in my body . I keep breathing. I enjoy the tightnesses and the loose places, I remark to myself the change in the manner in which I let go. I lift through the top of my head, drop through my tail, and feel the way the spaces within me settle and open. I feel my strength, and my surrender, and I notice which is easiest for me on any one day or moment. The breath fills me with a quiet fullness, a letting go. I believe we can choose thus. The classes I teach fill me with joy and curiosity and humour and pride and humility and amazement. My practice fills me with a wide golden joy." -------------Marya Ursin

Marya's first and primary yoga experience was at Integral Yoga with Swami Satchidananda. She continued her yoga studies with Sylvia Olkin (Yoga for Pregnancy), Yoga Zone, Jivamukti, Kripalu, Brown Univ., Innerlight, Integrative Yoga Therapy, Sacred Movement, and has taken various classes throughout India, Nepal, Mexico, and the U.S.Ê Her primary meditation studies have been breath centered, in yoga, and Vipassana meditation.

She regularly teaches yoga at the O'Neill National Theatre Institute, Connecticut College, and at The Dragon's Egg.Ê As a certified Integrative Yoga Therapy Teacher, a professional member of California Yoga Teachers' Association, and an RYT at the 500 level, she has taught an age span from tot to senior.

Gaining skill as a dancer and mime, she trained extensively in New York City with Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Alfredo Corvino, Joffrey; in Paris with Marcel Marceau; and in New London at Connecticut College with Dan Wagoner and Robyne Watkin. Marya performed in and out of NYC as a dancer/mime from 1972-83, and since 1989 as a masked dancer/actress for the Mystic Paper Beasts.

Marya holds a BA in art history (Swarthmore College), has done graduate work in psychoneuroendocrinology (Columbia U.), and in teaching elementary mathematics (Wheaton), is licensed in Massage Therapy (CCMT; Ct. State license); has a 2nd degree in Reiki; and continues to study and practice other alternative modes of healing (e.g.. colour therapy, toning, thai massage, chakra therapy, totem animal balancing, polarity, jin shin do, feldenkrais, body-mind centering), which has led to a bevy of minor certifications.

She is the Artistic Director for the Mystic Paper Beasts Theatre Co., for which she writes and directs the plays, and in which she performs with her husband, founding member and producer, Dan Potter. She is also the Managing Director of the Dragon's Egg.

She has a fabulous daughter, Ana Elliott Ursin-Nichols. She has four remarkable step children.

Various class and workshop locations include: The O'Neill national Theater Institute Connecticut College The Dragon's Egg Mohegan College The Alternative Dance Space The Children's School Mitchell College Lebanon Pines (SCADD) The Mystic and Noank Girls' Homes the Women's Halfway House SECAP buddy training Hospice The American Cancer Association The American Diabetes Association Smoking Cessation Tt. Prison Wardens American Heart Association; East Lyme Schools American School for the Deaf Church Street homeless shelter in NYC New London and Stonington beaches Many Earth Day Celebrations & local libraries and schools Private classes.