About Magdalena
An Anusara-inspired yoga teacher™, Magdalena Koob-Emunds, RYT, began her yoga practice in the Iyengar tradition 30 years ago (in 1978) when she was a graduate student in Germany. She didn’t know then that it was the beginning of a life long journey that would eventually lead her to leave her trained profession behind. After years of working in biomedical and biochemical research at medical schools in the U.S. and in Germany, she decided in 2002 to dedicate her whole attention to the study, practice and teaching of yoga.
Magdalena is a highly trained, enthusiastic and compassionate teacher who completed several year-long yoga teacher trainings, as well as served as assistant in Betsey Downing’s 2007-2008 Anusara Yoga teacher training program. Her teaching is heartfelt and reflects her deep longing for touching the sacred through the practice of yoga and meditation.
Born in Muenster, Germany, as the fourth of five siblings, Magdalena was instilled with a fierce love for nature by her father. This deep-felt connection to all ‘things’ living led her to study biology and enthusiastically embrace life as a scientist. In 1987, she first visited the United States of America as part of her research program and met the love of her life while conducting experiments at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine. Magdalena moved to the U.S. in 1990, first to Albuquerque, New Mexico and, in 1992, to Tampa, Florida.
Aside from the enormity of leaving her native country and her family and friends behind at the age of 38, another important shift in Magdalena’s life occurred when she was introduced to Anusara Yoga® in the fall of 2002. As a consequence, her yoga practice and understanding of this highly refined scientific art of living went to a whole different level. With master teachers Betsey Downing and John Friend as her primary teachers and mentors, Magdalena is immensely grateful for the gift of their continued wise guidance. Anusara has become her passion, over and over connecting her back to nature and the heart of all creation.
In 2003, yet another fateful milestone in Magdalena’s life was the introduction to Mindfulness Meditation by psychologist and long-time meditator and meditation facilitator Steve Shealy. Integrating this ancient insightful practice into her daily life and into her Anusara yoga teaching has been very empowering to her and her students. For over 5 years now, Magdalena has been co-leading Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs with Steve as well as offering meditation classes at her home. She has found the perfect union between Anusara and Mindfulness practice.
Be it summer or winter, Magdalena loves playing outside: walking in the woods, riding her bike, swimming, watching for and interacting with wildlife for hours. She also treasures the company of a friend or immersing herself in reading.