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BIO:

 

  • Founder of Yoga for Dancers, Marja Lankinen teaches yoga in Los Angeles and around the world. She is a yoga therapist, LA YOGA Magazine staff writer, and lululemon legacy ambassador.

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DANCE BACKGROUND:

 

  • Danced for Beyoncé, Oprah, The Billboard Awards, The Grammys, E! Entertainment, The Lumineers, Twista, Laurieann Gibson, and Frank Gatson.

 

  • Executive Director of Dance2XS Dance Company (Michigan), Boom!Crack Dance Company member (Chicago), and international dance tour performer. 

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YOGA + HEALTH AND WELLNESS BACKGROUND:

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  • Yoga Therapy Rx, Loyola Marymount University with Dr. Larry Payne. 

 

  • 500-hour SmartFlow Yoga certification, Exhale with Annie Carpenter. 

 

  • 200-hour Hot Power Fusion, 100-hour Power Yoga, and CoreRestore certifications, CorePower Yoga.

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  • Soft Tissue Assessment and Myofascial Release for Bodyworkers and Yoga Teachers workshop, Yoga Doctors Institute of Integrative Medicine with Dr. Eden Goldman.

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  • Sugarfoot Therapy training, MOTI Physical Therapy with Dr. Traci Ferguson and Katie Schaar Cutri.
     

  • Trauma-Informed Yoga teacher training, YogaWorks Santa Monica with Hala Khouri and Kyra Haglund.

 

  • Yoga Tune Up training, YogaWorks SoHo with Laurel Beversdorf and Elizabeth Wipff

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PREVIOUS RESIDENCIES:

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  • Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio's scholarship program, Movement Lifestyle Dance Studio, Edge Performing Arts Center, and Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles, California.

 

  • 20th-Century Fox Fitness Center, Disney Hyperion Fitness Center, YogaWorks, Paramount Studios, Sony Motion Pictures Studios, NBC Universal, ESPN, UCLA, Viacom, and Universal Music Group. 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL GUEST TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

 

  • Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, ISY Studio (Hamburg, Germany), Shala Helsinki (Finland), and lululemon Paris, Cannes, Zurich, London, Amsterdam, New York, Atlanta, and Chicago.

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NATIONAL GUEST TEACHING  EXPERIENCE:

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  • Harvard Dance Center (2023), Complexions Contemporary Ballet (2018) and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's (2016-2018) summer intensives at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, The Pulse On Tour, Velocity Dance Convention, USC Trojan Force Dance Team, Kreativ Mindz Academy, Tony Tzar's Blacklight Society, Kaba Modern Dance Company, Culture Shock LA, Mischief Makers, USC, UCLA, and Chapman University dance department, Diavolo Dance Company, Jacob Jonas Dance Company, Full Out Dance Studio's Unplugged Dance Retreat,  Dogpatch Dance Studio SF, and Matt Cady and Tovaris Wilson's Unique Dance Program.

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YOGA FOR ATHLETES: 

 

  • In-residency yoga instructor for the United States Tennis Association. 

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MENTORSHIP:

 

  • Marja mentors rising dancers, choreographers, artists, and kind human beings through the Movement Lifestyle Dance Studio Work Study program. She believes in empowering the next generations of vanguards, voices, and vehicles for social, artistic, and political change. 

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TEACHER TRAINING/ASSISTING:

 

  • Co-led the 200-hour Hot 8 Yoga power yoga teacher trainings in Beverly Hills (2014-2017).

 

  • Assisted the 200-hour power yoga teacher training at Corepower Yoga Sherman Oaks in 2013.

 

  • Assisted Annie Carpenter's 200-hour SmartFlow Yoga teacher training in Oakland, California (2016). Assisted Annie at Udaya Yoga Festival in Bulgaria (2017). 

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RETREATS: 

 

  • Co-led Hot 8 Yoga's first yoga retreat in Tulum, Mexico in 2014 with Omar Lopez. 

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CURRENT TEACHING SCHEDULE: 

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  • Teach weekly classes at Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, and Down Under School of Yoga in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

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