Birte Lightner
Birte was born and raised in Northern Germany and moved to San Diego permanently in 2006. She began practicing Yoga for its physical benefits in 2000 and soon found that it added strength, flexibility and balance to her life. She studied different styles including Iyengar, Bikram and Vinyasa Flow in Germany, the United States and on her travels. Her teaching is inspired by the desire to share the beautiful and empowering interplay of mental awareness, breathing, physical effort and surrender that Yoga involves.
Birte has a range of experience instructing movement and personal fitness since 2002. She holds degrees in Sports Science and Language Teaching as well as a Ph.D. in Education from Hamburg University.
She received her certification from Prana Yoga Center in La Jolla, which emphasized in Anusara, and Vinyasa Flow yoga. Teachers in San Diego who have inspired her include Jeanie Carlstead, Gerhard Gessner and Amanda McCarroll. When she is not on the mat, Birte enjoys her young and growing family and likes to be near the ocean.
“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.”
—Margaret Storm Jameson