Post-Graduate Certificate of Education

Dr. Ilana Nankin—the Founder & CEO of Breathe For Change—is an award-winning entrepreneur, teacher educator, and former public school teacher committed to using wellness as a vehicle for healing and social change. Ilana earned degrees in both psychology and education at UC Berkeley, and received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at University of Wisconsin. Her dissertation revealed the critical connection between educator well-being and student learning, and the positive impact that wellness and social-emotional learning can have on teachers and students’ lives. Inspired by her research, Ilana founded Breathe For Change, a movement on a mission to enhance the health and well-being of educators, students, and entire communities. Breathe For Change offers the world’s only 200-hour Mindfulness, SEL, and Yoga Teacher Training specifically for educators, and provides wellness and SEL professional development for schools, districts, and organizations. Since 2015, Breathe For Change has certified 10,000+ educators through their 200-hour training, who are now positively impacting the lives and well-being of over 2,000,000 students around the country.

Kelli spent more than 29 years in public education with roles ranging from classroom teacher to building principal to district Director of School Leadership.

After earning her doctorate in curriculum from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, she began to work to design a new teacher induction program for Texas schools that was grounded in positive behavior, systems, mindful practices, and social emotional health. During the years that she served as a district director, a professional development, she always grounded her professional development presentations and trainings in mindful practices regardless of the content being delivered, so that every educator that she had the privilege to lead received tools for their own well-being that then informed their professional practices. She’s also a 500-ERYT yoga instructor, is a certified Masters of wisdom meditation teacher, and is certified by The Chopra Center as an Ayurvedic health coach. All of these yoga tools inform her practices as an educational leader.

One of her greatest strengths is coaching and empowering school leaders to create environments of health and well-being for their staff so that ultimately staff are doing the same thing for the students and families they serve. She firmly believes that without wellness being kept as a priority at the leadership level, schools will never perform at the level of expectations that our state legislature is setting for them.

Michelle Cordero, Breathe For Change’s Head Trainer, has devoted the last 3 decades to deepening her connection to and sharing the powerful practice of yoga with the world. Michelle has led retreats, workshops, and teacher trainings internationally, and was voted “Best Yoga Teacher of the East Bay” by Oakland Magazine. She is certified at the highest level with the Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 & YACEP credentials.

Michelle’s greatest passion is inspiring educators to teach yoga in an inclusive and accessible way. She teaches with a sense of humor, curiosity and compassion. Michelle’s classes are inclusive, gender affirming, trauma-informed and uniquely tailored to meet the needs of each student regardless of experience, age, gender, or body shape.Michelle has contributed greatly to the development of Breathe For Change’s 200-hour Training, 300-hour Training, Professional Development offerings, and Educator Collective events.

Michelle has her Master’s Degree, a certificate in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy and is a Certified Wellness Coach and Craniosacral Work practitioner, and has trained with the Trauma Center’s Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TC-TSY) program and the Trauma Informed Resilience Oriented Approach (TIRO). She also completed a 75-hour Skill in Action training with Michelle C Johnson, focused on the intersection of Yoga and Social Justice. Michelle is inspired and honored to be guiding you along your yoga teaching journey.

Shatera is a Special Educator and Breathe for Change graduate who’s love for yoga stemmed from her struggles with Sickle Cell Anemia. Shatera was born with a disease that impacts the red blood cells’ ability to carry and transfer oxygen efficiently. This has meant a frayed relationship with her body and physical activities throughout childhood into adulthood. Years ago, Shatera discovered asana through classes offered at a local gym, stating that “It was the only class I could complete without feeling inadequate or embarrassed. In fact, I left those classes feeling centered and emboldened.”

Grateful for this resource, she’s become devoted to sharing it with others. Especially after Shatera noticed that she was often the only one that looked like her in the gyms and studios she practiced in. This encouraged Shatera to earn her RYT200 from B4C in 2018, with the aim of helping more Black folx to meet on the mat – inviting their minds and bodies to reunite, as she’s been blessed to experience. Since then, Shatera began teaching asana and meditation classes, and implementing wellness practices into her curriculum and structures as Dean of Culture at a 6-12 NYC public school, and within her day to day life and interpersonal relationships.

Now, Shatera has reached RYT500, and serves as a curriculum designer for schools and after school programs all over the nation that challenge the current inadequate and inequitable status quo of the traditional education system. She offers services that rise from the intersection of wellness and education at byShatera.com

Rabia Meghani (she/her) is a Medical Researcher, Behavioral Therapist, Educator, Yoga Therapist and a student of Kathak. Rabia’s formal education is in public health, epidemiology and education. Merging her knowledge of disease and education with the ancient science of Yoga and Ayurveda, Rabia aims to make these practices accessible to the masses while honoring the roots of the science. Her passion lies in integrating yoga and mindfulness in K-12 and higher education spaces.

Rabia uses her knowledge of yoga, ayurveda and mindfulness to help those experiencing physical and emotional ailments. When it comes to healing, Rabia believes that one size does not fit all. This is why she works on the full person and caters her practices to each and every individual. Currently Rabia is working on creating mindfulness and yoga tools to be made accessible in K-12 and higher education settings. Her hope is to lobby for systemic change to make these nervous system healing modalities accessible to all. To learn more about Rabia, please visit www.rabiameghani.com

Kirsten Rogers is a meditation trainer and proud member of the Breathe for Change team. She became a yoga teacher in 2017 with the intention of sharing this practice with people of color and communities that have historically had little exposure and access to yoga. She is a co-creator of Black to Yoga, an organization with the mission of making yoga and wellness more accessible for Black people. Kirsten has deepened her practice and understanding of yoga through trainings in trauma informed yoga, non-violent communication & meditation and yoga for teens. She is honored and grateful to share this indiginous practice and explore healthful ways to feed the mind, body & soul.