About Us

YOGA FOR HEALTH AGING WRITERS

BAXTER BELL. At the ripe age of 52, Baxter Bell, MD, RYT500, has been combining his interests in medicine, yoga, acupuncture, healing and healthy aging for many years. It is these many interests and his personal desire to age gracefully that led to his decision to provide his community with insights and options via this blog on yoga and healthy aging. Baxter is involved in teaching yoga internationally, as well as training the next generation of yoga instructors. He is director of the Deep Yoga Training at Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, as well as serving as adjunct faculty on teacher training programs and therapeutic yoga trainings around the country. Baxter also combines his experience as a family physician with training in medical acupuncture, maintaining a complementary medical practice in Oakland and Petaluma, where he focuses on acupuncture and therapeutic yoga.  He also contributes to Yoga Journal’s website as an Ask the Expert, and is featured in their DVD “Yoga for Stress.” To learn more about his work, visit his website at www.bellyoga.info.

BRAD GIBSON. As a Professor at the Buck Institute for Age Research and Director of the Institute's Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry Core, Brad's work is focused on understanding the biological and chemical processes that are common to both age-related diseases and aging. He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, and then took a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry at Cambridge University in England. He was a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) before joining the Buck Institute in 2000, and currently holds a joint appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF.  He has been practicing yoga for 10 years, and is a regular student of Baxter Bell. To find out more about his work in the field of aging, see buckinstitute.org/gibsonLab.

BRIDGET FREDERICK.  Bridget comes from a long line of long-living people and is very interested in maintaining a healthy body as she follows in their footsteps! She is a writer/editor, certified yoga teacher and yoga practitioner. She’s been writing and editing—essays, web content, newsletters, grant proposals and outreach materials—for as long as she can remember. Bridget’s been practicing yoga, almost exclusively at the Berkeley Yoga Room, since 2002. She completed the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program and has been teaching yoga since 2010. For more info on her teaching, see bridget-yoga.com.

TIMOTHY McCALL. Timothy is both a board-certified internist and trained yoga teacher. After completing his residency in primary care internal medicine, he practiced for more than 10 years in the Boston area before devoting himself full time to writing and research. His main focus since the year 2000 has been investigating the therapeutic aspects of yoga, as well as the scientific explanations of yoga's effects. He is the Medical Editor of Yoga Journal and the author of two books, Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing and Examining Your Doctor: A Patient's Guide to Avoiding Harmful Medical Care. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Public Citizen's Health Letter, The Nation, American Health, Redbook (where he was a contributing editor), The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Los Angeles Times. His column appeared monthly in the newsletter Bottom Line Health from 1995 to 2003. From 1996-2001 his medical commentaries were featured on the public radio program Marketplace. He writes feature articles for Yoga Journal and columns for the magazine's online newsletter for teachers, My Yoga Mentor. For more information, see his web site drmccall.com.

RAM RAO. With a PhD in Neuroscience, Ram presently serves as a Research Associate Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He focuses on various aspects of age associated neurodegenerative diseases with emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, Ram completed the academic training at the California College of Ayurveda (CCA) and received his certification as Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist. He has been a faculty of the California College of Ayurveda and teaches in their Nevada City location. Ram is also a dedicated Hatha yoga practitioner and is a Registered Yoga Teacher from Yoga Alliance USA. In his spare time he offers consultations in YAMP techniques (Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation & Pranayama). Ram has published several articles in major Yoga/Ayurveda magazines and has been a featured speaker in several national and international meetings and symposia. He is a member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) and is on the Research Board of the Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America (AAPNA).

SHARI SER. Shari has over 25 years of orthopedic experience as a physical therapist and has been teaching yoga for a wide range of medical conditions since 1999. She graduated from The Yoga Room Advanced Studies Program in 1999, and was certified as a “Relax and Renew” teacher by Judith Hanson Lasater. She currently teaches ongoing beginner level and back safe yoga classes, and co-teaches Yoga for Chronic Health Issues at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, California. See Yoga Room Berkeley for Shari's teaching schedule.

NINA ZOLOTOW. Editor-in-Chief of the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog, Nina is a yoga writer as well as a certified yoga teacher and a long-time yoga practitioner. Her special area of expertise is yoga for emotional wellbeing (including yoga for stress, insomnia, depression, and anxiety). She completed the three-year teacher training program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, California, has studied yoga therapy with Shari Ser and Bonnie Maeda, and is especially influenced by the teachings of Donald Moyer. She has studied extensively with Rodney Yee, and is inspired by the teachings of Patricia Walden on yoga for emotional healing. She teaches workshops and series classes on yoga for emotional wellbeing, yoga for stress, yoga for better sleep, home practice, and cultivating equanimity. Nina is the co-author, with Rodney Yee, of two books on yoga: Yoga: The Poetry of the Body (with its companion 50 Card Practice Deck) and Moving Toward Balance, both of which are widely available. She is also the author of numerous articles on yoga and alternative medicine.

YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING PHOTOGRAPHERS

PHILIP AMDAL. Philip Amdal is a photographer and framer in the Seattle, WA area. See here for more information about his photography. See here for information about the his frame shop, Queen Anne Frame. 

JOAN WEBSTER.

BRAD GIBSON.