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Suza Francina

Yoga Teacher, Author, Animal Advocate

Suza Francina has lived in Ojai since 1957. She is a pioneer in the field of teaching yoga to people at midlife and older. Her first book Yoga for People Over 50, was published in 1977. She is the author of The New Yoga for People Over 50 (Health Communications, Inc., 1997); Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause (HCI, 2003); and The New Yoga for Healthy Aging (HCI 2007). She is currently completing a spiritual memoir that she has been working on for many years: Autobiography of a Yogini: Innocence, Illusion, Illumination.

Her books have been published in several languages, including German, Russian and Portuguese.

Suza is a graduate of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco and a Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance (RYT) and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. She has over thirty-five years of experience in the fields of yoga and exercise therapy and is a consultant for research studies about yoga.

Suza’s interest in yoga and health began many years ago when she worked as a home health care provider for elderly and convalescing people. This gave her the opportunity to observe firsthand the mental and physical changes that often occur in the later years of life. She helped care for numerous elders over a period of many years, up until their death.

She is a contributing author to several books, including Women’s Health Care: A Guide to Alternatives; The Holistic Health Handbook; American Yoga; The Arthritis Cure Fitness Solution; Living Your Yoga;The Rodale Book of Building Stronger Bones for Life; and Prevention's Complete Book of Walking.

She is a contributor to Yoga Journal, LA Yoga, Yoga Life, Yoga for EveryBody, Yoga Vidya, and other yoga magazines. Her articles on a wide range of topics appear in print publications and web sites world wide. A new monthly column, Eldr Yoga, is featured in Eldr magazine and www.Eldr.com

Suza is one of 45 storytellers in a new book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything by Phil Bolsta ( April, 2008).

She offers workshops, group and private classes to people of all ages.

In addition to teaching yoga, Suza is an advocate for the rights of animals. She believes that speaking out on behalf of animals is both an environmental necessity and a moral obligation.

Suza was born in 1949, in The Hague, Holland, and is of Dutch–Indonesian heritage. She has lived for over fifty years in Ojai, California, a valley widely considered one of the most beautiful and sacred places on Earth. She is a former mayor of Ojai and a spokesperson for green, sustainable lifestyles.

When not writing or teaching, Suza enjoys walking, bicycling and practicing yoga outdoors, in nature. She is the mother of a grown son and daughter and feels fortunate to live surrounded by majestic mountains, orange groves, trees, birds, crickets, rabbits, possums, raccoons and frogs, with a family that includes several dogs, cats, pot-bellied pigs and other sentient beings.

Entries by this author:
May 13, 2008 - May is National Bike Month
May 10, 2008 - A Birth Story for Mother's Day
May 08, 2008 - EAT LOCAL ONE YEAR ~ BE THE CHANGE OJAI
May 06, 2008 - Announcement from Rosie and Tillie: Anti-Cruelty Measure Certified for California’s November Ballot
April 24, 2008 - "Supporting our Planet ... One Bite at a Time!"
April 22, 2008 - A Yoga In the Ojai Valley Earth Day Review: Green Yoga
April 21, 2008 - Earth Day Editorial by Rosie and Tillie, Ojai Spokespigs
April 08, 2008 - Forty Years Ago, in the Small Town of Ojai ...
March 22, 2008 - "BODY OF WAR"
March 21, 2008 - A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE!
March 09, 2008 - EARTHLINGS
February 29, 2008 - Meet Rosie and Tillie, Ojai's First Spokespigs
February 20, 2008 - Yoga In the Ojai Valley, Breathe New Life Into Your Bones!
February 15, 2008 - Get your monitor screen cleaned
February 14, 2008 - Yoga in the Ojai Valley - Happy Valentine's Day!
February 13, 2008 - A Visit to an Ojai Pig Sanctuary
February 12, 2008 - Yoga in the Ojai Valley
February 07, 2008 - Yoga In the Ojai Valley
February 02, 2008 - Yoga in the Ojai Valley
January 31, 2008 - The Dog, the Cat and the Rat visit Santa Barbara
January 25, 2008 - Writing in Ojai on a rainy day.
January 18, 2008 - Fox News Exposed
January 12, 2008 - "A Man with the Courage of a Lion, a Heart of Gold and Backbone of Steel"
January 07, 2008 - Ojai is still a place that uplifts the spirit
January 06, 2008 - The Dog, the Cat and the Rat
January 01, 2008 - Hope Frazier
December 30, 2007 - "For a road wanders in but knows no way out..."
December 29, 2007 - Memorial Service for Jeffrey W. San Marchi
December 16, 2007 - Winter Solstice Liberation
December 07, 2007 - The Call to Mercy
December 02, 2007 - Say YES! for Humane Treatment of Animals
November 29, 2007 - Another Week On Planet Ojai: The Leaf Saga Continues!
November 26, 2007 - The Spirit of the Age
November 25, 2007 - Peace Train
November 22, 2007 - George Bush: Pardon All The Turkeys
October 28, 2007 - Spiritual Lessons Learned From the Fire
October 19, 2007 - The greening of Ojai--a chicken coop in every backyard?
October 09, 2007 - A beautiful five minute video on the Ventura River watershed
October 04, 2007 - It's the ubiquitous leaf blowers. They're back for another round!
September 23, 2007 - Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich at the Ojai Retreat
September 22, 2007 - Update On Dennis Kucinich in Ojai on Sunday
September 18, 2007 - the three minutes BEFORE the student got tasered at the John Kerry rally
August 11, 2007 - Do kids really know where their animals are going?
May 22, 2007 - A visit with longtime Ojai resident Martha Locke
May 15, 2007 - A Community Honoring of Steve LaRue
May 13, 2007 - The Origins of Mother's Day
May 07, 2007 - Spiritual Politics
April 24, 2007 - 40 Years Ago in the Haight-Ashbury
April 21, 2007 - It's Easy Being (Plastic or Paper) Bag Free!
April 08, 2007 - Suza's Secret Thoughts On The Secret
March 23, 2007 - The Ojai Post Poetry Center
March 18, 2007 - Who can tell us more about the new fence along Pratt Trail?