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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:
July 03, 2009 - Psalm for the 4th of July
June 27, 2009 - Deepak Chopra: A Tribute to My Friend, Michael Jackson
June 24, 2009 - In Memory of Theodore "Ted" L. Cartee, Ojai Activist, Spiritual Seeker, Kindred Spirit
June 24, 2009 - New Iyengar Yoga Class Friday Mornings at 8 AM with Suza Francina at Sacred Space Studio in Ojai
June 22, 2009 - Water for Life Event at The Ojai Retreat on Sunday, June 28
May 28, 2009 - My 60th Birthday: Coincidence or Cosmic Plan?
April 29, 2009 - Do Your Own Research: Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms
April 27, 2009 - Swine Flu Outbreak -- Nature Biting Back at Industrial Animal Production?
April 27, 2009 - Do Your Own Research: Do Not Take A Swine Flu Vaccine!
April 15, 2009 - Update on the Ordinance Banning All Leaf Blowers in Ojai
March 10, 2009 - Are Leaf Blowers On the Roadmap to a Sustainable Ojai?
February 28, 2009 - Ojai Yogis Invited to Ventura's First Ever YOGATHON
February 01, 2009 - Ojai Yoga Retreat with Suza Francina for People at Midlife and Beyond, May 22-29, 2009
January 20, 2009 - On this happy day, this memory took my breath away
January 19, 2009 - Our Time Has Come
December 21, 2008 - Synchronicity:The Friday Before Christmas
December 20, 2008 - Guest Editorial by Ulrich Brugger: Marketing Ojai the Ojai Way
December 11, 2008 - A Letter from Ralph Fertig: Coming Home to the Tea Fire
December 09, 2008 - What the Bible Teaches About Marriage
November 19, 2008 - The Spiritual Dimensions of Obama's Leadership
November 04, 2008 - Ojai Elections: What Happens If There Is A Tie?
November 02, 2008 - Would You Be in Favor of a Ban on Plastic Bags?, and Other Questions at the Ojai Green Coalition Candidates Forum
October 30, 2008 - 101 Questions for Ojai City Council Candidates
October 21, 2008 - Does Ojai Care About Animals?
September 25, 2008 - Announcing the Official Suza Francina for Ojai City Council Web Site
September 23, 2008 - Ojai's Clive Leeman asks, " Does Sarah Palin Believe In Dinosaurs?"
September 14, 2008 - Comic Relief
September 11, 2008 - Remembering 9/11 and Moving Towards a Re-United States
September 06, 2008 - Preserving the Spirit of Ojai
September 04, 2008 - Palin's Appalling Record on Wolves, Bears and Other Wildlife
August 30, 2008 - More locally grown food coming to Ojai and rest of California
August 11, 2008 - Vision for Sustainable Ojai: Green Energy Front and Center
August 04, 2008 - Obama Campaign Office Opens in Ojai
July 18, 2008 - From Rosie and Tillie: Ojai SpokesPigs Alert
June 24, 2008 - Native Plant Hike with Lanny Kaufer
June 21, 2008 - Keeping Cool in Hot Ojai with Rosie, Tillie and Artoo-Detoo
June 18, 2008 - That Huge Moon? It's Just an Illusion
June 11, 2008 - Peak Oil and the Greening of Ojai
June 10, 2008 - Kucinich Impeaches Bush for Four Hours
May 16, 2008 - Ojai's First Ride of Silence
May 16, 2008 - Pedaling Toward Cleaner Cities --When Will Ojai Catch Up?
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?