Team

Lauren Kvasnicka (she/her)

Operations Director and Facilitator

Lauren, MPH and RYT, is a forever student of yoga, public health, and social justice and the connection of all three. Lauren has a Masters of Public Health in Community Health Promotion, is a Registered Yoga Instructor, and holds several certifications in Somatic Embodiment, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and group fitness. She believes in using yoga and mindfulness to create healthier, more just and sustainable communities especially to under-resourced communities.

Lauren finds value in using research, statistics, and science but also personal experiences and stories to promote and spread the practices of yoga and mindfulness. Starting as a volunteer, hired as our first employee, Lauren is now our Executive Director. You will see Lauren out in the community promoting our work, forming partnerships, and spreading our mission and values, as well as facilitating programs and leading meditation with us.

Lauren’s professional interests include nutrition, vegetarian diets, sports injury prevention and rehabilitation, and senior health and wellness. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys live music, being outdoors, reading essays, cooking, and snuggling with her cat, Diego.

Elizabeth “Liz” Bloom (she/her)

Facilitator

After serving in the Peace Corps in Cameroon, Liz chose to invest in health and wellness that could be accessible outside of a doctor’s office. She is currently finishing a concurrent Masters in Public Health and Masters in Public Service at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences and Clinton School of Public Service. During her time in graduate school, she connected with Prison Yoga Project and began connecting yoga as a public service and pubic health tool. Working and growing as a yoga student and facilitator has led her to propose and receive funding to initiate research into the influence of parental yoga on birth outcomes in West Africa. 

While currently a resident of Minneapolis, Liz has lived all over the US - but calls Philadelphia, PA home. Some of her hobbies include running, hiking, rooting for Philadelphia sports, taking pictures of chickens, and going to museums. 

Stephen

 Facilitator

Stephen has been facilitating the Path of Freedom program for a couple of years in Anoka & Hennepin County Jails. It is a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence curriculum developed for people who have been incarcerated. Stephen was thrilled to meet Lauren and join Karuna Community to bring his passion for yoga to jails and re-entry programs.

Stephen was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland moved to MN in 2000. He began his journey with yoga in 2015 starting out with Kundalini & Yin Yoga. He recently went through certified training in Hatha & Raja Yoga to deepen his own practice to serve. Stephen is a student of Ojibwe, Lakota and Aymara teachers and has been walking the Red Road for a decade and gives credit to these teachers for his Yoga practice and his desire to share the gift of Yoga. Stephen is pictured on our website with his furry friend, Bob.

Robb (he/him)

Facilitator

A life-changing adventure began when Robb visited Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in the French countryside in 1993. Thanks to the deep peace and joy which he experienced there over a quarter of a century ago, he embarked on the path of exploring the inner terrain of the body, heart and mind, allowing him to become a much happier fulfilled person.  

Robb teaches the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota. He has also taught this course at Common Ground, to numerous cohorts of teachers through Minneapolis Public Schools, as well as to the staff at the Center for Victims of Torture.

Cognizant that mindfulness begins with body awareness, he is now immersing himself more deeply into body-based practices including Qi Gong, somatic experiencing and yoga. He is presently obtaining his second (RYT 200) hour program in Viniyoga from the 5 Koshas Yoga and Wellness Center. 

Dallas (she/they)

Facilitator/Advisor

Before studying to lead yoga and mindfulness, Dallas worked in the nonprofit sector and led grassroots social justice initiatives in the Twin Cities. After her sister died suddenly in 2016, she left her high-stress nonprofit job. Seeking ways to heal and reconnect with herself, she rediscovered the healing power of yoga. She lost a total of five family members in unrelated deaths over the course of fourteen months and yoga proved to be a deeply powerful tool for managing so much stress and loss. 

She offers a variety of embodied grief-related events independently and through the Center for Grief and Loss. She's also taught an identity and body-affirming weekly community class that centers LGBTQIA+ people since 2019 and is known for her approachable style that mixes humor and wisdom. She also teaches art and mindfulness classes as another approach to traditional meditation.

Strengths-based leadership is another of her passions and she started her working relationship with Karuna as a consultant for the board when they were seeking ways to cooperatively build a vision in a way that honored the gifts each individual brought to the table. Karuna's mission appeals to her because she knows firsthand that these tools can provide an anchor when circumstances are outside of our control and when we're anchored, we're in a better position to care for ourselves and one another. Having loved people who were sent to prison, she knows there are a number of circumstances that can cause a person to end up there and how important outside support and connection can be to those on the inside. 

In addition to teaching and consulting, Dallas is active in her faith community, volunteers as a neighborhood coordinator for neighbor-to-neighbor mutual aid, and enjoys welcoming dog guests to her home as a dog-sitter (though she would rather adopt another, her husband disagrees and sitting is the compromise).

Eileen (she/her)

Facilitator

Eileen (they/she), MBA, MDiv, is a certified yoga teacher, experienced contemplative practitioner, and longtime practitioner of Tai Chi and Qi Gong. At Winona County Detention Center and now Karuna, they bring these practices together to offer an accessible and trauma-informed practice to meet people where they are. 

Eileen’s approach is to invite people into a non-judging awareness of our body and sensations, cultivating a sense of curiosity, ease, and wonder. For over a decade, they worked in community with people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Eileen is deeply grounded in the Catholic Worker tradition, embodying the works of mercy and a commitment to justice, with extensive experience in community settings supporting individuals in substance use recovery and navigating the criminal legal system. They are currently in formation for ordination in the Episcopal Church, serve as a healthcare chaplain, and offer spiritual direction, group facilitation, and coaching at justbeinginwonder.com.