head yoga instructor
Cherise Richards
Cherise Richards grew up in Ashland, Oregon and spent almost twenty years in the modern dance world as a performer, teacher and choreographer. She has a BFA in Dance from UCSB and an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. She has also been a member of the Capoeira community for 20 years and has taught Dance and Capoeira at Loyola Marymount University, CalArts, UCSB and ACDFA among others. She had her sights set on a dance teaching career at the college level, but found her time and attention being dominated more and more by her growing love of surfing and the beach lifestyle. The shift from dancer to surf instructor/full time beach dweller was made official when she packed her belongings into a storage unit and started working for Surf with Amigas in Nicaragua.
Paul and Suzee Grilley have been her Yin yoga mentors for 22 years and she has been teaching yoga for over 9 years. She is the featured model for the book “A complete Guide to Yin Yoga” by Bernie Clark as well as featured in several of Paul Grilley’s DVD’s. As a teacher she particularly enjoys tailoring yoga classes to the special needs of surfers and finds Yin lends itself particularly well to this aim. Cherise now has her own jewelry company and loves her life traveling the world surfing and teaching yoga with Surf With Amigas.
