Instructor: Breyn Hibbs

Biography: I am so grateful for my journey thus far for so many reasons, one of which is that it has led me to the opportunity to join the amazing teaching and learning Continuing Education community at COCC! I grew up in Central Oregon, attended college and graduate school in San Diego, and moved back to Bend in 2012 when my heart and my roots called me back to this wondrous, mountainous-high-desert-of-a-place. Unexpected miracles and serendipitous events welcomed me home and led to my founding and opening Sol Alchemy - a yoga studio and community-based healing and spiritual center on the Eastside of Bend - in March 2013. Although my formal yoga and meditation practice is only 11 years old, and I have only been a certified teacher of yoga and Reiki for 4, I have been a lifelong spiritual seeker. My first spiritual teachers growing up were my mom and her uncanny ability to know unseen things about the seasons or the next day's weather patterns based on what birds were at our feeders and where they were migrating from; my great grandmother, "the gypsy"; and Mama Earth Herself.

Why am I here? I can see and feel the yearning and necessity in the world - and in the West in particular - for modern and accessible ways of touching into and experiencing ancient, soul-transformative and joy-inducing philosophies and practices. So that is what I do and teach both at Sol Alchemy and through Continuing Education - being a 'translator' of and 'bridge-builder' between philosophies and practices, and communicating the 'nuggets' in intriguing and experiential ways, is a large part of my purpose and soul-calling.

Finally, I want to share briefly about my involvement with and dedication to the women's leadership and social change nonprofit Shakti Rising. Shakti Rising was founded 16 years ago in San Diego and now has volunteers and/or staff on the ground up and down the west coast and in New Mexico and Hawaii. It is an organization committed not only to learning and talking about the kind of change needed in the world, but actively practicing, doing it and creating new paradigms to do it within. It has changed - and possibly saved - my life. I work for the Founder and Visionary Director of the organization and travel around the country with other women leading immersion-based retreats, teaching women leaders how to be powerful facilitators and teachers of transformation in their lives, families and communities.

Here is what students have to say about Breyn:

"Breyn is so knowledgeable, caring and competent. It was an outstanding experience."

"Breyn is a wonderful instructor who creates a welcoming and encouraging environment for the students. She is well spoken, speaks clearly, and is friendly to the class."

"Bre is a fantastic instructor. She is accepting of all ideas and points of view, while still sharing the perspective she is there to teach. Makes sometimes difficult ideas easy to understand and relate to. I would take any class offered by her!"

"Excellent teaching skills."

Classes by this instructor