Inner~Lotus

ABOUT CATHERINE: Catherine Liska has been passionate about dance and music since her first memories. As a child she took to playing keyboards and woodwinds as well as guitar and banjo while always "dancing-like-they-do-in-the-movies" whenever she could. As an undergraduate at the College of St. Catherine, she initially pursued studies in Art and Music/Piano Performance, finally ending with a degree in Home Economics/Textiles and Clothing Design Not convinced that pursuing a career in musicteaching/performance or the clothing industry would fully satisfy her holistic approach to seeing the world she chose to study Architecture at the University of Minnesota, taking the opportunity to travel to China to study Chinese Culture and Vernacular Architecture in 1988. Catherine also studied dance and movement at the University of Minnesota and was blessed to discover the Cassandra School of Dance in Minneapolis where she fell in love with the music and dance of the Middle East and North Africa. After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Minnesota in 1990, she began to work full-time in the field of architecture while finding herself unfolding as both a performer and teacher within the traditions of Middle Eastern Dance and Music. Her passion for this music and dance genre lead her to study dance with many world renowned masters of Middle Eastern Dance including Mahmoud Reda, Ragia Hassan, Yousrey Sharif, Momo Kadous, Ibrahim Farrah, Mona Said, Nadia Hamdi, Amel Tafsout, and Cassandra. She was a member of Jawaahir Dance Company from 1992 to 2005 and performed at Jerusalem's Restaurant in Minneapolis from 1993 to 2005. Her music studies have included Middle Eastern Percussion lessons with Twin City local "legends" Tim O'Keefe and Mic LaBriola plus the wonderful Lebanese percussion artist Souhail Kaspar as well as instrumental studies with Twin Cities musicians. Although she had participated in several yoga and Shiatsu massage classes during her college years, she was truly inspired to supplement her personal experience of the workings of the human body/energy field after taking her first Kundalini Yoga class in the Fall of 2002 with Helena Raghubir of the "Center for Happiness" in Minneapolis. Through the practice of Yoga she began to fully comprehend how important the connection between our bodies, consciousness, and creativity is to our overall health and wellbeing. Catherine completed her Kundalini Yoga Level One Teacher's Training in November of 2003 and continues to study both Kundalini Yoga and Sat Nam Rasayan Healing at the Center for Happiness while expanding her knowledge of the human energy field by studying Qi Gong, the Polarity Therapy teaching of Dr. Randolph Stone, and Global Somatics with Suzanne Rivers of Green River Dance. She teaches Kundalini Yoga classes weekly in the Twin Cities area.

Catherine received her Levels 1 and 2 Usui Reiki attunements in early 2005. After realizing the amazing self-healing benefits of this healing modality, she was inspired to complete her Level 3 and Master Usui Reiki training in 2006 with
the hope of using Reiki to help others. Continuing on her Reiki journey, she has received the Karuna Reiki Levels 1 and 2 attunements in 2007 and looks forward to receiving her Karuna Masters attunements in early 2008.

Always striving to live a life of balance, Catherine spends as much time as possible gardening, meditating and "being" with her wonderful husband, family and assorted pets/critters. She welcomes all opportunities to connect with others
to nuture and celebrate the body/mind/spirit through dance, yoga and the healing arts.